(De)stabilizing Patriarchal Power through Representations of Women’s Hair in Charles Dickens’s Novel “Dombey and Son”

Abstract

In Victorian male fiction hair occurs as a recurrent synecdoche, as a part of the object which represented female sexuality. Women’s hair related problems were seen as indicators of pathologies challenging not only domestic relationships but also social order and political stability. Hair became a criterion of classification, and hairiness suggested sexual abnormality, madness and weak-mindedness, a belief also supported and promoted by scientists. By a semiotic approach to images of female hair in Charles Dickens’s novel “Dombey and Son”, this paper aims at identifying the way in which women’s hair representations functioned as indicators for the (de)stabilization of patriarchal power in the Victorian age.

Cuvinte-cheie: ficţiune masculină victoriană, păr feminin, (de)stabilizare, puterea patriarhală

REZUMAT

În ficţiunea masculină victoriană, părul apare ca o sinecdocă recurentă, ca parte a obiectului care reprezintă sexualitatea feminină. Problemele legate de părul femeilor erau văzute ca indicatori ai unor patologii care puneau sub semnul întrebării nu doar relaţiile casnice, ci şi ordinea socială, şi stabilitatea politică. Părul a devenit un criteriu de clasificare, iar pilozitatea sugera anomalii sexuale, nebunie şi slăbiciune mentală, o credinţă susţinută şi promovată, şi de oamenii de ştiinţă. Printr-o abordare semiotică a imaginilor cu păr feminin din romanul „Dombey şi fiul” de Charles Dickens, ne propunem să identificăm modul în care reprezentările părului femeilor au funcţionat ca indicatori ai (de)stabilizării puterii patriarhale în epoca victoriană.

LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION

English

UDC: 81'22:821.111.09-3"18"(092)Dickens Ch.

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Received: July 15, 2013 | Reviewed: July 26, 2013 | Accepted for publication: July 29, 2013

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