“Diametrically Opposite Views”: Reconciling the Influences of Josephine Butler and Francis Galton on Sarah Grand’s The Heavenly Twins

Abstract

Critics have discussed two main influences on Sarah Grand’s New Woman novel, The Heavenly Twins—Josephine Butler’s deeply evangelical, social purity feminism and Francis Galton’s scientifically grounded theory of eugenics. However, eugenics and evangelicalism are usually discussed separately and thought of as potentially irreconcilable. Through a consideration of several main characters, this article demonstrates how these ideological frameworks are fused and interwoven in the novel. Grand specifically advocates for women obtaining basic medical knowledge so that they can take the responsibility for sexual selection, with the goal of choosing eugenically fit husbands. Grand also represents the struggles of the developing New Women through another main character, Angelica. Angelica’s cross-dressing, rejection of the traditional marriage market, and critique of the religious establishment eventually lead her to a eugenic and spiritual awakening, transforming her into an advocate for women. Finally, Grand provocatively suggests that women and doctors could take the place of priests, jointly promoting female-centered theology and eugenic thought through a process here called eugenic evangelism. This complex merging of two seemingly irreconcilable late Victorian ideological frameworks represents what is “new” and challenging about the New Woman novel.