Confined: Pregnancy, Birth, and Class in Esther Waters (1894) and Wuthering Heights (1847)

Abstract

Victorian literary resistance to explicit discussion of female sexual reproduction mirrors the material segregation and confinement of parturient women in this era. Just as literary depictions of the pregnancy/labour of the gentry do not represent an embodied, material, clinical experience, so, too, does reproduction more generally serve as a plot device rather than an attempt to realistically and faithfully depict its nuances. Through this lens, George Moore's Esther Waters (1894) represents a fruitful contrast to Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847). For privileged characters, there is the characteristically Victorian deployment of implicature surrounding reproduction; for the poor, the punitive spectacle of visible pregnancy, birth, and childrearing. Either through its reinforcement or violation, the ubiquitous notion of Victorian propriety in the confinement room – by way of restriction and concealment – shapes our reading of the characters in these novels, as well as the messages imparted by their respective story arcs. I argue that class is a critical mediating factor in terms of both the experiences that pregnant and birthing characters are allowed, as well as the literary terms in which they are conveyed.