Image, Consumerism, and the New Woman: Gordon Browne's Illustrations for The Sorceress of the Strand

Abstract:In Gordon Browne's illustrations for L. T. Meade's The Sorceress of the Strand, images of female victims and a male detective reflect cultural stereotypes of women as both beauty-obsessed consumers and beautiful objects of visual consumption. The illustrations mirror the consumeristic objectification behind the Strand's advertisements, which use images of women's bodies to market beauty products. Depictions of the detective's scrutinizing gaze, the villain's domestic intrusion, and victims' responses complicate the serial's implicit argument about women's status as passive consumers; they prompt women readers to resist objectification by turning their own critical gaze upon a culture of obsessive consumption.