Defiant Women Neelam Khalil 11th Grade

In a traditional Victorian society which was patriarchal, it was expected that women remained subservient and complaint at all times, obediently yielding to the inclinations of both men and the community around them. The women in Christina Rosetti’s poems, however, were defiant and daring, innovating beyond the conventional standards of women, and rarely allowing anything to repress them. From “Jesse Cameron’s” adamant refusal to marry to “Maude-Claire’s” determined endeavor to break a marriage. A variety of instances in numerous poems by Rosetti portray women whom incessantly break traditional social norms, subliminally implementing that women merit more rights and liberties. Conversely, on some occasions, it seems that despite attempting to shatter conventions, the women are repressed, either way, not truly succeeding to make themselves independent.

An example of a defiant woman is the narrator in “Cousin Kate”, someone who had a sexual relationship with a “lord”, without being married. The poem is essentially directed at her “Cousin Kate” whom supposedly “grew fairer” than the narrator which then lead the “lord” to choose her, and “cast” the narrator aside. Instantaneously, noticeable references to a sexual relationship are...