Silenced voices: female identity in Henry James and Gregorios Xenopoulos

Abstract

This dissertation has attempted to trace the development of a feminist ideology in America and in Greece, during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, within the framework of specific literary texts. The focal point of this thesis has been the discussion of two novelists: Henry James and Gregorios Xenopoulos. Centering on The Bostonians, The Portrait of a Lady, and The Tragic Muse by Henry James, and Secret Engagements, The Three-Sided Woman, and The Actress’s Husband by Gregorios Xenopoulos, the present work presents not only the dominant thoughts and ideas in the two countries’ societies, but also the stereotypes that directed the behavioral norms, and thus validate the place given to the novels’ female protagonists by the authors. When confronted with each country’s society, the heroines surrender to the dominant ideas and standards, even though they have demonstrated the inner force and the ability to fight for their independence and individuality. Their strong voice is clearly heard, yet young women in late nineteenth-century America and Greece hesitate to demonstrate their forcefulness. Under the perspective of realism, and on the basis of parallel themes, the six novels have been studied in pairs; I have therefore focused attention on the issue of marriage and the impact of this institution on the heroines’ lives in The Bostonians and Secret Engagements, on independence as an expression of the female autonomous will and as a threat to the established societal tradition in The Portrait of a Lady and The Three-Sided Woman, and on the female artist’s conflict between personal fulfillment and moral / marital commitment in The Tragic Muse and The Actress’s Husband. vii In these works the authors present independent female protagonists, yet through the novel’s turn they negate this autonomy by directing the heroines to either reject their primary liberty, or be punished for their sovereignty. The present dissertation sets out to question the argument that authors who deal with female characters are in favor of women; the way James and Xenopoulos treat their heroines in the novels examined here, verifies a patriarchal, male-oriented and conservative perspective. I have simply outlined some significant feminist treatments and conducted a realist demarcation of the works’ period, so as to center on a number of critical perspectives that I consider relevant, and, mainly, to express my personal reading of the novels and the authors’ position. What I present as the fundamental argument for the comparison of these two authors is that Henry James and Gregorios Xenopoulos portray heroines with independent and forceful spirit that challenges the status quo of society’s standards; it is the same authors that allowed for this spirit to express itself, then, that reverse the plot and silence the voice whose strength annoyed the male-oriented social order. Therefore, they both express a conservative approach to women, even an anti-feminist spirit, by stating the predominance of male power over women, and the control of the patriarchal model of domesticity over personal ambitions and autonomy. The issue of power takes the form of man’s command over a woman’s free spirit, the supremacy of male hegemony that, by tradition, overwhelms anything female: independence, work, talent, success. The strength of mind that characterized the heroines in the beginning of the novels evaporates under the authors’ intention to ultimately silence the assertive protagonist who proved to be more powerful that they intended. James and Xenopoulos, then, eliminate the elements of feminist thought in these dynamic personas, verifying the patriarchal modus operandi of silencing the female voice.