As the protagonist, Esther seems to be a part of everyone’s life. She helps with other people’s children, she is a friend to other males and females, and she is given the keys to the house of Mr. Jarndyce to keep safe. It may not be obvious, but she is the superb being of a housekeeper. I probably cannot say housewife since she does not get married to anyone until the end of the story. However, she does seem to keep order within the household and is something to everyone. Esther seems to fit right in to the key role that everyone within the British culture imagines what women should be what being feminine can represent. It does not really seem that Esther ever have to do true manual labor such as cleaning, but she does “keep up” other people’s houses and helps organize servant chores. She does physically assist with Charley once fallen ill, but I am sure that Mr. Jarndyce could have hired more help if it was a true “danger”.
During that time period if a person was earning a wage for their labor then they were the working class. As for the females that were in the home tending to children or the household chores they were not technically working. The women that are within the household do not earn status at this time, but what they are given by their husbands. Throughout the story Esther always seemed to be a subordinate to the men within town because she was not “earning a wage”. She did not hardly compare to Dr. Woodcourt, Inspector Bucket and the lawyer Tulkinghorn. However, she did have a different and higher level from other housewives since her caretaker was able to afford her lifestyle needs she was more of a “leisure lady” that could enjoy things that some working men would never be able to enjoy. However, Dickens seems to have a conflicting situation. Esther probably has the ability to be a “leisure lady”, but chooses to assist whenever and where ever she can unlike the Lady Dedlock that is a member of a corrupt aristocracy in Chesney Wold. Dickens seems to distinguish Esther from being a part of the aristocratic leisure world.
It seems as though either way the women of this time are being held back to their potential. If I remember correctly this is about the time where certain laws are passed for labor of women and children. Not only did the laws restrict where the women and children could work, but also the amount of time they were able to work in one day at their position. I think of this as a set back for women’s rights because it is out to prove that they cannot handle the same work load or work time as men. Any thoughts?
Houses with a lot of servants in Dickens' time would have a head housekeeper, who was at the top of the servant hierarchy. She would be entrusted with the household keys and would be in charge of keeping the house running smoothly. If there were a lady of the house, she would consult with her regularly about running the house. It's always seemed to be that Esther is part housekeeper, in the traditional sense, and part family member.
ReplyDeleteThe laws that applied to women and work were for factory and mine work--so they were only for the poorer classes and intended mostly to prevent women and children from injury on the job (a lot of the work was too heavy for women and children).