Revolted Woman: Past, present, and to come — Background and Themes

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In Category - Ethics

Authors: Harper, Charles G. (Charles George), 1863-1943 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2018 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Women -- Social and moral questions Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 35,229

Reading time 154 min

Text sections 5

For Revolted Woman: Past, present, and to come — Background and Themes, the stored edition analysis reports 35,229 words, 2 hr 34 min estimated reading time, and 5 detected text sections.

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Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Women -- Social and moral questions,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #58496

An 1894 polemic by Charles G. Harper arguing that women's pursuit of equality is irrational and rooted in Eve's original sin. Using satirical diction and historical anecdotes, Harper contrasts the 'New Woman' with figures like the Duchess of Marlborough to assert male moral superiority.

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ty of the Girl of the Period was extremely pronounced. It was a vulgarity that showed itself in bustles and paniers; the ‘Grecian Bend;’ skirts frilled and flounced and hung about with ridiculous festoons, and short enough to display her intolerable Balmoral boots. An absurdly inadequate ‘Rink’ hat rendered her chignon all the more obvious, and ----. But enough! The Man of the Period was her equal in absurdity. He cultivated a hateful affectation of lassitude and indifference; he affected a peculiarly odious drawl, and he taxed his mind with an effort to sustain a constantly _nil admirari_ attitude toward things the most admirable and happenings the most startling. He wore the most ridiculous fashion of whiskers, compared with which the perennial ‘mutton-chop’ and the bearded chin and clean-shaven upper lip of the Dissenter or typical grocer are things of beauty and a satisfaction to the æsthetic sense.

This fashion was the ‘Piccadilly-weeper’ variety of adornment, known at this day--chiefly owing to Sothern’s impersonation of a contemporary lisping fop--as the ‘Dundreary.’ This creature was a fitting mate to the Girl of the Period. He married her, and the most obvious results are the ‘Gaiety-Johnnies,’ the ‘mashers,’ and the ‘chappies’ of to-day, whose retreating chins and foreheads afford subjects for the sad contemplation of philosophers--to whom we will leave them.

As for their female offspring, they are, doubtless, the ‘Lotties and Totties’ of Mrs. Lynn Linton’s loathing, who smoke cigarettes and ape the dress and deportment of the ladies of the Alhambra or the Empire promenades.

It is at once singular and amusing to notice how surely all women’s dress-reform agitations move in the same groove--that of a more or less close imitation of man’s attire. Even fashions which are not ostensible ‘reforms’ have a decided tendency to make for masculinity. The girls who, some few years since, cut their hair short--like the boys; who wore bowler hats, shirt-fronts, men’s collars and neckties; who carried walking-sticks, or that extraordinary combination of walking-stick and sunshade known facetiously as a ‘husband-beater;’ who affected tailor-made frocks, donned man-like jackets, and adopted a masculine gait, were not accredited reformers with a Mission, but they showed, excellently well, the spirit of the age, and if they were wanting in thoroughness, why, Lady Harberton, with her ‘divided skirts,’ was a very Strafford for thoroughness in her particular line.

Divided skirts were introduced to the notice of the public some ten years ago by Viscountess Harberton and a Society of Dress Reformers, calling themselves, possibly on _lucus a non lucendo_ principles, first a ‘National’ Society, and at a later period arrogating the title of ‘Rational.’ It may seem matter for ridicule that an obscure coterie of grandams should adopt such a grandiose title as the first, or that they should, by using the ‘Rational’ epithet, be convicted of allowing the inference that they considered every woman irrational who did not adhere to their principles; but, like all ‘reformers,’ they were without humour and consumed with a deadly earnestness. They (unlike the rest of the world) saw nothing for laughter in the public discussions which they initiated, by which they sought to show that corsets were not only useless but harmful, and that the petticoat might advantageously be discarded for trousers worn underneath an ordinary skirt, somewhat after the fashion that obtains in riding costumes.

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Charles G. Harper opens Revolted Woman: Past, present, and to come with a preface that frames the entire work as a polemic against women's emancipation. His diction is deliberately provocative: he calls the first woman's disobedience a 'faux pas' and describes female authors as 'margarine masquerading as best fresh.' The preface establishes a tone of sardonic indignation, positioning the book as a counterblast to the 'New Woman' movement of the 1890s. Harper's argument rests on a chain of reasoning that begins with Eve's curse and extends to contemporary fiction, which he accuses of pandering to a 'depraved palate.' The book's structure moves from biblical precedent to historical case studies, though the excerpts provided only show the preface and a later section on Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.

The Rhetoric of the Preface

Harper's preface is a concentrated display of his rhetorical strategies. He uses the epigraph from The Taming of the Shrew—'I am ashamed, that women are so simple / To offer war, where they should kneel for peace'—to frame his argument as a defense of traditional gender roles. The preface's language is deliberately inflammatory: women who seek equality are 'strenuous and ungenerous females' who 'crucify the male sex in sexual novels.' Harper repeatedly invokes Eve's 'primeval curse' as the origin of all human toil, a move that ties his contemporary critique to a theological foundation. He also employs sarcasm, as when he refers to the 'New Woman' as a 'pedagogue who shall teach the Child-Man how to toddle in the paths of virtue.' The preface's tone is consistent throughout: a mixture of mockery and moral outrage, aimed at discrediting the women's movement by associating it with irrationality and indecency.

The Duchess of Marlborough as a Case Study

The excerpt on Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, serves as a historical illustration of Harper's thesis. He presents her as a woman of 'scornful and imperious' beauty, whose temper 'enslaved her heroic lord.' The anecdote about her cutting off her hair to vex the Duke—and his silent preservation of it—is used to demonstrate female spite and male forbearance. Harper quotes Horace Walpole to reinforce the Duchess's character, and he details her quarrels with family and Queen Anne. The narrative is selective: it emphasizes her 'unquenchable hatred' and 'pugnacious' nature, while portraying the Duke as 'equable, calm, and reserved.' This contrast supports Harper's broader claim that women are 'irresponsible creatures who cannot reason.' The Duchess's eventual remorse—she 'fell a-crying' when telling the hair story—is presented as a belated recognition of her own folly, though Harper does not comment on whether this undermines his argument.

Diction and Satirical Voice

Harper's authorial voice is marked by a consistent use of satirical and dismissive diction. He describes women writers as 'Literary Ladies' in scare quotes, and their works as 'margarine masquerading as best fresh.' The phrase 'Holywell Street outdone' references a notorious London street known for pornographic books, implying that contemporary women's novels are equally obscene. Harper's tone is that of a polemicist who assumes his readers share his prejudices; he uses rhetorical questions ('can it be disputed that, as compared with Woman, Man is the moral creature?') to foreclose debate. His vocabulary is often hyperbolic: women are 'hysterical,' their arguments 'illogical,' and their ambitions 'absurd.' This diction is not merely descriptive but performative, aiming to provoke and persuade through emotional appeal rather than reasoned analysis. The preface's closing lines—'Woman is the irresponsible creature who cannot reason'—encapsulate the book's central claim.

Structure and Argumentative Strategy

The book's structure, as far as can be inferred from the excerpts, moves from a general theological argument in the preface to a specific historical example in the Duchess of Marlborough section. The preface establishes a framework of original sin and female irrationality, while the Duchess anecdote provides a concrete instance of these traits. Harper does not present counterarguments or acknowledge complexity; his method is to assert and illustrate. The transition from Eve to Sarah Churchill suggests a view of history as a series of female transgressions, each confirming the same pattern. The excerpts do not reveal how the book handles the 'present' and 'to come' promised in its subtitle, but the preface's focus on contemporary 'New Woman' literature indicates that Harper intends to apply his historical lessons to current debates. The book's argumentative strategy is thus cumulative: biblical authority, historical example, and contemporary critique reinforce one another.

Readers should approach Revolted Woman as a period piece that reveals the anxieties of the 1890s about changing gender roles. Harper's arguments are grounded in assumptions—about female irrationality, the primacy of Eve's sin, and the moral superiority of men—that are not supported by modern scholarship. The book's value lies in its vivid expression of a specific anti-feminist viewpoint, and in the rhetorical techniques it employs to make that case. Those interested in the history of gender debates will find it a revealing document, but it should be read critically, with attention to its biases and omissions.

I finished that old 1894 book, the one comparing the "New Woman" to Eve's supposed sin, and it left a strange worry in me, a sadness about how we frame rebellion. Yet a quieter thought arrived later, remembering how The Dawn of Day — Background and Themes treats our moralizing as something almost accidental, a shadow we cast on ourselves. It felt kinder, somehow.