Guest Speaker Bess Calhoun, "Aurora Leigh"

Background
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of twelve children, and her father forbade his children to marry. She was bedridden for most of her life (due to her nervous condition) until she eloped with Robert Browning, whom she met through an ongoing letter-correspondence.

Close-reading, Book II, 671-684
1. Aurora defends her choice by saying that she would be lying if she said "yes" to marrying Romney, and that it is God's will that she refuse his proposal. She also declares that she doesn't need money to nourish her soul; and marriage, in providing that monetary stability, is not necessarily important to her.

2. Aurora's use of God in this passage shows that it is not just her personal decision to refuse Romney; God has compelled her to do so. This thus gives her argument more weight and justifies her determination to tell the truth.

3. Aurora differentiates between her "soul's life" and her monetary life by saying "My soul is not a pauper; I can live/At least my soul's life, without alms from men" (681-682). Clearly, Aurora feels strongly about the nourishment of her soul and does not think that a monetary will allow for the growth and freedom of her soul. This also shows her desire to be independent from the financial contract offered by Romney, a contract which would not permit her to pursue the life (of poetry) that will feed her soul.

4. Aurora and her aunt have very differing notions of femininity. Aurora gravitates towards the wild femininity she perceives as the persona embodied by her Italian mother. Aurora's aunt declares that "You cannot eat or drink or stand or sit/Or even die...Without your cousin" (658-661). Obviously, she does not think Aurora can survive without Romney. She views Aurora's marriage to Romney as the epitome of femininity, while Aurora sees such an arrangement as severely limiting to her notion of independent femininity.

Notes 3/16: Aurora Leigh

Aurora Leigh...the third great epic poem? It is a growth story, a coming of age story--about a female poet.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
She published her first book of poetry when she was 22. She was so famous as a poet, that they considered making her Poet Laureate. Her father cloistered her; she became an invalid and developed a dependence on morphine. In 1845, she met Robert Browning (through a letter) and they kept up a secret correspondence. She and Robert eloped, lived in Italy, and were very radical in their beliefs and lifestyles. She and Robert loved each other to the end of her life, 15 years after they met.

Elizabeth's life is very different from the beginning of Aurora Leigh's life:
After her mother and father die, Aurora goes to live with her aunt (her father's sister). She differentiates between living in a worldly, "living and breathing" sense and living in a spiritual, more "real" sense. Aurora's father is older when he meets her mother in Italy. He is made uncommon, but doesn't take a step forward to cultivate his genius. When his wife dies, Aurora's father is totally bereft, and refocuses his love upon Aurora.

*What shapes our minds and makes us who we are?
We're shaped by our parents, the media, what we read, who we interact with, music. and everything around us...EBB is exploring this idea in her poem.

First Book:

"I have not so far left the coasts of life
To travel inland, that I cannot hear
That murmur of the outer Infinite
Which unweaned babies smile at in their sleep
When wondered at for smiling" (lines 10-14).

In these early lines, Aurora is talking about becoming acculturated, and that fact that infants can sense the divine and the infinite because they have not yet been shaped by culture. At this point in the poem, Aurora refers to her mother's understanding of such divine moments. In fact, her mother "could not bear the joy of giving life/The mother's rapture slew her" (34-35). Her mother was quite adoring, like Victor's mother, and Aurora searches for her mother's deep, unconditional love after her death. Aurora compares a mother's love to a father's love, saying that women know how to raise children, and have a way of making children feel completely loved. Every word a mother says to her children is meaningful, and she in turns understands every attempted word her child utters. This is how children are brought into language, acculturated into civilization. These words that a child learns tell her how to view the world, how to feel about the world. But instead of just saying that words are cutting (like knives), she instead says that words are beautiful, like corals.

Aurora Leigh, Book I

Describe Aurora:
In her first book, Aurora is a young girl, describing her life from birth up to her teenage years. She is obviously a very sensitive and perceptive girl, aware of how her mother's death would have affected her father and how his child-rearing skills were put to the test. Aurora marks her father's death as the end of her childhood; it is at this time that she goes to live with her brother's older sister. Aurora is extremely conscious of her new surroundings and of her new housemate. She sees her aunt as her complete opposite; Aurora, a wild and free fledgling, stands in stark contrast to the aunt who lives a caged-bird life. Aurora is thus keenly aware of the differences between herself and her aunt, and I think this propels her on her path of self-discovery. As she pores through various books, she discovers poetry--and Aurora, intuitive child that she is, is convinced that it is her own poetry-writing that pulls her back from despair and restores her to life.

Notes 3/6: The Lifted Veil, Ch. II

"Low spirits! That is the sort of phrase with which coarse, narrow natures like ours think to describe experience of which you can know no more than your horse know" (Latimer contemplating his brother Alfred, p.28). Latimer is assuming that he alone suffers, and that Alfred can never understand him because he believes that Alfred has absolutely no doubts, no fears. This perhaps is evidence that Latimer cannot read Alfred's mind--if he could read his mind, he would inevitably find at least some feelings of doubt. Latimer doesn't really even seem to know his brother at all, and Latimer wants nothing to do with him. There has to be something more to Alfred than Latimer thinks he knows; Latimer can't even predict his brother's death, predicting instead that he would only be prevented from Bertha if he found a better woman.

Bertha's marriage philosophy is very cynical. She says that loving the person you marry is problematic because you will always be jealous and it is much more elegant to marry someone you don't care about. When Bertha says this, Latimer tells her "Bertha, that is not your real feeling. Why do you delight in trying to deceive me by inventing such cynical speeches?" (6). Latimer is easily deceived because he already spends so much tome inviting his own ideas and placing them onto others.

Here's a theory: Latimer is not clairvoyant, he can't tell what people think. Instead, he is just really good at projecting his own thoughts and feelings upon others. It may be impossible not to project on someone you really love. Perhaps you need that assurance that that person is who you think. But then do you love the person or what you have made of the person? In Latimer's case, it seems that Latimer does not love Bertha for who she is (a cynical girl who does not care about him) but instead he loves the Bertha he has made through his projections--he absolutely adores his creation. Later, when he no longer loves Bertha, he projects different feelings onto her--demonizing feelings of hatred and disgust.

Interior Thoughts...and The Lifted Veil

picture of women on couch (and her stream of consciousness):
I wonder how this dress makes me look. I hope it doesn't show any of the gross side bulge I've been going to the gym to get rid of because those workouts are hard, excruciating actually, yes but they are worth it, I'm not fat, I have no bulges, I am beautiful I am beautiful Am I beautiful? Tell me I'm beautiful.

Can Latimer read people's minds, or is he doing what we all do (in assuming what people say)??
Latimer is perhaps just extremely imaginative and able to come up with people's "thoughts" by their body language and facial cues. Latimer, of course, unquestioningly believes in the accuracy and authenticity of his visions. Evidence for such power comes from his vision of Prague and his subsequent visit to the city (where he confirmed his belief). He also guessed his brother's speech before he made it, and saw the vision of Bertha before he met her. And yet, Latimer could just have easily seen a painting of Prague, for example.

But why can't Latimer read Bertha's mind?
Knowing what Bertha was thinking would take the fun out of the romance (at least for Latimer). He can instead project his own desires and thoughts onto Bertha; she becomes what he wants her to be. He sees her as pretending to love Alfred while she secretly loves Latimer. Latimer craves her love; he worships her. The hold that Bertha has over him comes from the tyrannical power she has over him.He sees her as having a deeply cynical soul, and that something is going to move her--and it is going to be him. Obtaining Bertha's love would be like winning a colossal struggle.
Perhaps this strong desire for Bertha comes from the distance that has been established between Latimer and his late mother.

How does Latimer feel about himself?
He thinks he is an amazing person: "I am cursed with an exceptional mental character" (7). Clearly, Latimer feel himself to be governed by a fate that has been set before him, a fate this governed by his own intellect. He regards himself as an emotional poet in that he does not write, but has the same sensibilities as a poet. He doesn't trust anyone else; he feels alone and confined to his own wretched misery.

Like Latimer, Like Victor

Does Latimer resemble Victor?
Poor Latimer, poor Victor: I think that Latimer definitely resembles Victor in the way that he suffers terribly. The difference comes from the origin of their suffering--for Victor, it is self-inflicted, while Latimer cannot control his ability to see into people's souls. Nonetheless, the two men share similar childhoods--both were brought up without financial restrictions upon their various travel and educational opportunities, and both were deeply affected by the loss of a mother. The pain that he man has gone through is elevated to the point that each desires the welcome escape offered by death. Another interesting resemblance between these two men is the use of the word "wretched" to describe their characters and situations. Latimer considers his clairvoyant knowledge to be "wretched" and sees the end of his life as being in a constant state of "wretchedness" (20, 36). Clearly, Victor and Latimer are figures whose lives have been wracked with, and will never be free from, torment.

Hero Machine Experiment

"Clerval the Caretaker"
I decided to make "Clerval the Caretaker." He is a loyal and faithful friend to Victor, and is always ready to support him in his worst moments. Since Clerval is an ever-ready caretaker for Victor, I have depicted him as a concerned, nurse-like figure. Covering his right hand is a yellow glove, symbolic of the type of sanitary attire a nurse might wear. On his other hand rests a snake, the animal figure associated with medicine. The cross around his neck is representative of the selfless love that Clerval gives to Victor, and the sacrifices he makes to ensure his friend's well-being. The sword across Clerval's back emphasizes his readiness to to defend and take care of Victor. Finally, the leaves in the background show the sense of peace that accompanies Clerval; Victor regards him as a comforting aspect of his life, as calming as the Spring-like leaves that surround him.

End of Frankenstein:
At the end of the novel, Victor is adamant that Walton should not increase his own miseries by following the path the Victor took. And at the same time, Victor is contradictory in that he tries to persuade the men into heroic sacrifice. He is able to recognize his own past mistakes, but he does not seem able to fully understand his mistakes to the point that he does not repeat them; he even encourages others to sacrifice their lives and loved ones just as he did.

Is this full blown heroism? Perhaps Victor is a hero; and that the desires that motivate heroism are NOT heroic. Maybe the secret behind heroism is that it is a way to escape intimacy and vulnerability with those whom you love.