Women Alone: The Alienated Protagonist in Ella Hepworth Dixon's The Story of a Modern Woman and Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out

in Ella Hepworth Dixon's The Story of a Modern Woman

and

Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out

M.A. Thesis

Literary Studies: Literature and Culture

By:

Courtney Yao

Table of Contents

Introduction ... 2 Chapter 1: Gender Relations: Love and the Marriage Question ... 10 Chapter 2 : Financial, Intellectual, and Artistic Independence: The Fundamental Role of Female

Relationships ... 24

Chapter 3 : Physical Spaces: Mary and Rachel's Selfhood, Artistic Development, and Separation

From Society, Represented By Their Creative Spaces ... 39

Conclusion ... 46 Works Cited ... 49

INTRODUCTION

The alienated protagonist is often readily labelled as being a defining feature of literary Modernism. Susan Stanford Friedman claims Modernism to be “the embrace of chaos. It is the crisis of representation, fragmentation, alienation.” (Friedman, 2001, p. 494). This paper argues that the New Woman novel of fin de siecle Victorian literature creates a characterization of the female that the Modernist author Virginia Woolf uses as a mold in the depiction of the alienated female in her 1915 debut novel The Voyage Out. Woolf's novel centres around a young woman who experiences emotional pain and marginalization, combined with a lack of personal agency, as a result of her reluctance to conform to the traditional gender roles of mainstream society. The rejection of the gender norms of mainstream society is the cause of Rachel's alienation from the rest of the world. In an attempt to engage with society outside of herself to quell her loneliness and achieve a sense of fulfilment through connection to others, Rachel embarks on a journey of self discovery that ends in tragedy. Ella

Hepworth Dixon's portrayal of Mary Erle in her novel The Story of a Modern Woman (1894)

anticipates Woolf's characterization of protagonist Rachel Vinrace in the novel The Voyage Out (1915), the depiction of a woman's coming of age that points to the development and persistence of the female voice in Modernism.

Woolf's portrayal of Rachel illustrates the continuation and progression of the discussion of female engagement with, and struggle against, the changing concerns for women against a cultural backdrop of social change. The bourgeoning awareness of the feminist consciousness introduced by Dixon's text exists in Woolf's work, as evidenced by the fact that throughout the novel, Rachel is engaged in an ongoing struggle to discover who she is as an artist and as a person, without giving much consideration to gender expectations. Both novels have female agency and alienation as central

themes, and the protagonist in each of the works experiences intense emotional turmoil and loneliness as a result of being confronted with the reality of the results of attempting to live an independent life.

There exist a few prominent themes one finds within the New Woman novel that contribute to the protagonist's alienation that are echoed in Woolf's text that figure greatly in creating commonalities in the characterizations of Mary and Rachel as alienated protagonists who struggle for agency. Both Mary and Rachel attempt to circumvent conventional routes to marriage and maternity, though each desires a love relationship. The suitors of each women, and indeed virtually all of the men with whom Mary and Rachel come into contact, attempt, with varying levels of success, to assume an instructive and authoritative role in their lives. Likewise, the other females with whom the two central characters form relationships both encourage and impede the protagonists' freedom of thought and action by exerting control or at least undue influence over them, by attempting to teach them the correct way to be the kind of woman of which others can approve. Mary and Rachel are each inclined towards a certain kind of independence of thought and personal freedom, but as a result of being thrust into situations not of their own choosing, and under the weight of the pressures of social convention, both women experience the stress and ill effects of trying to realize a life for themselves which is at odds with the dictates of prescribed gender roles for women within the mainstream Victorian tradition. The strain put upon Mary and Rachel as a result of this alienation leads each woman to experience

emotional discomfort.loneliness and distress, and to ultimately be unable to live their lives according to their own plans. The themes of female alienation and agency feature prominently in Dixon's The Story

of a Modern Woman. Alienation and agency and the social factors that contribute to each are also

explored and vividly illustrated in The Voyage Out. The characterization Rachel Vinrace, the

protagonist of Woolf's novel struggles against the same patriarchal and social forces as does Dixon's protagonist Mary Erle before her, and both women suffer the pain of alienation from a society of which they do not feel a part. Dixon's work, and her depiction of protagonist Mary Erle, illustrates how the New Woman novel serves as connector between Victorianism and Modernism with particular respect to its representation of the alienated female protagonist. In the desire for periodization of texts in the

literary canon, the connection between the two literary eras seems to me to be often overlooked, but in my examination of Dixon and Woolf's novels, I found there to be a strong continuity between the late-Victorian New Woman text and the Modernist work. I found the linkages between the novels to be most prominently visible when comparing the female characters of each text, both central and

peripheral. Among the protagonists particularly, there exist many marked similarities in their feelings, experiences and life circumstances. Mary and Rachel in many ways live parallel existences marred by alienation and a lack of personal agency that result in confusion and pain.

Dixon's New Woman novel of the end of the nineteenth century is distinct from much earlier literature of the Victorian period, due to its focus on the female who suffers from living under the pressure of the confines of Victorian traditionalism and expectations surrounding the role of women, but who lives in such a way as to subvert these conventions by attempting to obtain autonomy in as many areas of her life as possible. The New Woman novel responds to the “marriage plot” novels, (such as the works of Jane Austen, which are referenced in Woolf's novel and hated by protagonist Rachel) by featuring a more independent female protagonist who does not rely on a man for financial security, intellectual guidance, or romantic connection, but often at the expense of emotional

fulfillment. The women of these novels “ certainly perceive that they are on the brink of a coming “new order.” Yet they know that solidarity between women and the refusal of “intercourse with me, while promising professional freedoms, too often results in personal isolation.” (Williams, 2002, p. 272). The New Woman is a female who is exerting her freedom to discover her own mind and tries to live

according to her own design.

Dixon's Mary embodies this New Woman in every respect but for her original motivation for becoming a New Woman. The death of her father places Mary in the position of having to inhabit the

role of the New Woman by necessity. Over the course of the novel, as Mary matures into an

independent being with a respect and appreciation for the ideology behind the New Woman label, she is able to take up her new identity proudly and to strongly represent the tenets of independence, female solidarity, and commitment to one's artistry. Woolf's early Modernist novel addresses some of the themes around gender relations that are present in Dixon's text, and it functions similarly to its predecessor as a bildugsroman of a young woman attempting to steer her own course in life. Though not yet displaying the Modernist innovations such as stream of consciousness, the emphasis on the psychological aspect of the protagonist and leaning toward a realist depiction of the difficulties that Rachel faces as a woman who exists in a world in which she does not quite fit, are indicators that identify The Voyage Out as a modernist text. It is quite worth noting that New Woman writing was indeed the literature of Virginia Woolf's coming of age. Perhaps this exposure to the previous tradition of New Woman writing exerted some influence over Woolf's own writing and contributions to the continuation of New Woman ideology, and thematic concerns with alienation and personal agency within the framework of Modernism. Scholarly publications such as Jane Eldridge Miller's Rebel

Women and several texts by Ann Ardis, most notably her work New Women, New Novels support the

notion that a strong link exists between the late-Victorian and the Modernist period that is marked by the New Woman novel. Literature by Ann Heilmann also highlights the relationship between New Womanism and the female presence in the early Modernist Literature, and it is these three critics whose work lays the foundation for the examination of the connections between the characterization of the protagonists in Dixon and Woolf's novels. I will engage with these critics in my discussion of the female characters within the two novels, and illustrate the links that are present with regard to the struggles and concerns of the alienated women at the centre of each work. Each Miller, Ardis, and Heilmann, among others, explore the ways in which literary modernism arises from the concerns of New Woman fiction. Such criticism uncovers the linkages between the two literary periods, and

highlights the ways in which there exists a continuity of themes regarding marriage and motherhood, financial and intellectual independence and loneliness and separation from others as a result of failing to conform to societal expectations. The critical texts that trace the link between writings of the two periods provide insight into the major concerns of New Woman writing and the influence of the social and cultural context of the time, and how the feminist perspective and focus on the concepts of

alienation and discontent helped to shape the Modernist texts that continue the fin de siecle tradition. As the intellectualism and desire for independence from the confines of Victorian traditionalism embodied by the New Woman began to find a voice, and challenges to many conventional ideas of femininity began to emerge, the over-arching Victorian ideal of femininity came under pressure. Fin

de siecle literature such as Dixon's Story of a Modern Woman illuminates the divide between the New

Woman of the Victorian era who embodies the desire for increased freedoms and women's potential for progress in the professional arena, and the limits placed on the New Woman by those who wished to see traditional gender roles maintained in a male-dominated society. Dixon's novel reads like a reaction to the imminent social changes that were perceived by traditionalists to be affronts to masculinity rather than as steps on the way to women's liberation. The novel seems to be pushing back against those who lamented the intellectual, social, and physical freedoms opening up for the females of the time. The proliferation of the New Woman representation of modern women in the intellectual sphere with aspirations of independence and agency in all areas of their lives, suggests that the concept and depiction of a New Woman ideal were celebrated by supporters of social change. The New Woman figure of the female rallying against the traditional views of “good” women during the late-nineteenth century, as depicted by Hepworth Dixon in protagonist Mary Erle, thus becomes an illustration that reflects the contemporary debate on gender politics. The image of the New Woman is a commentary on Victorian society's reaction to the threat of the impact of social progress for women on Victorian traditions, and the result of the ways in which society was able to marginalize women who did not

conform to a conventional image of femininity. Woolf's Rachel Vinrace likewise deals with the societal pressure to adhere to the ascribed gender norms of mainstream society, and though Woolf paints the protagonist's struggle against tradition and her resulting feelings of alienation in tones that are more subtle than is Hepworth Dixon's rendering of Mary, the conflicts they face as women are markedly similar.

The comparison of the female characters, principally Mary Erle and Rachel Vinrace, in the texts by Dixon and Woolf, and recognition of the major thematic linkage around the subject of alienation, and the examination of the inner life of the female protagonists is keenly relevant to the discussion of the emergence and development of a new kind of female voice in Literature; a new way of portraying women outside of the confines of the traditional ideal that persisted into the late-Victorian literary period, and representing them as thinking beings of independent spirit and a desire to control their own fate and find a place in the world that she can call her own. The call to attention to the progressive change in the characterization of the female is thus inextricably intertwined with an invitation to examine the overlooked connection between the Victorian and the Modernist periods. The enduring themes of female agency and alienation that found expression in New Woman writing such as Dixon's depiction of Mary Erle had profound and manifest influence on the Modernist portrayal of Woolf's Rachel Vinrace, a character who is born out of the late-Victorian tradition rather than the autonomous imagination of the Modern period. The characterization of Dixon's Mary that inspires Woolf's Rachel shows the progression of the life of the New Woman along a continuum that continues to inform discourse on the portrayal of women in Literature, and its enduring impact on society, culture, and a greater understanding of the feminine consciousness. Both novels, however, expose a bleak view of the results of the protagonists' respective realizations of independence. Mary's ultimate disappointment in her situation by the end of The Story of a Modern Woman and Rachel's untimely death that concludes

of societal convention yields dire consequences, rather than inciting a celebration of change and progress. Though the results of each protagonist's attempt at autonomy and individualism ends in failure, Both The Story of a Modern Woman and The Voyage Out conduct an examination of the inner life of the protagonist in an attempt at revealing the sources of her alienation from the world in which she lives. The emphasis in both of the novels is on the inner lives of Rachel and Mary, the actions they take, and the relationships they each develop with men, women, their space, and themselves as they attempt to establish themselves as independent women. The artistic and personal development of the female protagonists, and the contributing factors to the alienation and agency of each are the major considerations in the understanding of the literary representation of the female character in both Victorian and Modernist Literature.

Over the three chapters of this paper, I will draw and discuss the parallels between New Woman protagonist Mary and Modernist protagonist Rachel, largely within the framework of New Woman criticism, and noting how the commentary both directly applies to Dixon's work and how the concepts likewise extend to a discussion of Woolf's novel. Chapter one will be an examination of Mary and Rachel's views on love and marriage, their relationships with the men in their lives and the shift in the approach to these topics from the late-Victorian to the early-Modern literary era. In chapter two I will discuss the various relationships that Mary and Rachel have with the women in their lives, how these associations parallel each other, and the benefit of female support on the personal agency and

development of the protagonists. Finally, chapter three will introduce and examine the concept of space, and how the areas in which Mary and Rachel live and work serve as both a representation of themselves and their artistry, as well as the separation of the women from the mainstream society that fails to understand them. The main goal of my research is to show the ways in which Ella Hepworth Dixon's New Woman novel The Story of a Modern Woman started help to start a new discussion of femininity and portrayals of women outside of mainstream Victorian convention, which paved the way

for Virginia Woolf to continue the conversation about women, their alienation and their agency, in her Modernist novel The Voyage Out.

CHAPTER 1: GENDER RELATIONS: Love and the Marriage Question

The discussion of gender relations figures prominently in of both Dixon and Woolf's novels, and Mary and Rachel's relationships with the various men with whom they come into contact are at the forefront of each of the narratives. Mary and Rachel's romantic entanglements with Vincent Hemming and Terence Hewet, respectively, and the women's feelings and actions within the development of these relationships, illustrate the ways in which each of the protagonists operates outside the realm of

Victorian tradition with regard to expectations of feminine thought and behaviour towards the prospect of love and marriage. Both Mary and Rachel come to desire the love of a man, but also live under the realization that marriage will impinge on their sense of personal freedom and further reduce their agency as women who have artistic interests that extend beyond the confines of the conventional roles of marriage and motherhood.

Dixon's The Story of a Modern Woman and Woolf's The Voyage Out each use the

characterization of protagonists Mary and Rachel to explore the implications of the lifestyle choice to remain as an unmarried woman and how the subversion, in the case of Rachel, or utter rejection, in Mary's narrative, of the traditional path to love and marriage sets each of the women apart from the norm in the Victorian perspective. In each of the novels, the respective protagonists, Mary and Rachel, are thrust into situations not of the their own choosing, but owing to patriarchal nature of the society in which they live, and the ensuing circumstances result in each female's coming of age into the role of an alienated woman who largely lacks agency over many aspects of her life. In Mary's case, the death of her father propels her toward a path of independence, while Rachel's father makes the decision to allow Rachel's aunt, Helen, to undertake his daughter's education into womanhood and worldliness, as he feels that Rachel has begun to develop into a woman of modern sensibilities that do not fall in line with his traditional view of what a woman should be, owing to her comfort in solitude and her artistic

aspirations. While both of these developments at first seem to be positive steps towards both Mary and Rachel's evolution into independent women, it is later proven that the trajectory of their lives as

determined by their fathers, in a reflection of the patriarchal control of Victorian society, leads each of the women to difficulty, loneliness, and tragedy as they rebel against the expectations, not only of male-dominated society, but of the men in their lives who take it upon themselves to assume an

instructive and superior role over the women. Neither Mary nor Rachel are active feminists in the strict sense of declaring their political leanings or engaging in overt activism, but are each representative of the major aspect of the New Woman ideology that espouses independence of spirt that manifests in all areas of the autonomous woman's life, the impact of which perhaps most notably affects decisions on love and marriage.

Dixon's New Woman Mary embodies female independence and tackles the issues

of sexuality and marriage within the feminist consciousness more radically and with greater vigour than does Woolf's Rachel, but the alienation and emotional conflict and confusion that each protagonist experiences as a result of her preference for independence is evident within the narrative of both central characters, whose happiness is presented as reward that hinges on a choice between conforming to the role of what a woman should be under the instruction of the men in their lives, or forgoing sexual and emotional fulfillment in favour of following a non-traditional path towards living life on their own terms.

After the death of her father, Mary Erle's sheltered life as a comfortable, middle-class girl ends: “when the servant went up to call him, the professor had been dead some hours...the child who had played, the girl who had danced, died too” (Dixon, p. 69). Mary is then faced with the task of building a life of security on her own as a single woman in her early-twenties. When her long time family friend Vincent Hemming professes his love for her and proposes marriage, Mary is offered a way out from a life of financial instability and spinsterhood, but she immediately also comes to realize that a

marriage to Hemming comes at the expense of all the freedoms that are in place before her as a woman with no familial burdens or matrimonial responsibilities: “For good, for evil, the girl knew that she was giving herself up to this man...All the tragic potentialities of a woman's life, the uncertainties and sorrows of her who gives her happiness to another's keeping, flashed before her.” (Dixon, p. 81-82). Mary's hesitation towards embracing the possibility of a married life with a man she loves is

illustrative of how the “marriage question” that was central to earlier Victorian literature and a topic of feminist discussion at the end of the nineteenth century, began to morph into the “marriage problem” within the New Woman novel. According to Jane Eldridge Miller, “the Marriage Question was the central issue in 1890s feminism, and as a result, marriage retained its traditional centrality in the New Woman novel, even while novelists were striving to challenge it” (Miller, p. 19). Mary's conflict over the proposed marriage to Hemming indeed serves as a challenge to the convention of the marriage plot of Victorian literature, wherein the female characters achieve a happy ending to their stories by

securing a husband who will love and care for them.

Mary's attitude toward marriage and her visceral reaction of shock and disappointment in to Hemming's proposal present a major source of emotional and psychological conflict between her feelings of love for the man and the expectations about her potential new role as a wife, and her desire to maintain a sense of autonomy and control over her own life: “ It was so different now. She belonged to this man...Why had he spoken? Could it not be as it was?... During that embrace she thought of nothing except that she was sure that she had always cared for him...to her surprise, she was conscious that two large, salt tears were coursing their way down her dusty cheeks.” (Dixon, p. 83). Hemming later spurns Mary in favour of marrying for political gain rather than love. When he returns to her five years into an unhappy marriage, and begs her to run away with him and be his mistress, Mary once again is torn between her desire to be with him, and the knowledge that she must make a choice

her independent life in London rather than move to Paris with Hemming to be his mistress, Mary solidifies her exclusion from the realm of traditional womanhood that centres around love and marriage. Mary believes she must choose between being true to herself and loyal to her feminine sisters, (who include her would-be lover's wife; Mary refuses to betray the woman by becoming Hemming's mistress), and so Mary is ultimately left to live a life devoid of romantic love once she decides to forgo Hemming's offer. In Galia Ofek's view, “Dixon's fiction tends to present princes as eminently eligible, if disappointing and unreliable. Love is possible and socially sanctioned, but presented as an unattractive option.” (Ofek, p. 27). While I largely agree with Ofek's estimation of the characterization of the male here, particularly as it applies to Vincent Hemming, who, in casting Mary aside to marry the daughter of his professional superior so that he may climb the political ladder, proves himself to be perfidious and opportunistic; wholly unlike the “prince” that proposed to rescue Mary from a life of solitude and discomfort. I would argue that it is marriage, and not love, that is seen as the undesirable element. Perry Jackson, Mary's artist friend and a supporter of her art, offers her a life of security and affection, and though to accept him would allow for a respite from her solitary existence and an ease of her burdens, Mary will not commit herself to a man she does not love, even though he is honourable, and solid of character, because even in her heartache, she still believes herself to be in love with Hemming, though she is disenchanted with him as a man:

“He was weak, vacillating; his phrases were absurd. His ambitions, after all, were but vulgar ones, and he had not the will-power to carry out even his most cherished plans. He was all that, and yet he was the only man in the world that she loved. The only man in the world, now, who desired her as a woman. And yet she must walk on, get as far away from him as possible.”

Ofek's assertion that “ New Woman fiction is generally not preoccupied with transgressive or forbidden desires as much as with the failure of conventional romance” (Ofek, p. 27) does, however, ring true in the narrative of Mary Erle. Mary eschews a life with the man she loves in favour of maintaining her identity as a principled, independent woman and professional writer, at the expense of her personal happiness, and willfully proceeds towards toward a life lived in a continued state of alienation from the traditional mainstream of Victorian society. The result of Mary's choice to live and work as a single woman is an existence marred by loneliness and isolation from the world inhabited by those who have chosen to follow the traditional path of living within the confines of a married life.

In her examination of the “Bachelor Girl” figure under the broader umbrella definition of the New Woman, with respect to her singleness and its relationship to both her sexuality and sense of belonging, Emma Liggins discusses the implications of the New Woman's choice to remain unmarried. In many ways, Mary fits into this category, in following with Liggins' assertion that “the labelling of bachelor girls...indicated the new associations of singleness with Bohemianism, professional work, access to higher education, ladies' clubs and new living spaces for women in the city.” (Liggins, p.99). In the following chapters I will discuss some ideas about the ways in which the seemingly positive aspects of the life of the Bachelor Girl apply to New Woman Mary, and her Modernist counterpart Rachel, with specific attention to how work, education (and other artistic pursuits), and space contribute to the characterization of each as an alienated figure. While I do agree with Liggins that Mary most aptly fills the criteria of the label of “Bachelor Girl”, as she maintains about herself many aspects of the bachelor girl persona, the way in which she does not neatly fit into the mold is with respect to the way in which she expresses herself as a sexual being; or rather, how she is unable to realize herself in this role. Liggins maintains that “to recast the old maid as a fun-loving bachelor girl was to bestow an alternative more transgressive identity to the spinster, thought the public persona of

the bachelor girl was also negatively associated with extra-marital sexuality and unsexing...Bachelor girls were threatening for being both unloveable and overly sexual.” (Liggins, p. 102-103). Mary's morality and commitment to the New Woman concept of being part of a protective sisterhood of women, compels her to shy away from expressing her sexual desire towards Hemming, and thus precludes the application of this component of Liggins' definition.

In response to Hemming's offer of eloping together to Paris, Mary refuses him, citing her aversion to causing harm to another woman, even at the expense of her chance at romantic fulfilment: “ It isn't that I don't love you. I have always loved you---but it's the other woman—your wife. I can't, I won't, injure another woman.” (Dixon, p. 184). Mary's rejection of Hemming on account of her loyalty to his wife as a fellow female, however, serves to further estrange her from the possibility of love and connection, and her conviction to New Woman ideology thus prevents her from obtaining happiness with the object of her affection. I will return to the concept of female loyalty in Chapter 2, which will examine the relationships between the women in both novels by Dixon and Woof. The associations between the female characters in each of the novels exist as largely parallel elements of the two texts. The portrayal of the relationships each protagonist has with the females in her life emphasizes the theme of sisterhood as introduced by the New Woman ideology, a motif illustrated most strongly in the narrative of Mary Erle.

Adrienne Gavin and Carolyn de la L. Oulton's critique on Liggins' assessment of the Bachelor Girl is quite accurate in its claim that while the the positive aspects of the single lifestyle of the New Woman are highlighted by such a characterization, “at the same time, Liggins' shows, this independent single life for women was sometimes linked with disillusionment, financial strain, or declining health.” (Gavin & de la L. Oulton, p. 9). Dixon's Mary Erle represents both sides of the Bachelor Girl figure, but particular attention is brought the negative aspects of her life as a single woman insofar as the disenchantment with her situation causes her to eventually become completely alienated from the

mainstream of traditional Victorian “pure” womanhood. By at first reluctantly, but later willingly, stepping away from the norms of the society in which she has been raised, in order to maintain an independent life that is likewise true to her ideals, Mary becomes separated from love and resigns herself to a life virtually devoid of connection.

The theme of interpersonal connection through love and marriage is likewise present as

principal element of Virginia Woolf's narrative about Rachel Vinrace. Rachel's opposition to the threat against her autonomy, however, is much less emphatic than is Mary's, as Woolf's protagonist believes, though rather in error, that she may have love without sacrificing her independence of thought, and the possibilities of learning and artistic exploration. The extension of the idea of the morphing of the “marriage question” into the “marriage problem” is evident in the progression of the approach to the idea of marriage from the New Woman on to the Modernist novel. Dixon's narrative addresses the idea of the marriage question and the necessity of making a choice between marriage and personal agency and freedom, while Woolf deals with the idea that marriage is not the only solution to happiness through the story of the artistically minded Rachel, who seems almost less free in her thinking than does New Woman Mary, but who likewise attempts to emancipate herself from the confines of traditional womanhood, as, like Mary, she is compelled to follow a path towards fulfilling her artistic ambition and aspirations outside marriage. Rachel attempts to achieve happiness with the man she loves, and though she nearly succeeds in obtaining a life that includes marriage without sacrificing the commitment to her art and independence of thought that make up her person, this ultimately proves impossible, as Rachel dies in the pursuit of this elusive ideal.

Rachel Vinrace's alienation, like Mary's, stems from the ways in which her character does not conform to the mold of what a woman should be within the scope of the idealized Victorian tradition. Rachel's resistance to, and rebellion against, conventionality is conveyed in substantially quieter and in somewhat more abstract terms than is Mary's, though the protagonist of the Modernist novel shares

many marked similarities to the New Woman figure of Mary, particularly with respect to her staunch independence and aversion to relinquishing her personal freedom in exchange for the satisfaction of the security of marriage, though she later comes to desire the love of a man who sees her as is equal. Like Mary, Rachel is not in control of her destiny at the beginning of The Voyage Out, as her father makes the determination that his daughter is indeed in need of guidance from her aunt, Helen, who offers to instruct her in the ways of a proper woman in the tradition of the expectations of Victorian society. In accepting Helen's offer to educate Rachel about womanhood, Willougby Vinrace responds with a thinly-veiled critique of his daughter's independent nature, while simultaneously revealing the benefit it would have to his political aspirations if Rachel were to act in accordance with the traditional feminine role:

“ “I want to bring her up as her mother would have wished. I don't hold with these modern views—any more than you do, eh? She's a nice quiet girl, devoted to her music—a little less of

that would do no harm ... I should want Rachel to take more part in things...I'm beginning to

realise ... that all this is tending to Parliament, Helen...In that case, of course, I should want Rachel to be able to take more part in things. A certain amount of entertaining would be necessary ... In all these ways, Rachel could be of great help to me. So ... I should be very glad ... if you could see your way to helping my girl, bringing her out—she's a little shy now-- making a woman of her, the kind of woman her mother would have liked her to be” ”

(Woolf, 1915, p. 214).

Another similarity to Mary Erle's story, the fact that Mary's father's death is the catalyst for her growth into a New Woman, it is Rachel's father who is the determining force by which Rachel is thrust into self-discovery. As Rachel develops into a more mature version of herself, however, she clings less furiously to her autonomy than does her New Woman predecessor. The issues surrounding her desire

for, and attempt to attain, independence on her own terms--even within the borders of marriage--are much the same as the ones Mary faces, and Rachel ultimately reaches an even more tragic conclusion than does Mary. For Rachel, it is an ending that is perhaps symbolic of the consequences of rebelling against the force of societal expectation for women as determined by late-Victorian society (that extended into the Edwardian era of the very early Modernist novel by Woolf), and more likely a representation of the loss of Rachel's selfhood as she exchanges her art for a married life.

Rachel is viewed as an oddly naive young woman, particularly through the eyes of her mentor in feminine propriety, her aunt Helen. Rachel's extreme naivete is owed to her lack of formal

education, and she presents herself in the absence of mannerly polish or awareness of social

convention, most notably in her relations with and reactions to men, particularly Richard Dalloway (Woolf, 1915, p. 194-199). The fact that she seems to exist within a self-contained sphere where she is satisfied to read at her leisure and to pursue her love of playing the piano serves to amplify the

portrayal of Rachel as a strange, unconventional creature. Prior to falling in love with Terence Hewet, it simply does not occur to Rachel that marriage is the avenue by which she will find satisfaction in her life. In a conversation with Clarissa Dalloway (Woolf, p.191-192), Rachel is quite direct in her

declaration that she does not intend to marry, and that she does not understand why people choose to do so, though the young woman does acknowledge that she is lonely and unsure of what it is she is

looking for to assuage the feeling. The opinion Rachel holds of marriage early on in The Voyage Out could be seen ostensibly as owing to the sheltered life lived by the protagonist up to that point, and the naivete she possesses as a result of her lack of exposure to life outside of her father's ship, it also serves as a commentary on and continuation of the Marriage Question that The Story of a Modern Woman addresses in its characterization of Mary, who must choose between either marriage or autonomy, and subsequently is framed by Woolf in The Voyage Out as the Marriage Problem in the representation of Rachel,who comes to believe she can have marriage and personal agency.

The link between the concerns of the subject of marriage in Dixon's New Woman novel and Woolf's early Modernist work signals a pivotal linkage and continuation of themes between the two literary traditions. Jane Eldridge Miller remarks that “What had initially been designated the Marriage Question in the 1890s , came to be perceived during the Edwardian era as the Marriage Problem. The majority of Edwardian women did expect and desire to marry, but they were doing so later in life and with more personal volition than women in the nineteenth century...for many, the marriage problem was that marriage could no longer be viewed as a paradigm of harmony and happiness, or even as a necessary component of a fulfilled life.” (Miller, p. 40-41). I find this assessment particularly

applicable to the comparison of The Story of a Modern Woman and The Voyage Out. It is important to note that Woolf's novel was written on the cusp of the Edwardian literary era and that of early

Modernism, but I believe The Voyage Out out to be classified as a Modernist text, due in large part to the focus on the inner life and perspective of protagonist Rachel (which is much more clearly evident towards the end of the text), though the work is clearly influenced by the concerns of Edwardian literature that also owes much consideration to the Victorian period.

The reference to the work of Jane Austen and Mrs. Dalloway’s gift to Rachel Austen's book

Persuasion is symbolic of the Victorian convention of the Marriage Plot; Rachel's aversion to such

ideas and her professed dislike of Austen's work is illustrative of the polarity of the stance of the two women on the Marriage Plot versus the Marriage Problem. The exchange between Clarissa and Rachel about Austen further strengthens the representation of Rachel as a kind of modern New Woman. The protagonist of the Modernist novel is rallying against the same conventions as did her predecessor Mary, in an attempt to assert her own views, though they may be unpopular, and mark her as an outsider from the “polite” patriarchal society, still steeped in Victorian traditionalism, that does not share or endorse her opinion on the value, or lack thereof, of marriage:

“ “Jane Austen? I don't like Jane Austen,” said Rachel.

“You monster!” Clarissa exclaimed. “I can only just forgive you. Tell me why?” “She's so—so—well, so like a tight plait,” Rachel floundered.

“Ah—I see what you mean. But I don't agree. And you won't when you're older.” ”

( Woolf, p, 190)

The “tight plait” with which Rachel compares Austen seems to be a comment on the restrictiveness of mainstream Victorian society's mores regarding marriage, with which the artistically minded

protagonist Rachel is uncomfortable. Clarissa is in disbelief at Rachel's rejection of Austen's literature, which stands as a metonymy for marriage as the ultimate goal of a Victorian woman's happiness. The older woman's assurance to Rachel that the younger woman will better appreciate Austen's message when she is older (and likely married), highlights the difference between the antiquated views of traditional society and that of the modern woman who has much more in common with the radical New Woman who values independence in all areas of her life. Up until she becomes engaged to Terence He wet, Rachel, like Mary, is very much a solitary figure in the mold of Dixon's Bachelor Girl Mary. In conversation with Rachel about marriage and Clarissa assures her that the right man will inspire a desire in the younger woman to marry, and that such a happy union as the Dalloway’s is the solution to the younger woman's loneliness, something that Rachel seems to find an impossibly unrealistic

proposition.

Clarissa states to Rachel that the reason that her husband brings her so much happiness as a wife is because he is “a man and a woman as well...What one wants in the person one lives with is that they should keep one at one's best” (Woolf, p. 192). Clarissa's description of what she sees as the ideal husband calls to mind the New Man figure of Dixon's New Woman novel, Perry Jackson, who functions as a male complement to New Woman Mary; he offers marriage in the spirit of love,

partnership, and support rather than with the expectation of ownership and obedience. Mrs. Dalloway believes her husband Richard to be such a man, of love and of loyalty, but his untrustworthy nature, echoing that of Mary' Erle's suitor Hemming, reveals itself in his inappropriate behaviour toward Rachel, when during a moment alone with her, the married man kisses the young girl. (p. 205). Rachel later falls in love with fellow traveler Terence Hewet, who, in many aspects, fulfills the role of the New Man figure. The presence of the parallel figures of Hemming and Dalloway, and Jackson and Hewet in the representations of the male in the New Woman text and the Modernist novel emphasize the notion of a continuation of the discussion of gender issues and the limited options of women with respect to potential partnerships.

When Terence realizes and professes his love for Rachel, she believes that he speaks in the spirit of the New Man who is sincere in his love and pure in his intention to make her his wife without asking for her to give up herself in return:

“ “ I'm going to tell you what I ought to have told you before in the first place, I've never been in love with other women, but I've had other women. Then I've great faults...You've got to know the worst of me...” “Oh our faults!” she cried. “What do they matter?”... “Oh you're free, Rachel. To you, time will make no difference, or marriage, or--” ... “And the loneliness!” he continued. A vision of walking with her through the streets of London came before his eyes. “We will go for walks together,” he said. The simplicity of this idea relieved them, and for the first time they laughed.”

(Woolf, p. 379). The depiction of Rachel's romantic situation is, at the point of Hewet's proposal, a positive

development that signals possibility of her future happiness and a potential end to her loneliness and perpetual state of alienation from others. The protagonist's option here would seem to demonstrate

progress in light of the idea that Rachel, unlike Mary, has the choice to marry a man that will live as her partner and not as someone who desires to make her his “little girl” as Hemming does with Mary (Dixon, p. 183); Rachel does not think she will have to choose between love and her ideals or aspirations, and she is offered the chance to marry a man who will accept her as she is. In the end, however, Rachel is revealed to be a “ doomed, melodramatic heroine” who dies before she can achieve the life of a happily married, artistically minded, unconventional woman. As I will discuss later in chapter 2, Terence Hewet's character is later exposed as one of traditional Victorian masculinity. Marriage, and happiness outside of it as a woman of independent thought and artistic pursuit, are thus still as mutually exclusive concepts for Rachel Vinrace as they are for Mary Erle.

Suzette Henke's critique of Christine Froula's work on Virginia Woolf's novel and the

assessment Henke makes of the relationship between Rachel and Hewet as a commentary on gender roles and social convention is one I am inclined to agree with strongly in its estimation of how the strength of social pressures surrounding gender roles and expectations did not substantially diminish as a concern from the time of the New Woman novel to that of Modernism. Gender conflict contributes to Rachel's position as an ultimate outsider, who is doomed to meet an untimely end rather than be able to realize a life that includes both marriage and agency:

“The last Victorian bastion to collapse in The Voyage Out is the institution of marriage. Rachel Vinrace and Terence Hewet are both fiercely independent spirits, jealous of their privacy and contemptuous of conventional wedlock. In the jungles of South America they begin to construct an egalitarian relationship and momentarily forge an amorous affiliation exempt form the exigencies of the conjugal masquerade. This brief truce in the ongoing battle of the sexes, however, offers little more than a transient solution to the war between men and women generated by Edwardian convention. Confronted with the threat of subaltern status dictated by

connubial scripts of dependence and inauthenticity, Woolf's heroine rebels agains the specter (sic) of traditional wedlock by hysterically enacting the tragic fate of a doomed, melodramatic, heroine.”

(Henke, p. 402).

The possibility of a life that includes love that does not necessitate abandoning the sense of herself that she is only just beginning to discover, that which was completely unavailable to Mary, is dangled in front of Rachel just out of her reach—the protagonist's death then signifies that the dream of the New Woman continues to prove wholly elusive for the Modernist heroine.

The Story of a Modern Woman and The Voyage Out both reflect on the expectation of marriage

for young women, and the alienation that plagues the protagonist who does not conform to a

conventional version of Victorian femininity. Mary and Rachel each experience some level of societal ostracism as a result of their view that marriage is either not desirable or necessary. By addressing the Marriage Question and its subsequent incarnation as the Marriage Problem, Dixon and Woolf each convey the separateness from societal norms with which each respective protagonist lives. Mary and Rachel both have a commitment to, and passion for, pursuits apart of marriage and motherhood that define their characters, and this sets them apart the idealized view of a proper woman, and thus alienates them from society as defined by Victorian convention. The most important bonds that both Mary and Rachel develop as a result of their separateness, are not with any male counterpart or

romantic partner, but with the women in their lives. In both stories, the protagonists are met with some opposition by other women who do not relate to neither Mary nor Rachel's version of womanhood, however, the women also find support and encouragement from the “sisters” that help and guide them through womanhood and their personal journey towards the discovery of themselves, and the

CHAPTER 2: FINANCIAL, INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC INDEPENDENCE: The Fundamental Role of Female Relationships

Mary and Rachel each maintain an independence of thought through their professional and artistic endeavours and strive to achieve life satisfaction by way of such pursuits, rather than relying on the Victorian concept of womanhood with marriage and maternity at the centre of the feminine life. Such resistance to societal convention was considered unbecoming of the ideal woman, the so-called “angel in the house” (Miller, p.14), who was expected to live to be a wife and mother whose sole duties were to be a supporter of her husband's endeavours rather than her own and to manage the domestic sphere. In attempting to forge a path through life that would allow them personal satisfaction and the ability to define the trajectory of their own lives, to see the realization of their own enjoyment through artistic pursuits and professional and financial autonomy, Rachel and Mary are connected as women who are isolated and judged as a result of their individualism and refusal to relinquish the aspects of their lives that are at the core of who each woman is, the engagement with writing and music, that fulfills each Mary and Rachel, and allows them to express themselves artistically as independent spirits. Dixon and Woolf each highlight the importance of reading, writing, and the engagement with the arts to the lives of their protagonists. Mary and Rachel both exist outside of the realm of traditional

womanhood by virtue of such interests that comprise a vital component of each woman's being. The New Man figure of Perry Jackson is unique in his role of a male who supports, rather than devalues, the efforts and individualism of New Woman Mary. Jackson is the singular male character in either of the novels who neither tries to take a piece of a female for himself, nor attempts to oversee the woman's education in the ways of either life or art. The characterization of Hewet for the majority of the narrative of The Voyage Out lends itself to the image of the New Man type compliment to

artistically inclined Rachel. As I will discuss in greater detail in chapter three, after Hewet and Rachel become engaged, makes his traditionally masculine character known.

For the most part, Mary and Rachel must rely on the support of the other women in their lives to help them along in achieving the life they desire for themselves. The portrayal of the other female characters such as Alison Ives and background figure Lady Blaythewaite in Dixon's text, and Helen Ambrose and Evelyn Murgatroyd in Woolf's novel, and interactions and associations Mary and Rachel have with them, are pivotal in furthering the portrayal of the protagonists as women who are looking to establish a place in the world and maintain an identity that will ease their sense of alienation within a society that does not appreciate them as thoughtful, artistic, and independent women. Dixon and Woolf both emphasize through the depiction of these relationships, and the notion of female solidarity and “sisterhood”, that it is only other women who can truly understand the struggle of what Mary and Rachel endure in their quiet revolutions against the socially constructed patriarchy that seeks to quash their autonomy, and the artistic expression that is each woman's form of personal agency that comes at the cost of a sense of belonging in society. Mary, as a journalist who dreams of life as an artist, and Rachel, who lacks a rigorous formal education but relishes the world of books and feels most at home when at her piano, each learn and grow into themselves as a result of the knowledge and support offered by the women in their lives, and the stereotypes about women that the supporting characters embody serve to better illuminate the aspects of difference in both Mary and Rachel that result in their alienation.

In The Story of a Modern Woman, protagonist Mary Erle's relationship with Alison Ives is crucial to the creation of the portrait of the multi-faceted, artistic and independent New Woman in the novel. Alison functions both as Mary's closest friend and greatest advocate of Mary's professional aspirations and artistic dreams, but also as a New Woman figure even more intense in her ideals than is Mary; under Alison's influence Dixon's protagonist is inspired to maintain her commitment to the

pursuit of a life of independent thinking and action while fostering the growth and protection of other women who belong to the larger community of females who suffer oppression at the hands of Victorian patriarchy. Alison is much sought-after by the men of her upper-middle class social circle, yet in fashion typical of the New Woman, she eschews a life of romance to assume a role of protector and educator of women less fortunate than herself in terms of social status, financial security, and education. She volunteers at a hospital ward where she attempts to ease the suffering of the ill and downtrodden women, and takes on the task of rescuing a young girl, Evelina, from a fate of servitude that includes sexual exploitation at the hands of the married master of the house. While it could be seen that the multitude of single woman drawn to each other (and away from men) for support might imply a sexual component to their close-knit relationships, Ann Heilmann notes that “new woman writers were not deliberately ambiguous about the female communities they were describing. Rather than choosing a different outlet for their sexuality, their protagonists fight shy of sex altogether. Only as spiritually serene, invincible celibates are they able to put all their energies into the all-important task of improving the fate of women, and thus save humankind.” (Heilmann, p. 158).

Alison lives firm in her commitment to New Womanism and encourages Mary to follow her example. Upon hearing that Mary's interest lies in the study of art, Alison, though she first playfully chides her friend for her choice of pursuit, she goes on to encourage her friend in her interest in the study of art and independent living, before telling Mary of her own endeavour to devote herself to the disadvantaged, poor women among whom she has chosen to live in her desire to help: “ “Never mind, my dear girl. You must work at something. Try the British Art School...“I don't see why,” said Alison thoughtfully, “you shouldn't take a flat in the same building with me. Of course there are little

drawbacks. The ladies use a limited, if somewhat virulent, vocabulary...But one gets accustomed to that.” (Dixon, p. 73). Her bohemian living conditions are yet another contribution to Alison's “Bachelor Girl” status, the label that under her friend's influence, Mary later comes to wear proudly,

though she does so as a desolately alienated figure. Alison's actions in the undertaking of Evelina's development from a girl at the mercy of a man into a woman of sense is indicative of her belief in the importance of women helping one another into the best situation possible. Dixon's words in Alison's declaration describing Evelina and the young girl's unfortunate situation serves a two-fold purpose that makes clear both the view of men as abuse oppressors, and the responsibility of the New Woman in helping her fellow member of the sisterhood of all females:

“Her master was pleased to make love to her when his wife and the eight children had gone for the day to Southend; Evelina ran out of the house, leaving her box behind, and never dared to go back. My dear, these London idyls are not pretty. She is, however, beginning to show a faint sense of the ridiculous. I believe I shall make a sensible person of Evelina.”

(Dixon, p. 75).

Mary bears witness to all of Alison's deeds, both to the benefit of Evelina and to the women Alison comforts in the hospital ward. As the story moves on and Mary herself begins to more vividly embody the New Woman role, the protagonist develops great admiration and respect for her friend's point of view regarding the protection and support of other women. Toward the end of the novel, as Alison lies on her deathbed, the sick girl implores Mary to live according to the foundational concept of the New Woman ideology that views women as sisters. Alison reminds Mary that all women fight together in a struggle against the patriarchal society in which they live, and as such, women must do all they can to help one another as Alison has done for all the women she has known, including Mary herself. Alison begs that Mary, upon the bond of womanhood, must never injure another woman. It is a lesson that Mary absorbs, and upon the imminent death of her friend and role model, agrees with emphatically:

“Promise me that you will never, never do anything to hurt another woman,” said the sick girl... “ I don't suppose for an instant you ever would. But there comes a time in our lives when we can do great deal of good, or an incalculable amount of harm. If women only used their power the right way! If we were only united we could lead the world. But we're not...”... “ Yes, said Mary, “our time is dawning—at last. All we modern women are going to help each other, not to hinder. And there's a great deal to do!”

(Dixon, p. 164).

Mary further proves how truly she takes Alison's lesson to heart when the protagonist affirms her loyalty to other women, and her devotion to the principle of independence as a New Woman, by refusing Hemming's offer to run away with him. Though Mary is tempted by Hemming's offer of becoming his mistress, she rejects him after realizing that she must refuse him in favour of honouring her commitment to other women who suffer under pressure of the patriarchal society. Mary believes by this point that women are sisters she must take the responsibility to help, as Alison has taught her by example. The exclamation Mary makes in response to Hemming, which I briefly discussed in chapter one, applies here as a crystallization of Mary's full conversion into a New Woman:

“I have always loved you---but it's the other woman---your wife. I can't I won't, injure another woman. Think how she would suffer! Oh, the torture of women's lives—the helplessness, the impotence, the emptiness! ...All we modern women mean to help each other now. We have a bad enough time as it is...surely we needn't make it worse by our own deliberate acts!”

(Dixon, p. 184). Mary does not leave with Hemming to be his “little girl” for she knows her suitor's offer of running

away with him to “dare to be (her)self” (Dixon, p.183) would rob her of all the agency she has thus far worked to achieve. Mary thus solidifies her position as an independent woman in the spirit of the New Woman. The cost of Mary's freedom from male domination, (in favour of maintaining her sense of self while staying true to her promise to avoid causing injury to any other woman) is her one connection to love in the world.

The lack of connection is the most prominent feature of Mary's solitary life as a New Woman with artistic aspirations, but other ramifications of the choice to live independently rather than adhere to contemporary Victorian conventions of femininity are evident in some of the characterizations of female stereotypes in Dixon's novel, such as that the ostracism faced by the divorcee Lady Blaythewaite.

Lady Blaythewaite is a character who is mentioned often but not well-known to Mary; the former exists in the background of Dixon's novel, but is significant as a representation of the scandal and derision that women are subjected to once they make the choice to dismiss acceptable Victorian standards of feminine behaviour and emancipate themselves from the bonds of Victorian traditionalism. Lady Blaythewaite is a woman of seemingly high social and financial standing who is embroiled in a divorce scandal and is mercilessly judged for this fact by other members of her circle, however

peripheral (Dixon, p. 138-139). Her story is a reminder to Mary (and to readers of Dixon's novel) of the issues contributing to discontent and hostility against freedoms for women as represented by the New Woman, and topics of the debate surrounding feminist issues during the late-Victorian era of New Woman writing.

Ann Helimann and Valerie Sanders discuss concepts of femininity and the issues that

challenged the feminine ideal as it was presented in the Victorian mainstream. According to Heilmann and Sanders, “what unites feminist and anti-feminist writing of the Victorian period is its central concern with questions of femininity” (Heilmann & Sanders, 2006, p.290) while the central issues of

social debate that appeared in the literature of the years between 1850 and 1895 “included opposition to women's higher education, a relaxing of divorce laws, the opening up of new training and career

opportunities for women, and harder than any of these to chart, a kind of emotional, nostalgic preference for old-fashioned English domestic values unthreatened by highly-strung discontent”

(Heilmann & Sanders, p. 289-290). This view on the upset to the Victorian mainstream as a response to the challenge to conventional feminine roles and expectations is reflected in the inclusion of Lady Blaythewaite's story, as the lady is an incarnation of the negative side of the increase in freedoms for women, in her case, the emancipation from a man by way of divorce. Lady Blaythewaite's divorce proceedings that detail the circumstances of her private life inspire societal judgement and are used as a source of entertainment and fodder for gossip (Dixon, p. 138). That Lady Blaythewaite is to become a single woman is a topic that stands at the height of scandalous gossip for the society who sees fit to judge her. Steve Farmer remarks on the treatment of Lady Blaythewaite as a “shadowy character” supports the notion that the divorcee is vilified and humiliated for daring to engage in behaviour unbecoming of a proper Victorian woman: “Suffering under the harsh glare of a society eager to tear at her for any perceived marital indiscretions, she is sentenced by each day's headlines. The messy trial finally becomes a powerful metaphor for the rottenness of a system that makes public a woman's private pain” (Farmer, p. 34). The description of Lady Blaythewaite's situation help to make Mary, and Dixon's readers, keenly aware of the societal pressures, disapproval, and subsequent isolation that the protagonist stands to face by making the choice to live within the ideology of the New Woman. Armed with this awareness, Mary nonetheless perseveres along her professional and lifestyle path in the face of the challenge and judgement by the traditionally patriarchal, and unforgiving, society of the late-Victorian era.

Facing societal scrutiny and judgement for her independent professional life as Lady Blaythewaite does in her private one, it is under the protection of the female community, and

encouragement from New Woman Alison, that Mary develops herself as a writer and attains a sense of empowerment due to the independence it affords her. The satisfaction Mary derives from life, living as a single woman outside of the bounds of traditional society, is due in large part to the achievement of becoming financially independent as a result of her work as a journalist: “ This was a beginning! Her pocket, in which lay the cheque for two pounds two shillings, had suddenly acquired a special

importance. She had acquired that money herself, it was the output of her brain...she could make thirty-six pounds a year. The girl was very proud of those thirty-thirty-six pounds. ” (Dixon, p. 112-116).

Mary's professional and creative life provides her with a level of autonomy and a sense of personal pride, and a burgeoning devotion to the feminine sisterhood. The price of Mary's

independence is self-sufficiency in exchange for a future life lived in a state of loneliness and fuelled by her creative work. The evidence of this trade-off comes when Mary symbolically burns her photo of Vincent, along with all the letters he has sent her, and subsequently sets about her writing once the reminders of him are gone:

“So she gathered up all his letters, even the last one ... and laid them under the photograph. Ah! Now he burned ... Another match. This time it was for good ... Soon there was only a handful of blackened paper ... Well, it was like that. ... the love of letters was a blaze, a whiff, a vain,

fleeting thing ... And when the white daylight came creeping in at the window, Mary took up her pen and began to work.”

(Dixon, p. 190-191). The positive components that Mary's emancipation from traditional femininity in favour of a New Woman role, then, come at the cost of interpersonal connectedness and romantic love, but she commits to this life in the spirit of the example set for her by the independent women around her.

developing her talent as a pianist. At the outset of the novel, Rachel's sole fulfillment seems to come from her engagement with books and music, though as she admits to Mrs. Dalloway in the conversation discussed in the first chapter of this paper, the joy she gains from her solitary involvement in the arts cannot quell her desire for human connection (Woolf, p. 192). Rachel is a solitary musical artist figure rather than a woman of society who interacts with others with ease: the difficulty of attempting to inhabit both roles echoes the negative ramifications of adhering to the tenets of independence and intellectualism of the New Woman ideology. The isolation and marginalization that Mary experiences in The Story of a Modern Woman as a result of her commitment to these pursuits similarly affects Woolf's protagonist Rachel as she struggles to maintain her identity as a woman of music and books while longing to develop relationships with others.

Rachel's fulfilment though music and books comes at the cost of emotional turmoil and alienation from those around her, including her own father, who seems to view her as an isolated and sad figure, as I previously discussed in chapter one of this paper, Rachel's own claim of loneliness, in the conversation between Woolf's protagonist and Mrs. Dalloway, is a clear illustration of the young lady's alienation and awareness that she is without connection. Like Dixon's protagonist Mary, Rachel looks to other females for inspiration on her journey towards personal growth. Rachel wishes to live as an independent woman who aims to attain a sense of purpose from life as an artist, while still hoping for relief from her alienation from others. Rachel's relationship with her aunt Helen and Rachel's interaction with fellow passenger Evelyn M. have the most profound influence on the protagonist's thinking and development of a sense of self as she strives to discover a life for herself that will allow her to maintain her commitment to her art while achieving the connectedness that eludes her. In my view, Helen and Evelyn M. are presented to Rachel as manifestations of the polarizing definitions of female roles, and opinions about them that Dixon discusses in her New Woman novel, that carried over from mainstream Victorianism into early Modernism. Helen functions as the closest representation in

Woolf's novel of the predominant feminine ideal of the Victorian era, the “angel in the house”. Conversely, the character of Evelyn M. stands as the embodiment of the positive side of New Womanism and its continuation into the era of early Modernism in which Woolf is writing.

After her encounter with Richard Dalloway, during which the married older man kisses her, Rachel turns to her aunt Helen for guidance on how to deal with the confusion over her feelings about the man, and what, if anything, his advances toward her meant. (Woolf, 1915, p. 208-210). Helen is incredulous at the extent of Rachel's naivete about men and other people in general: “Helen was

surprised to see how genuine both shock and problem were, but she could think of no way of easing the difficulty except by going on talking. She wanted to make her niece talk, and so to understand why this rather dull, kindly, plausible politician had made so deep an impression on her, for surely at the age of twenty-four this was not natural.” (Woolf, 1915, p. 210). Helen then decides that she will take it upon herself to “show her niece, if it were possible, how to live, or as she put it, how to be a reasonable person.” (Woolf, 1915, p. 211). Undertaking the role of mentor for Rachel during the younger woman's exposure to polite society outside the confines of the ship upon which Rachel has spent a large portion of her youth, Helen has seems to have the pure intention of helping Rachel realize a life of her own and aid her in experiencing what the outside world has to offer. Rachel's enthusiasm at the prospect of self-discovery and of a life determined by her independent mind strengthens the image of her character as being one in the New Woman mould, while Helen's position as her guide echoes the concept found in Dixon's novel of the importance of a female mentor who encourages the protagonist to attain a sense of independence and agency:

“ “So now you can go ahead and be a person of your own account” ...

The vision of her own personality, of herself as a real everlasting thing, different from anything else, unmergeable, like the sea or the wind, flashed into Rachel's mind, and she became

spite of you, in spite of the Dalloways, and Mr. Pepper, and father, and my aunts, in spite of these?”

“In spite of them all,” said Helen gravely.”

(Woolf, 1915, p. 212).

Despite the fact that Helen is of a different generation, Rachel feels a kinship with the older woman, who she comes to view as a friend and confidant, after their conversation about Dalloway, and their friendship and affection for one another grows over the course of the voyage and landing in Santa Maria. Rachel and Helen's relationship is less one of an aunt and niece and more a connection based on the bond of friendship and the appreciation they have for each other as women, as the conclusion to their first intimate conversation indicates: “ “After all Rachel...it's silly to pretend that because there's twenty years between us we therefore can't talk to each other like human beings.” “No; because we like each other,” said Rachel. ... “Yes,” Mrs. Ambrose agreed. That fact, together with other facts, had been made clear by their twenty minutes talk” (Woolf, 1915, p. 212). Helen serves as a source of support and encouragement for Rachel as she moves towards a future where happiness that includes both a husband and her life's passion of the piano is possible. Conversely, Rachel's fiance Terence Hewet, though he loves her and wishes to make her his wife, does not consider the value of her artistic talent or encourage her independence of thought, both of which are predominant traits that form Rachel as a person. To this point, I strongly agree with the assessment that Tone Sundt Urstad makes regarding Hewet, Helen, and the relationships between the three:

“Although Hewet intends "to allow Rachel to be a fool if she wants to" (292, my italics), he remains a rather conventional man. To him it is obvious that Rachel and he must go to Mrs. Thombury's tea party, although she herself resists the idea and is backed up by Helen (she ends

up going [313]). Hewet is certainly well meaning and clearly in love with Rachel, but his plans for the future are fairly standard: two children (one girl, one boy) etc. (299). He belittles her piano playing in a selfish way ("I've no objection to nice simple tunes—indeed, I find them very helpful to my literary composition, but that kind of thing..." [297]). Soon the lovers are

interfering in each other's friendships (Hewet more so; there is already a competition on foot between him and Helen which will prove fatal once Rachel has fallen ill and Hewet refuses to recognize how serious this is [316]). Hewet says: "Oh, you're free, Rachel. To you, time will make no difference, or marriage, or—" (285). But in fact he and the others are slowly drawing a chalk circle around her to keep her from straying”.

(Urstad, 1998, p.187-188). Urstad's sentiments regarding Hewet, his attitude toward Rachel, and his opposition to Helen's role in the protagonist's life support the idea that it is Helen, not Hewet, that is the crucial source of support for Rachel as she moves forward in life. Much like Alison Ives acts as an inspiration who helps embolden Mary Erle to live an independent life in Dixon's Story of a Modern Woman, while Mary's suitor

Hemming urges her to live with him as his “little girl” (Dixon, p. 183) Helen Ambrose attempts to propel Woolf's Rachel Vinrace into a life in which the young protagonist can live as she chooses.

The character of Evelyn Murgatroyd, or “Evelyn M.” (as she is referred to throughout the novel after her initial introduction), is at first a ridiculous figure who subsequently becomes an representation for Rachel of the New Woman aspirational ideology that appears before the female protagonist in Woolf's Modernist novel. Evelyn's role in the development of Rachel's awareness of options available to women and her function as a of progressive thinker in the vein of Dixon's New Woman, even more so than Helen in her position of Rachel's mentor and confidant, is a clear parallel of the relationship between Alison Ives and Mary Erle. Evelyn is not considered by any of the other passengers as a person to be taken seriously. The view that people have of her is clearly illustrated during the