Overview – Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard
Victorian Women in the Newgate Novel
Separate spheres for men and women were firmly in place by the time William Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard, a ready example of the Newgate Novel genre, was published in 1839. While Victorian men held a public, active role, Victorian women were expected to remain in the private sphere of the home. Although we see Ainsworth adhering to the Victorian feminine ideal with his portrayal of Winifred Wood and Mrs. Shepard, he also breaks, to an extent, the stereotype of the Madonna/whore complex with his portrayals of Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Maggot.
The Victorian Feminine Ideal and Jack Sheppard
Coventry Patmore’s “Angel in the House” reflected the image of the ideal Victorian woman/wife that had been established after the Regency era: submissive, modest, loyal, gentle, and pure, and Winifred and Mrs. Shepard easily fit with this concept. When Kneebone, generally ambivalent in tone towards women, comments on Winny, he states that while it is rare “to find any woman constant,” Winny has resolved she “will never marry, unless the grave can give up its dead” (263).
Upon Thames’s first sighting of Winny after a separation of nine years, her description again fits neatly with the Victorian Angel, especially as Thames notes that “she was seated near the window busily occupied with her needle” (271), thus showing her acceptance of and compliance with the private, domestic sphere of women.
After Thames settled his legacy and offers marriage to Winny, her extreme modesty and self-sacrificing nature lead her to refuse his offer because she is not of his class. Similarly, Mrs. Shepard, after acquiring redemption from her life of sin by conforming to the Victorian feminine ideal, is always prepared to sacrificed her own interests, and indeed her own life, for her child.
Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Maggot: Breaking the Victorian Stereotype
Although Ainsworth appears to conform to the popular concept of Victorian womanhood, he undermines it with the characters of Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Maggot. Mrs. Wood is clearly the head of the Wood household, and she indulges and takes control of her desire by engaging in an illicit affair with Kneebone. However, Ainsworth cannot maintain this image of the self-governing woman, and Mrs. Wood is violently killed by Blueskin while she is actively resisting a robbery, signifying that she has received her punishment for daring to tread on the rules of acceptable feminine behavior.
Like Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Maggot transgresses into the masculine, public role but with more success. When we are first introduced to Mrs. Maggot, the narrator remarks she is “in fact, a perfect Amazon” (227). Engaging in a verbal duel with Kneebone, he entreats her to “moderate” herself, and she scornfully replies “Intreat a fiddlestick!” (266).
Then, when Kneebone remonstrates Mrs. Maggot for her lack of delicacy in looking at another man, she defends her own desires by retorting she may indulge her wishes as she sees fit. Finally, during the dinner at Mr. Kneebone’s lodgings, Mrs. Maggot appropriates the masculine role of defender and warrior by fighting and ultimately defeating Kneebone. The narrator, standing by in apparent amazement, notes her great skill and her “wonderful skill and agility” (380).
When looking at the array of female characters in Jack Sheppard, therefore, Mrs. Maggot stands apart in her defiance of the acceptable Victorian code of feminine behavior.
References:
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Jack Sheppard. (1839). Ed. Edward Jacobs and Manuela Mourao. Ontario:
Broadview, 2007.
JACK SHEPPARD IN THE STONE ROOM IN NEWGATE
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