The Sexual Expression of Women in Thomas Hardys Writing Essay

The Sexual Expression of Women in doubting Thomas Hardys WritingThe nineteenth-century woman was defined by her adherence to submission and resistance to sexuality. She was portrayed by most writers as a naive, accepting figure with strong concerns about living up to the order societal ideals for a respectable woman. The women in Jane Austens novels offer a clear representation of the nineteenth-century woman. Austen refuses these women any sexual expression and focuses more upon their concern with marriage and society. Thomas Hardy resists Austens socially accepted depiction of the female with his radically independent heroines. Hardy redefines the role of women in his novels, focusing on sexuality. By emphasizing the tangible aspect of femininity in his unorthodox representation of the sexual female, Hardy threatens the Victorian model of women. Sexuality is evident in Far From The Madding Crowd when Bathsheba unwittingly admits her passion to Sergeant Troy. If you can only figh t half as winningly as you can talk, you are able to make a pleasure of a bayonet wound Baths...