Topic Three: Marriage and Feminism": (Appendix E) Caird and Grand

As Both  Caird and Grand look at society, they discovered the ways of which the man controlled the women. Although they both express to their readers that women being controlled was man’s “fault”, Grand expresses her belief of how it was also woman’s “fault” too.

With Caird being a feminist during this Victorian era, she described how women were  treated like a “chained up...dog” (Caird 296). Using the adjectives “miserable,” “ill-looking,” and “spiritless” (Caird 296) she explains to readers the way the man during this time period made their wives feel. They made women feel as though they were an animal. Caird expressed how women have become “adapted...to the misfortune of captivity” (Carid 297) and how because of it she is now “...accustomed to it.,”(Caird 296), it being the role she plays in the house. One of the rights women should have according to her is, “ The economical independence of women is the first condition of free marriage” (Caird 299). Meaning, women shouldn’t have to feel like they need to marry a man to be economically comfortable. Women should have the right to marry for love not for “sake of bread and butter” (Caird 299). Grand also has her beliefs on women's freedom and how the woman herself is also to blame for the freedom they are restricting.

With women being treated like second class citizens for so long it doesn't hurt to wonder why this treatment of women hasn't be stopped in its tracks earlier. Grand answered this question  in, “The New Aspects of the Women Question,”reasons   “... we are not blameless in the matter ourself. We have allowed him to arrange the whole social system and manage or mismanage it all these ages without ever seriously examining his work…we have meekly bowed our heads when he called us bad names instead of demanding proofs… we have listened much edified to man’s sermons on the subject of virtue…”  (Grand 300). With these strong words like “bowed” and “listened”, Grand shares with her readers some of the ways women have “allowed” him to get away with  arranging “the whole social system”. The words “examining” and “demanding” are the actions women should have taken when the first signs of their freedom were being withdrew.

When the women of the Victorian society read what Caird and Grand have to say about their rights some will be shocked, they may argue that isn't a woman's place to get involved with social system. Other women who are younger and less old fashion will agree with Caird and Grand, they are the women who will ask who else is going to get involved and fight for women's rights. The men of the society may try to hide these writing from their wives and keep their eyes “narrowed...so that our view of it should be all distorted” (Grand 300-301).

Caird, Mona. "Marriage." In The Secret Agent. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Editions, 2009. Print.

Grand, Sarah. "The New Aspect of the Women Question." In The Secret Agent. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Editions, 2009. Print.