Lady Audley essays

Lady Audley essays Phoebe Marks inferiority is complex Phoebe Marks identity is masked by being inferior to both Lady Audley and Luke Marks in the Mary Elizabeth Bradden novel Lady Audleys Secret. This inferiority not only lessens Phoebes femininity but also forces her into a subdivision of gender she is incapable of owning. Why didnt the privileges that existed for Lady Audley exist for Phoebe? Phoebe is afraid of Luke, and terrified of refusing his hand in marriage therefore robbing her of the feminine duty or privilege to marry well. Is it a coincidence that Phoebe is treated better as a maid at Audley Court than Luke Marks wife? Throughout the novel, Phoebe is referred to as a maid or servant of Lady Audley and the wife of Luke Marks or the inn keepers wife (311). She is never characterized on her own circumstance, but on the circumstance of others. In other words, she is never able to do what she wants as a person or as a woman, instead she has to take orders from people who do not see her as the effeminate woman she could be. For example, she is forced into marrying Luke because she is afraid that if she does not marry him, he will be very violent toward her. On page 107, Phoebe explains Luke as a child ...he was always violent and revengeful. I saw him once take up that very knife in a quarrel with his mother. I tell you, my lady, I must marry him. Since she is afraid of Luke, she is robbed of the feminine privilege to marry for love (or Lady Audleys this case-money). Again on page 107, Phoebe declares that she does not love Luke: I dont think I can love him. We have been together from children, and I promised, when I was little better than fifteen, that Id be his wife. I darent break that promise now...I darent refuse to marry him. Ive often watched and watched him, as he has sat slicing away at a hedge-stake with his great...