the <new Woman in Poor Things

“The New Woman, a significant cultural icon of the fin de siècle, departed from the stereotypical Victorian woman. She was intelligent, educated, emancipated, independent and self-supporting” (Diniejko 2011). As the embodiment of the New Woman, the protagonist of Poor Things clashes with the expectations of women of the Victorian era and thus receives all, rejection, mistreatment and support of the men in her life. This is shown by different accounts of education, the depiction of Bella's sexuality, and her refusal to be controlled by men. This essay aims to highlight how Bella can be read as the embodiment of the New Woman in the postmodern novel Poor Things by Alasdair Gray. Education plays a significant role in Bella's life as its different accounts lead her to both, a loveless marriage and a successful life as a doctor.  Bella's first account on education is meant to lead her into marriage as her mother teaches her to be “a working man’s domestic slave” (Gray 1993: 158) while the nuns at the convent school teach her “to be a rich man’s domestic toy” (ibid) as marriage is “the only career open to girls” (Fields Beeler 1940: 14). Thus, her first account on education aims to grant her a suitable husband, rather than to become an independent woman who can provide for herself. Once she has left the miserable marriage her first education has led her to, she comes to the realization that her previous life has left her in a position where she is unable to make her own decisions (cf. Gray 1993: 263), which is then followed by her receiving an education from Baxter that leads her toward becoming a doctor. Through the higher education she receives, Bella is one step closer to “resemble the New Woman of late-nineteenth century fiction” (Whiteford 1997: 194), as her time with Baxter does not only bring her education, but also the opportunity to travel the world and learn about politics. Bella's sexual desire is another controversial theme in the novel, as its depiction in both, Archibald McCandless´ Memoir and Bella's letter, appears rather progressive for her time. Her first husband, General Blessington, calls her an “unstable woman” (Gray 1993: 216) as she “loved him too much” (ibid: 217). According to him and his doctor, her sexual desire is proof of her suffering from “Erotomania” (ibid. ) as she “wished to sleep in his bedroom […] every night of the week” (ibid. ). Although the aim of marriage at this time is to provide a new generation, the General fails to give Bella a child however is about to “have one by a servant” (ibid: 261), sharing his own sexual desire not with his wife but another woman. In regard to Bella's elopement with Wedderburn, the accounts of McCandless and Bella could not differ from each other any further. According to McCandless, Bella is the poor victim of,  Wedderburn´s plans to marry into a wealthy family. Wedderburn on his account is the “worst man possible – a smooth, handsome, well-groomed, plausible unscrupulous, lecherous lawyer who specialized […] in seducing women of the servant class” (ibid: 57), while Bella needs to be saved as she “has the mental age of ten” (ibid: 59).  Thus,  he denies the possibility of Bella making her own decisions as the adult she is. On Bella's account though, she plays a significantly different role in the elopement as she claims she has never been in love with McCandless, an “awkward, ill-dressed lad whose ears stuck out” (ibid: 264). According to her letter, after they were first introduced to each other, she “did not see him for a very long time, and certainly did not want to” (ibid: 265). In her letter, Bella describes her love for Baxter, claiming he was “the only man [she] truly loved” (ibid: 259). She describes her unsuccessful attempts of seducing Baxter,  who prefers regarding her as a sister as he does not want to have a partner (cf. ibid: 265). Only due to Baxter's advice to find “an efficient, unselfish [husband] who will help [Bella] do what [she] want[s] while satisfying [her] amorous instincts” (ibid: 267), Bella considers marrying McCandless, as only “a weakling” (ibid: 268) would not try to separate her from Baxter. McCandless plays an important role in the development of Bella's sexual desires,  as only through his kiss she begins to think about her sexuality. Ironically, his kiss makes her want to explore her sexuality with other men. In fact, Bella – according to her letter – only elopes with Duncan because she wants to make sure she chooses the right husband while she cannot have Baxter. The Victorian prejudice of the young woman desperately wanting to marry is challenged when it becomes clear, that Bella is only interested in exploring her sexuality with Wedderburn, leaving him puzzled as he “had never heard of a man-loving middle-class woman in her twenties who did NOT want marriage, especially to the man she eloped with” (ibid: 81). Shortly after Wedderburn has realized that Bella has no interest in marrying him, he begins to see her as a monster, a “vampire” (ibid: 89). In this whole episode of Bella's and Wedderburn´s elopement and her marriage to the General, Bella is described as a woman with an unnatural amount of sexual desire, an illness. Besides her sexual desire for the General and Wedderburn, as stated above, Bella attempts to seduce Baxter several times. At one point,  she even sneaks into his room at night. At this point,  the depiction of Bella's sexuality does not remind of the “Victorian angel-in-the-house” (Bernstein 1994: 216), but rather as a New Woman who is sexually independent. Bella's sexuality is judged by her first husband as an illness, be McCandless as the proof of her having the brain of a child and by Wedderburn as exaggerated, while Baxter is the only one seeing the importance of Bella making her own experiences and being satisfied. Bella can not only be read as the embodiment of the New Woman in terms of her strive for education and sexual freedom, but also in her determination of not being controlled by men. Although, like other women of the Victorian era, she is raised in an environment where she is dependent on men, she manages not only to flee from her father “who had provided this escape route” (Gray 1993: 259), by marrying the General, but also finds a way to escape from that abusive relation too. She takes the misfortune of her “third hysterical pregnancy” (ibid. ) as an opportunity to find an ally in Baxter, who – although rather involuntarily – takes her in and introduces her to his mother. In his mother, Bella finds her first female role model whose friendship gives her “the voice and manners of an unprejudiced, straightforward Scotswoman” (ibid: 261), by showing her to “hold [an] end in a conversation with anyone” (ibid. ). By doing so, Baxter's mother is the first woman in Bella's life who inspires her to stand up for herself, rather than to obey to men. On the account of McCandless´ memoir, Bella appears to be a passive object, having been created by Baxter to be his companion, having the brain of first an infant, then a child who is used both by Wedderburn – as someone who is related to a wealthy man – and Baxter, while McCandless appears to be the only man who has her best interests in mind. On Bella’s account, she manages both to leave her abusive past behind and to live a successful life of an independent woman who can financially provide for herself, her children and even McCandless. Bella evolves from the daughter of a violent father (cf. ibid: 256) and the wife of an absent husband to a doctor who reverses the gender roles, having her second husband take care of their children at home and practicing his writing as a hobby. Furthermore, despite McCandless attempting to have the last word in the story of Bella by having her read the book only after his death, Bella takes back her own voice by stating her position of the story about her life. To conclude, despite her conventional upbringing and an education with the aim of making her a perfect wife, Bella manages to reverse conventional gender roles and to become a successful doctor. Not only does she travel the world and learn about politics, she also manages to build a bridge between being a working woman and a mother. Although Poor Things is a postmodern Gothic novel, Bella can be read as the New Woman, as her strive for higher education and independence and her desire to explore her sexuality freely, make her a woman who can provide for herself and not let anyone else tell her story for her.