Aurora Leigh: Guest Speaker

Elizabeth Barret Browning was one of twelve children, whose father forbade them to marry. She was put on very high amounts of morphine for nervous disorders. She had courtship with Robert Browning, whom she eventually eloped with, through letters.

Group Passage Analysis: Group 3

Book II: ll. 671 -84:

1. This passage is in response to Aurora's aunt threatening to write too Romney to accept his proposal on Aurora's behalf. How does Aurora defend her choice? Aurora says that it would be perjury to accept Romney's proposal, as she explains "I tie up 'no' upon His altar-horns, / Quite out of reach of perjury" (679-80). It is not what she wants, she desires to be a poet, not an assistant to Romney's work. She is saying she would rather die as an unfulfilled poet that for marrying Romney for security purposes.

2. What effect does Aurora's use of God have in this passage? In defending herself to her aunt, Aurora states, "O my God, my God! / God meant me good, too, when he hindered me / From saying 'yes' this morning" (675-7). In saying this, she supports the idea that God's will coincides with her own will to refuse Romney. By saying God allowed her to say no, she justifies it more in providing evidence of His support for her decision.

3. What can we make of Aurora's division between the "soul's life" and monetary life? What does this suggest of her character? Aurora says, "My soul is not a pauper; I can live / At least my soul's life, without alms from men" (681-2). She distinguishes that the life of the soul does not depend on gifts and things provided by men. It speaks to her character in that she values morals, and personal values over what is expected.

4. How does the aunt's response to Aurora's refusal (ll. 655-69) further re-inscribe the different notions of femininity held by the two women? The aunt desperately desires for Aurora to be the proper English housewife, as it is the only thing she has ever known. She is convinced that Aurora will starve and die without the support of a man, however Aurora prefers to be without a man. Aurora on the other hand, describes this ideal as femininity as an inconvenience, an objectification, and a pain, as in book I (ll. 455-64).

Group 1: In saying that her aunt was a caged bird, she has never really fulfilled her life. However, she can't really be to blame for something she has never been asked to challenge or question.

Group 2: In her answer, Aurora tells Romney that she is unworthy of being the things that he desires her to be. She says he is not unworthy of love, but that he does not love her, only what he wants her to be. However, by saying she is unworthy, she is actually implying that she is worth more than that. By twisting it around she makes it seem as if she is doing him a favor. (Book II, 400-6)

Group 4: After Aurora's aunt dies, leaving her with very little inheritance, she starts writing prose for a living and works on her poetry secretly. This is almost autobiographical of Elizabeth Barret Browning, the author. It is ironic that a women must be supported by a man and marriage in order to be a successful writer. (Book III, 302-12)