British Literature Survey
Reference Pages: Physical Disability Group

Margaret Oliphant and the Woman Question
by Sara Gillmer

The writing of Margaret Oliphant critically examines the social role of women both inside and outside of the domestic sphere during the nineteenth century. Oliphant deeply cherished the ideals of motherhood, children, and family life. However, she was also progressive in her ability to maintain a realistic view in terms of reforming the gender roles of society, concluding that society could not and would not be reformed; rather women must rely on themselves to succeed personally and socially: “she tackled marital unhappiness and the relations between parents and children with a relentlessly realistic intelligence” (http://www.slainte.org.uk/soctauth/oliphdsw.htm). Much of her fiction is a reflection of the injustices imposed upon women in the Victorian period, including Hester (1883) and Kirsteen (1890). Oliphant was cynical concerning social problems of the period; this led her writing to reflect the skepticism she felt towards her fellow women in their efforts to achieve gender equality: “she scorned the fight for women’s suffrage and equal rights as unfeminine and demeaning to the sex” (Colby 202-203). Oliphant’s writing reflects her desire for the mother to maintain the cult of domesticity and oppose occupations outside of the home. Generally condescending of men, Oliphant disapproved of women competing with men in any social, political or economic manner. Oliphant neglected romance and sentiment in her writing and character development; she felt that, in real life, romance was not pure and sentiment was over-emphasized.

Works Cited

Colby, Robert A., and Vineta Colby. The Equivocal Virtue: Mrs. Oliphant and the Victorian Literary Market Place. _______: Archon Books, 1966.

Calder, Jenni. http://www.slainte.org.uk/scotauth/oliphdsw.htm

MacDougall, Carl. http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/learning_journeys/women_writers/margaret_oliphant/

Jay, Elisabeth. Mrs. Oliphant: 'A Fiction to Herself'-A Literary Life. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.

Trela, D.J.. Margaret Oliphant: Critical Essays on a Gentle Subversive. Selinsgrove, Massachusetts: Susquehanna University Press, 1995.

Paul Marchbanks
marchban@email.unc.edu