Staging Infanticide: The Refusal of Representation in Elizabeth Robins's "Alan's Wife"

Author(s): Catherine Wiley

Source: Theatre Journal, Vol. 42, No. 4, Disciplines of Theater: Fin De Siècle Studies (Dec.,
1990), pp. 432-446
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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 StagingInfanticide:
The Refusal of Representationin
Elizabeth Robins's Alan's Wife

Catherine Wiley

In his reviewof the London IndependentTheatre'sproductionof Alan's Wifein

1893,A. B. Walkleyobjectstowhathe callsthe"persistent aggravationsof[theplay's]
horriblecircumstances.We are shownthestretcher, themangledcorpse,thechild."'
Alan's bloodycorpseborneon a stretcher and the murderedinfantare indicatedin
the script,but neitherwas representedon stage. The actionof the play musthave
"aggravated"thecriticintoseeingwhathe could nothave seen, whathe considered
artistically
unrepresentable,whatmightbe called todayan excess ofrepresentation.
Walkleywitnesseda feminist play aware ofits own excess,whichstagedtheviolent
butbloodlessdisruptionofthenineteenth-century mechanicsofrepresentation keep-
ing women captivein therole of idealized motherhood.By writingand performing
the New Woman characterof Alan's wife,ElizabethRobinsboth personifiedand
subvertedthe nineteenth-century stage versionof the femininesubject,a subject
whose expressionwas deniedby theverydiscoursethatdefinedher.Hle'ne Cixous
writesof the theaterthat"it is always necessaryfora woman to die in orderforthe
play to begin,"meaningthatrepresentation necessitatesthe erasureof woman and
her replacementwith the symbolic"law of the father."2 Robins's characterrejects
this law, rupturesrepresentation, and the male criticwatchingher cannotbelieve
his eyes.
northernEngland,Alan's WiferevolvesaroundJeanCreyke,
Set in working-class
a woman enamoredofheryounghusbandprimarily, as she proudlyadmits,forhis
body and the pleasure she derivesfromit. Pregnantwithher firstchild,she looks
forwardto bearinga reproductionof her perfecthusband. When Alan is carried

CatherineWileyteachesin theEnglishDepartment at theUniversity She has

of Colorado-Denver.
on
articles
published Brian Friel,Alice and
Childress, the"New Woman" in drama.
British

I would like to thankJillDolan and Elaine Marks fortheirreadings of thisessay, and JaneMarcus
forher introductionto Elizabeth Robins.
'The debate, occurringin articlesand lettersto the Editorof TheSpeakerin May 1893,is published
as an appendix to Alan's Wife.See Alan's Wife(London: The Independent Theatre, 1893), 49.
2Hel1ne Cixous, "Aller a la mer," trans. Barbara Kerslake, ModernDrama 27 (1984): 546-58, 546.

432

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 STAGINGINFANTICIDE / 433

homeon a stretcher,mangledbyhis factory's new machinery, Jeaninsistson looking

at his ruinedbody, and a shorttimelatershe bears a physicallydeformedchild.
Desperate at losingboth Alan and the possibilityof recreatinghim in her son, she
smotherstheinfantto deathin itscradle.The finalscene takesplace in prison,where
Jeanawaits executionunless she pleads the temporaryinsanityof post-partumde-
pression.3Jeanrefusesto repentand goes to her death prayingto be reunitedwith
her husband and a "straightand fairand happy child"in heaven.
The textand performance ofAlan'sWifeprovidea microcosmoftheentireWoman
Questionas itwas formulated at the turnof thecentury.Whilechallengingpopular
assumptionsabout the absence of femalesexualityand the redeemingcharacterof
child-bearing,it reinforces
classistand colonialiststereotypesabout healthand sur-
vivalofthefittest.Writtenbya pairofself-proclaimed New Women,ElizabethRobins
and FlorenceBell,Alan's Wifeseems to concludethatfeminism and motherhoodare
incompatible, thattheNew WomanwillnotevolveintotheNew Mother.Theauthors'
sympathyfora characterwho murdersa childshe cannotlovebecause itis physically
imperfectimpliesan ominousacquiescenceto Darwinianeugenics.But despitethe
limitations
ofcontemporary ethics,Alan'sWifesuccessfullydefiesnineteenth-century
truismsabout the "naturalness"ofwomen's reproductive function.Failingto repro-
duce an ideal man, the heroinecalls intoquestionsymbolicreproductionas well.
The play complicatesthe stagerepresentation ofwhat was becominga stereotype
by the late 1890s, the New Woman character.Popularizedby such prolificwriters
as HenryArthurJonesand ArthurWingPinero,the New Womanof the 1890swas
portrayedas a fallenwomandefyingsocialconventionsin an effort toredeemherself.
Despite her condemnation of thedouble standard, which allowed onlymen theright
to sexual experimentation and maritalinfidelity, in the London WestEnd problem
play she was a conservativefigure.4Her efforts to win back herplace in respectable
societyinvolved an alias or disguise-a denial of heridentity,whichkepther in an
object positionwhile barringher fromsubjectivity. Eithermarryingor committing
suicidein thefinalscene, theNew Womanin theproblemplay remainedtheobject
of the masculinesubject'sdiscursivedesire.He named her eitherby givingher his
name in marriage--apropername, unsulliedby her disgracefulpast-and making
her his property,or by rejectingher,in whichcase she died and thus literallydis-
appeared.
The problemof representing the New Womanis intensified
in the case of Alan's
Wifeby ElizabethRobins's positionas bothwriter
and of therole ofJean
performer

3Thanksin part to the interventionof Queen Victoria,who also supported the use of chloroform
duringchildbirth,the crimeof infanticidewas no longer punishable by death in 1893, provided the
mother could prove she acted under the influenceof post-partumdepression. See Ann Oakley,
"Feminism, Motherhood and Medicine-Who Cares?" Whatis Feminism?,ed. JulietMitchell and
Ann Oakley (New York: Pantheon, 1986), 133; and Adrienne Rich, Of WomanBorn (New York:
Norton, 1976), 262.
4See my "The Matterwith Manners: The New Woman and the Problem Play," Themesin Drama
11 (1989): 109-28. That article,and this one, are part of a larger work about turn-of-the-century
representationsof feminism,entitledLookingElsewhere:StagingtheNew Womanas FeminineSubject.

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434 / CatherineWiley

Creyke.She createsa characterforpage and stage, doublyrepresenting a woman

whose scriptedaction, as I shall demonstrate,challengesthe very possibilityof
representingwomen in language. Because women have always been definedby
representations of masculinedesire,the potentialforshowingwomen as anything
else, forlookingelsewhereforfemininedesire, depends on firstdismantlingthe
machineryof representation. As Luce Irigarayhas written,the way forwomen to
to
begin destroy the discursive mechanismwhichdenies femininedesireis through
mimicry: "One must assume the femalerole deliberately.Whichmeans alreadyto
converta formofsubordination intoan affirmation,and thusto beginto thwartit."
Jean'srefusalat theend oftheplay to maintainher statusas the objectofrepresen-
tation,rejectingmotherhoodand even rejectinglanguage,effectively jams the dis-
cursivemachinery. Havinginitially playedthetraditionalfemale roleof devoted wife,
Jean fails to expand that role into motherhood, which leads her to question her
enforcedpositionas a playerof roles she has had no partin constructing.
Beforelookingat Alan's Wifeand exactlywhat about the play looked so shocking
to criticA. B. Walkley,I would like to note the performance's historicalcontextas
it pertainedto women's prescribedsocial roles. Arguablythe greatestrole-player of
her day, Queen Victoriaprovidesone measureof nineteenth-century womanhood
againstwhichtomeasureElizabethRobinsand hercharacter, JeanCreyke.IfVictoria's
identitywas masked completelyin her dual publicpersonaeof widow and Mother
England,Robins's self-conscioustheatricalization of a similarrole--hermimicryof
it, in Irigaray'sterms-beginsto explainthe representational and role-playingbind
in whicheveryfemininesubjectis caught.
In herlifelongmaintenanceoffunerary solemnity as hermonarchicalstyle,Victoria
embodiedtheage's directivesaboutwomen'srelationsto theirhusbands.A married
woman handed over to her husband not only her property,but her autonomyas
well. She may have been his "betterhalf,"his moralregenerator, who broughthim
back to God and civilizedvalues at the end of his demoralizing,competitiveday,
but she was his half,whereashe was neverhers.6Women's"natural"inferiority to
men naturalizedtheirsubmissivepositionin marriage,a submissionwhose echoes
along raceand class linesare well documented.Women'sinabilityto fendforthem-
of marriageparalleledthe racial Other'sinabilityto
selves outside the restrictions

'Luce Irigaray,ThisSex WhichIs Not One, trans.CatherinePorter(Ithaca: CornellUniversityPress,

1985), 76.
6"The cult of True Womanhood," "the angel in the house," and the doctrineof separate spheres
are related termsreferringto the enforcedseparation of men's and women's social roles. White
feministreaders are reminded that this separation in England and the U.S. applied only to those
white, middle- and upper-class women whose fathersand husbands could support them. The
Victorianera marked the apex of scientificapologies forthe enforcementof separate spheres-the
physical and physiologicaldifferencesbetween men and women made the division of theirsocial
and Be Still(Bloomingtonand London:
functionsnaturallydesirable. See Martha Vicinus, ed., Suffer
Indiana UniversityPress, 1972),and A Widening Sphere(Bloomingtonand London: Indiana University
FantasiesofFeminineEvil in Fin-de-Siecle
Press, 1977); and Bram Dijkstra, Idols ofPerversity: Culture
(New York and Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress, 1986).

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 STAGINGINFANTICIDE / 435

governitself.'And because the hierarchyof ability,based in strength,reason,and

was considerednatural,it was inevitableand not worthquestioning.
self-control,
Victorianintellectualsmayhave doubtedGod, but theyunderstoodtheirrelationto
scienceas one ofdiscovery,notexaminationofitstruths.Forwomen,thereplacement
of God withscienceofferedno improvement in status.
torememberthatin callinghiswifea man'sbetterhalf,theVictorians
Itis important
meantthisliterally.The truewifewas not onlysubmissiveto herhusband,she was
partofhim;she contributed thepurityof soul his moreactivenaturelacked.During
the fourdecades followingAlbert'sdeath in 1861,Victoriabecame the exemplarof
widowhood,figuring an imitationof herselfas thebereavedyoungwife,actingout
theincompletenessofa woman yankedby circumstance fromhernaturalsphereby
herhusband's side. Practically
retiringfrompubliclifeformanyyearsand spending
huge sums of public moneyerectingmemorialsto Albert,the Queen finallydrew
criticismforher reluctanceto get on withher stateduties. Privately,however,she
consideredher bereavementinsuperableuntilthe end ofher own long life.8
ElizabethRobins's literallytheatricalrepresentationof griefoperatesunder and
againstthe same conventions as One
Victoria's. critic
described heras playing"with
and
greatfeeling force;[she]conveyed an excellent
idea ofa broodingwomanbroken
down by griefand hauntedby an abidingsense of wrong."' She played her role in
thecircumscribed space ofTerry'sTheatrein London, againstVictoria'slarger-than-
lifestage of an expandingempire,but the two portrayalsshare a publicresponse.
A woman who breaksdown, fallsapart,loses partofherselfand is neverthe same
again afterher husband's death, enjoyed the admirationof her audience provided
she played the partwithenough feeling.

From Widowhood to Motherhood

Queen Victoriain manyways epitomizedVictorianwomanhood,embodyingthe
imageofdevotedwifeand prolific mother,an imageshe crystallizedin herprolonged
widowhood. Staunchlyopposed to equal rightsforwomen,she stillcould notbring
herselfto celebratechild-bearing
as the apex of a woman's existence.She confessed
in a letterto herdaughterVicky:"I nevercould rejoiceby hearingthata poor young
thingis pulled down by the trial."10

7See Malek Alloula, The ColonialHarem,trans. Myrna Godzich and Wlad Godzich (Minneapolis:
Universityof Minnesota Press, 1986); GayatriChakravortySpivak, In OtherWorlds:Essaysin Cultural
Politics(New York and London: Methuen, 1987); "Can the Subaltern Speak?" in Marxismand the
InterpretationofCulture,ed. Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg(Urbana and Chicago: University
of Illinois Press, 1988), 271-313; and Chandra Talpede Mohanty, "Under Western Eyes: Feminist
Scholarship and Colonial Discourse," Boundary2 (1984): 333-57.
80Ona visitto Milan in 1888, Victoriastopped her entourage in frontof the reconstructedDuomo
and held up a small cameo of Albertin frontof the cathedralfora moment. She later said that he
had always wanted to see the cathedral.See StanleyWeintraub,Victoria:An IntimateBiography (New
York: Dutton, 1987), 501.
9"The Week," TheAthenaeum 6 May 1893: 581-82.
"1Citedin The WomanQuestion,1837-1883, ed. Elizabeth K. Helsinger, Robin Lauterbach, and
WilliamVeeder, (New York and London: Garland, 1983), 1:71.

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 436 / CatherineWiley

Not only was motherhoodphysicallytraumaticforwomen, it was also used to

supporttheoriesof women's stuntedevolutionarydevelopment.HerbertSpencer,
one ofthemostprominentexploitersofDarwin's theoryofevolution,wrotein 1893
that"sex differences
couldbestbe understoodbyassuminga somewhatearlierarrest
of individualevolutionin women than in men; necessitatedby the reservationof
vitalpowertomeetthecostofreproduction.""Spencer'seconomicanalysisofgender
differencecleverlyreproducesthe language of industrialcapitalism,puttingchild-
bearingin the ofinputand output.A man's "vitalenergy,"
contextofthecost-benefit
on theotherhand,had tobe conservedforhimto competein theincreasingly energy-
drainingworldof business and technology.
Ifmen had to behave so muchlikeanimalsin theindustrialworkplace,some more
celestialcreaturemustkeep themhuman: she evolved intothe angel of the house
immortalizedin CoventryPatmore'ssyrupypoem of the 1860s. Womanwas then
paradoxicallyman's superiormorallyand his inferior biologically.Her vocationwas
"to be strong,not in mind, but in noble and generous impulses; that,while her
husband and sons know best what is expedient,logical,or wise, she should know
best what is true,gallant,and right."12 The lattercategoryof knowledgeevidently
requiredless intellectualpoweron women'spart.MostVictorianscientistsespoused
the theoriesof craniologistCarl Vogtthatwomen's brainswere smallerthanmen's
and that,furthermore, thefemaleofthespecies mightwell providethemissinglink
between"us" and the apes.3
A woman withouta man to complementher deficiencieswas a sorryspecimen
indeed. More respectablethan spinsterhood,widowhood allowed the unfortunate
singlewomantoattachherselfmorecloselytoherchildren.LiketheQueen, Elizabeth
Robinswas a widow, whose husband died by throwinghimselfintoa lake, clad in
a full suit of stage armor.14Far frombemoaningher loss as Victoriadid Albert,
Robins--fortunately, in her case, childless--left
her nativeUnitedStatesand began
a stage careeras the primaryIbsen actress London. She played the firstEnglish-
in
languageHedda Gablerin 1891,Mrs. Linde in A Doll'sHousein thesame year,Hilde
Wangelin TheMasterBuilderin 1893,and laterRebeccaWestin Rosmersholm and Alma
in LittleEyolf.Withthe encouragementof HenryJames,RobinstaughtherselfNor-
wegianto correctWilliamArcher'sIbsentranslations.15 WithFlorenceBell,she wrote

"Cited in JillConway, "Stereotypesof Femininityin a Theory of Sexual Evolution," in Vicinus,

Sufferand Be Still, 140-54, 141. Spencer also published studies proving the evolution of women's
capacity fordeception and imitation,leading to a host of theoriesabout women's "natural" ability
onstage, which ironicallyprefiguredIrigaray'smimicrytheory.
"2Fromthe review of Thackery'sVanityFairin the 1861 LondonQuarterlyReview,cited in Helsinger
et al., The WomanQuestion,89.
'3Dijkstra,Idols ofPerversity,
167.
'4See unpublished dissertationson Robins by Gay Gibson Cima, "Elizabeth Robins: Ibsen Actress,
Manageress" (Cornell University,1978); Joanna Gates, " 'Sometimes Suppressed and Sometimes
Embroidered':The Life and Writingsof Elizabeth Robins, 1862-1952" (Universityof Massachusetts,
1987); and Jane Marcus, "Elizabeth Robins (A Biographical and Critical Study)" (Northwestern
University,1973).
15See Thomas Postlewait,Prophet oftheNew Drama: WilliamArcherand theIbsenCampaign(Westport
and London: Greenwood, 1986), foran excellenthistoryof Archer'sand Robins's collaboration.

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 STAGINGINFANTICIDE / 437

the firstEnglishtranslationof TheMasterBuilder,but, as she explainsin a letterto

HenryJames,
A private agreement dressshouldcomefrom
thattheEnglish thehandsoftwowomen-
Mrs.HughBellandmyself--stirred tothepeace
passiontosucha pitch,thatindeference
ofthepublishers, abandonedwhatwe couldhaveexacted--abandoned,
we voluntarily
thatis, so faras anypublicknowledgeofoursharewas concerned.16
Deferenceto (male) authorities'peace ofmindand voluntaryabandonmentofpublic
recognitionwere the expectedfemininecharacteristicsof the day. The two women
gave up the rightto attachtheirnames to the publishedtranslation,in what Shaw
mightcall womanlysubmissionto manlyegotism.Theirinscribederasureserved
thepurposeofkeepingthepeace. A good workingrelationship withWilliamArcher,
who controlledmost of the Ibsen translationand performance rightsin the 1890s,
was crucialforensuringa productionofAlan's Wife.17
ElizabethRobinslearnedmanythingsas an Ibsen actress,not least among them
thatherportrayalofIbsen's strongwomencharacterseffectively ruinedherchances
of obtainingany othersignificant roles on the London stage. Althoughshe nearly
won the part of Paula in Pinero's The SecondMrs. Tanqueray fromStella Campbell
(and it is to
interesting wonder how an actresswithRobins'sexperiencemighthave
the
interpreted role), most actor-managers wanted nothing do withan actressof
to
such independentreputation.18 Her workwithIbsen, especiallyin termsof collab-
orationamong actorsand director,may have helped to propelherintothe political
arena.19The starsystemso fiercelydefendedby London's powerfulactor-managers
clearlycould not be applied to psychologicaldrama in whicheverycharactercon-
tributesan indispensableelementto the plot. Ibsen actorsworkedas an ensemble
forthe good of the drama,which,in turn,was supposed to affectthe audience for
the good of society.This representeda sharp contrastto the starsystem,in which
thefocuswas on theindividualactordisplayinghimselforherselfto thebestpossible
advantage.
a writer,
Robinscollaboratedas an actress,a translator, as a suffragette.
and, finally,
She wroteAlan's Wifewith FlorenceBell, although,as theyhad done with their
translation
ofTheMasterBuilder, theplaywrights did notadmittheirauthorshipuntil
thirtyyears afterthe play was performed.20 The authors'namelessnesssuited the

16ElizabethRobins, Theatreand Friendship:SomeHenryJamesLetters(New York: Putnam, 1932), 79.

This collectionalso contains a reprintof a letterfromMrs. Bell to Robins, which begs Robins not
to let James"throw cold water" on theirprojectto writethe play about infanticide.
17Robinsand Archermay have at one point been lovers; she also may have aborted or miscarried
a foetus they conceived. Most of theircorrespondencewas destroyed (see Gates, "Sometimes Sup-
pressedand Sometimes Embroidered,"and Postlewait,ProphetoftheNew Drama).
"sRobins'sautobiography,BothSidesoftheCurtain(London and Toronto:Heinemann, 1940), is full
of such near misses in her career. For the storyof how she lost the part of Paula Tanqueray, see
Margot Peters,Mrs. Pat (New York: Knopf, 1984), 70-73.
"1See Robins's "Ibsen and the Actress" (London: Hogarth, 1928) fora passionate defense of the
"liberated" acting styledemanded by Ibsen's complex realisticcharacters.
20MichaelOrme, J. T. Grein;The Storyofa Pioneer,1862-1935 (London: JohnMurray, 1936), 124.
See also N. H. G. Schoonderwoerd,J.T. Grein,Ambassador oftheTheatre(Assen: Van Gorcum,1963).

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438 / CatherineWiley

contentof the play: no one criticizedRobinsforrepresenting

a murderousmother
onstage-indeed, as TheAthenaeum review shows,herperformancereceivedpraise-
but to have writtensuch a character,and to admit having done so, would have
excitedcontroversy and condemnation.

The Representation
Alan's Wifeopens withan image of happy, working-classfamilylife,the set de-
pictinga villagestreetinnorthernEngland,alongwhichpeople pass and littlechildren
play.Mrs. Holroydsitsoutsideherdaughter'scottage,knitting; herneighborspause
to pass thetimeofday, chattingabout thefineweather.This ruralidyllcorresponds
to themiddle-classnineteenth-century Londoner'sidea oflifeoutsidethecity;italso
illustrates
theplaywrights' betweentheproblemsofpoorwomen
failuretodistinguish
and women likethemselves.2The povertyin whichmanyruralwomen lived made
themmoresusceptibleto dependenceon marriageand male dominance.22
And in the same way thatscientificdeterminismsituatedwomen lower on the
evolutionaryscale thanmen, the laboringclass in generalwas consideredless de-
veloped than people who did not work with theirhands. The dirtyhands of the
servantoragriculturalorindustrialworkerand thedarkhandsofthecolonialprovided
evidence of theirless elevated natures.23 At the same time,however,well-to-do
Londonerstendedto idealize rurallifeforits closeness to natureand forthe access
to freshair and soothingsceneryit offered.The stereotypical countryvillagerwas
red-cheekedand plump; his or her robusthealthwas an emblemof the nostalgia
city-dwellersfeltforwhatappeared to be a simpler,healthierlife.Health,along with
purity,was an obsession among Victorians.Paradoxically,however,healthin the
working-class was envied, but forwomen who could affordto be sick healthwas
considered unfeminine.
The taleofman's corporealdefeatby modernmachinery(Alan is killedon thejob)
lost nothingin translation.In his articleon Alan's Wifein TheTheatrical
"World"for
1893, Archerdescribedhow he conceived the idea of transforming Elin Ameen's
Swedish storyforthe stage. Initiallyhe had feltSweden should remainthe setting,
since he fearedan Englishaudience would takeoffenseat a storyof mutilationand
infanticidein their own country. He later relented, saying ". . . the incidents were
just as naturalin Englandas anywhereelse, and I soon recognisedthatthe author
had takenthewiseras well as thebolderpartin placinghis scene in our own North

21Florence Bell spent many years working with and writingabout health and safetyissues for
factoryworkers,especiallywomen, in the industrialmidlands. Her experiencedoubtless contributes
a touch of "realism" to the script,but the gulfbetween her own social position (Lady Bell) and that
of the women who provided the materialforher work must have prevented real communication
between her and her subjects.
22PeterN. Stearns, "WorkingClass Women in Britain,1890-1914," in Vicinus, Suffer and Be Still,
100-120.
23Fora discussion of workersas "hands," see Leonore Davidoff,"Class and Gender in Victorian
England," in Sex and Class in Women'sHistory,ed. JudithNewton, Mary P. Ryan, and JudithR.
Walkowitz(London and Boston: Routledge, 1983), 17-71.

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 STAGINGINFANTICIDE / 439

Country."24Butthevillagesettingmaintainedtheseparationbetweenthecharacters
and theirLondonaudience.The expansionofrailservicehad notlessenedthedistance
betweenLondon's intellectualclass and the majorityof workingEnglish.The wife
of a factoryworkerin Yorkshirehad no morein commonwithwomen likeRobins
and Bell thana Swedish woman of theirown class.
The firstscene establishesJeanCreyke,a young wifeeagerlyawaitingthe birth
ofherfirstchild,as a prototypicalNew Woman.Despitebeingmarried,Jeanmanifests
herindependencein robustproclamationsofherlove forAlan, relishingthehouse-
keepingduties she performsforhis comfort.Gossipingwiththe neighbor,Jean's
motherconfessesshe wishes her daughterhad looked "higher"fora husband, to
the young minister,whose intellectualabilitieswould have been more suitableto
Jean'sown unusual book-learning.But Jeanreplies,"We can't all marryscholars,
motherdear-some of us prefermarryingmen instead."25Her husband may not
have the intelligenceof the evolved Victorianmale, but he possesses what is more
importantin a factoryvillage-physical strength.Jeanrejectsher mother'sinterest
in upward mobilityforthe moreimmediatepleasure she has achievedin marriage,
a preferencewhichexplicitlycontradictsthe Victorianview about women's nonex-
istentsexuality.The ministerrepresentsone typeofVictorianman,thesocialclimber
who, as Mrs. Holroydputsit,went"up to thebighouse lastChristmastide, to dinner
withthe gentry,just like one of themselves"(8). Alan representsa different, and,
to Jean,a fittertype. He is, in her words, "a husband who is brave and strong,a
man who is mymasteras well as otherfolks';who loves the hillsand the heather,
and loves to feelthestrongwind blowingin his faceand theblood rushingthrough
his veins" (9). Her brawnyhusband embodiesthe Darwiniandreamof the fittest of
the species, having developed muscles over intelligencein a lifewhich demands
more hard workthan scholarship.Sexual potencyapparentlycoincideswithbody
ratherthanbrain.
Dr. Acton, the most widely-readof the Victorianphysiciansspecializingin sex
studies,wrotein the 1860s: "The majorityof women (happilyforsociety)are not
verymuch troubledwithsexual feelingof any kind,"a theoryused both to justify
the double standardand to supportthe idea of women's arrestedevolutionas a
rationalefortheirsocial subordination.26 Denial of women's sexuality,especially
denialofwomen'spotentialforsexualpleasure,belieda deep-seatedfearofsexuality
in any form.It also propped up thecultofmotherhoodand thedoctrineof separate
spheres,domesticating women's sexualityforuse in themarriagebed and nursery,
where it was strictly limitedto the procreativefunction.As Linda Gordon writes,
"to suggest... thatwomenmighthave thecapacityforbeingsexual subjectsrather
than mere objects,feelingimpulsesof theirown, automaticallytended to weaken

24WilliamArcher,The Theatrical"World"for1893 (New York and London: Benjamin Blom, 1969),

116.
25Alan'sWife(London: The Independent Theatre, 1893), 7. All furtherreferencesto the play are
to this edition.
21M. Jeanne Peterson, "Dr. Acton's Enemy: Medicine, Sex, and Society in VictorianEngland,"
VictorianStudies29 (1986): 569-90, 582.

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440 / CatherineWiley

the theoryof the maternalinstinct."27In otherwords, to echo HerbertSpencer,a

woman could not affordto waste her vitalenergyon eroticsensationsifshe were
to performher maternaltaskefficiently.Accordingto Gordon,the Victoriancultof
pruderyparalleledthegrowingcultofmotherhood,because menneeded botha way
to containwomen withinthe home and to assuage theirown guiltover theirex-
ploitationofother,less economically
fitmen. Pruderyenforcedon theirwives,which
the women in turnespoused in the home, may have keptmiddle-classmen from
feelingmorallyreprehensibleforwork-related egotism.28
Jeanechoes some of thismasculineself-interest in her litanyofAlan's perfection
and the happiness of her own life.JaneMarcushas argued thatAlan's Wifeshould
be readas a Wagneriancelebration ofliberatedsexuality, inwhichJeanplaysa feminist
tragicheroine.29 in
Whilerejoicing her sexual satisfaction as Alan's wife,however,
Jeancannotsee herselfas anythingelse. In the same way Victorianmotherswere
consideredcoextensivewiththeirchildren,theyweresimilarly tiedtotheirhusbands.
Thismayhelp to explainwhyRobinsand BellchangedthetitleoftheSwedish short
storyfromElinAmeen's "Befriad,"whichcan be translatedas "The Release" or "The
Liberation,"to Alan's Wife.Jeanis Alan's wifefromthebeginningof the play to its
conclusion,even when Alan no longerexists.The playwrights understoodverywell
the lack of selfthiskind of totalidentification with a husband meantforwomen,
who lived as auxiliariesto the men whose names theybore. The Englishtitlealso
establishesthe play's focus on the characterratherthan what she does, whereas
"The Release" comes uncomfortably close to impliedapprovalofinfanticide, forthe
release of boththe motherand the imperfect child.
The firstscene of Alan's Wifeis fullof referencesto motherhood.Mrs. Holroyd
speaks in the clichesof convention,sayingshe wishes, "as motherswill,"thather
daughterhad made a more sociallyattractivemarriage,and remarksthatJean's
excellenthousekeepingshowed she was her mother'sdaughter.The second scene
presentsa sharpcontrastto conventionalideas about maternalinstinctswhen Jean,
stillapparentlyin shock at losingher husband in such a violentmanner,sits in a
daydream,ignoringthe cradlebeside her. Her motherand the neighbortend the
baby, arguingabout how many blanketsthe infantboy needs on top of him. In
additionto providingratherheavy-handedforeshadowing ofthescene's climax,the
elderwomen'swordsunderlineJean'sunnaturalorunconventional positiononstage.
She, themother,sitsfurthest fromthecradle,looks at thefireratherthanthebaby,
and refersto herson, stillunchristened,as "it."Jeanis reluctantto nurturethechild
because itis crippledas a resultofherfaintoverAlan's death.Mrs. Ridley,thewell-
meaningneighbor,chidesher,"What'sa motherfor,ifit's not to care forthebairn

27LindaGordon, Woman'sBody,Woman'sRight(New York: Grossman, 1976), 99.

28There is some debate now about the extentof prudery-see PeterGay's revisionaryhistory,The
BourgeoisExperience:Victoriato Freud(New York and Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 1984); and
Steven Marcus, The OtherVictorians(New York: Basic, 1966). Prostitution,both in England and in
the U.S., was at its peak in the mid-nineteenthcentury,in part because men were supposed to be
unable to satisfytheirnaturallyvoracious sexual appetites at home. See JudithR. Walkowitz,Pros-
and VictorianSociety(Cambridge and London: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1980).
titution
29Jane Marcus, "Elizabeth Robins."

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 STAGINGINFANTICIDE / 441

thatneeds it most?" This drivesJeandeeper into depressionas she contemplates

how therestofherlifewillbe spent(25). The two olderwomenadvise herto submit
to God's will and be gratefulforthechildshe has, a platitudeechoed by the "weak
littleminister,"who comes to remindJeanof God's hand at workin her life.
The minister'sfinalwordsto Jeanare to prayforthebaby,and he leaves heralone
onstage with the cradle. She intonesa long monologue,in which she convinces
herselfthatthebabydoes notwantto live to facea lifeofhardshipand dependence
on strongerpeople. The speech is a tour-de-force forRobins-as-Jean, as the stage
directionsindicateeverypossible postureof despair forher to take. She "fallson
herknees,staggersto herfeet,stopshorror-stricken, bows herhead over the cradle's
edge, whisperswith suppressed wildness, liftsa drawn whiteface, moves like a
womanin a dream,"baptizesthechildAlan,and, finally,she "rises--looksanxiously
overher shoulderto door and window,blows out thecandles one by one, and goes
stealthilytowardscradlewitha long wailingcry,theeiderquilthuggedto herbreast
More than a littlemelodramatic,thisscene is no worse than
as the curtainfalls."30
the finalcurtainscene of Ibsen's Ghosts,when Mrs. Alvingrealizes she must kill
Osvald. Jean'scryalso correspondsto the end of scene one, as do the deaths (or at
least theimplieddeaths) ofhusband,father,and son. In lightof the story'soriginal
title,"The Release," the crycan be read as a greatoutpouringofpent-uppassion-
a keeningforherhusband,a reminderof theorgasmicecstasyshe experiencedwith
him,and furyat her helplessnessto change her circumstances.31
All anti-climax,scene threetakesplace in theprisonwhereJeanis held forinfan-
ticideand where she is to be hanged unless she statesthatshe performedher act
in a fitofinsanity.The prisonwardentellsMrs. HolroydthatJeanmightsave herself
using thisplea since such a crime,he says, is "hard to believeof any mother"(41).
Far fromrepenting,however,Jeancalls what she did courageousand says, as she
is led offstage to die,

I had todo whatI did,and theyhavetotakemylifeforit.I showedhimtheonlytrue

mercy,and thatis whatthelaw showsme! MaybeI shallfindhimup yondermade
straightand fairand happy-findhimin Alan'sarms.
Goodbye--mother--goodbye!
[41]
The onlycharacterleftonstageis Jean'smother,therepresentative of an oldergen-
erationoftraditional women,incapableofunderstanding daughterswho claimcon-
jugal love as a higherlaw than Jean's
maternity. confidence about dyingrestson her
beliefin the remotepossibilitythat she will be united with Alan in heaven. She
demands a healthybaby,one like her husband,or none at all-another instanceof
an apparentlyliberatinggesturereinforcinga historicalstereotype.The obsessionof
the Victorianmiddle class with good health and cleanliness-Jean's wish for a
"straightand fair"baby-was partof its image of itselfas distinctfromthe restof

30Ibid.,35-57. Somebody noticedthatthisbaptismresembledthe baptismscene in Thomas Hardy's

TessoftheD'Urbevilles,promptingHardy to writea letterto The Westminster Gazetteon 9 May 1893,
assuring the public that his novel had gone to print by the time the Swedish story had been
dramatized.
31I am gratefulto Elaine Marks forsuggestingto me the ecstaticdimensions of Jean's cry.

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442 / CatherineWiley

theworld.The audience'spresumedantipathytowardthecharacterforheract must

have been mitigatedby the culture'sdistasteforphysicalweakness, especiallyin
males.

The Re-View
The two matineeperformances of Alan's Wife,on 2 and 3 May 1893, sparkeda
debatein thepages ofTheSpeaker abouttheboundariesofstagerealismand decency.
The issue underlyingthe debate,however,had less to do withrealism'soffensive-
ness than withthe exclusionof the femininein representation. The play subverts
Cixous's propositionthat"itis alwaysnecessaryfora woman to die in orderforthe
play to begin,"while simultaneouslyassertingthatstage representation demands
erasureof the femalevoice. In the thirdscene of Alan's Wife,the forcesof law and
conventionsilencesilenceJeanCreykeand effectively killher.Butheroffstage death,
implyingthatit is necessaryfora woman to die in orderfortheplay to end,offers
a radicalrevisionof the forcesactingagainstthe femininesubject.
Alan's Wifeis the New Woman's critiqueof motherhood,but more importantis
its implicitconnectionof the reproductiveand representational functionsof the
feminine.As Irigarayshows in SpeculumoftheOtherWoman,the place of originof
bothman's selfand mimesis,theimitation ofthatself,is theimaginarywomb,which
he can neithersee nor imagine.32 For man's imitationsto reflectwhat he wants to
see--thatis himself--accessto the originmustbe closed off,censored.In Freudian
termsthe castratedmotheris repressedforthe male child to understandhis own
access to the father'sphallus.
At the timeAlan's Wifewas performed, Freud had not yettheorizedthe Oedipal
complex and the machinery repressionand sexual differentiation
of it entailed.He
was, however,lookingfortherootsofhysteria inwomeninrepressedsexualfantasies.
A. B. Walkley'sinsistenceon having seen onstagewhat was neverthereparallels
someofthehysterics' problems.And,while"malehysteric" mayappearoxymoronic,
given the rootof the word "hysteria,"Freudhimselfcitedcases ofmale hysteriaon
morethanone occasion.
Beforeprobingtoo deeply into the reasons forWalkley'spanic-stricken visual
accountof the play, I would like to look at the contextforhis re-marks.The anger
informing his reviewis directedat severalthings.First,the IndependentTheatre's
reputationforshockingrealism,uninhibitedby thecensor'sblue pencil,influenced
the critic'sresponsebeforehe enteredthe theater.J.T. Greinhad mountedIbsen's
Ghostsat the Independentin 1891,whichWalkleyjoined mostreviewers(withthe
notableexceptionsofArcherand Shaw) in reviling,in ClementScott'swords,as "a

"Luce Irigaray,SpeculumhoftheOtherWoman,trans.GillianC. Gill (Ithaca: CornellUniversityPress,

1985).
33Fora new twiston Freud's collaborativeworkwithBreueron hysteria,see Wayne Koestenbaum,
"Priviligingthe Anus: Anna O. and the Collaborative Origin of Psychoanalysis," Genders3 (Fall
1988): 57-81. Koestenbaum argues thatmen such as Freud and Breuer "wrote togetherto reassert
theircreativepriorityin the face of renascent female authority"(58), and in theircase it was the
femalehysteric'sbody theywrote on.

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 STAGINGINFANTICIDE / 443

loathsomesore unbandaged,an open drain,a dirtyact done publicly."34 The Inde-

pendent was thefirst
ofseveralLondon imitations
ofParis's Libre,
Theatre a company
runon a private,subscription basis to bypass theLord Chamberlain'sprohibitionof
what he deemed offensivematerial.Robinsand Bell probablycould not have pro-
duced Alan's Wifeat any of the largepublic theaters,whose offerings were subject
to officialcensorship,and the Independentofferedan opportunity formoredaring
ideas to receivelow-budgetproductions.35
In a seriesof lettersto TheSpeaker,
Walkleydefendedhis visionby painstakingly
recountingthe actors'movements,althoughArcherassured him thatthe actoron
the stretcherwas invisibleto the audience. Walkleywrites:

bythewifefrom
Thesheetwaslifted theman'sheadandshoulders, whichwerestreaked
withpainttoindicate ThisI saw-"ce qu'onappellevu,de
somehideousdisfigurement.
mesyeuxvu"-and so didmyneighbor inthestalls.As tothechild,Mr.Archer
contends
thatwe were not "shown" it, because it was in a cradle. ... My meaningwas plain:
tobe a child(I learnthatitwasactually
thatwaspurported
something a doll),something
whichthemother
wentthrough
theperformance as thecurtaindescended,was
ofsmothering
on thestage.36
brought mine)
(emphasis

Walkleyresortsto severalrhetorical flourishesto provehis point:he employsFrench,

the language of reason; he cites the eyewitnessaccountof an unbiased observer;
and, finally,he accuses his detractorsofwillfullymisunderstanding him:"Mymean-
ing [in the first was
letter] plain,"he in
insists; otherwords, when he said "a child,"
he meanta doll. This elisionbetween"somethingthatpurportedto be a child"and
a child parallelsthe unmediatedassociationof the characterwith the actresspor-
trayingher. Ratherthanchastisethe actresswho "went throughthe performance"
ofinfanticide, whichshe literallydid, Walkleyobjectedto themother's performance.
Has Robins's interpretation of Jeanbeen such a triumphof realismthatWalkley
believedit was reallya motherwho smotheredher doll?

Clearly,the critic'sattackwas directedas much at realismand the Independent

Theatre'sembraceof the styleas at the play itself.My interest,however,lies in the
tenacitywithwhichhe maintainedhis "view,"arguingthathe saw what everyone
concernedwith the productionassured him he could not have seen. Archer'sre-
joinderstoWalkleyconcentrates on the"aestheticprinciple"at stakein theargument:
Alan's Wifemusthave been an artisticsuccess ifit affectedWalkley'scriticalability
so viscerally,but its artistry
did not depend upon the representation of violence.37

34SeeShaw's The Quintessence ofIbsenism(New York: Brentano's, 1913) fora catalog of the critical
hyperbolelaunched at the production. This catalog was initiallycompiled by Archerin an article,
entitled"Ghosts and Gibberings,"forthe World.
"3SeeJohnStokes, ResistibleTheatres(London: Paul Elek, 1972); Anne Irene Miller,TheIndependent
Theatrein Europe:1887 tothePresent(New York:Ray Long and RichardR. Smith,1931); and Postlewait,
oftheNewDrama.
Prophet
36Alan'sWife,Appendix, 54.
37Archerwrote: "The stretcheris not figurative-we do see the harmless, necessary stretcher.
Moreover we see the cradle--a solid oak cradle, transparent,like the solid earth itself,to the eye
of the imagination,but certainlynot to the physical vision. .... The author mighthave borrowed

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444 / CatherineWiley

ElizabethRobinsadds, in a further
turnofthescrewofrealism,"neitherthe author
norI had anyintentionofallowinganyportionofthesupposed corpsetobe visible."38

Walkley'sinsistenceon the veracityof what he saw betrayshis anxietynot only

over the boundariesof representation but also over his own positionwithinthe
representational field.If,in Lacanian terms,the male critic'spossession of a phallic
substitute-a penis-allows him masteryof symbolicdiscourse,the fearof losing
that substitute,of becominglike a woman, makes him (to say the least) uncom-
fortable.39He knowswherehe standsas a male subjectbecause his symbolicphallus
is visible to him. In Stephen Heath's words, "The functionof castrationas the
articulationof the subjectin difference is broughtdown to a matterof sight,the
articulation of the symbolicto a vision."40Walkley'svisionin thiscase is faulty,but
he insistson the truthof what he saw because he cannotriskbeing unseated from
his positionas subject.The restof this articleaddresses the question of why the
play, and, specifically, the characterof JeanCreyke,poses such a threatto him.
The play's realismraises the specterof castrationin thecritic'seyes and prompts
his hysterical response.Alan'sWifeis not,however,structured completelyin accord-
ance withthe dramatictenetsof psychologicalrealism.The finalscene takes place
in theprisonwhereJeanis held forinfanticide and whereshe willbe executedunless
she statesthatshe was insane at thetimeof themurder.Elin Diamond has pointed
to the stage directions,in whichJean's"lines" are writtenout but she is supposed
onlyto mimethemuntiltheend ofthescene,as an exampleofJuliaKristeva's"true-
real."41 This termis an apt metaphorforJean'sdilemma,comingas it does from
Kristeva'sstudiesin thediscourseofpsychosisand herassertionthatthe "true-real"
occursin "theplace ofthearchaicmother,"in otherwordsin presymbolic or semiotic
language. According to Kristeva, the psychotic "incarnatesthe catastropheof the
verb,"and thetruthannouncesitselftothepsychoticnotas thereal,orwhatlanguage
is supposed to signify,but thewords themselvesbeforetheyare uttered.Discourse
need not transcend,then,the Saussurianbar separatingsignifier fromsignifiedin
order to have meaningbecause this structure,which is rigidifiedby the laws of
symbolicorderand by convention,holds no value forthe psychoticsubject.42

mangled limbs froma dissectingroom, a crooked baby fromSeven Dials, and exhibitedthem on
stage. This would not have been art,and would have meritedthe hisses of the audience, ifnot the
interferenceof the police" (Alan's Wife,51).
3"Ibid.,54.
3See Diana Fuss, EssentiallySpeaking(New York and London: Routledge, 1989) fora discussion
of the phallus/penisanalogy, which is very real, despite Lacan's denial of it.
"Stephen Heath, "Difference,"Screen19 (1978): 51-112, 54.
4'Elin Diamond, "Mimesis, Mimicry,and the 'True-Real'," ModernDrama 32 (1989): 58-72. The
citationsfromKristeva are my translationfromthe French. See JuliaKristeva,"Le Vrdel," in Folle
Veritd:Veriteet Vraisemblancedu TextePsychotique,ed. JuliaKristeva(Paris: Seuil, 1979): 11-35.
42For a discussion of Saussure's formulaS/s (the signifierover the signified)and Lacan's famous
revisionofSaussure's treeillustration,see JacquesLacan, "The agencyoftheletterin the unconscious
or reason since Freud," Ecrits,trans. Alan Sheridan (New York and London: Norton, 1977), 146-
78.

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 STAGINGINFANTICIDE / 445

In keeping with her earliertheoriesabout the human subject's rejectionof the

semiotic,or presymbolic,as a prerequisiteforentryinto and masteryof symbolic
discourse,Kristevapositsthe"true-real"as a specifically femalespace ofpossibilities
ofmeaning.43 AliceJardinehas translatedKristeva'sterm("le vreel")as "she-truth,"
a kind of "true"whichis "anteriorto, or in some cases beyondthe Truth... that
which can neverbe seen, which neverpresentsitselfas such but rathercaptures,
points,withdraws,hides itselfin itsveils. . . ."44 And thatwhichveils itself,which
coexistsonly uncomfortably withand neverbeside, on an equal footing,withthe
Truthas it has been delineatedin symbolicdiscourse,is the feminine.
If the "true-real"portraysthe crisisof tellingthe truthin language,can we find
examplesor at least symptomsof it, in thisfinalscene of Alan's Wife?The scene is
most appropriateif we considerits positionas part of a play, on a level of repre-
sentationalreadyonce removedfrom"the real." It is also usefulto rememberthe
playtext'sexistencewhichinhabits,but does not fullydefine,the performance. We
read the playwrights'directive:"Jean'ssentencesare given as a stage directionof
what she is silentlyto convey,but she does not speak untilnearlythe end of the
Act,"45and beforeeach of her lines is the reminderto the readers,in parentheses,
thatthe characterremains"silent."Readers know specifically, what the actressis
supposed to be saying,a knowledgewhichis denied to the spectator,who can only
see her gestures.For the reader,then,the characteris portrayedmore realistically
than her stage adaptation,since the reader has access to the character'sinterior
monologue.The theaterspectatoris leftwiththevoid in languageJardinerefersto,
a void filledby the actress'sbody, not the character's.If Robins'sactinghad lulled
the spectatorinto acceptingher as JeanCreyke,duringher silence the mirrorof
naturalismcracksand Robinsas Jeanrevertsback to Robinsas performer.
Jean'ssilenceaftershe has committedtheunthinkable, indeed,unspeakable-but
not,as Walkley'shallucinationimplies,invisible-actofinfanticide, can be read then
as herand Robins'srejectionofdiscourse.The finalscene withhermother,in which
the warden, representativeof the law and the Law, waits outside and offstage,
providesan exampleofthefluidmaternalspace Kristevadefinesas botha precedent
and an alternativeto symbolicdiscourse.Far fromrepenting,whichwould involve
repeatingwords of atonementfroma preparedscript,Jeancalls her act courageous
and says she "did what she had to do." But words do not expressher feelings,and
theydo not save her life.As she is led away to be hanged, she expressesher hope-
of being reunitedwithAlan in heaven and cries,"Good-bye-mother- good-bye!"
Thisfarewellto motherhoodcompletestheactionofinfanticide, killingtheVictorian
cult of maternalidolatryalong withthe baby. If assumptionof the role of mother
does not reproduceof the father,as it so graphicallyhas not in Jean'scase, the role

"43SeeJuliaKristeva, "Women's Time," in The FeministReader:Essays in Genderand thePoliticsof

Literary ed. CatherineBelsey and JaneMoore (New York: Blackwell, 1989), 197-218.
Criticism,
of Womenand Modernity(Ithaca and London: Cornell Uni-
"4AliceJardine,Gynesis:Configurations
versityPress, 1985), 154.
4"Alan'sWife,41.

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446 / CatherineWiley

mustbe denied on two levels: one, the literal,in whichJeansimplyrefusesto be a

mother,and two, the figural,in whichshe refusesto partakein discourse.
Women's brutallyenforcedrole in the representation of men's desire forself-
reproduction was idealized by the Victorians,to the detriment of women's self-
The
identification.46 two Alans, and
father son, onstage, Jeandoes not.Instead
die but
ofdying,as Cixous says is necessaryfortheplay to begin,she is killedby theforces
of stateand discursiveauthorityafterit is over,offstageand outsidethe represen-
tationalspace of the play.

Walkley'shorrorat what he "saw" the actressdo parallels the veiled hysteria

throughwhichwomen were perceivedin VictorianEngland. As MaryAnn Doane
has pointedout, women, like disease, constantlythreatento contaminatehealthy
masculinespace.47Alan's wifeenactsthiscontamination notonlyby producingand
a
destroying corruptimage of her husband, but also, in the finalscene with her
mother,bybreakingoutofsymbolicdiscourse.In a different play,one whichadhered
morecloselyto thelaws ofrealisticrepresentation, Jeanmightend in classichysteria,
since in the nineteenthcenturythe "disease" was believedto be physicallylocated
in theuterus.Sinceone markofthereligioushysteric, however,in Kristeva'sstudy,
is an addictionto the visible,the male critichere can be said to exhibitsymptoms
ofhysteria.His gaze was violatedby Jean'scrimeand herwordlessrecuperationof
heridentity,notas a motherwho recreatesman in his own image,but as a woman
whose desireremainsoutsidemale discourse.The graphicviolencewhichWalkley
envisionedreallyoccurred,but not in stage blood. Shatteringthe mirrorof repre-
sentation,breakingout ofthemale gaze and intoa space ofarticulatedfemaledesire,
is the transgressionat whichhe could not bear to look.

46Itis no coincidencethattoday's threatto women's reproductiverightsand the increasinglyshrill

rhetoric,fromboth sides of the U.S. politicalspectrum,concerningthe familyand "familyvalues"
should come at a time when more women exercise more social and economic power than ever
before.The call for"back to basics" in academia, too, onlyrecentlyhas foundan audience threatened
by the inroads made in the curriculumby feminism,AfricanAmerican, Asian American, Native
American,Chicano, and post-colonialstudies.
47MaryAnn Doane, The Desireto Desire(Bloomington:Indiana UniversityPress, 1987), 38.

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