The Feminist in Charlotte Smith's

Desmond
Is Charlotte Smith a 1790s Radical Feminist or a
Domestic Feminist?
Feminist criticism defines Desmond as a defiant sentimental novel that softly objects in
words, but strongly objects in semantics the 1790s female domestic.

Feminism for the past centuries has gone through a series of metamorphoses. The
feminism we recognize today differs from the “feminism” illustrated in Charlotte
Smith's Desmond. Desmond represents a kind of feminism relevant to the 1790s and
feminism powerful enough to render the female of the 1790s agency within the confines
of society’s definition of the female as domestic. Even with these definite
pronouncements scholars still disagree on the kind of feminism Charlotte Smith
represents.

Radical Feminism or Domestic Feminism

What kind of 1790 female writer does Smith represent; a radical female writer or a
simple sentimental novel writer? Also, what ways does Smith implement change in her
text, if any? For instance, Janet Todd in “Readings of Mary Wollstonecraft” argues
Smith helped construct the foundations of feminism. She classifies Desmond as a
sentimental novel that uses this genre as a way to define feminism, but be careful not to
use this genre to ignore the message.

While Diana Bowstead in “Charlotte Smith's Desmond: The Epistolary Novel as

Ideological Argument” and Eleanor Wikborg in “Political Discourse Versus
Sentimental Romance: Ideological and Genre in Charlotte Smith's Desmond (1792)”
agree that Desmond has the hallmark of a feminist text they view how Smith renders
feminism differently. To sum up Bowstead and Wikborg’s arguments, Bowstead thinks
of Desmond as a radical feminist text, while Wikborg sees Desmond as cultural re-
enactment of the sentimental novel.

Bowstead finds Desmond to be a political novel because it is “realistic, radical, and

inclusive.” She also finds the form Smith chooses to write in, the epistolary novel,
important to the political positions Smith takes. The epistolary form adds at least a
degree of separation from the author, so that information can be reported “accurately”
and unattached from the labels in association with a woman.

Since, Smith's views are relatively hidden as a part of the story and “are always a
function of the character” this protected Smith from public censure. In contrast,
Wikborg states that a 1790s women's agency is practiced through “a romantic
valorization of the moral beauty of compliance.” So for Wikborg, Smith’s heroine
Geraldine modeled “patient submission to persecution,” but Bowstead views Geraldine
as a radicalized feminine character.
For example, while Geraldine does take a moment to contemplate whether she should
go to France with her husband she still goes with quiet confliction. Bowstead views this
as Smith creating a parallel between husbandry and slavery. Wikborg, however, does
not see evidence of the connection. Bowstead views Geraldine’s actions as radical or
outside the cultural norm for female domesticity.

Geraldine faces her role as wife head on even though it could mean death for herself
and her children. Her being forced into prostitution by her husband, according to
Bowstead is comparable to the degradation of chattel slavery; “those who oppose the
institution of slavery for political or moral reasons are invited to consider the position of
women in so civilized a country as England.”

Does Femininity Mean Dependence?

Bowstead points out the heroine acknowledged her dependence on her husband and her
status as property. In reality, Geraldine's protests against her husband are Smith’s
protest against political aristocracy that should be traded for “democratic domestic
policies”. Bowstead calls this entire process “the radicalization of her [Smith's]
heroine.” Therefore, Geraldine’s acts are a call to action against oppressive marital roles
for females, but Smith uses romantic sentiment to lighten the demonstration of a
different thought.

Wikborg views Desmond as purposefully omitting commentary on whether women

should actively stand against the lack of agency for women in the institution of
marriage. The exaggeration of submission might actually be a way to point out a
woman’s “quest for vindication and reward.” So, if Geraldine gets Desmond, then she is
rewarded with the possibility of agency. Still Wikborg finds the combination of politics
and the sentimental contradictory.

Desmond conforms to the role a text needs for application of Feminist Literary
Criticism. It features dominant males that oppress submissive, weak, compliant, and
nurturing woman. However, Charlotte Smith constructs her characters not only to play
these roles, but to deconstruct the roles women played in her society. These features in
the end have made it a literary text ripe for feminist criticism evident by the contrast in
scholar’s critiques.