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Dear Readers,

Below is my Lens Essay, based on the writings of Nikki Sullivan and Henry Fielding. I

think I did well when it came to repeating the main point of the essay, and finally understand

organization, but this essay has more flaws than advantages. There may not be enough analysis

in the right places, and perhaps more citation is needed in some area more than others. There is

also the matter of citation; in some parts, when I explain, perhaps it could be better to have more

citation. It would help me if you, my readers, could point out where I would need more citation

and analysis to better flesh out my points in the essay.

Edward Hsieh
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Edward Hsieh

Tina Van Kley

UWS: Body and Text in the 18th Century

3/7/2012

The Female Husband: Attack to Assert

Whether in Shakespeare or in films, many characters, usually the antagonists, tended to

pick on other characters like the protagonists for slight differences. After all, people tend to fear

that which is different. Henry Fielding's short story The Female Husband, about a woman who

wore male clothes, married women, had sex with them before making off their money, seems to

follow this belief, in that the people in the towns attack Mary out of fear that she is different. But

why would the characters go so far in their attacks of Mary Hamilton, calling her unnatural and

other such things? From Nikki Sullivan's Queer Theory, which interprets that Judith Butler's

ideas that gender and identity are the result and reinforcement of repeated actions supporting the

social majority, it may be that Mary is attacked for more than just fear. Mary Hamilton may wear

men's clothes and is attracted to women, but it seems from some reactions there is more to the

attacks than just asserting dominance and dealing with this fear of someone different. In The

Female Husband by Henry Fielding, the narrator, the townspeople, and the brides attack Mary

Hamilton not only assert that heterosexuality (with en being masculine) is the normal and only

way, they also do it as some form of fear or even twisted fascination.

One of the most important aspects of Judith Butler's work is the construction of identity.

Identity, according to Nikki Sullivan's interpretation, identity is not something that is inherent,
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but rather something that is "constituted in and through its relations with others and the world"

(Sullivan, pg 94). Through repeated actions in different varieties and forms, the identity is

eventually made out that fits into the society at large, although whenever the action is not

continued, there is an obvious discrepancy. The example Sullivan used for this was the

assumption that women are seen as gentle and caring, when in fact this is a build up from

repeating actions and guidance from parents; behaving like a tomboy would be a discrepancy.

The other key to identity according to Sullivan's interpretation though, is that all of this is

unconscious. Contrary to popular belief, behaviors are not in fact voluntary; once the identity is

built up, actions continue to reinforce this identity. As a contradiction though, since we are able

to categorize people by actions, Sullivan argues that we can also punish "unnaturals" and

functions to "reaffirm or naturalise that which is held to be normal." (Sullivan 84) Thus, the

repeating actions to set up an identity is what causes society to attack Mary far beyond what she

deserves, in an attempt to solidify that being the majority, namely heterosexual and with males

being masculine, is the accepted and normal way in society.

Just as explained from Sullivan, the characters in the novel categorize Mary Hamilton

and attack her because of it. After all, Mary, being attracted to women, part of the Methodist, and

feminine looking, is anything but part of the heterosexual majority, which also values its men for

being actually masculine. The most obvious person to assert heterosexuality in the play is the

narrator. In his running narration of Mary's story, the narrator ridicules Mary and her identity and

sexual characteristics, especially with his closing remarks about women should not cross the

same lines or they suffer the same fate and how he mentions "not fit to be mentioned" and even

"wicked" regarding Mary's ways (Fielding, 31). Right from the start the narrator sets the majority

dominance; Mary, being naturally attracted to women, is considered something horrible and
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abominable, different from the heteronormative majority. By making remarks like these, the

narrator implies that Mary's ways are against everything the heteronormative majority stands for.

In fact, from how he uses not fit to be mentioned, the narrators believes Mary is so terrible that

she is not even fit to be described in proper society. This attack asserts that the heterosexual

majority is the normal way.

The next most prominent group to assert heterosexuality in The Female Husband are the

brides. While in the beginning the widow Rushford, is pleased to have a bridegroom who is so

handsome, once she learns of the truth and is swindled of her money, her response is to cry

"robbed by a vile jade, imposter, whore" and to note she is "undone" for she married "one who is

no man." (Fielding, 40). Obviously there is reason for the widow Rushford to be grieved and

angered, but her word choice unconsciously reveals the majority structure inside. Perhaps Mary's

actions were questionable, but the fact is the widow Rushford emphasizes in her grief and rage

that she is forever defiled because the one who has done this is a woman. It seemed to imply that

to be swindled in marriage by a man is far better than to be swindled by a woman. Also, there is

the use of imposter in her cries. While imposter may refer to Mary being a swindler, imposter

also seems to be a jab at how Mary's looks are an attack on how Mary, even with the right

substitute equipment, is still not a real man or masculine in any way. All of this attack serves to

set in stone the viewpoint of the society in The Female Husband; heterosexual marriage, whether

it is a happy or unhappy one, is always the superior choice to same sex marriage, especially from

a woman who is pretending to be a man.

With the bride in Dartmouth, when the bride figures out Mary is biologically female, she

cries that "have you not married me a poor girl, when you have not what you ought to have" and

berates herself that she "thought you [Mary] as a man" or she would never have "been so wicked
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to marry you for the world." (Fielding, 42) Again, there is reference to the fact because Mary

does not have a penis, she should not be marrying and having sex with women, and in fact

considers what she has done evil, again emphasizing that a woman marrying a woman is a

stigma, something which is forbidden, even evil. To further enforce the point, the bride in

Dartmouth also refers to herself as a poor girl. She is in this case a victim, but the wording also

gives off an image that Mary, a woman who tries to be a man, is some kind of vicious predator

who terrorizes the heterosexual maiden. Again, the attacks come from the unconscious wording,

which continues to reinforce that the heterosexual majority is the normal and correct way, and

anyone who is different is some kind of evil and unnatural monster.

In response to the bride in Dartsmouth Mary tries to defend herself, by noting that the

bride now had "the pleasures of marriage without the inconveniences." (Fielding, 42) With a

man, a woman is expected to give birth to children, a high risk situation that can result in death.

However the bride refuses to believe that this way is right, as right after Mary's defense, further

down the same page she refuses, noting she "will not be guilty of such wickedness" and threatens

to tell her family, as Mary is "no husband of mine [the bride's]" (Fielding, 42). As can be seen,

while they were fine in the courting stage, noting how handsome she was, as soon as the identity

has been revealed, the wives immediately note just how unnatural and evil Mary is, reaffirming

that heterosexuality is in the good while Mary's sexuality is bad. It is also worth noting that the

bride, even when learning she would not need to give birth, refuses to agree or join in. To her,

being heterosexual, and with that the possibility of physically having children, is still seen as the

better and normal way of things, even if there is danger and death involved. The wording of vile

wickedness, and the proclamation that Mary is not her husband shows the bride is continually

enforcing the heterosexual majority.

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The most violent characters who affirm heterosexuality though, are the crowds of people.

Before they even learned about Mary's actual biological gender, the townspeople in The Female

Husband were already disparaging Mary, with one statement from the widow Rushford's great

nephew commenting how Mary "has no beard" (Fielding, 38). The comment clearly shows also

that Mary does not match up to their concept of masculinity. Being heterosexual is not enough to

the townspeople; the normal way is for the men to look like actual men. After learning about

Mary's identity, the crowd, referred to by the narrator as women, would mock the brides with "ill

natured sneers" and were "witty at her expence" (Fielding, 43), treating them as an evil or

unnatural, since they did have sex with Mary. When the crowd does catch up to Mary and send

her to court, and after a "strict examination" and the discovery of "something of too vile, wicked,

and scandalous in nature" (Fielding, 49), the punishment was to be "publicly and severely

whipped four times...and to be imprisoned." (Fielding, 50) The way the law, the public,

described as having "laughed at her, threw dirt at her," and made use of "terms of reproach not fit

to be commemorated," (Fielding, 48) cruelly punishes Mary to affirm their normativity is treated

as something that is right and normal way, even though her crime as stated by the law is "false

and deceitful practices" (Fielding, 48) and is not directly connected with her sexuality. The

people use the punishment as a way to assert that heterosexuality is the normal way, and that the

other ways are evil or not to be considered.

All of this is a reaction to fear, a fear that the normal way is not able to match up to Mary

Hamilton. After all, the brides were perfectly pleased with Mary Hamilton before she was

revealed to be a man. With one bride, the widow Rushford, the bride actually "drest herself as

airy as a girl of eighteen, concealed twenty years of her age" and basically was so pleased that

her friend began to envy her, and much like the widow Rushford's great nephew, "could not
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forbear inveighing effeminacy in men" (Fielding, 38). In the case of the last bride's family, when

the bride's sister heard the bride is marrying Mary, the sister immediately confronted the bride

and insulted Mary, saying that marrying the same sex would be better. The bride counters by

noting she has "chosen for herself only, and that if she was pleased, it did not become people to

trouble their heads with that which was none of their business" (Fielding, 46). With this, some of

the comments have a larger context; not only were they about asserting a sort of dominance, they

are also a way to fight this fear. After all, if the bride is so pleased with this feminine person,

especially when it turns out to be a woman, then the majority is not and can be supplanted as the

only way. Considering that the society of 17th century England was strictly heterosexuality, with

homosexuality being a crime, the fact that women are pleased with this 'unnatural' is an attack on

the majority. Looking back, the bride in Dartmouth's response to Mary Hamilton, and the

outright refusal despite hearing the other side may be less of asserting the heteronormativity and

more of a denial or fear that Mary is actually a possible alternative to heterosexuality.

On the other hand, not all of the reactions are of fear. One noteworthy thing is that while

Mary is frequently described by the narrator as wicked and evil, the narrator also calls Mary the

heroine and calls the townspeople's crueler moments "ill natured" or "reproach not fit to be

commemorated" (Fielding 48). On one hand this narrator is criticizing Mary, and yet, he also

readily defends her. In a way, he also talks like Mary is some specimen, which gets closer to the

truth; while there is a fear to Mary, there is also some sort of fascination with Mary and how

different she is. After her trial, Mary is even paraded around the land to large crowds before

receiving her punishment of being "publicly and severely whipped four ties...and to be

imprisoned" (Fielding, 50). The parading may be a way of asserting heteronormativity and to
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fight the fear, but the fact they parade her around like some sort of special object only shows the

fascination people actually have with Mary being something different.

While there is an element of fear or even fascination with the townspeople's

attacks on Mary Hamilton, for the most part the attacks are an way to assert heteronormativity.

Admittedly, the people may just be attacking Mary for other reasons such as her being a

criminal, but the choice of words and reactions seem to show the people attack Mary for a far

different purpose than just justice. If there are so many people so fascinated by Mary though,

someone would eventually go further than Mary, and eventually undermine the

heteronormativity. The heteronormativity have been tested after all. There is a way for other

alternatives to exist.
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Bibliography

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.

Judith Butler. Routledge. Print. 1990.

Fielding, Henry. The Female Husband: And Other Writings.

Ed. Claude E. Jones. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1960

Sullivan, Nikki. "5." A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory.

New York: New York UP, 2003. 81-97. Print.