During the Victorian Era, a
prostitute was considered a “fallen woman” and could be satisfying several men
over a period of time. These women were judged harshly by their employment and were
often looked down upon. After reading the poem, “The Bridge of Sighs” by Thomas
Hood, I wondered how society reacted to the way he redeemed the dead prostitute
he found by the bridge.
Fortunately for Hood, society
would not look at his poem as a way of forgiving the prostitute for her sins
due to his last two stanzas. Hood wrote:
Perishing gloomily,
Spurr'd by contumely,
Cold inhumanity,
Burning insanity,
Into her rest.—
Cross her hands humbly
As if praying dumbly,
Over her breast!
Owning her weakness,
Her evil behavior,
And leaving, with meekness,
Her sins to her Savior!
Significantly, Hood used God
and religion as a way to make this prostitute pay for her sins. Throughout the
beginning of the poem, Hood seemed sorrowful for the death of the prostitute
(which could have made him look bad in society), but made the speaker cross the
prostitutes hands as he left her. This was the speaker’s way of explaining that
this prostitute lived a sinful life, and praying to God may make her
redeemable.
In the last stanza, Hood’s
speaker also stated that by making the prostitute appear to be praying, she
will be “owning her weakness and her evil behavior”. Clearly, he ends the poem
by explaining that she should not be completely forgiven for the sins she committed
in her life.
Society would have also taken
Thomas Hood’s poem well because he displays the prostitute as dead. Victorian
society felt that these “fallen women” should be expelled from society, so the
people would enjoy the fact that Hood has made the prostitute dead.
For more information on “fallen
women” during the Victorian Era visit:
For all of "The Bridge of Sighs" by Thomas Hood visit:
When you mention how Hood uses religion and God in relation to the prostitute paying for her sins, it makes me wonder if Hood went further with that idea of religion. Ironically the fallen woman is also falling in the water but she is immersing her entire body in the water. Maybe metaphorically saying her soul is being cleansed and it's washing her sins away.
ReplyDeleteBoth your reading, Jenny, and your comment, Gabby, help illuminate the way that the drowning of the fallen woman functions simultaneously as punishment and forgiveness. Of course, she can only be forgiven after she is punished...
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