Bodies in Service: Representations of the Servant’s Body in Two Victorian Novels
Bodies in Service: Representations of the Servant’s Body in Two Victorian Novels

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the representation of the servant‘s body in George Moore‘s 𝐸𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 and the Mayhew brothers‘ 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒: 𝑂𝑟, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝐿𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝐺𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑡. It considers the various uses that the servant‘s body is put to, focusing in particular on the figures of the wetnurse (𝐸𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠) and the footman (𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑢𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒). The article explores the numerous acts of appropriation and commodification of the servant‘s body – including its costing – and its peculiar vulnerability. It also considers instances of the body‘s intransigence: its refusal to abide by class boundaries and its subversion of the purposes it is required to fulfil. By addressing these issues, the article demonstrates the intimate connections which Victorian fiction traced between problems of class and social identity and problems of the body.

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