“‘Remember Jenny’: Representation of the Fallen Woman Through Male Gaze in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘Jenny’”
“‘Remember Jenny’: Representation of the Fallen Woman Through Male Gaze in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘Jenny’”

Summary/Abstract: Dante Gabriel Rossetti started working on his poem “Jenny” almost a decade earlier than his painting, Found. Although both of his works are about the issue of the fallen woman, “Jenny” particularly stands out as it reflects the poet’s conflicting attitude towards the issue of the fallen woman which sympathises and condemns the fallen woman at the same time and unravels the male hypocrisy that was prevalent during the Victorian Age. Caught in the middle between a wish to represent the condition of the fallen woman and fearful of Victorian outcries of censorship, Rossetti reduced Jenny to an object of pure speculation with her silence and inaction. Subjecting Jenny to the speculations of the male gaze and authorial power throughout the poem, Rossetti shows that his poetic persona is not actually that different from the conventional representatives of patriarchy. Hence, the aim of this study is to discuss the problematic stance of Rossetti’s poetic persona, who, despite the fact that he continuously emphasises his disinterest in sensual delights and expects praise in return, is yet typically reflective of Victorian patriarchal hypocrisy with his relentless comparisons initially between himself and Jenny and then his cousin Nell and Jenny.

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