Mary Hays’ The Victim of Prejudice follows the story of a well educated girl who is slowly exposed to the gender bias of society and brought to ruin. Hays stresses the importance of education in the novel by having this protagonist so well-taught by Mr. Raymond. However, Hays means to show that despite this education, women will always endure systematic abuse. Mary is raised in a utopia when she lives alone with Mr. Raymond. Once the boys, William and Edmund, are introduced, the bias of society begins to creep into her world and academic education cannot prepare her for the injustice that follows. Men and the patriarchal society that Hays reflects in her novel are responsible for the downfall of women and keep them submissive through this cycle of abuse where women like Mary are educated but their education does not improve their status or allow them social mobility. Thus, The Victim of Prejudice is a novel exposing that men cause the downfall of women while also providing them with education to give them false hope before crushing their spirits.
The novel opens with Mary introducing herself and the setting of the novel. She narrates that they lived in Monmouthshire, described in a footnote as “pleasingly diversified. A portion is mountainous and rocky, but the rich land in the valleys and hills is full of woods and pastures” (Hays 179). The footnote sheds light on the area where she spent most of her time. This rural county likely meant she was far from the more populated cities and lived a more secluded life in her early childhood. Thus, Mary Hays has picked a setting that one can imagine is a utopia, far removed from society and gender bias, a microcosm for the development of Mary. In her narration, Mary talks only of her education with Mr. Raymond who has retired to this secluded life. Her education is seemingly rigorous. “I was early inured to habits of hardiness; to suffer, without shrinking; to endure fatigue and occasional labour” (Hays 5). Hays is attempting to establish that Mary’s education was thorough before the action of the novel begins. From this initial introduction, the audience might assume she is a fortified young girl and that Mr. Raymond was preparing her for life outside of their microcosm. Her narration implies that she believed herself to be taught “to suffer…to endure” but as later events show, this statement becomes ironic. Mr. Raymond attempts to teach her how to endure hardships but instead fails her by keeping her in the microcosm so she is unaware of societal expectations, class structures, and gender bias. He then introduces the next men to fail her and push her closer to ruin.
Mary’s bubble of safety in the rural community is punctured by the introduction of William and Edmund, boys meant to become “men of the world.” Their introduction leads to Mary’s first disobedience in chapter III when she steals grapes from Sir Peter Osbourne, but more importantly, she falls ill after the incident, which cannot be interpreted as a coincidence. This moment comes after Mr. Raymond reprimands her and she is diagnosed with scarlet fever (Hays 17). She takes the fall and suffers the consequences after William challenges her, introducing the first time her microcosm is disturbed and she is unjustly punished for her sex. “Trespassing on Sir Peter’s vineyard to disprove William’s assertion … Mary is forced to confront the disharmony between her conception of unimpeachable right and a distinctly gendered antagonism to it” (Zunac 3). Hays uses this scene to explicitly show the disconnect between how Mary was raised alone and when the boys, representative of the outside world, are brought into her bubble. Whereas until the boys are brought in, she believes herself capable of suffering and enduring, now she pushed towards a new suffering both mental and physical. The scarlet fever is a metaphorical punishment and a tool to suppress Mary in her attempts to prove herself. Based on the biblical nature of the event, one can even assume this scarlet fever is comparable to the punishment Adam and Eve received after eating the forbidden fruit. This proves that Mary’s safe bubble is punctured by the introduction of the boys and her first encounter with gender bias is through William, leading to her first punishment.
The characterization of William also shows how Mary is first negatively influenced by a man. Mary is a thoughtful character that opposes the idea to steal the grapes. However, “the disposition of William was somewhat impetuous, impatient of control, and liable to sudden gusts of passion” (Hays 11). Although William doesn’t commit the crime, he is the irresponsible one of the two and his temperament goes unpunished in the novel. Her behavior is influenced by his “impatient” and impulsive demeanor. While this is the first incident shown between the two, one can infer by this characterization that typically William should be the one disciplined; however, nowhere in this scene nor in another of the book is William the one disciplined or suffering for his actions. Instead, Mary suffers both a reprimand from Mr. Raymond, and as mentioned, some divine intervention gives her scarlet fever.
The incident with the grapes also introduces another character that further rips apart Mary’s microcosm and ultimately the main character to bring about her ruin. Sir Peter Osborne catches her stealing the grapes and his reaction demonstrates another gender bias that Mary is unaccustomed to. “Saying which, [Sir Peter Osborne] seized me, and, clasping me in his arms, kissed me with an odious violence” (Hays 22). In this particular scene, Sir Peter makes his first assault on Mary and the language she uses marks how Hays wants the audience to view him as an aggressor. A kiss is gentle, but Sir Peter “seized” Mary, implying a brashness of a man taking something. Hays directly parallels a “kiss” which should have affectionate connotations, with “odious violence” instead. Mary’s microcosm then is exposed to the violence of men through this scene, and in turn, makes the point that Hays aims to prove that men impose violence on women. “Moreover, the brute strength exercised by Sir Peter stands in for traditional conceptions of gender as the linchpin of domestic tranquility and, by extension, civil order” (Zunac 3). Men use violence and strength against women that have been domesticated and taught gentler manners to keep them in line. Mary struggles because she is still under the impression that education makes her equal to men like William or Sir Peter Osborne, and she is still only beginning to see the gender bias and expectations. In a patriarchal society that places importance on class, Sir Peter Osborne can aggressively take Mary with no consequences against him. In this instance, he doesn’t suffer any consequences other than William beating him off, although it seems that even this is miniscule. However, this begins the violation of Mary that the “domestic tranquility” and “civil order” expected at the time requires in order to keep women, especially those of lower class, submissive.
In this patriarchal society that Hays is reflecting in her novel, men control everything, even a woman’s own sexual awakening. Mr. Raymond, despite being the most progressive man in the novel, still is part of the system that controls women and forces them into roles. In chapter VI, Mr. Raymond tells Mary, “You are now, my dear Mary, approaching towards womanhood” (Hays 30). At first glance, this initially seems as though Mr. Raymond is making a general comment about Mary growing up, reaching adulthood. However, whether his intentions were pure and unbiased, later Mary confesses to William how this statement, and the following conversation, affected her perspective. “I knew not… that the regard I felt for you differed, in any respect, from our mutual and infantine fondness, till Mr. Raymond awakened my fears, and alarmed my tenderness” (Hays 53). In this way, it can be understood that Hays wants the audience to assume that Mr. Raymond forced Mary to address her sexuality before she was ready, inserting her in a position against her will. Women are not only sexually assaulted by men, but controlled in every aspect of their sexuality, implicitly or not as Hays shows through Mr. Raymond and Mary. This discovery also leads to Mary learning the hardships of class bias.
Mr. Raymond’s decision to retire to Monmouthshire with Mary and raise her seems to imply that he had intentions of sheltering her from city life and the prejudices of society. However, after introducing William and Edmund into her life, Mr. Raymond must tell Mary that she cannot be with William romantically, finally exposing her to the class biases she would suffer. He acknowledges that societal expectations and rules separate them, “Were it not for certain perspectives, I should perceive your growing tenderness with delight” (Hays 31). Mary is confused by his statements, but ultimately for several reasons. As mentioned, Mary was unaware of her feelings for him and as such, she cannot possibly be devastated by this discovery but is confused about this new information. More importantly, it is this introduction to the class and wealth bias that confuses her and the concept of William being a “man of the world.” This sudden exposure to another type of suffering she would endure confuses Mary. “What Hays demonstrates is the contradiction between social practices and reason which suggested that she and William were compatible” (Ty 4). Whether Mary saw William as a romantic partner or not in this scene, she did love him as a childhood companion and Mr. Raymond abruptly informs her that she cannot be with him, forcing her feelings into romantic ones and then taking hope from her. As Ty points out in their article, here is a moment when Hays is definitively destroying the microcosm that was created by education and seclusion. In their home, Mary knows things that make sense and are rational. Through this, Hays points out the ridiculousness of these “social practices” by putting it in the perspective of an educated woman that is unaccustomed to the biases that exist.
In the confusion of learning these social restrictions, Mary’s search for explanation leads Mr. Raymond to share the story of her mother, which is foreshadowing of Mary’s demise and exemplifies how the education given to women only serves to make them aware of their abuse. Using this tale, Hays also displays how women are deceived into believing that education and knowledge of the bias can lead to a different outcome. “The mother’s narrative is that of the seduced maiden, and… [reveals] that, following the codes of society, the mother’s standards of right and wrong behaviour are based, not surprisingly, on sexual purity” (Ty 3). Mary’s mother is the victim of a man deceiving her and leaving her destitute. After that violent violation, she is depicted as a whore in the novel, fallen from grace in Mr. Raymond’s eyes as he doesn’t recognize her. The importance here is that the mother falls to ruin so forceful because of “the codes of society” and not by choice. Her choices and behaviors are focused on the guilt of being impure because of societal expectations. She is shaped by the cycle of oppression. A man rapes a woman, leaves her, and she takes the blame. Mary’s mother sees this cycle of guilt and shame and asks Mr. Raymond to take her daughter and educate her. “[C]ultivate her reason, make her feel her nature’s worth, strengthen her faculties, inure her to suffer hardship, rouse her to independence, inspire her with fortitude, with energy, with self-respect, and teach her to contemn the tyranny that would impose fetters of sex upon her mind” (Hays 69). Such language is reminiscent of how Mary introduces herself in the beginning of the novel, when her microcosm is undisturbed. Mary’s mother is aware of how ill prepared she was for the world and asks Mr. Raymond to break the cycle by educating her daughter and preparing her for “hardship” and particularly important, “independence.” The implication here seems to be that independence will help Mary avoid the same seduced maiden tale that her mother fell victim to in her youth. Hays takes this scene to present to the readers the concept that perhaps daughters can be educated to break the cycle of oppression and gender bias. However, it becomes clear that Mary would still fall to ruin much like her mother did.
Sir Peter Osborne serves and the main antagonist in the plot of the novel. He continuously harasses Mary and assaults her to assert his dominance and claim her. Hays uses him to represent the patriarchal society that violates women. In a literal sense, he completely ruins Mary when he rapes her because of the importance society places on virginity. “[H]is native impetuosity, heightened by recent scenes of riot and festivity, by surprise, by pride, combined to effect my ruin” (Hays 117). How he is portrayed in this scene is important because it harkens back to how William was described as a child. Both men are described as brash, in this case his is “native impetuosity” where Hays claims that Sir Peter Osborne’s impulsiveness is an innate characteristic, one that he was perhaps born with. William’s characterization in the same way implies that all men of power or higher standing are impulsive and brash. Neither character is punished, which shows that society rewards these men rather than punishing them for their behavior. Hays also demonstrates that while women are typically the ones shown to be swayed by men and emotions, here it is Sir Peter that is “heightened by recent scenes of riot” which also once again carries the connotation of violence. Everything Sir Peter Osborne does is tainted with vices and violence, further demonstrating that the patriarchy that he represents is so rampant with these traits and uses them against women as Osborne does to Mary. “The rape was not a single act of violence but the culmination of systemic abuses and injustices that men in positions of power were culturally encouraged to act out against women” (Ty 5). Osborne is raised and taught by example to uphold this system and to abuse women, especially Mary who comes from a lower, illegitimate family. As Ty points out and as articulated in this essay, Mary is exposed to many injustices beyond the rape. Her fall has been building since the boys were introduced to her life and she became aware of gender biases, from there she is pulled into the system of abuse and brought to ruin.
An educated protagonist that falls to ruin and loses her potential effectively demonstrates the point that Hays aims for. In a patriarchal society, education cannot save a woman but instead gives her the tools to understand prejudice. In the perfect, rural world she lives in, Mary succeeds. However, the introduction of William and Edmund opens her world up to the truth of society’s biases against women. Men like William, Sir Peter Osborne, and even Mr. Raymond, violate and force women into ruin. Each man that interacts with Mary has served to push her towards ruin, even implicitly. Through The Victim of Prejudice, Mary Hays reflects the harmful cycle of oppression and biases that women are forced to endure, making it all the more powerful with scenes that give women hope like the peaceful microcosm of Monmouthshire and the hope that education will provide them social mobility and success.
Works Cited
Ty, Eleanor. “The Imprisoned Female Body in Mary Hays’s The Victim of Prejudice.” Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by Lynn M. Zott, vol. 114, Gale, 2003. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.lib.lehigh.edu/apps/doc/H1420045681/LitRC?u=lehigh_main&sid=LitRC&xid=579d9443. Accessed 27 Apr. 2020. Originally published in Women, Revolution, and the Novels of the 1790s, edited by Linda Lang-Peralta, Michigan State University Press, 1999, pp. 133-153.
Zunac, Mark J. “‘The dear-bought lessons of experience’: Mary Hays’s The victim of prejudice and the empiricist revision of Burke’s reflections.” Papers on Language & Literature, vol. 48, no. 1, 2012, p. 70+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.lib.lehigh.edu/apps/doc/A282955924/LitRC?u=lehigh_main&sid=LitRC&xid=e306f77d. Accessed 28 Apr. 2020.