English Honors Theses

Date of Creation

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Departmental Honors Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Susan Elizabeth Sweeney

Abstract

This undergraduate thesis critically examines three female protagonists situated within the “fallen woman” character archetype of Victorian literature through a lens of redemption: Ruth Hilton in Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell (1853), Mercy Merrick in The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins (1873), and Tess Durbeyfield in Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (1891). While nineteenth-century readers may have expected that these women needed to undergo a moral transformation based on circumstances of their past, this thesis argues that none of them fundamentally require “redemption” according to any of the word’s typical definitions; rather, the question posed regards the modes through which each woman internalizes, and externalizes, her understanding of redemption as “necessary” to affirm her morality based on Victorian social codes. The thesis further contends that Gaskell, Collins, and Hardy illustrate these tensions by designing their respective narratives through a sympathetic view of the fallen woman, challenging conventional Victorian perceptions. In a thorough reading of the three novels, the thesis continually interrogates the nature of redemption based on how it manifests as both an inner feeling and an outer experience. The outward dimension of redemption emerges through each woman’s relationships with other characters, whose judgments shape how she seeks to be perceived. Central to this analysis is the question of belief: to what extent do Ruth, Mercy, and Tess believe they need redemption, and how do these beliefs shape their inner identities and outer actions? Ultimately, the thesis reframes redemption not as a correction of moral failure, but as an evolving interrelational response from women condemned for factors beyond their control.

Comments

Reader: Debra Gettelman

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