65 pages • 2 hours read
Radclyffe HallThe Well of Loneliness
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1928A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Pressure to Conform to Gender Stereotypes
Many of Stephen’s struggles stem from her inability to conform to gender stereotypes, which were extremely rigid at the turn of the 20th century in England. At the opening of the novel, several associations are made between boys and strength/education, and between girls and beauty. This is unfortunate for Stephen, who is a girl with strength and smarts but no conventional beauty. It is soon clear that Stephen’s mother, Anna, “hates” her specifically because of the masculine qualities she possesses. It’s not just Anna who sees these boyish qualities in Stephen, though. For example, one of the houseworkers, Mrs. Bingham, states, “Ms. Stephen’s quite different from other young ladies—she’s got none of their pretty little ways—it’s a pity!” (13).
It wasn’t just her love of traditionally masculine activities that rendered Stephen odd, but also her physical traits. According to the maid Collins, “I believe she must be a boy with them shoulders, and them funny gawky legs” (13). The reactions of her mother and her maids leave Stephen feeling confused, alone, and distant. She “hated soft dresses and sashes, and ribbons […] she was conscious of feeling all wrong” (13). Additionally, “she loathed her abundant long hair” and felt that “being a girl spoilt everything” (28).
Despite the negative feedback, Stephen refuses to change who she is to fit into the roles the people around her believe she should fit into. She learns to ride horses astride even though girls do not usually ride this way, and thanks to her father she is offered “the same education, the same advantages as” a boy (52). Throughout her adult life, Stephen continues to feel the constrictions gender stereotypes have placed on her. She wishes for “a man’s life, the life that should have been hers” (91).
Discrimination Against Homosexuality
Life for homosexuals at the turn of the 20th century in England and Europe was limited and lonely, and Stephen’s life is a prime example. Early on Stephen understands that her and Collins’ kiss should be a “secret” (12). She doesn’t fully understand the implications yet, but she knows she hasn’t ever seen two women kiss and that revealing what she’s done might get her into trouble. Stephen’s life of secrecy begins then, as she hides her “prayers” about Collins from her mother. Later, when Puddle realizes Stephen’s sexual persuasion, Puddle puts into words what was previously an unconscious feeling. She tells Stephen, “being what you are you’ll need every weapon” (109). Stephen’s limitations as a homosexual move into stark relief when Angela asks her “Could you marry me, Stephen?” (134). At this moment that Stephen realizes that as a homosexual “she could never offer protection to the creature she loved” and “she could only debase what she longed to exalt” (137). Angela blatantly tells her “if you were a man” things would be different (159).
With time, Stephen starts to believe that she is not only prevented from marriage but prevented from love itself. She thinks “love is only permissible to those who are cut in every respect to life’s pattern,” and she knows that is not her (171). For Stephen—forbidden from being who she is in public, from feeling confident about love, from most of life’s sanctioned joys—life is “pure hell” (179). To many she is “a pervert” (180) and “unnatural” (184). Stephen proves that life for homosexuals at this time and location left them little to enjoy, as they were most often considered “moral lepers” (341).
Sacrifice as a Necessary Element of Love
Stephen is constantly in pursuit of love. As she defines to herself what that word means, one thing is clear: Love means sacrifice. This association between love and sacrifice is first evident when Stephen tries to destroy her knees, thinking doing so will make Collins’s knees hurt less. She tells Collins, “I’d like to be awfully hurt for you, Collins, the way Jesus was hurt for sinners,” thinking that doing so will create love between her and Collins (14). To her it is worth it to be in pain if it means her loved one won’t be. When she is reprimanded for destroying her clothes and body for the sake of Collins, she thinks “it was worth being punished for Collins” (12) and “it was really rather fine to be suffering—it certainly seemed to bring Collins much nearer” (16). She feels proud of her sacrifice, as evidenced by the following excerpt, spoken by Collins: “Her knee was all red and swollen […] if that’s not real loving then I don’t know nothing” (16). Stephen’s father, Sir Philip, is the best example of love Stephen has, and he has something to do with her equating sacrifice with love, for Sir Philip “would gladly have suffered all things for her sake, in order to spare her suffering” (107).
When Stephen meets Angela, this theme of love and sacrifice continues, as it is stated “an endless capacity for suffering […] must go hand in hand with their love” (131). Stephen even offers to give up Morton for Angela, a sacrifice she ends up making anyway. Stephen takes this idea to the extreme at the end of the novel, when she sacrifices her own happiness for Mary’s. By allowing Martin to marry Mary, even though Stephen is in love with her, Stephen makes sure Mary is cared for even if it costs her everything. Plenty of other characters exhibit this type of love as well. Puddle goes on long walks with Stephen because it might help Stephen mentally, even though it is painful to do so. Adèle waits a long time to marry Jean so they can have a proper wedding, and Barbara suffers her illness in silence so as not to upset her beloved, Jaime.
