Fallen Women-Cousin Kate by Christina Rossetti

In todays lesson we looked at the idea of a 'fallen woman' and what this might invlove. We also read Rossetti's poem 'Cousin Kate' and linked the 'fallen woman' idea into the poem.

When we tried to define a fallen woman we came up with many ideas. One that stood out was this concept of a woman who's been entised into sex by a man, and therefore lost her innocence and the respect of society. We realised that if women sleep around they are called a whore, slag, tart etc, the names are endless and they lose respect, whereas if a man sleeps around it is, and always has been considered more acceptable and can even be seen to raise the man's status. He may be called a 'man whore' but this is still using the female term of 'whore' and is therefore refering to women. So it was excepted that if a woman had sex before marriage she is dirty and disgraced, whereas a man in the same situation would be thought nothing of. This point is illustrated a poem called 'The Deceived Girl' which we briefly read through. In this poem a woman is tricked into sleeping with a man who uses her. It's the usual story expected when you hear of a 'fallen woman'.
One person (India) also suggested it could be a metaphor for an angel falling from heaven.

We then read 'Cousin Kate' by Rossetti, which is about a woman who slept with this lord out of wedlock whom she loved, however he then left her and married her cousin Kate, leaving her an outcast, looked down upon in society. So the speaker in the poem is the perfect example of the 'fallen woman', however she then flips the stereotype around and rather than just accepting the injustice of her situation she concentrates on what she has gained from her experience. We see towards the end of the poem that the speaker was made pregnant by her brief love affair and she shows how proud she is of her son. For example she says "I've a gift you have not". So there's this idea that all though she lost alot, her acceptance in society and innocence, there's always something to be gained. So she breaks the stereotype by not being bitter at the end of the poem, but by having a plan, displaying strength and control over her own life. Plus she almost rubs it in cousin Kate's face that she has an heir to the lord's land etc as it seems Kate cannot have children.

So that's what we came up with about 'fallen women'. However, there is always the possibility that a fallen woman is just a woman that has fallen on the floor. I find this very unlikely though! =D
I look forward to analysing the poem more next lesson sir!!