Portfolio Essay

The Professor and the Madman is a brilliant novel written by Simon Winchester that discusses the journey of two astonishing men who are working on writing the Oxford English Dictionary. The novel gives readers such amazing insights into the captivating story of James Murray and William Minor, as well as provides readers with the opportunity to explore the feminist theory side of the story. I found that after studying how the feminist theory applies to The Professor and the Madman, I was really intrigued and wanted to further my knowledge on the theory. Although some of my previous blog posts discuss the feminst theory within the novel, I wanted to talk about a few ideas that I did not mention. The Professor and the Madman is a prime example of how women were treated in the Victorian era. They were almost completely excluded, were treated like children and did not receive a proper education. 

As I mentioned before, The Professor and the Madman is set in Victorian England in the 18th century, and since it is set in this time period, women were excluded from society, which is why there are almost no female characters in the novel. However, when women were included in the storyline, they were always linked to men. For example, how Eliza Merrett is only kept in the storyline because she was a widow and brought Dr. Minor books to help him write the dictionary. In addition to Eliza, there was also the brief mention of Ada Murray, James Murray’s wife, who was described as ‘’more his social and intellectual equal’’ (Winchester, 61). This portrays that although Ada was considered intelligent, she was never seen as anything else other than James’ wife who cared for their 11 children. The female characters in the story were rarely mentioned and when they were, they always had to be associated with men, which is what Victorian England in the 18th century was like, women always having to be associated to men. 

In addition to women rarely being mentioned, they were considered immature and uneducated as well. Winchester writes that the women were housemaids, and were supposedly scared of fireworks, while the men were acting very calm and relaxed, ‘’Like the frightened housemaids who hurried back down to the servant’s entrances of the great houses nearby… but there were men who had outgrown such energetic diversions, eager to escape the sound of excitement and celebration and return to scholarly discourse’’ (Winchester, 87). Women were basically treated like children in the Victorian era, as they were clearly depicted as scared and helpless. Although Queen Victoria was a high-status female at the time, women still received little education and social status in comparison to men. In all fairness, I am not surprised that there were very few women that helped in the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Because of the lack of female roles in the novel and the way that women were spoken about, it is very clear that women in the Victorian era were treated with indecency.

To further this idea, women also received very little education. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from medical school was in the 1850s, with school being invented about 100 years prior to this (Khalsa). The first dictionaries, unsuccessful in their creation, were meant for the ‘’uneducated’’ at the time, ‘’educating of the uneducated (among who were counted the women of the day, who often enjoyed little schooling)’’ (Winchester, 91). Simon Winchester is aware that the women at the time were uneducated, however, I find it very strange that he decided to add the word ‘’enjoyed’’ into the sentence of how little schooling women received. I believe that he had no right to add the word ‘’enjoyed’’, as he would have no idea or evidence of what women liked or wanted. 

In conclusion, I believe that all what I mentioned is evidence as to why The Professor and the Madman pertains to the feminist theory. I truly believe that this novel is a prime example as to how women were marginalized in the Victorian era, as they always had to be associated with men, they were excluded,  they were treated like children and they never had the chance to receive a proper education. Overall, I really enjoyed this book because it shed so much light on the feminist theory and it gave me the opportunity to research a new topic. This novel is truly inspiring and moving and I recommend it to anyone. 

The Professor and the Madman: The feminist theory 2.0

After finishing a truly sad yet inspiring novel about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary and analyzing it from two different perspectives, the reader's response and the feminist theory, I have come to a conclusion about which theory has given me the most insight to this amazing nonfiction story. 

Although being able to identify the text from a readers response was very educational and useful, I have determined that the feminist theory has provided me with the most insight within The Professor and the Madman. Analyzing the novel from a feminist theory has given me the opportunity to learn about the status of women in the Victorian era, it has answered many of my questions about the novel and it has allowed me to fully embrace the text. 

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that there was a lack of female presence in the story and I wasn’t able to figure out why. I wanted to know why male characters were more prominent in the story rather than female characters. I later found out these answers when I was researching the book online and the Victorian era. If I had not chosen to analyze the text from a feminist perspective, I still would have been stuck with multiple questions in my head and I wouldn’t have been able to fully immerse myself into the text.

I believe that the feminist theory has allowed me to make connections from the text to my personal life. For example, after researching and identifying certain points in the text about the feminist theory, such as why women were so marginalized, I was able to relate the points to a previous assignment where I had to analyze a fairytale from a feminist perspective. This allowed me to make certain connections and also allowed me to deepen my knowledge on the feminist perspective, as I was able to understand on a deeper level the stereotypes of women and why they were seen as helpless compared to men.

In addition to making connections with other assignments, analyzing The Professor and the Madman from a feminist theory has given me the opportunity to learn about different perspectives within the world. For example, how some people support feminism and equality and how others are totally against it. While reading the novel, I was able to understand and learn about the similarities and differences of the social status of the 1800s compared to the 2000s. 

In conclusion, analyzing the text from a feminist perspective has really helped me understand the text and has deepened my knowledge of feminism. The Professor and the Madman was overall an amazing novel and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about crime and history.

How the feminist theory applies to The Professor and the Madman

Since there was only a choice of two theories that could be applied to this novel, and I could not think of a way to connect the post colonial theory to the story, I decided to discuss the relevance of the feminist theory in The Professor and the Madman.

In The Professor and the Madman, there is a lack of female presence in the story. The text does not include one single female character with their own independent identity. There are no strong female characters in the novel except for a few that are primarily identified as someone's mother or wife, rather than as their own person. For example, there is William Minor’s mother, who was never identified by another name, and there is Eliza Merrett, who was George Merrett’s wife and is portrayed as a grieving widow. Throughout the entire story so far, there is almost no female influence or presence. 

I believe that women are very marginalized in the story and are portrayed as ‘’accessories’’ to the male characters in the novel. For example, when the story brings in James Murray’s future wife, she is introduced as ‘’Ada Ruthven, whose father worked for the Great Indian Peninsular Railway and was an admirer of Alexander von Humboldt’’ (Winchester, 36). Before even being first identified as Muray’s wife, she is identified as the daughter of a man who worked for a railway company. This is a prime example of how the few women in the story are constantly being defined by the men they are associated with. 

I believe that the location of the story of The Professor and the Madman is a major reason why the women in the story are so marginalized. The story takes place in Victorian England, where things were not progressive by modern standard. Although the era was reigned by Queen Victoria, a very powerful and prominent woman, women were still viewed as less by men. For example, the purpose of creating dictionaries was “for the benefit and help of ladies, gentlewoman or any other unskillful persons whereby they may more easily and better understand many hard English words” (Winchester, 103). The creation of the dictionary is a major plot element in the story, and the words of Winchester clearly state that they were made to help benefit women, as they were viewed as helpless. 

In addition to this, in Victorian England, women were viewed as the property of their husbands, as they did not have the right to vote, own property, sue and etc. Although women were beginning to enter the workforce, their wages still went to their husbands. Society expected women to stay at home, look after the children, clean and cook. These standards from the Victorian era highly contribute to the feminist theory, as they are prime examples of how women are seen as incapable incomparison to men.

In conclusion, the women in the story were marginalized not because Simon Winchester has a Victorian era mindset, but because the story is nonfiction and requires historical records for perspective and information. Since women were so marginalized in Victorian times, they did not have a huge impact or role in The Professor and the Madman. Even though the story does not contain all of the key points of the feminist theory, it still has very prominent ones such as their status levels and roles in the story, which do contribute to the theory.

An in depth look to the Professor and the Madman

While reading the first three chapters of The Professor and the Madman, it is clear that the novel is full of details, stories and perspectives. The Professor and the Madman is a nonfiction story that entails the making of the Oxford English Dictionary along with the journey and interactions of a Scotsman, James Murray and an American, William Minor. Minor and Murray soon become very interactive with one another and end up creating the Oxford English Dictionary, with Murray being the editor of it and Minor assisting in the writing. 

Within the first three chapters of the novel, it tells three different stories. The first one being about the murder of George Merret, who was murdered by William Minor, a mentally ill and delusional, Englishman. The murder led to Minor’s sensational trial and imprisonment in the Broadmoor Asylum, where Minor would spend the remainder of his life (Winchester, 13-19). While reading this chapter, there were many images that were formed in my mind. For example, ‘’A man shouted at him, appeared to be chasing him, was yelling furiously.’’ (Winchester, 10), gave me more of a pictorial image in my head, where I was picturing Merret running down the street, being chased, rather than an image where I’m supposed to be feeling different emotions. That type of image would come from the line ‘’Then, quite incredibly, he stopped and raised a gun, took aim, and fired. (Winchester, 10), because as I was reading that line, I could almost feel the pain that George endured in that moment. 

In the second chapter, Winchester begins to describe the details and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary along with giving us an introduction to James Murray. This chapter is very detailed, as it is giving us the specifics of Murray’s life. For example, Winchester touches on Murray’s passion for learning, ‘’He had a voracious appetite, indeed an impassioned thirst for all kinds of learning.’’ (Winchester, 33). Winchester then begins to describe the different subjects that Murray had a passion for, such as philology and linguistics. I believe that with all the specifics and different stories that are combined within just one chapter, Winchester intended to have a more mature audience, such as people over the age of 15. The novel uses complicated language and people who may not be familiar with such a detailed writing style, may not be able to fully understand and embrace the book.

Finally, the third chapter actively illustrates the journey of the war that Minor embarked on as a doctor. It is implied in this chapter that because Minor witnessed and experienced so many tragic and traumatic events, that he became mentally ill. ‘’... perhaps it was all due to the man’s exposure to war, a consequence of the horrors that he had witnessed.’’ (Winchester, 72). This chapter really provided me with an in depth look at the events of the Civil War and the many other battles that took place, such as the Wilderness battle. I was able to form images in my head and feel the emotions that Minor was feeling. I believe that Winchester chose to be so descriptive and detailed about the stories that he is telling in his novel so that readers would be able to embrace the nonfiction events that took place. Winchester uses a very formal type of writing, so that he is able to replicate the seriousness of the true events.

In conclusion, while reading the first chunk of The Professor and the Madman, I was able to interpret the story in a very serious manner, as even though I wasn’t able to make personal connections to the story, I still can understand the circumstances that took place in that time. Winchester is a very formal, detailed and personal writer and his work so far has been astounding.