September 23, 2025

Monstrous Motherhood: Eighteenth-Century Culture and the Ideology of Domesticity

17 minutes

Explores the complex and often contradictory representations of motherhood in 18th-century British society and literature. It examines how domestic ideology shaped perceptions of mothers, frequently marginalizing their narratives and specific experiences by subsuming them under broad generalizations of the "domestic woman." The text also investigates instances of "monstrous motherhood," such as infanticide and wicked stepmothers, analyzing how these figures challenged societal norms and revealed cultural faultlines regarding female agency and control. Furthermore, it discusses the concept of "spectral motherhood," where mothers are physically or emotionally absent, highlighting how these absences impacted children's development and broader societal expectations of maternal roles. Ultimately, the book argues that narratives of motherhood were constantly contested and managed through various cultural strategies, revealing anxieties surrounding female fertility, power, and the family unit.

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