Five Famous Literary Women Who Would Reject Valentine’s Day
Ah Valentine’s Day…An ambivalent day spent either celebrating your significant other, or, for those of us who are less fortunate, a day spent relating to Bridget Jones and denying how painfully single you are. If you fall into the latter category, know you are in good literary company as these five famous female characters take on, and put conventional notions of love in their place.
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1. Elizabeth Bennet, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Jane Austen
Despite Jane Austen’s protagonist existing in a world where characters assert that “it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,” Elizabeth Bennet adopts a rather unconventional stance. Constantly surrounded by a craving for love in the form of her younger sisters, Elizabeth asserts that “after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!” Where such a stance is undoubtedly idiosyncratic for the 19th century, Elizabeth’s rejection of love over learning is something that stands out even among modern women. Were she a McGill student, she would definitely be prioritizing midterms over Data Match this Valentine’s.
2. Jo March, ‘Little Women’, Louisa May Alcott
Much captivated by a world of poetry, writing, and metaphors, Jo March is also one who would, for a long time, do anything to avoid love. Everyone can relate to that annoying friend who claims to be in love, spends all their time with their significant other and leaves you wondering what however many years of friendship are actually worth to them. Jo March is no exception, she regards familial love, but specifically the friendship between her and her sisters with utmost importance, and pleads with her sister not to marry. “You will be bored of him in two years and we will be interesting forever”… Sound familiar? Destined to be married herself to her childhood sweetheart Laurie Laurence, she almost estranges herself from her family when she instead falls in love with the creative arts and firmly states, “I intend to make my own way in this world.” However, the relatable feeling of loneliness begins to take its toll on Jo as she finds herself isolated by the love and happiness she finds in her surroundings. She grapples with the dichotomous mindset that she is “so sick of people saying love is all a woman is fit for. I’m so sick of it…but I’m so lonely.” Nonetheless, she, much like Elizabeth Bennet, channels her loneliness into an academic focus, and would no doubt refute the idea of an entire day wasted celebrating a ‘love’ that will help enforce the idea of keeping women in a box were it to exist in the 19th century.
3. Emma Woodhouse, ‘Emma’, Jane Austen
The headstrong Emma Woodhouse directly asserts “I have never been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall.” Emma would most likely reject the idea of Valentine’s Day for a different reason. Emma Woodhouse, Highbury’s very own matchmaker, would deem an entire day of ambiguous letter trading in order to quietly express your love for someone, both meek and cowardly, as well as a threat to her own matchmaking abilities. Quite the heartbreaker herself, Emma would also definitely not approve of having to confront a clandestine suitor in the form of a question mark at the end of a poorly written love letter as she makes very clear: “I always deserve the best treatment, because I never put up with any other.”
4. Hermione Granger, ‘Harry Potter’, J.K Rowling
Hermione Granger, the girl everybody either loved, hated, wanted to be at some point, or a combination of the above; smart, sassy, beautiful, desirable, and a wizard. However, Hermione would no doubt want no part in a day dedicated to a male Saint Valentine as she constantly criticizes Harry and Ron’s lack of understanding of the female psyche: “Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have!” A headstrong character herself, she enjoys playing Ron at his own game after he carelessly asks her to the Winter Ball as a last resort in the ‘Goblet of Fire’, by dancing the night away with the charismatic Viktor Krum. Furthermore, Hermione may prioritize learning over love, but she takes no prisoners when it comes to chivalry: “Oh I see, so basically, you’re going to take the best-looking girl who’ll have you, even if she’s completely horrible?” I think it is safe to say that Hermione, were she to be celebrating Valentine’s Day would do so on her own terms, and not that of any man however saintly he may be.
5. The Merry Wife of Bath, Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
Where to start with the Merry Wife of Bath…. Perhaps Medieval Literature’s most outlandish and atypical woman to date. The Wife truly lives up to her name as she has been married five times, and wears irony better than her riding boots on her pilgrimage to Canterbury to find husband number six. A pioneer for feminism within medieval literature, The Merry Wife states that her aim is to not only have the power and control men have, but to possess it over them too:
Medieval Text:
“Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee
As wel over hir housbond as hir love,
And for to been in maistrie hym above.
Modern English:
“Women desire to have sovereignty
As well over her husband as her love,
And to be in mastery above him.
It is also interesting that this headstrong women was in fact written by a man, Geoffrey Chaucer. In this respect, The Merry Wife of Bath may be, again ironically and in spite of her medieval origins, one of the most progressive literary women. Overall, a day celebrating romantic convention would not suit the Merry Wife of Bath’s demeanor, and her strong opinions would no doubt be made known should Valentine’s Day have existed in the same capacity in the 14th Century.