In Dion Boucicault’s comedy “London Assurance”, the two female protagonists Grace Harkaway and Lady Gay Spanker are portrayed as two women rather atypical and exceptional for their times. Other than what one might expect of Victorian women in 19th century England, both of them are not reducible to mono-dimensional characters whose only role is to tend to the house and have children, but display instead multiple layers of identity. In the following paper, I will try to examine their representation more closely.

With the story taking place in a male-dominated environment, it comes as no surprise that the first main character of the other sex is only introduced in the second act. Grace, “lovely” (164), “a young and beautiful creature” (166), “a rural venus” and “the handsomest thing in the country” (173), fully lives up to her name when it comes to her appearance. Having been raised to believe that her fate is to marry Sir Harcourt Courtly or lose her fortune since she was ten, Grace is very matter-of-fact and indifferent with regard to love and marriage. This may serve her as a protection mechanism, knowing that her future husband is much older and probably little attractive to her. Grace is the opposite of a stereotypical 18-year-old girl from the country who dreams of falling in love and marrying the man of her dreams. On the contrary, she “jokes at love; prepares for matrimony as she would for dinner; says it is a necessary evil” (169), “seem[s] to laugh at love” and calls it “a breathing satire upon man’s reason” (172) and a “scapegoat for a little epidemic madness” (169). To her, “every London ballroom is a marriage mart [where] young ladies are trotted out” (171). Furthermore, very much like a business woman, she thinks of marriage as a “most mercantile” (169) custom and does not waste much thought on her getting married to Sir Harcourt: “this week I devote to study and various amusements – next week to being married” (171). To her, marriage is “a subject of indifference” (179). Even though she claims that she “never was [in love], nor will be” and that she “must have been inoculated [against love] in [her] infancy” (169), it is questionable whether it is the “real” Grace uttering those words or a precocious girl who is merely quoting from other people and books. And indeed, there is more to Grace than being clinical and indifferent: she also has an emotional side and in fact does have the ability to fall in love. In act iii, the “riddle of a woman” (178 ) struggles to maintain her composure as illustrated in the numerous asides and is taken aback by Charles Courtly, whom she believes is Angus Hamilton. In love for the first time, Grace is not able to apply memorized quotations but has “nothing to say” (179). For a brief span, her actions are affected by emotion and not as usual by reason. Although she behaves like a respectable Victorian woman and is superficially repelling towards Charles’ advances, she does so only half-heartedly and even lets him kiss her. Nevertheless, her thinking is only shortly governed by strong emotion. Grace reads Charles’ character very well and is “not so easily deceived” (182) by his play. Yet, still infatuated, she plays along smartly and eventually succeeds in every way by keeping her fortune and marrying Charles instead of Sir Harcourt.

Similarly to Grace, Lady Gay Spanker also has a phase during which she complies with more feminine and rather clichéd patterns. When playing along with the intrigue in order to distract Sir Harcourt from Grace, Lady Gay Spanker pretends to be a “weak, yielding woman” (184) who “feel[s] very faint” and is unhappy in her marriage because she is free to do whatever she wants and does not have a husband who “contradict[s]” (183) her. It is clear that she is not serious because, when first introduced in act iii, Gay is depicted as a woman whose “jocund soul cries out for very glee” (177). Passionate, adventurous, full of life and the very opposite of a “proper” Victorian woman, she possesses traits that are usually attributed to men. Being vivacious, independent and also rebellious in respect therof, it is of no importance to her if other people do or do not agree with her way of life. She laughs out loud whenever she feels like, rides horses “at hard gallop” (175), is of the opinion that “one might as well live without laughing as without hunting” (176) and explicitly states that “[she] can escort [herself]” (177) and does not need the assistance of a man. In fact, when “turned out just when the fun begins” and thus being given “the conventional signal [...] to withdraw” by the men, Gay verbalizes what one might have thought about her from the beginning: “I begin to wish I were a man” (180). With regard to her husband, there indeed seems to have taken place a reversal of roles. Gay’s boisterous nature has made her the one to propose to her husband and not, as considered decent, the other way around. In accordance with the telling name she bears, Gay is the dominant one with the “whip hand” (189) in the relationship and does not “suscribe to [his] requests – desires – commands [...] – orders” (187). Yet, neither she nor her husband appear to be unhappy in their marriage: “she married him for freedom, and she has it; he married her for protection, and he has it” (177). What superficially looks like a business commitment is nevertheless based on mutual love, which becomes explicit the moment that Gay is willing to give up her freedom in order to save her husband’s life and he in turn “abdicate[s]” (190) because he would not have her any other way.

Though one might argue that a catharsis of Boucicault’s comedy is only possible because the two female protagonists show the willingness of letting the men take over, it is questionable if that indeed is the case. Grace Harkaway and Lady Gay Spanker embody women who, on the one hand, can be emotional, compliant and feminine. However, their characters are more complex, display traits that are labelled as “manly” and are thus not represented typically with respect to the Victorian period. Due to their intelligence and tactical proficiency, they are far from inferior to the men in the play. Grace marries Charles and keeps her fortune, Gay gets her husband back unharmed and is able to enjoy her freedom as before – and the allegedly weaker sex succeeds in the end.

References:
Boucicault, Dion (1966) “London Assurance” [1841] in: Rowell. 159-191.