Chester Genealogical Society Records - Accession 257 - M113 (145)

The Chester Genealogical Society Records consist of typescript material of writings and publications that covers mainly Chester County, SC history and genealogy from the 18th century to the 20th century. The collection includes information on covenanters, lists of Chester county American Civil War soldiers, Obadiah Hardin, Revolutionary War Lieut. Col. John R. Culp, Rev. Samuel McCreary, Mrs. M.A. Smith and the Smithton Lumber Co in Smithton, Arkansas, the Kulp family, Matthew Elder, Jr., Rev. Josiah Henson, the Gaston family, the Murphy family, Confederate Capt. G.L. Strait’s Company-6th regiment, Company B during the American Civil War, the McClure family and Revolutionary War Capt. John McClure, and recollections of Chester, South Carolina.

Foucauldian Panopticism: The Gaze in Selected 19th Century Literature

Throughout history, women have often been perceived as hysterical and weak. This perception has been reflected through the representation of women in literature which has resulted in a limited scope of female normality and morality creating characteristics fundamentally different than male characters. Though these characteristics have been contributed as natural female characteristics, the theories of Jeremy Bentham, a 18th and 19th century Englishman, can be applied as a possible reason for these reactions. Bentham’s Panopticon, the theory of punishment wherein a constant unseen gaze peers at inmates theoretically creating paranoia and psychological breakdown, creates characteristics similar to those that women in literature seem to exhibit. In this paper, I will outline the characteristics of three various characters in novels. First, I will review the Panoptic literature that has been written on The Woman in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, then I will conduct my own analysis on The Governess in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre . In this analysis, I will consider the “gaze,” the symbolic Panopticon implemented by society, and argue how characteristics present in stereotypical representations of women are not inherent in women due to gender or sex, but because women are most objectified and thereby most affected by the Panoptic gaze of society.