Gender Norms and Limitations

As the narrator of Brockden Brown’s Wieland, Clara is provides her audience with a profusion of internal commentary from which they can base their judgments of her character. Shortly after the novel commences it quickly becomes clear that Clara is a remarkable raconteur endowed with both intelligence and keen observational skill that improves as Wieland progresses. Her ability to draw conclusions amidst murky circumstances improves throughout the duration of the novel, which establishes her as nothing less than a dynamic character. However, the development of her character is hindered by the gender stereotypes of Brockden Brown’s time. Clara’s tendency to color her surroundings with optimism is a stereotypically effeminate trait that is prominent in much nineteenth century literature, a characteristic that hampers Clara’s ability to view people in her life in a wholly realistic manner. She is able to recognize that some of the unexplained events that happen upon her may be the result of human action and thus she rationally proceeds with caution; however, her lack of experience with immorality is a result of the social norms of an earlier time that sought to govern women’s behavior.

Clara’s propensity to see the best in a given situation corresponds directly to her romantic thought processes, in particular those regarding the opposite sex and their potential motives. While she does not fully conform to the stereotype of the amorous female, as seen in her admission that a confession of sentiments to Pleyel would be the “most remediless and unpardonable outrage upon the dignity of my sex, and utterly unworthy of that passion which controuled me” (94), the optimistic outlook that tinges much of her narrative suggests that she maintains an irrationally romantic idealism. This is reflective of the time period in which women were assumed to be the more emotional and less sensible of the sexes. This romanticism is also present when Clara happens upon Carwin for the first time (59), a description of which is described in a most lyrical fashion. The details of her initial impression of him echo many other female-narrated passages of the time that were similarly over-sentimental in nature. Although it is possible to overlook Clara’s sanguine perspective in favor of her ability to comprehend and progress through trying situations, it is difficult to ignore the gender limitations that shape her character.