Alias Grace Analysis

Impact of Victorian Society on Grace Mark’s Life

Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace explores the life and society of nineteenth-century Canada and the roles that were subconsciously assumed for its citizens. The novel explains the life of Grace Marks, an impoverished female immigrant from Ireland who works as a chambermaid to keep her family afloat. She is accused and tried for the murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his pregnant mistress, Nancy Montgomery. Atwood does an outstanding job at presenting a novel that depicts the gender and class stereotypes of that era. Throughout the course of the story, readers get to see the blatant depiction of nineteenth-century Victorian attitudes in Canada; male dominance, obsession with social class, and degradation of women (Prentice 12-13). Thrust into a society teeming with patriarchal authority and skewed understanding of biological gender differences, Grace Marks soon finds herself battling between conforming to the social norms of society or risking her reputation by defying standard behaviors and being an independent woman (Cody). Alias Grace digs deep into the values and beliefs of nineteenth-century Canada and shows how Grace marks was biasedly judged against due to negative gender connotations and expectations, underdeveloped medical understanding of mental health, and social class differentiations.

Before Dr. Simon Jordan meets with Grace Marks for the first time, he already has a conscious judgment of her created in his head (Atwood 21). He has read the newspaper articles, he has heard the gossip from the locals, and he has formed his own opinions. The governor’s wife and daughter look at Grace as a sexual threat due to her labeling as an “outcast” and a criminal, and in turn poison Dr. Jordan’s opinion of Grace. This is just a small example of how women were judged unfairly in the Victorian age. Citizens of nineteenth-century Canada upheld a strict code of Christian and moral values, but no group was affected...