The idea of fallen women in Cousin Kate

In today’s lesson we looked at the idea of a fallen woman and after reading the poem ‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti, we tried to find ways that it linked to this idea.  We brainstormed some ideas about what a fallen women could be and after a couple of suggestions, we came to the conclusion that a fallen woman is a woman who has lost her dignity and place in society. They become a social outcast because of behind tricked into losing their virginity by sneaky men. This then led to a discussion about why women had so many negative words for sleeping around like ‘whore’, and men had none and are sometimes congratulated for sleeping around.

After discussing the context of the poem a little more, we read the poem which is about how two women who were both seduced by a Lord into having sex out of wedlock and how differently they are treated due to their circumstances. One of them, the persona, thought she was in love with the lord but was still shamed in society for losing her virginity before she got married. The other, Cousin Kate, slept with the same man but is talked about the neighbours as 'good and pure' because she is now engaged to the Lord. this unfairness causes bitter from the persona as she says things like 'you love is writ in sand' and 'I have a gift you have not got, and seem like to get' which shows that even though she knows what she did is socially unacceptable, she believes she has done nothing wrong. We later find out that the 'gift' is her son and although he was bought into the world due to her 'shame', he is her 'prise' and is very happy to have had him.