Wives and Prostitutes… Good Job Simon Winchester Wives and Prostitutes… Good Job Simon Winchester! What a great representation of women! By: Patti Wilson

The book “The Professor and the Madman” by Simon Winchester focuses on the journeys of William Chester Minor and James Murray, two men who worked together to produce the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Seeing as the two protagonists are both men, it’s not a surprise that this book doesn’t have any strong female characters. However, it’s not just strong female characters this book is missing… it’s female characters in general. There are very few times that women are mentioned at all, and most of these are negative representations of women.

I’d like to start off by talking about the only positive female characters, the women who were the wives and mothers of the two male protagonists. While I am hesitant to say that they are pro-feminist, seeing as being purely a wife and/or mother supports stereotypical gender roles (which I do not support), but considering this book took place in the late 1800’s, I think these women deserve some credit. If you’d like to know a bit more about women in the 1800’s you can read about it here.

The first woman I’d like to acknowledge is Maggie Scott, the first woman that James Murray married. Sure, she was a wife and was really only in the story to have children, but what’s interesting about her, is that she had a job! A job! A woman in the 1800’s that had a job and didn’t rely on her husband for income! Yes sir, Maggie Scott was an infant-school music teacher and I couldn’t be more proud of her. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see what else Maggie was destined to do, because she died of consumption almost directly after she was introduced.

The second example of a positive female character is James Murray’s second wife, Ava Ruthven. Unlike Maggie, Ava does not have a job or show any signs of independence. However, she is described as “a woman who was [James Murray’s] social and intellectual equal” (Winchester 40). So she may not be independent, but she was intellectually equal to a brilliant professor! Intellectually equal! A woman in the 1800’s was intellectually equal to a man! So one woman had a job and the other was an intellect equal, as a proud feminist, this made me very happy.

The third example I’d like to acknowledge is James Murray’s stepmother The third example I’d like to acknowledge is James Murray’s stepmother. Like the others, she isn’t given much character development and is only mention once in the book. However, the one time she is mentioned describes her well. She is described as smart and energetic, having no trouble keeping up with her husband. But what I really like about her, is that she also has a job! She was a teacher like Maggie, but not just a teacher! She ran an entire school! She ran it all by herself! While raising her own children, she also managed to learn the entire Singhalese language and provide education for a bunch of children! Talk about girl power!

Sadly, after these three incredibly women, the representation of women just goes downhill. There weren’t any more teachers or women admired for their intelligence. The only mention of women’s is purely physical descriptions, or the mention of prostitutes. The women mentioned later on in the book are purely sex objects, only there to entertain with their appearance.

A fine example of this is the girls from Ceylon that William Minor was obsessed with as a young teen. The girls are described as “young, chocolate-skinned, ever-giggling naked girls with sleek wet bodies, rosebud nipples, long hair, coltish legs…” (Winchester 48) and as the perfect greeting for all the men of the island. Not only is this remotely offensive to women, seeing as the most mentioned female characters are not only gorgeous, but are running around naked. But because this does make sense if you look at the location and cultures from the area, I’m willing to move past this point. However, what I’m not willing to move on from is the fact that these are described as girls, as in young women. The idea that all the men on the island are looking over and sexualizing the bodies of young women, who are most likely under the age of 18, is disgusting.

The sexual objectification of women continues to happen throughout the book, taking place almost every time that Dr. Minor encounters a female. He may be described as a “good Christian boy”, but that label is hard to believe when Minor is gawking over “the tendency for women to wear short, light cotton dresses” (Winchester 53) on a tropical boat.

To Minor, women are clearly just sex objects and have no other purpose, which explains his habits of constantly visiting brothels. Other than the three ladies I mentioned earlier and the Ceylon girls, the only other women mentioned in the novel are all prostitutes that Minor visits.