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GCSE English Literature · key term
A historical, judgemental label applied to a woman considered sexually impure, especially for having sex outside marriage. It expresses society’s beliefs, not an objective measure of her worth.
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Paper 2
Revise: Cousin KateVictorian society used the judgemental label fallen woman for women considered to have lost sexual innocence, especially through sex outside marriage. This helps explain the speaker’s language of uncleanness and shame. By showing the woman’s suffering and the lord’s manipulation, Rossetti invites readers to question those judgements.
Component 1
A nineteenth-century label for a woman judged to have lost sexual respectability, particularly through sex outside marriage. It expresses society’s judgement, not an objective measure of her worth.
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The label ‘fallen woman’ could be applied even where deception or coercion had been involved. Men were often treated much less harshly for comparable behaviour.
