ABSTRACT
ONE OF THE MORE REMARKABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE NINETEENTH century consisted in its ability both to initiate and, ultimately, to withstand the inception of a sexual revolution, commonly known as the feminist movement. Little enough came of it finally, as the current resurgence of women’s liberation would remind us, but the great Victorian debate on Woman did seem in its early fervour to be capable of challenging the most basic of civilization’s socio-political institutions – patriarchy itself, together with its ancient relationship of dominance and subordinance between male and female.
