‘In crime writing, women are presented as powerless victims’.
To what extent do you agree.
Classic British ‘golden age’ crime fiction has enabled writers to explore anxieties that
accompanied the changes in portrayal of women and the feminine experience in popular
culture. The depiction of women as victims is loaded with social and cultural meanings. On
one hand woman can hold significance in crime fiction and it is around their personas that
stereotypes seem to be formed and, as a result, the female characters are often positioned as
powerless victims of crime. In many crime texts, women are often presented in
compromising and taboo situations – showed as powerless, virginal women or sexualised
outcasts. In the case of ‘Brighton Rock’, Rose is controlled, subordinated and exploited;
Greene depicts her in accordance with the virginal weak stereotype, exploited by Pinkie, a
hardened criminal. Her treatment reflects the patriarchal and sexist attitudes of the 1930s and
the subsequent oppression of woman. Whilst ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, written in 1798,
presents women in a much more complex way, representing a trapped ‘bride’ at the start of
the play and then, the supernatural, spectral figure of ‘Life-in-Death’ who is shown to
dominate the Mariner, a man and ‘Mary Queen’ who shows mercy to the Mariner. Through
this narrative poem, it is interesting to see how the women, apart from the bride, are in
dominant, powerful situations, despite not being depicted in human form. Whilst it is possible
to argue that the albatross is the victim and the Mariner is positioned as the villain, and the
victim, women seem to be presented as victims at various points in the poem, however their
power can sometimes fluctuate. However, it is possible to argue that the most powerless
character in ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is a man.
Arguably, Rose in ‘Brighton Rock’ is characterised by her weakness and powerless
presentation; her identity is closely linked to her subordination at the hands of Pinkie, the
villain. From the moment Greene represents her, she is shown to be submissive and
powerless. Pinkie obtains power throughout the exploitation and control of Rose, even
marrying her to protect himself from the law. Perhaps, her weakness enables Pinkie to enact
his diabolical crimes and Greene’s language exposes Rose’s vulnerability. The reader sees
Pinkie inflicting pain on Rose ‘pinching the skin’ of her wrist and the passive reaction that
she has to his abusive treatment. Her response reveals her weakness and the way she defers to
his authority early on in the novel. She says, ‘If you like doing that, go on.’ The use of the
second person pronoun ‘you’ shows she is submissive, embodying a 1930s stereotype, where
the women behaved in a way that kept her husband happy. She will satisfy his needs through
her own position as a hegemonic woman. Even though Pinkie marries Rose, this is arguably
an act of control and a means of silencing her and controlling her further. In the same way,
Nancy in ‘Oliver Twist’ is beaten and abused by Bill Sykes, accepting his violent behaviour
and dominance over her. But in both situations, poverty feeds the crime which perpetuates the
abuse and subordination of the women. Victorian London forced Nancy into prostitution and
a life of crime at the hands of a violent criminal, supporting a Victorian ideal of submissive
domesticity. Furthermore, it is Sykes who murders Nancy, an act of power on his behalf and
a way of silencing Nancy, thus rendering her powerless. Equally, the slums of Brighton force
Rose into a life where she experiences poverty in her youth and she resorts to marrying a
criminal who exploits her to escape the consequences of the law. ‘Me-marrying- that cheap
polony.’ The use of the adjective ‘cheap’ shows he views her as a possession to be exploited
and the use of the derogatory term ‘polony’ exposes his contempt for women. This literally
reduces her status to a powerless piece of meat. Rose’s powerlessness is reinforced here when
the reader can see she is reduced to an object and there to serve a purpose.
