“Nay, is there not a pathos in their very insignificance?”: Συμπάθεια in “The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton”

Abstract

This article examines “The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton,” paying particular attention to the hardships endured by his wife and the toll they take on her. In many ways, Amelia Barton is the archetypal Victorian housewife and mother, and a synecdoche of female domesticity. When she dies at the age of thirty-five, her role is taken up by her eldest daughter. Patty is nine years old at the start of the narrative, appearing as a thirty-year-old woman in the conclusion. The central premise of this article is to demonstrate that the premature death of Amelia stands as an emphatic condemnation of the established gendered roles firmly embedded in Victorian society; it is a powerful challenge to the contemporary status quo with regard to the role of women, both within the family and in society in general. The study applies the ideas of contemporary figures—thinkers such as Ruskin, and poets such as Tennyson—regarding Victorian gendered roles (gentlemanliness, womanliness, female self-restraint). It also explores the concepts of pathos and sympátheia in relation to “The Sad Fortunes,” as well as examining the text in terms of the author’s own conception of the novel.