The Wages of Sin: Adolescent Mothers in Nineteenth-Century Fiction

Abstract

In nineteenth-century English novels, sin means sex; sex demands punishment; illegitimate children symbolize or constitute that punishment. The good girl gone wrong almost inevitably appears soon in loose-fitting gowns, an object of scorn to her neighbors. She may die in childbirth or her infant may die; she may reform through a life of selfless devotion to others; but in no case can she successfully marry or bear subsequent children after a teenage mistake. Often she inhabits the periphery of a fictional action, functioning not as central character but as a moral warning or moral opportunity for more important figures. Her career—sin to punishment—follows so predictable a course that she holds relatively little obvious fictional interest, constituting an edifying embellishment more often than an imaginative focus.