Who Was This Heroine?: Representation and Reality

Abstract

This chapter unravels the dominant discourses that have been constructed surrounding Cavell’s work and personality from the time of her death. It interprets the stories of Cavell’s individual agency to explore where they complemented and collided with the wide range of images that existed about her. Nurse, martyr, patriot, ‘soldier’, Christian, exemplary British woman and citizen — these were all immediate representations of Cavell that were to reappear and sometimes disappear through the twentieth century. Amidst the initial outrage surrounding Cavell’s execution and the use of her death for propaganda purposes that centred around recruitment, representations of an innocent and noble British nurse were to the forefront, rather than a focus on Cavell as an active individual with agency in making history. Her life and personality were constructed to fit the propaganda descriptions of a young, innocent virginal martyr, and not a 49-year-old independent matron. When details of her family, childhood, youth and career did receive attention, they were interpreted to fit within a framework influenced by her untimely death. In fact, all posthumous accounts of Cavell were affected by her arrest, trial and execution, and must be treated as such.

The Saxon name Edith, which is linked with the most ancient glories of English history, has acquired new lustre through the sufferings of Edith Cavell.¹

Edith — Meaning spoils of war.²