The Outcast

This painting was created by Richard Redgrave and represents a fallen woman with her illegitimate child being evicted from her home by her stern father, despite the pleadings of the family. On the floor is a purse of money and an incriminating letter. The scene is made more pathetic by the snowy wastes outside the door and the innocent child’s hand raised in the echo of the hand of the pleading sister. This painting shows the objectification of the "fallen woman" as even though the painting there are things the simplify maybe Redgrave did not sustain that the norms of women during the 19th century were justifiable. In his painting, there are so many red and dark colors but somehow there is a splash of yellow which may seem to portray the imagery of hope.  I chose the painting to show the discredit of the woman during the 19th century and how even though she seemed to portray her life as she pleased that she will always be seen as an outcast. In Browning's "Porphyria's Lover", we see how the narrator portrays Porphyria as an outcast as he describes her day as he uses words such as "gayfest".

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