By Radclyffe Hall
A lesbian woman's struggle for acceptance
Subject
Themes
Stephen Gordon is born on Christmas Eve at Morton Hall, the beloved Worcestershire estate of Sir Philip and Lady Anna Gordon. Sir Philip had longed for a son, and when the baby turns out to be a girl, he keeps the name Stephen anyway, raising her with masculine freedoms: riding, fencing, hunting, and a rigorous classical education. From earliest childhood Stephen senses her difference. At seven she falls passionately in love with the housemaid Collins; as a teenager she feels alien at local dances, clumsy in dresses, unable to perform the role society expects of a young woman. Her father recognises her nature but cannot bring himself to speak of it, and when he dies suddenly, the secret dies with him, locked away with the works of Krafft-Ebing hidden in his study.
Stephen Gordon is born on Christmas Eve at Morton Hall, the beloved Worcestershire estate of Sir Philip and Lady Anna Gordon. Sir Philip had longed for a son, and when the baby turns out to be a girl, he keeps the name Stephen anyway, raising her with masculine freedoms: riding, fencing, hunting,…
Radclyffe Hall published The Well of Loneliness in July 1928 through Jonathan Cape in London. Within weeks it became one of the most controversial novels of the twentieth century. The Sunday Express editor James Douglas attacked it with the declaration that he would "rather give a healthy boy or a…
Stephen Gordon's struggle is, at its root, a crisis of naming. From the moment Sir Philip chooses a masculine name for his daughter, the question of what Stephen is and what words exist to describe her runs through the narrative like an underground river. Sir Philip studies the works of Karl…
Isolation in this narrative operates on multiple levels simultaneously: physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. Stephen is isolated within her own family from birth. Anna cannot love the child who so strikingly resembles Sir Philip yet inhabits a feminine body with masculine instincts. Sir…
Loneliness in this narrative transcends mere solitude. Stephen is surrounded by people for most of the story: servants, friends, lovers, fellow soldiers, salon guests. Yet she is lonely in a way that company cannot cure, because her loneliness is ontological rather than circumstantial. It arises…
Love in this narrative is never simply love. It is always love plus the cost of loving, and the cost is always paid by the person who loves most honestly. Stephen's three significant romantic attachments, to Collins, to Angela, and to Mary, follow the same structural pattern: intense devotion, a…
Prejudice in this narrative is not the province of villains. It operates through ordinary people acting according to the conventions of their time, and its power lies precisely in its ordinariness. Anna Gordon is not a cruel woman; she is a loving wife and a conscientious landowner who simply cannot…
Stephen Gordon is born into the landed gentry at Morton Hall in Worcestershire, the only child of Sir Philip and Lady Anna Gordon. Her father, who had longed for a son, names her Stephen and raises her with masculine freedoms: riding, fencing, hunting, and a classical education. From earliest…
Mary Llewellyn arrives in the narrative as a pale, dark-haired Welsh orphan of about nineteen, assigned to the Breakspeare ambulance unit in Compiegne during the final months of the First World War. She is slight and pretty, with grey eyes and a resolute mouth that hints at a will stronger than her…
Angela Crossby enters Stephen's life as the wife of Ralph Crossby, who has bought The Grange near Morton. She is everything Stephen is not: small, blonde, conventionally feminine, and possessed of an easy social charm that opens doors Stephen has never been able to enter. Her delicate features and…
Miss Puddleton, known universally as Puddle, arrives at Morton Hall as Stephen's governess when the girl is fourteen. She is tiny, square, and iron-grey, with an air of fierce competence that belies her diminutive frame. Sir Philip has chosen her carefully: she is a brilliant teacher, a Domus Domine…
Martin Hallam first appears at Mrs. Antrim's New Year's Eve dance, a young Canadian who owns forests and orchards in British Columbia. He is bony-faced, blue-eyed, and loose-limbed, with a passionate love of trees and the natural world that immediately draws Stephen to him. When they meet, Stephen…
Morton Hall, the stately Gordon estate near Upton-on-Severn, welcomes Lady Anna as a bride. She and Sir Philip enjoy a deeply loving marriage, and after ten years Anna conceives. Sir Philip is certain the child will be a boy and names the unborn infant Stephen. On Christmas Eve, Anna delivers a…
Stephen dreads tea at the Antrims', where she envies Roger his Eton jacket and cropped hair. While she outperforms him at cricket and climbing, Roger taunts her about riding astride, saying everyone laughed and his mother called hers immodest. Stephen rolls up her sleeves to fight, but Roger refuses…
Stephen and Sir Philip bond deeply over books and her growing literary ambitions. He discovers she wants to be a writer and encourages her, but Anna withdraws increasingly from the study, unable to share their intellectual world and stung by Stephen's uncanny resemblance to her father. She catches…
Martin's disappearance triggers local gossip. The neighbours who briefly accepted Stephen now turn hostile, instinctively sensing an outlaw. Only Colonel Antrim defends her with characteristic profanity. Sir Philip becomes vigilant at hunts, cracking jokes so people will see Stephen laughing. Anna,…
Stephen counts the five days until Sunday like years, telephoning The Grange each evening, walking the hills in exultation. She orders three new suits, brown shoes, and six neckties, changing her tie three times before driving to Angela's house in a state of nervous collapse. Angela receives her in…
Angela forbids Stephen from following her to Scotland, so Stephen takes Anna to Cornwall instead. Anxious weeks pass with few letters from Angela, and those that arrive are cautiously bland, mentioning parties and a new acquaintance: Roger Antrim, the boy who once bullied Stephen in childhood. In…
Violet Antrim's wedding, with its gold-braided cushions and champagne, painfully underscores everything Stephen can never have. Angela swears nothing is between her and Roger, looking up with childlike blue eyes. Stephen's need to believe temporarily quiets her fears, but their encounters grow…
Stephen's second novel proves a critical and personal disappointment, confirming her fear that something essential is missing from her work. Then Raftery, her beloved horse and last living link to Morton's happier days, goes lame beyond cure. She arranges a final journey home, feeding him pieces of…
Stephen settles into a quiet, disciplined life in the Rue Jacob. Twice a week she fences with Buisson, an irascible little master who admires her muscles and tells her that nature does as she pleases. She discovers the narrow streets of the Quartier and buys manuscript books in which to write. A…
The Armistice arrives in November. A young Poilu walks in and announces it casually; old Blakeney lays her head on the table and weeps. Stephen leaves the Unit and takes Mary to Paris, where the Breton servants have hung a tricolour and a welcome sign in immortelles. Their first evening in the Rue…
Burton returns from the war demanding a new motor, so Stephen buys a touring Renault and a smart landaulette for Mary. They drive to Versailles and Fontainebleau, revelling in their happiness. Stephen keeps fit fencing with Buisson, who alternates between praising her skill and ranting about…
With her novel rewritten and dispatched to the publisher, Stephen relaxes into Valerie Seymour's social circle. Mary and Barbara form an affectionate alliance, comparing notes on their difficult partners over whispered conversations. Stephen and Mary frequently take the poverty-stricken Jamie and…
Adele marries her Jean at the church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. Stephen provides the wedding dress, the breakfast, and a sum of money; Mary gives the veil, shoes, and stockings; David the dog contributes a gilt clock. The whole street gathers to watch, and the baker praises Stephen's war service…
Martin's friendship transforms their life in Paris. He takes them to fashionable restaurants and the Bois de Boulogne, where Mary encounters the normal social world she has been craving: neat men, pretty women, laughter and dancing. Stephen cannot dance with Mary in these places, so Mary dances with…
Stephen Gordon is born into the landed gentry at Morton Hall in Worcestershire, the only child of Sir Philip and Lady Anna Gordon. Her father, who had longed for a son, names her Stephen and raises her with masculine freedoms: riding, fencing, hunting, and a classical education. From earliest…
Mary Llewellyn arrives in the narrative as a pale, dark-haired Welsh orphan of about nineteen, assigned to the Breakspeare ambulance unit in Compiegne during the final months of the First World War. She is slight and pretty, with grey eyes and a resolute mouth that hints at a will stronger than her…
Angela Crossby enters Stephen's life as the wife of Ralph Crossby, who has bought The Grange near Morton. She is everything Stephen is not: small, blonde, conventionally feminine, and possessed of an easy social charm that opens doors Stephen has never been able to enter. Her delicate features and…
Miss Puddleton, known universally as Puddle, arrives at Morton Hall as Stephen's governess when the girl is fourteen. She is tiny, square, and iron-grey, with an air of fierce competence that belies her diminutive frame. Sir Philip has chosen her carefully: she is a brilliant teacher, a Domus Domine…
Martin Hallam first appears at Mrs. Antrim's New Year's Eve dance, a young Canadian who owns forests and orchards in British Columbia. He is bony-faced, blue-eyed, and loose-limbed, with a passionate love of trees and the natural world that immediately draws Stephen to him. When they meet, Stephen…
By Radclyffe Hall
Subject
Themes
Stephen Gordon is born on Christmas Eve at Morton Hall, the beloved Worcestershire estate of Sir Philip and Lady Anna Gordon. Sir Philip had longed for a son, and when the baby turns out to be a girl, he keeps the name Stephen anyway, raising her with masculine freedoms: riding, fencing, hunting, and a rigorous classical education. From earliest childhood Stephen senses her difference. At seven she falls passionately in love with the housemaid Collins; as a teenager she feels alien at local dances, clumsy in dresses, unable to perform the role society expects of a young woman. Her father recognises her nature but cannot bring himself to speak of it, and when he dies suddenly, the secret dies with him, locked away with the works of Krafft-Ebing hidden in his study.