Queen of Heaven and Queen of the Home
Queen of Heaven and Queen of the Home
Mary and Models of Domestic Queenship, 1880s–1900
This chapter explores the rhetoric and imagery of domestic queenship that evolved in response to and alongside the “New Woman.” While such rhetoric was used both to resist and promote woman’s rights, queenship had the potential to establish a less sacrificial model of womanhood. Because Mary’s queenship was a culturally available, traditional image of female transcendence, it provided a way to invoke female power without appearing to undermine traditional social norms. These motifs created models of womanhood with more personal agency and self-determination. However, the theological content embedded in Marian imagery always included traditional, non-threatening virtues—such as gentleness, humility, and maternity. In some cases, domestic queenship helped justify women’s entrance to the public sphere by cloaking increases in activity and power in reassuring, maternalistic rhetoric. However, these same elements also constrained the future usefulness of the Mary symbol to woman’s empowerment once significant gains had been made.
Keywords: domestic queenship, maternalism, New Woman, Queen of Heaven, Virgin Mary, woman’s rights, womanhood
North Carolina Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
