Victorian and Modern Times Aren’t so Different
In the play, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, the mother and daughter relationship resembles closely to a story today that is popular with women. The story of Grey’s Anatomy; another tragic mother and daughter relationship that deal with gender and sexuality issues, much like Mrs. Warren and her daughter Vivie Warren. There are many similarities between these two relationships, but also some difference that contend with time and age.
Mrs. Warren and Vivie Warren did not have any contact when Vivie was younger; she wasn’t sure who was her father, or what exactly her mother was doing while she was away. This has made Vivie a very independent woman who did not want to have romance, even though she had a few suitors after her. Vivie is a smart educated woman who wanted to make good money. Mrs. Warren wanted Vivie to have a romance and settle down. Vivie finds out that her mother ran a brothel throughout Europe and realized that’s why her mother wasn’t around until after she graduated college with a degree in Mathematics.
In the television series Grey’s Anatomy, Ellis and Meredith Grey are also mother and daughter and have an estranged relationship. Ellis is a high profile doctor who was also busy working all the time. Meredith followed in her mother’s footsteps and went to college and medical school to also become a doctor. She wanted to make her mother proud. Ellis did not want Meredith to get tied up in romance; she wanted her to focus on her career of being a surgeon. Meredith does want a committed relationship and eventually finds one, but her mother does not approve before she dies from Altzimers.
Mrs. Warren and Ellis Grey are a lot alike because they are highly respected in their own professions and looked at as powerful women from their peers. Although Mrs. Warren’s profession may be frowned upon by the general population, in the brothel industry she was highly looked upon. They had scandalous relationships before their daughters were old enough to realize what was going on. Vivie finds out that her out of wedlock father is the father of the man, Frank who she is involved with so they do not move their relationship forward. Meredith finds out that her mother, who was married to Meredith’s father, had an affair with a fellow doctor and which eventually ruins her marriage.
Both Mrs. Warren and Ellis Grey claim that they worked hard as women in a man’s world to give their daughters what they want as they grew up, even though they hardly spent any time with their daughters. Mrs. Warren and Ellis, liked to remind Vivie and Meredith that they did work hard just for them and almost expect a lot of gratitude from them.
Mrs. Warren ran a brothel and Vivie comes to find out that her mother still does run a brothel and decides to disown her. Sexuality to Vivie was not a big thing in her life; gender was. She wanted to be a respected woman and not have to rely on a man to give her the finer things in life. Mrs. Warren would call on suitors for Vivie anyways, she did not think that Vivie could take care of herself like she claims; her education wouldn’t get her very far in life.
Ellis Grey was just the opposite. She wanted Meredith to go to medical school and become a doctor, make a lot of money, and become a respected woman surgeon. Meredith showed most of the same goals for herself as her mother did, but she wanted to fill the void of having a broken family, of having a committed relationship. Ellis was furious when she found out that Meredith was involved with another doctor. She wanted Meredith to have a career first and then a family.
It is almost like Mrs. Warren and Ellis Grey had a bad childhood and young adult life and wanted to relive their lives through their daughters. Vivie and Meredith are different people than their mothers. They are very independent women and are exploring their sexuality in different ways. Vivie tries to be romantically involved with someone who turns out to be sort of related to her because her mom messed up. It made her sexuality disappear. She could not trust anyone in the romantic sense. Meredith is romantically involved with a fellow doctor and it has it’s rocky times because of her insecurities from her mother. She uses sex to not think about her broken family. Sex is a mini vacation for her brain.
The roles of gender and sexuality have been reversed between the two mother and daughter relationships. Back in the Victorian era, sexuality was a part of life and Mrs. Warren wanted it to be a part of Vivie’s life so that she could be taken care of. Now in contemporary times, Dr. Ellis Grey does not want sexuality to be a apart of Meredith’s life. She wants her daughter to concentrate on her gender role in her work place and make a career first over everthing.
In conclusion, Mrs. Warren and Ellis Grey defined their sexuality with their womanizing ways. They used what they had to get what they want in life. They claim that everything they did was for their daughters, but it is hard to say what the exact reason or reasons were. Vivie Warren and Meredith Grey learned how not to be from their mothers. They became their own woman in their own ways. Their mothers influenced them on how not to be.
By
Kathleen Hupp
