David and Bathsheba- Mary Deverell (1774-1797)
Digital Humanities Project
Core 2994
Mary Deverell is remembered as an Anglican writer, known for her moving sermons written from a woman’s perspective. Although women in the eighteenth century were not known for writing religious texts, she was able to write in a way which put a womanly spin on passages previously interpreted solely by men. Much of her writing focuses on God’s mercy and his undying love for all sinners. Deverell uses this passage to better describe the depth of God's forgiving nature to all men and women of Christ, even those caught in unbearable sins such as adultery. When regarding the story of David and Bathsheba she wanted to also express the cruel nature of how women view other women during the time period in which she lived.
Mary Deverell grew up in a time much like what was depicted in the novel The Scarlet Letter, when women were shunned for being adulterers. In her writing she explains how women are often harder on other women than they are on the men in their lives. This can be seen in the scarlet letter when the main character, Hester Prynne is forced to wear an embroidered A on her chest to mark her sin. On the other hand, the man is left to live his life as he was before his sin took place. Another portrayal of this would be The Crucible, when women accused each other of being witches; the vast majority of people killed were women at the mercy of other women. These are both clear expressions of the male biases around her lifetime. In her writing she explains rather than standing by and holding no responsibility, the man should stand up for the alleged sinner. In the bible women are depicted as the "weaker vessel," therefore men should stand by their sides and accept the punishment as women have been forced to.
In our timeline, this is where we begin to see a shift in how readers view Bathsheba; rather than being a disgraceful sinner, they see her as a victim of David’s abuse of power. Readers are able to sympathize with the pain and suffering Bathsheba endured from disgraceful actions taken by the King. Mary Deverell tries to remind women they need to stick together and fight the male bias which controls and dictates the world we still live in today. The main point trying to be made is that women are often the worst offenders when the issue of role bias comes into effect; rather than giving into male dominance women should stand together against systematic inequality.
