Daughters of Eve: The Labouring-class Autobiographical Hermeneutics of Two Romantic-Era English Prophetesses, Dorothy Gott (c.1748–1812) and Joanna Southcott (1750–1814)

Abstract

This article explores the rich seam of female prophetic writing in Romantic-era England by comparing and contrasting two of the most significant millenarian prophetesses of the period: Dorothy Gott and Joanna Southcott. The literary significance of these figures has remained underexplored, in spite of the two women's striking use of life writing in their millenarian texts, which included spiritual autobiography; the typological interpretation of personal incidents; the inclusion of autobiographical verse amidst expository prose to convey the sense of God's divine voice speaking through the untaught woman; and the appendage of personal letters contemporaneous with the timeline of chronicled events in order to provide evidence for the prophetess's authenticity. In this study, we uncover the women's respective autobiographical hermeneutics and assess their literary significance, particularly in developing a range of textual practices that sought to counter their disadvantaged class and gender positions as labouring-class female spiritual leaders unable to claim established theological or ecclesiological authority.