Ladies' gallery (The Pretext)

The ladies’ gallery is mentioned in the story as the place for which Mr. Robert Ransom bought two tickets for his wife and a companion for the evening of the speeches. The ladies’ gallery is located in Hamblin Hall above the “horseshoe” (Lewis, 1968, p. 640). As the term itself already explains the ladies’ gallery is a gallery designed for the female audience only. The UK Parliament (2021) states in an online article that the ladies’ gallery in the Houses of Parliament was built after a fire to separate the women from the men so that the men will not be distracted. This was achieved through a metal grid which blocked the view on the women but let the women see through. In the short story “The Pretext” it does not seem that there is a grid in front of the gallery but because it is above the main hall of the building “all the heat and glare […] seemed to surge up to the ladies’ gallery” (Lewis, 1968, p. 640) which is the reason why Mrs. Margaret Ransom almost faints and has to leave the building. The picture shows a drawing of what the ladies’ gallery in the UK Parliament looked like. The ladies’ gallery could have looked similar but probably without the metal grids.

Sources:

Lewis, R. W. B. (1968). The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

“The creation of the Ladies’ Gallery”. UK Parliament, 2021, https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/parliamentary-collections/ladies-gallery-grille/ladies-gallery/. Accessed May 15, 2021.