The woman's sole purpose was to bear children. Sex or masturbation were believed to cause a series of ailments and diseases, and even had to be exercised with caution once in wedlock. People were monitored closely, and anything out of the ordinary was likely a sign of hysteria. There were many errors of thinking, and "as the century progressed, the term nymphomania was applied to degrees of sexual expression which would be considered quite normal today" (Rosenberg 10). It was believed that sex by nature, was not very natural at all, and that lower-class servants were the only ones to break norms. "Servants represented an intrusive emotional reality. The widespread hostility toward domestics to which we refer might well have mirrored middle-class repression of the sexuality which the lower orders were presumed to enjoy" (Rosenberg 14). .
At one point, Dr. Jordan finds himself imaging a crude visualization of Mrs. Humphrey lying sprawled on his bed as he is conversing with her. The book then states, "He has always been curious about these manifestations of the imagination as he has been able to observe them in himself. Where do they come from? If they occur in him, they must occur as well in the majority of men.he cannot always control such pictures (163). Dr. Jordan also finds himself daydreaming about Grace later on in the novel, and he cannot figure out why. Even Grace herself finds herself in what appears to be a dream. She is caressed and kissed from behind. Firstly she believes it to be Jeremiah, then McDermott, and then finally Mr. Kinnear. When she realizes it to be Death himself, she feels a strong pull to surrender herself and states, "as well as the horror, I also felt a strange longing" (334). She keeps this dream to herself, as she awakes with a wet nightdress covered in Earth. Perhaps it was no dream at all, and that Grace had indeed slept with all of these men. As a result of such repression, many of the characters in Alias Grace were fueled to act out of desire and not love.
