r different classes or groups.
Oppressed by stronger groups in society and limited in choice because of it, both Mrs. Warren and Shen Te break conventional morality which they find hypocritical anyway. Mrs. Warren understands the dim view Victorian society takes of prostitution, yet she runs a thriving business because of Victorian male patronage. Commenting on this Victorian hypocrisy, Dan H. Laurence (38) notes the "correlation of the luxurious super-payment of prostitutes with the Victorian social code of behavior created and dictated by the male of the species to serve his domestic and social convenience." Shen Te cannot run her business successfully when her patrons exploit her because of her gender, but as a man she is able to exert her influence and take what she wants. Both of these women are forced to lead lives that others consider "indecent," but these choices are made because of the basic indecency of the economic and social system the women confront. As Ernst Loeb (286)
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