In Flatland Abbott employs personification and satire to explore the many social contradictions and injustices of Britain's class system in the 1900s. The novel revolves around the analogies that he makes between Flatland and his real 19th-century world. By personifying different polygons and lines as different societal classes and genders, Abbott explores the nuances of social structures and the way people’s biases and feelings construct them.
There is an entire chapter of the novel entitled “Concerning the Women,” in which A Square explains that female shapes never have any sides at all: they are all lines. This portrayal of women as the simplest of shapes, often practically invisible, is a critique of how women were viewed in Victorian society. Because they have two “sharp” ends and are only visible from behind as a “dim sub-lustrous point,” they are considered far more dangerous and unstable than polygons. A Square unironically explains that they are “entirely devoid of brain-power.” Abbott’s choice to describe women in this way is a satirical reflection of the stereotypes and biases against women during the Victorian period, where they were routinely treated as lesser beings by their male counterparts. A Square speaks at length about the inherent violence he thinks “Females” possess, saying that if a polygon displeases a Line “the result is massacre.” He dismisses women utterly, telling the reader that they have “absolutely nothing to say.” As lines in a two-dimensional world, women are essentially invisible. This personification not only underscores their lack of social power but also ironically highlights the danger they pose in a male-dominated world, as their lack of visibility can be both a literal and figurative threat.
Abbott depicts the lower and middle classes of Flatland as various kinds of triangles. The smaller the internal angle, he tells the reader, the smaller the intelligence of the Shape. Different Triangles occupy different social roles, from the unstable and less respected Isosceles to the more stable and respected Equilaterals. Upper-class individuals are represented by more complex shapes, suggesting that more "sides" and larger internal angles equate to being more cultured. This portrayal satirizes the notion that broadness of experience and education—being “multifaceted”—is synonymous with higher social standing. Circles, the highest class, are beings that are both sideless and possess infinite sides, representing perfection and divinity. Being a Circle is the ultimate attainment in Flatland society, though the vast majority of Circles are born that way. They are treated with reverence regardless of their actual merits or contribution to society.
By giving geometric shapes human characteristics and societal positions, Abbott exposes and critiques the rigid class structures and gender biases of his time. The arbitrary way that classes are divided in Britain is compared with the arbitrariness of a polygon’s number of sides.
