A Historical View of the Victorian Governess

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A Historical View of the Victorian Governess

Although the governess serves as the heroine in Jane Eyre, she was not a popular figure in Victorian England. The governess did not have a social position worthy of attention (Peterson 4). Aristocratic and middle-class Victorians were not even sure how to treat the governess. She was from the same class, but her lack of financial stability made them view her as their inferior. Perhaps the clearest definition of the governess was stated by Lady Elizabeth Eastlake in the Quarterly Review:

The real definition of a governess in the English sense, is a being who is our equal in birth, manners, and education, but our inferior in worldly wealth. Take a lady in every meaning of the word, born and bred and let her father pass through the gazette (bankruptcy), and she wants nothing more to suit our highest beau ideal of a guide and instructress to our children. (qtd. in Peterson 10)

The only time a woman of birth and education was justified in seeking employment was if she found herself in financial distress, and had no relatives to give her support (Peterson 6). The position of governess was especially appropriate for a lady who sought employment because of the death of her father, or his financial ruin. It was considered appropriate because, while it was paid work, it was in the home. The governess avoided the immodest and unladylike position of public occupation. The position of governess would not cause a lady to loose her social position (Peterson 6).

The employment of a gentle woman in a Victorian middle-class family served to reinforce certain values (Peterson 4). The governess was to teach the female children skills that would be attractive in marriage such as fluency in a forei...

... middle of paper ...

...er employment for governesses. These organizations also provided temporary housing, insurance, and annuities for the aging governess. As for the life of a governess, perhaps Bronte described it best when she wrote to a friend regarding his daughter. She claimed as a governess his daughter would never be happy (Bronte, "On the Requirements," 274).

Works Cited

Bell, Millicent. "Jane Eyre: The Tale of the Governess" American Scholar 65 (1996): 263-8.

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Beth Newman. Boston: Bedford, 1996.

---. "On the Requirements of a Governess." Strong Minded Women & Other Lost Voices from Nineteenth-Century England. Ed. Janet Murray. New York: Pantheon, 1982.

Hughes, Kathryn. The Victorian Governess. London: Hambledon, 1993.

Peterson, Jeanne. "The Victorian Governess." Suffer and Be Still. Ed. Martha Vicinus. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1972.

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