Mothers of the Victorian Period

910 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Women during the Victorian era

Mothers of the Victorian Period There is no doubt in the fact that motherhood has changed throughout history in the way that it is practiced and perceived. Although hard to classify motherhood as an "easy" task in any time period, mothers of the Victorian period were among those who have had it the hardest. For example, Natalie McKnight, author of Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels, states: "When I first began studying the lives of Victorian women, I sympathized with the many women who suffered through the agonies of labor only to die shortly after the baby was born. As I continued my research, I began to feel more sympathy with those who survived" (McKnight 1). Victorian mothers were put under tremendous pressures and expectations when it came to mothering their children. Prior to this time, mothers raised their children based on what felt natural and instinctive. Moving into the mid-nineteenth century, however, mothers were expected to follow conduct and medical books for wives, mothers, and newborns, as well as use new products on the market for mother and baby. The duties that were placed upon the woman were "to maintain and develop the child’s complete physical, mental, and spiritual health, pretty much without the help of the father" (McKnight 2). Mothers took care of domestic matters and their children, while men were free to concentrate on work and public affairs (Shiman 35). Motherhood, thereby, had come to be a skill that had to be learned rather than acquired by observing other women who had been mothers. In a broader sense, men, women, and children each had their own "sphere." Within the privacy of their home, members of the household were divided into groups between children and other members of ... ... middle of paper ... ... of failure deemed them as an unfit parent. In addition, the mothers of the nineteenth century were basically trying out a new form of parenting on their own without the aid of any previous mothers to guide them. Although motherhood will never be "easy," Mid-Victorian mothers suffered in their attempts to be what society at the time considered the maternal ideal. Works Cited Gorham, Deborah. The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. London: Croom Helm, 1982. Kane, Penny. Victorian Families in Fact and Fiction. London: Macmillan, 1995. McKnight, Natalie. Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels. New York: St. Martin’s, 1997. Shiman, Lillian Lewis. Women and Leadership in Nineteenth-Century England. London: Macmillan, 1992. Thaden, Barbara. The Maternal Voice in Victorian Fiction: Rewriting the Patriarchal Family. New York: Garland, 1997.

Show More
Related

  • The Obsessive Nature of Desire Presented in The Great Gatsby, Othello and Enduring Love

    2798 Words  | 6 Pages

    All three works depict the idea of obsession as a compulsion the effects of which cause destruction. In ‘Enduring Love’ through the use of the appendix McEwan draws a cyclic structure following the theme of love which later turns into obsession and enduring love throughout the course of the novel, which symbolises how the obsession never ends until death. ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Othello’ have more drastic affects of their obsession as they result in death, both with the ones they love and to them and consequently no fuel for their obsession causing it to finally end. All three texts highlight the dangerous nature of obsession and the damage it will cause to each individual character’s life.

    Read More

  • Process Philosophy: A Process View Of Life

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 19th Century it was the Father who was known to be the one that worked, or the breadwinner for the family. However, after World War II we began to see a shifting in this as the women’s right’s movement took place and women began to get paid more for working and now entered the workplace regularly. This also occurred because of the great economic growth that was occurring at the time. So as things changed economically, the family progressed with it as well. However, not all was a positive progression as during this time we also began to see divorce increase as well as and increase in the number of women who became pregnant without having been married. These were huge changes and shifts in the family dynamics as the family became under pressure from the ever-changing economics and culture. With both parents entering the workforce, little supervision is given to the children. This was totally unlike the Leave it to Beaver family, the Cleavers in which only the father went to work and the mother had time to care for the kids. Having both parents work definitely cut into family time or time that in the past had been spent between parents and children. This gave way to leaving society an open door in having a greater impact on children then they would have received at home through the training and modeling of their parents. Because of their thinking to progress with the world around them and in the way the world was progressing in thought, it left an open door for their families to become impacted negatively by

    Read More

  • Changes in the Role of Women Between the Sixteenth and the Twentieth Century

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over long periods of time change is often inevitable. One such instance of change throughout history is that of family members and their role in not only the family, but also in society as a whole. Although changes can be seen in the roles of every family member, it can be argued that the role of women in the family, especially that of mothers, changed the most. Between the sixteenth century and the twentieth century, the role that mothers played in the family and in society changed greatly.

    Read More

  • Women of the Nineteenth Century: Sarah Stickney Ellis

    780 Words  | 2 Pages

    The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.

    Read More

  • Perfection and Darkness: Choice in Jane Eyre

    3094 Words  | 7 Pages

    Peterson, M. Jeanne. "The Victorian Governess: Status Incongruence in Family and Society." Suffer and Be Still: Women in the Victorian Age. Ed. Martha Vicinus. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.

    Read More

  • Wilfred Owen's Ability to Draw in the Audience in His Poems, Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori and Anthem for Doomed Youth

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    To draw into the poet’s world, the poet must draw relations between them, including the reader, making them feel what the poet feels, thinking what the poet thinks. Wilfred Owen does this very creatively and very effectively, in both of his poems, Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori and Anthem of Doomed Youth, who is seen as an idol to many people today, as a great war poet, who expresses his ideas that makes the reader feel involved in the moment, feeling everything that he does. His poems describe the horror of war, and the consequences of it, which is not beneficial for either side. He feels sorrow and anger towards the war and its victims, making the reader also feel the same.

    Read More

  • 19th Century Women

    1610 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women were a nurturing part of the household and therefore it was seen as their job to take care of the children. For example, the editor of the McGuffey’s states, “the middle-class...

    Read More

  • Essay On Inequality In The Victorian Era

    1291 Words  | 3 Pages

    Basically the Victorian era sucked for women. During the beginning they were expected to be smart, but to not have an opinion. They were to be beautiful, yet act and appear virginal. Women were also

    Read More

  • Leonardo Da Vinci: The Renaissance Man

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Leonardo Da Vinci could be argued as one of the most famous persons in the Renaissance Era and one of the greatest painters to ever live. Leonardo is talented and has made many contribution throught his life. He did so many things such as painting, anatomy , mechanics, and architecture. And he is one of the reasons why the Renaissance era could be regarded at one of the greatest time periods in history.

    Read More

  • love rules

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the most famous artist of all time. Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452 in Florence, Italy. He was born out-of-wedlock to the wealthy father, Piero da Vinci, and peasant mother, Caterina. Little is known about Leonardo da Vinci’s early life, but he did receive an informal education where he mastered the subjects of Latin, mathematics, and geometry. As the years, progressed Leonardo became a master of his craft. Leonardo da Vinci pottered in the fields of sculpting, geology, engineering, music, architect, anatomy, cartography, writing, painting, and plant biology. Leonardo da Vinci was the ultimate Italian Renaissance polymath. Some of Leonardo da Vinci most notable works include The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man, Lady with an Ermine, and Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci worked on dozens of other projects, but with his broad expertise, he was only inclined to finish around six pieces. Arguably, one of Leonardo’s best pieces is the Mona Lisa painting. The Mona Lisa painting is not admired solely for its beauty, but its breakthrough technicality in the art world and its ability to keep the mind wondering what Leonardo da Vinci was trying to communicate to his viewers.

    Read More

  • Women's Rights during the Victorian Era

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    In life women had only one main goal; to marry. Prior to a woman’s marriage, a woman would learn the basic necessities and qualities of a typical Victorian Woman. She would learn ideals such as cooking, cleaning, weaving, raising children and plenty more. If a woman was well of in the financial aspects, she likely did not have to learn much or work as hard other women due to having maids at hand. Women at the time were typically unable to better educate themselves beyond minimal knowledge of household duties because in essence men ruled society. “A woman was inferior to a mam in all ways except the unique one that counted most [to a man]: her femininity. Her place was in the home, on a veritable pedestal if one could be afforded, and emphatically not in the world of affairs” (Altick, 54).

    Read More

  • Women and Men of the Victorian Era

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Victorian era established strict guidelines and definitions for the ladies and gentleman. Noble birth typically defined one as a "lady" or a "gentleman," but for women in this time period, socioeconomic rank and titles held no prestige or special privileges in a male-dominated society. Commonly, women in this era generally tried to gain more influence and respect but to no avail as their male counterparts controlled the ideals and practices of society. Women were subject to these ideals and practices without any legal or social rights or privileges. In the literary titles by Frances Power Cobbe, Sarah Stickney Ellis, Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte, John Henry Cardinal Newman, Sir Henry Newbolt, and Caroline Norton, the positions, opinions, and lifestyles of men and women during the Victorian era were clearly defined. Men in the Victorian era were raised to be intellectually and physically sound in order to be skillful in the workplace and the military while women were typically restricted to fulfilling roles within the home. As the female desire for equal rights and representation under the law mounted, an international vigor for female equality would produce a call for equality.

    Read More

  • Higher Education and Women in the United Kingdom

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the research shown by Brown (2011C), the population of women was rising gradually from 1036 per 1000 males in 1821 to 1054 per 1000 males in 1871. This meant that there would be unmarried women who would have to support themselves. Women had very limited career choices and most of them relied on being governesses to earn a living. Gillard (2011) notes that children received similar education to boys prior to the introduction of the 1870 Education Act which stressed a curriculum where girls should be taught domestic skills. Education for women in the beginning of the Victorian era was inadequate and inconsistent as girls were taught by private governesses who were untrained. (Gillard,2011)

    Read More

  • Symbolism, Moral Ambiguity or Attitudes Toward Women in American Literature of the Period 1776-1860

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the new laws, women were granted the right to take care of young daughters, but not sons (Buckley 101). This act clearly indicated the moral influence that a woman had at home, while a man’s dominance was in the field of politics and in trading areas. There was a clear differentiation between gender-based ideologies. Isecke notes that Women largely applied the concept of moral motherhood so as to be granted social justice over the years that followed. This marked a new milestone in the way women were viewed in the society. More attention was paid to them and their influence towards the society was largely appreciated.

    Read More

  • The Contributions Of Leonardo Da Vinci And The Renaissance Man

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    He perfectly represents the Renaissance, for he made numerous contributions to art, science, and the culture of this time period. Without da Vinci’s influences, today’s society would be drastically different. Artists would not have began using light and perspective to make their works more realistic. Scientists would not have known how the human muscle and skeletal system joined to work so cohesively. The people of Europe would have never seen the many works that da Vinci used to portray his views on culture and daily life. There may be many other artists, philosophers, and authors who made significant contributions during this time, but da Vinci far outweighs all of his competitors. He influenced those around him using every mean of communication that he possibly could. Leonardo da Vinci is the perfect embodiment of a “Renaissance man,” for he used his talents to influence others through art, science, culture, and many other aspects of the

    Read More

More about Mothers of the Victorian Period

Open Document