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The Life of the Governess
Vanity Fair Sets the Stage
“If Miss Rebecca Sharp had determined in her heart upon making the conquest of this big beau, I don't think, ladies, we have any right to blame her…” (Thackery 27). The narrator of Vanity Fair encourages readers not to blame Rebecca Sharp for being determined to win Joseph Sedley's attentions and proposal in only ten days! After all, the narrator reminds us that she was motherless, and thus had no one to help her secure a husband. Yet, members of Vanity Fair rebuke Miss Sharp for her assertive efforts. Perhaps, though, one should sympathize and applaud Miss Sharp's labors because her destination after ten days was the life of a governess.
A Governess-A Definition
The position of a governess required that one act as a companion for her charges and teach them the accomplishments that would enable them to compete effectively in society… The required accomplishments were still one or two languages, preferably French and Italian, music, dancing, drawing and needlework… The eventual aim was the best possible marriage.
--Alice Renton, 48
The governess was even often the heroine for writers focusing on domestic, educational and social issues (“The Victorian Governess”). Yet, author and former governess Charlotte Brontë wrote, “it was better to be a housemaid or kitchen girl, rather than a baited, trampled, desolate, distracted governess” (Damrosch 1524). And Anna Jameson wrote, “a woman who knows anything in the world would, if the choice be left to her, be anything in the world rather than be a governess” (Renton 59).
Why the Negativity Regarding a Governess?
As the cries of these governesses allude, life as a governess was not always glamorous, despite the literary regard. “A governess who was capable of teaching more than the usual subjects was generally little valued” (Renton 50). The pay a governess received often reflected the small value. “Her wages could be as low as eight pounds a year… Charlotte Brontë received twenty pounds per year (actually only sixteen since washing expenses were deducted at the source)” (Allingham). Perhaps the Quarterly Review best put the institution of being a governess in perspective when the following was published, “a being who is our equal in birth, manners, and education, but our inferior in worldly wealth” (Renton 96). Thus, governesses “ranked with the superior servants” (Altick 56) and ended up feeling broken and lonely as Jameson described (Renton 59).
So Where Did Becky Fit In?
Becky was obviously not the typical Victorian governess.
In the Victorian era, in New York City, men and women roles within the society were as different as night and day. A man regardless of his extra curricular activities could still maintain a very prevalent place in society. A woman’s worth was not only based family name which distinguished her class and worth, but also her profession if that was applicable.
In the eighteenth century, the process of choosing a husband and marrying was not always beneficial to the woman. A myriad of factors prevented women from marrying a man that she herself loved. Additionally, the men that women in the eighteenth century did end up with certainly had the potential to be abusive. The attitudes of Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams toward women’s desire for male companionship, as well as the politics of sexuality, are very different. Although both Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams express a desire for men in their poetry, Charlotte Lennox views the implications of this desire differently than Anna Williams.
In this day and age, women have liberties that are often taken for granted. Women have the freedom to choose which university they will attend (if they plan on attending college), what career they wish to pursue, and also whom their mate in marriage will be. In early American days, liberties of women were looked upon from society as being wealthy and holding high social status. Many did not have the opportunity to pursue a career, much less decide what university they preferred to attend. They were fortunate to even have the opportunity receive a higher education beyond reading! Choosing the right men for their futures ensured them the luxuries they wished to maintain. If they were not already included in "upper society," their chances of upward mobility were slim to none. If the family lost their fortune, their only salvation was to be married back into wealth, another slim to none chance. This is the reality Rebecca Rush clearly paints in Kelroy. Rush projects her judgment on early American society and the role of women and marriage. Using the creation of two main characters, Mrs. Hammond and Emily Hammond, Rush is able to project her disapproval of society's ways through their opposing views and personalities.
The title character of Catharine Maria Sedgewick’s novel, Hope Leslie, defies the standards to which women of the era were to adhere. Sedgewick’s novel is set in New England during the 17th century after the Puritans had broken away from the Church of England. Hope Leslie lives in a repressive Puritan society in which women behave passively, submit to the males around them, and live by the Bible. They allow the men of their family to make decisions for them and rarely, if ever, convey an opinion that differs from the status quo. However, Hope Leslie does not conform to the expected behavior of women during that time, behavior that only further expressed the supposed superiority of males. Hope portrays behaviors and attitudes common in a woman today. Hope is capable of thinking for herself, is courageous, independent, and aggressive. Sir Philip Gardner describes Hope as having “a generous rashness, a thoughtless impetuosity, a fearlessness of the… dictators that surround her, and a noble contempt of fear” (211). In comparison to Esther Downing, Hope is the antithesis of what a young Puritan woman should be, and in turn, Hope gains a great deal of respect from the readers of the novel through her “unacceptable” behavior.
Rebecca Nurse was the embodiment of a kind, pious, and gentle citizen during the 17th century in Salem, Massachusetts. Having spent her entire life a devout Purist, Rebecca was hardly a typical candidate to be accused of such a heinous act such as witchcraft in 1692. And yet, she was violently taken from this world before her time had come, accused of afflicting girls through the medium of witchcraft, causing pain, suffering, and fits to such innocent younglings. How could someone who seemed so innocent be sentenced to the worst, cruelest punishment of all, death? A consensus on her innocence has been undisputed by historians and scholars since her travesty of a hanging.
As the years dragged on in the new nation the roles of men and women became more distinct and further apart for one another. Women were not allowed to go anywhere in public without an escort, they could not hold a position in office let allow vote, and they could only learn the basics of education (reading, writing, and arithmetic). In law the children belonged to the husband and so did the wife’s property and money. The only job women could think about having was being a ‘governess’ which would give other women education.
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.
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.
This essay, written by Ann of France, entitled "Lessons for my Daughter" explores the pains of being a woman in her society. Anne was the daughter of King Louis XI of France and was profoundly influential in French politics and policy throughout her life. The author composed this essay to be utilized as a handbook to guide her daughter through the patriarchal, aristocratic environment of French politics. Anne began her guide by urging her daughter to be the manifestation of complete virtue, to not show weakness, and to be worthy of having a reputation worth perpetual remembrance. She told her daughter to be humble, be honest, and above all be true. Anne urged her daughter to be magnificent, to show honor and to be brave. She insisted that the moment a woman makes a mistake her voice and her reputation are squandered. She insisted that she had to be refined, and she had to be excellent in order to be heard. Anne of France knew how treacherous the road was to be a woman in politics at this time. The essay is a beautiful distillation of her understanding and experiences within influential French society. Having been a successful and authoritative figure, Anne 's caution and judgment proved to be a great path of preparation for her
It is apparent as to how this notion that the women of the noble class led lives of fortune. Social parties and balls were common festivities, which these women regularly attended. For many, dancing was a favorite pastime. To an outsider, it seemed that a lady of the gentry class had nothing short of an enviable existence.
A governess is an educated woman who works for a family by teaching the school age children. It was the type of job that almost all young girls would not want to be but ironically the children of the household most likely admired and were very fond of their governess. Most children were closer to their governess than their own mother. If there was a governess in a home, the mother no longer had to take care of her children but could now devote her life to the church and her husband.
In early American history, society believed that women did not have a place in education and high-level learning. They were told not to bother their brains with such advanced thinking. Middle and upper class women learned to read and write, but their education ended there. A woman’s place was said to be in the home, cooking, sewing, and taking care of the children. In the case of upper class women, their “to-do” list was cut even shorter with the servants present to do the work.
She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans. She had no marriage portion, no expectations, no means of getting known, understood, loved, and wedded by a man of wealth and distinction; and she let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry of Education. Her tastes were simple because she had never been able to afford any other, but she was as unhappy as though she had married beneath her; for women have no caste or class, their beauty, grace, and charm serving them for birth or fa...
The “truth universally acknowledged” in the opening lines of Pride and Prejudice “that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” defines the plot of the novels and highlights the importance of marriage and of marrying well. It is Mrs Bennet’s “business” of life to get her five daughters married and in Persuasion it is in her role as surrogate mother to Anne that Lady Russell has persuaded Anne to turn down a marriage she considers beneath her. Given this background, I have chosen to angle this essay towards a question that is also valid today, namely, are women allowed to say no?
In the context of Hard times and Wuthering Heights, women were conceived as “angels in the house”, they had to put their own desires aside in order to dedicate their entire self to their house and family, according to Sarah Ellis’ books, as it is said in Natalie McKnight’s work,” it was stipulated that women should always be self-sacrificing, subservient, dutiful, meek - in short, angelic [...] This role falls to women because men are too consumed with the world of work”. This last affirmation is due to the thought of Victorian Era that women and men lived in a separated atmosphere and whereas men’s duty was work, women’s obligation was in their homes, giving birth to children and taking care of the house(except