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Architecture of the Victorian Era
Victorian era topics
Architecture of the Victorian Era
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Victorian Morality was completely adamant and strict. It can be best described as the principle that condoned sexual prudery, zero tolerance of criminal actions, and its social ethic, as it changed England. It was all based on behavior and conduct. Lifestyle practices in England were way different until Victorianism, as it correlates with morals and religion. The Victorian Era was under the Anglican Church. England was very religious, that they go to church twice every Sunday, and read the Bible. Religion was behind everything; they viewed the Bible as their foundation of moral behavior. They also believed that if all accepted “religion”, the morality would end the crime and poverty. Furthermore, Victorian education mostly focused on Religion
Victorians values were modeled from British high class society, where their propensity consisted of indulgence and privileges and resonated with the same social class in the americas. Progressive values were adopted by the middle class during the time of the second industrial revolution where the middle class grew and the rich, the top ten as McGerr refers to as, only gets richer from the exploitation of the middle class. The victorian values are contained within the upper-ten who don't embrace nor benefit from the progressive values. McGerr writes “The campaigns against drink, prostitution, and divorce found less support among farmers and still less among urban workers and the upper-class. None of these groups fully embraced middle-class values; none equivocally welcomed government interference in private life.” (87) The separation between middle class and upper class values is shown in the excerpt and applied to fight for prohibition, which progressive support, where the government would enforce and interfere with private life violating victorian ideals. The differences between both values are apparent as each is centralized and purposed for its own class structure making anything idea let alone attitude inherently
1843 and was appalled by what he saw there. It was a school for the
In Victorian society courting rituals were put into effect to keep the young ladies pure and the gentlemen confused. Courting usually began at balls and dances where young girls were first introduced into society during their “coming out.” At every gathering of Victorian society the young ladies were chaperoned by their mothers or some other married woman so that nothing improper would happen that could ruin the young lady's reputation in society. The young ladies and gentlemen at the dances and balls were introduced through a third party and their Christian names were prohibited from being used because it would have been to forward and improper. After placing their name on the dance card of the young lady they could then proceed to dance no more then three dances because any more then that would be inappropriate in Victorian society. “After this formal introduction the gentleman would give the young lady his card to remember him by and at the end of the evening the young lady would look through her cards to see which gentleman she would allow to court her” (Powell). She would give the gentleman permission to court her by giving that gentleman her card and the right to call on her at her home where the courtship must take place.
After the Age of Enlightenment in the mid 18th century in England, the tension between the social classes intensified even more. A huge gap generated between the aristocrats and the working class, but dozens of new layers of society appeared. While the rich lived to the fullest, the lower class starved and needed to find alternative ways of money making. Prostitution became more and more widespread, which lead to an inequality and social stratification between poor and rich and due to the economical crisis the number of prostitutes grew from year to year. Aristocrats and nobility looked down on the working class with judgement and disgust, and when prostitution became legalized in England after the Contagious Diseases Acts it made a big public controversy. Prostitution was not only judged and criticized by the upper class, but also kept in fear by the historical figure, Jack the Ripper.
The Victorian era in England marked a period of unprecedented technological, scientific, political, and economic advancement. By the 1840s, the English had witnessed remarkable industrial achievements including the advent of the railways and the photographic negative. They had witnessed the expansion of the Empire, and, as a result, were living in a time of great economic stability. Yet they had also seen thousands of people starving-and dying-due to the Irish potato famine and poor conditions and benefits in British factories and witnessed the entire order of society questioned as the working classes began to demand representation in Parliament. The English also experienced biological and scientific breakthroughs that challenged the once universally accepted beliefs in the authority of the Bible, the divine ordering of nature, and the gross exploitation of women and people of other races. It was a time of great achievement, yes, but it was also a time of great contradiction and uncertainty.
Huggins, Mike J. “More Sinful Pleasures? Leisure, Respectability, and the Male Middle Classes in Victorian England.” Journal of Social History, vol 33, no.3 (Spring 2000) http://www.jstor.org/stable/3789212
Victorian ideas about fallenness create the ideological assumptions behind the creation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Through the control of sexuality, the Acts reinforced existing patterns of class and gender domination. They reflected an acceptance of male sexual license. The double standard allowed male access to fallen women and punished only the women.
Religion throughout history has been a dominating social factor, and in Britain during the nineteenth century, this same religious domination can be seen. The Victorian era was marked by the Church of England which developed such an influence in politics as well as religion that it became difficult to separate the two (Yi 1). The tyrannical power of the church fostered many problems (lack of space, not relating to its people, hypocrisy, etc.) and created an air where a variety of dissenting groups could form and develop (1). The atmosphere of the high church compared to that of the dissenting groups explains why the shift of religion occurred with such a large response.
The Victorian Era, which lasted from 1837 until 1901, was one of the most prosperous periods of the British Empire. During the Victorian period, London became the world’s largest city. Because of the overwhelming growth of the city, inhabitants of London were beginning to feel anxiety, dullness and tiredness. The great city seemed to exhaust the people and thus resulted to the gloomy atmosphere of London.
The Victorian Era was a very Christian and prudish time. Through the 19th century, England was an all Christian country. Their established church was “The Church of England.”
The social hierarchy of Victorian England was made up of four classes: upper class, middle class, working class, and underclass. There was little room for social mobility, and the class one was born in, was most likely where they would stay their whole life. While this appears undesirable to the modern American, it brought much needed stability and could be seen as comforting that a person knew where they belonged their whole life (Cody). The upper class was made up of the royal family and many high officials, this class “did not work, [and] income came from inherited land and investments” (“Victorian England: An Introduction”). Below the upper class was the middle class, which is considered one of the higher classes, though it is not the best.
Typically, civilization is defined as “An advanced state of intellectual, cultural and material development in human society marked by progress in the arts and sciences”(Wordnik). Nonetheless, nineteenth century England saw civilization as “Being clean, truthful, and polite and observing the rules of conversation” (Victorian). According to Victorian morals, members of society were to dress and interact a certain way at all times in order to appear polite. In addition to this, higher society was to be respected the most, and crimes of any kind were unlikely to go unpunished. However, “a façade of sobriety, sternness and piety was adopted while turning a blind eye to the many evils that were rampant in Victorian England,” for it was not unusual for citizens to act against the morals held by most of society (Victorian). Though the laws were supposed to appear strict, society chose who would be punished and
The past doesn’t necessarily just disappear instead modern society adopts a “corrected” version of the past. Some of the values held in the past were just as important in the past as today. Critics of the Puritan literature believe that Puritan values are non-existent and irrelevant in today’s society, however if one looks around he or she may find small but influential remnants of Puritan values in their day-to-day life. Although the Puritans lived in another time period, both modern society and Puritans share similar beliefs and hold certain values that are akin to one another. For example, both Puritans and modern society value strict moral codes. To give further insight, today’s society have held unspoken
Society’s view of social classes and one’s identity is continuously morphing to fit in new views and essentially to create an ideal culture. During the Victorian Era, the views of the social classes were very black and white when it came to the values and lives of the rich verses the poor. During this era there were many pieces of literature written to show example of the society they lived in. One of the most satirical of those pieces of literature is The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde.
The Victorian Era in English history was a period of rapid change. One would be hard-pressed to find an aspect of English life in the 19th century that wasn’t subject to some turmoil. Industrialization was transforming the citizens into a working class population and as a result, it was creating new urban societies centered on the factories. Great Britain enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity at home and thus was extending its global reach in an era of New Imperialism. Even in the home, the long held beliefs were coming into conflict.