The Victorian Era revolved around the political reign of Queen Victoria, which possibly sparked the independence of women and a revolution for equality. The reign of Queen Victoria symbolised their potential & capability to work, and live life, in which they can possibly acknowledged equal to men. Though, it ignited a sense of empowerment in women, the public, especially the men, continually limits their potential. A man’s pride and their strong desire of masculinity deprive women of their dignity, independence and self-worth. However, there were still women in Victorian society who opposed the unjust gender role assigned to them by taking control of their own lives and making change in society.
The idea of feminism caught my attention when
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It fully corrupts her already insignificant reputation, disgrace her family name and even death is an acceptable consequence. The idea of unjust punishment in order to maintain a man’s reputation is prominent in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ as Dorian’s actions toward Sibyl after her poor performance of Juliet proved to be a great tragedy. She justified her horrid acting by being so inlove with Dorian, she is unable to show that love with another man. She says “Don’t be cruel to me because I love you better than anything in the world.” Despite her good intentions, her lack of performance & arts mortified Dorian to which he replies “she played so badly, and my heart almost broke” Dorian ends up leaving her and she ultimately takes her own life, accentuating how a woman’s innocence and purity can be deprived of so quickly by man who expects so much from her. She was eminently embarrassed which jeopardised her, her family and her job. It is only through death she could escape the torture and torment she would have to endure. Also in ‘My Last Duchess’, death due to a failure to meet the standards of an ‘ideal woman’ is a central complication. The Duke says “I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together.” This subtly hints that the Duke exploited his power and commanded the Duchess to be assassinated as her charisma and positivity, neglected his superiority as her husband. This hugely proves a man’s impulsive behaviour to unjustifiably punish a woman as his identity and reputation was threatened. In Victorian society, a family’s morals and values are reflected in the actions of women. Therefore any mistakes will be placed at the fault of the woman, as well as, to her family. Throughout these texts, it is very evident that as women break free in the shackles of men, a man’s masculinity and pride is very much
During the Victorian Era, society had idealized expectations that all members of their culture were supposedly striving to accomplish. These conditions were partially a result of the development of middle class practices during the “industrial revolution… [which moved] men outside the home… [into] the harsh business and industrial world, [while] women were left in the relatively unvarying and sheltered environments of their homes” (Brannon 161). This division of genders created the ‘Doctrine of Two Spheres’ where men were active in the public Sphere of Influence, and women were limited to the domestic private Sphere of Influence. Both genders endured considerable pressure to conform to the idealized status of becoming either a masculine ‘English Gentleman’ or a feminine ‘True Woman’. The characteristics required women to be “passive, dependent, pure, refined, and delicate; [while] men were active, independent, coarse …strong [and intelligent]” (Brannon 162). Many children's novels utilized these gendere...
The mid-nineteenth century also referred to as the “Victorian Age, taking from the name of England's Queen Victoria who ruled for over 60 years” (Radek) revealed that women were faced with many adversities that appeared to have delayed their true aptitudes. During this time period, women were also required to conform to the divine command of men and must find a husband or she would be derided by the social order. In the same way, women were also not allowed to follow a profession.
A Victorian woman was bred up with the honored ideals of someday being “wives, daughters, and guardians of the home” (Parkinson). A model young woman was designed as a bargaining tool; her person, characteristics, skills, and, for those who were fortunate, dowry were key chips to be laid in a game of houses which defined the noblest aspirations of Victorian society. The very “spheres of influence” written about by so many authors of the time, both male and female, dictated that “what the woman is to be within her fates, as the centre of order, the balm of distress, and the mirror of beauty: that she is also to be without her fates, where order is more difficult, distress more imminent, loveliness more rare” (Ruskin). However, being bred for marriage produces a number of problems; hundre...
When describing women during this time period Wilson says, “They were non-people, being the same legal status as American slaves, regardless of social class” (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 306). One extreme double standard could be seen within British prostitution. Wilson said that it was “taken for granted” that British soldiers and sailors would need prostitutes. Yet, no matter how many men indulged in these acts only the women were seen as diseased and sources of contamination that needed regulated (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 308. Women began to take notice, and they were not having it and they began to take action. The women of the upper middle class started the nineteenth century women’s movement. These women would go on to forever alter the lives of their sisters and daughters by advocating for equal educational rights, equal parental rights, and for political suffrage (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 312). Not only did they advocate for these rights, their campaigning invoked change to begin. Wilson says, “The Women’s Suffrage Movement could be seen as the final confirmation of the haute bourgeoisie, not the first blast on the trumpet of revolution” (Wilson, The Victorians, pp. 313). Throughout the period Women gained more and more rights and they eventually would have created a great deal of change in the lives for every women who was to come
Reagin, Nancy. “Historical Analysis: Women as ‘the Sex’ During the Victorian Era.” Victorian Women: The Gender of Oppression. Pace University, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
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.
19th-Century Women Works Cited Missing Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail, as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so. One of the most common expectations for women is that they are responsible for doing the chore of cleaning, whether it is cleaning the house, doing the laundry.
Two hundred years ago, during the reign of Queen Victoria in England, the social barriers of the Victorian class system firmly defined the roles of women. The families of Victorian England were divided into four distinct classes: the Nobility or Gentry Class, the Middle Class, the Upper Working Class, and lastly, the Lower Working class . The women of these classes each had their own traditional responsibilities. The specifics of each woman’s role were varied by the status of her family. Women were expected to adhere to the appropriate conventions according to their place in the social order . For women in Victorian England their lives were regulated by these rules and regulations, which stressed obedience, loyalty, and respect.
During the 1800s, society believed there to be a defined difference in character among men and women. Women were viewed simply as passive wives and mothers, while men were viewed as individuals with many different roles and opportunities. For women, education was not expected past a certain point, and those who pushed the limits were looked down on for their ambition. Marriage was an absolute necessity, and a career that surpassed any duties as housewife was practically unheard of. Jane Austen, a female author of the time, lived and wrote within this particular period. Many of her novels centered around women, such as Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, who were able to live independent lives while bravely defying the rules of society. The roles expected of women in the nineteenth century can be portrayed clearly by Jane Austen's female characters of Pride and Prejudice.
The Victorian era, spurred a momentary sequence of both women and men in search of a prosperous relationship regulated by the demanding etiquettes of the Victorian Society. If these desired qualities were not in possession, a man or woman could be labeled as ‘unsuitable’ in the positions of a husband or a wife. Women suffered mostly throughout the Victorian Era as rights were ceased and the rules and guidelines of society were placed. The Victorian Era caused the rights of women to escalate when the Vision of the “Ideal Woman” was introduced amongst society; producing segregation between men and women to last for years to come.
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.
The Victorian era was an extremely difficult time for women in Great Britain. They were subject to gross inequalities such as, not being able to; control their own earnings, education, and marriage. As well as having a lack of equality within marriage, women had poor working conditions, and an immense unemployment rate as well. Not only was the fact that women were viewed as second-class citizens and had limited rights compared to men during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a major problem, but women were also held to a much different standard, and expected to carry out many
“Men inhabit the public sphere, and women, the private” (231) . With that in mind the men and women of the Victorian Era lived in two different worlds. “…Males were active and independent, whereas females were passive and were dependent on males…”(231) Women were to be skilled in the home and men were to be out at work. Men in the public’s eye were to be strong, independent, dominant, and in control (232) . As the reader will observe Mr. James Windibank fits that description perfectly. Women at home were to be quiet, subordinate, and over all viewed as weak by men (233).
Women of the Victorian era were repressed, and had little if any social stature. They had a very few rights and fewer options open to them for self-support. For most women the only way to live decently was to get married, and in many cases it was not up to the women to choose whom she married. It was almost unheard of for a woman to marry out of her social class (Cain 20). If a woman did not marry, the only ways she could make a living other than becoming a servant was either to become a prostitute or a governess. For the most part, a woman was not given the opportunity to go to school and earn a degree unless she was born into a high social class. The average Victorian woman was treated not as a person, but as an object or piece of property. She had very few rights either in society, or marriage (Cain, 25). Bronte, born into a middle class family, refused to be repressed by society. She recognized the injustices of her society, and in rebellion against society’s ideologies involving women, wrote Jane Eyre.
In today’s society the public tends to socialize gender to an extent. As soon as people are informed the sex of a baby, they automatically go out and buy blue clothes for boys and pink clothes for girls. We think of baby dolls for girls, and trucks for boys. What if it went further than that? During the Victorian era, being born a girl meant much more than little dolls and pink, it meant a lifetime of servitude. Being born into a family where one was raised under harsh conditions, then getting married off to be husband’s housewife, not just a wife. During the Victorian era, if one was born a woman she was automatically subject to a lifetime of servitude, and it took strong feminist views to deviate from the social norms. Most women tolerated the social norms and their “duties” of subordination, while others deviated and had their own ideas of what a society should represent.