Victorian Values on Sex and Sexuality

1632 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Aesthetic elements in A portrait of the artist as a young man

James Joyce sets A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the Victoria Age. The Double Standard of Morality by Josephine Butler and Victorian Theories of Sex and Sexuality by Elizabeth Lee give us insight into ideas people had about sex and sexuality during the Victorian era. We see that sex was considered an unavoidable part of life. Sex was “man [and] woman's ultimate goal” (Lee). Victorians believed that “the essence of right and wrong [was.…] dependent on sex” (Lee). Meaning that how you were publicly known or not known for your sexual actions was how you were viewed as either good or bad. Sex was not just an activity that took place with a marriage partner; it was an event that was wide spread outside of marriage with prostitutes. To Victorians prostitution, and upper class men going to prostitutes, were seen as norms. The act was ok as long as it did not get major publicity from the public or the press. Even “within the church people overlook[ed] a man’s actions” yet disowned upper class women if suspicions were aroused. Victorian men believed lower class women were to be “set aside […for…] the irregularities of the excusable man” (Butler). It was thought that “Men only concerned themselves with fertilization [so] they could also spend energies in other arenas” (Lee) and that women’s roles were chiefly that of child bearing. At the end of the day women were not expected to have “energy left for other pursuits” (Lee). Men “interpret the ignorance and silence of women as indulgent acquiescence and support” (Butler) of their actions. The ideas of normal family life, living another life, and the ideals of the bible vs. the beliefs and actions of the church displayed a double life ... ... middle of paper ... ...shame” will be never ending until he dies and goes to hell as a result of not being “good” (Joyce 109). Stephen does not believe his woman has turned him into a man of greatness and therefore does not live like it. Victorians believed that it was possible, and not just possible but expected that a man keep his thoughts pure toward upper class women at all times. When Stephen sees a woman on the beach he sees her “mortal beauty” and with face a “flame[d]” runs away because he suddenly imagines “fall[ing…. and] creat[ing] life out of life.” Stephen is and will always be a man and though he can never be this person he is trying to be he still believes the Victorian idea that you can. Works Sited Page Butler, Josephine: The Double Standard of Morality Joyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Lee, Elizabeth: Victorian Theories of Sex and Sexuality

Show More
Related

  • City Of Dredful Delight Chapter Summary

    599 Words  | 2 Pages

    Each chapter contains numerous sources which complement the aforementioned themes, to create a new study on cultural history in general but women specifically. Her approach is reminiscent of Foucault, with a poststructural outlook on social definitions and similar ideas on sexuality and agency. Power cannot be absolute and is difficult to control, however Victorian men and women were able to grasp command of the sexual narrative. She includes the inequalities of class and gender, incorporating socioeconomic rhetic into the

    Read More

  • The Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cline Cohen

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Eros Live in New York

    2904 Words  | 6 Pages

    ... increased, men became more involved in the sex industry. From the case of Helen Jewett and Robert P. Robinson, a new image of prostitution was created, as well as the new sporting man culture. Prostitution was not unique to women, for subcultures of male prostitutes and homosexuals existed. In the sex community, women formed support networks with one another, creating sisterhoods. As the years progressed, sex became more integrated into popular culture and public space, accessible to all classes of New Yorkers. Police and politics were often ineffective with handling prostitution, and often time’s police officers were handsomely paid off by well-known establishments; vigilantism was a result of this inadequate policing. Finally, in the late 1900s, Charles Henry Parkhurst led the most popular anti-prostitution campaign, resulting in the decline in the sex industry.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles in Little House on the Prairie

    2315 Words  | 5 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Victorian Women's Loss of Innocence: Rossetti's Poetic Perspective

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Victorian times, women were often ridiculed for losing their innocence by engaging in sexual activities before marriage. This impurity was frowned upon and usually caused the women to be considered unqualified for marriage. Innocence and purity were primary contributors to the holiness of angels which was both desired and mandatory in the eyes of those looking for a wife. According to Atony Harrison, “fear and sublimation of female sexual desire and insistence upon the dangerous, if not fatal,

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    1793 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Victorians thought that their woman should be motherly and uninterested in sex. Women were supposed to be pure and virginal, and even after marriage, they should still be uninterested in sex. The bed is nailed to the floor, which is a metaphor for the culture of male dominance at the time. The narrator's husband, John, is a very successful physician.

    Read More

  • Understand The Lesbian Identity By Henry Tajfel

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    “…sex attains meaning in social relations, which implies that we can only make appropriate choices around sexuality by understanding its social, cultueral and political context.” (Quote: 9293 jeffrey weeks)

    Read More

  • In Anne Bronte's 'The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall'

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    But in reality, a male narrator gives a certain sense of understanding to the male audience and society’s understand of the male and females roles and responsibilities in a marriage. Just as men were expected to cut the grass, take out the trash, pay the bills and maintain the household as a whole, women were expected to cook, clean, nurture the children, and be a loving and submissive wife to their husband. The only stipulation required for this exchange of power was to establish a mutual love. In the Victorian age love was all it took for a man to take or alter a woman’s livelihood and

    Read More

  • A History of Sexuality

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.

    Read More

  • Prostitution in Pompeii

    2765 Words  | 6 Pages

    "Virtue is something lofty, elevated and regal, invincible and indefatigable; Pleasure is something lowly and servile, feeble and perishable, which has its base and residence in the brothels and drinking houses" (Cornell & Lomas,39). Prostitution, though, not only took place in brothels and taverns. Women worked as prostitutes in brothels, inns, or baths open to the public (Pomeroy,192). They either walked the streets or stopped and stood outside the brothels, which were not allowed to open until 3 pm (Balsdon, 224). Sometimes prostitutes were used as after dinner entertainment (Edwards, 188), and many hotel owners provided their guests with prostitutes (Shelton, 327).

    Read More

  • Legalizing Prostitution

    2503 Words  | 6 Pages

    Prostitution is an internationally known trade. Internationally this trade can be found anywhere from Bangladesh to China. It is known to go back as far as 2400 BC. Within this historically and largely practiced trade comes several types of prostitution; Child prostitution, street, brothels, private, door knock, Citizens Band (CB) radio, individual, survival, and sex for drugs. Child prostitution is...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sigmund Freud Sexual Morality And Modern Nervousness

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Sigmund Freud’s “Sexual Morality and Modern Nervousness”, contained in Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the writer presents separate roles for men and women as it relates to sexuality, even referring to a “double code of morality” (22) for the genders. In his paper the former often takes the role of the subject while the former becomes the object. In fact, women are described as the “true sexual guardians of the race” glorified, it seems, instead of truly studied. However, in one particular section of the essay, Freud turns his focus onto the female sexuality. In specific he references the various factors that, in his eyes, can influence the female sexual formation. The primary influences being that of the society, primarily the institution of marriage, and that of the family, which would include both a woman’s parents and children. After discussing these elements, Freud then

    Read More

  • Mistreatment Of Women In The Victorian Era Essay

    2196 Words  | 5 Pages

    In addition to being predestined to be married, a woman in the Victorian era was to be a virgin, and remain free from the thought of love or sexuality until she was married. The same rule did not apply to men; they were free to do as they pleased. Though most women were expected to marry, those of a certain age were expected to remain unmarried spinsters.

    Read More

  • “How Do I Love Thee?” Understanding the Victorian Era Through Browning and Stickney Ellis

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the Victorian Era, the concept of how a “proper” man and woman were to behave came under fire and there were men and women on both sides willing to argue for their beliefs. Though the traditional Victorian Era attitude is long since gone and devalued, it can be very enlightening to see the ways in which these attitudes surfaced themselves in the literature of the time. Sarah Stickney Ellis wrote The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits from the viewpoint that women should self-abnegate their own beliefs and become fully interested in the man. And to illustrate this point, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 43” will be closely looked at along with the essay to make some critical points.

    Read More

  • Essay on Kinship in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...dom and power of his soul, as the great artificer whose name he bore, a living thing, new and soaring and beautiful, impalpable, imperishable". (Joyce, 433) Stephen is now fully able to create from within himself, without being dependent on others to feel whole. This is accentuated by Joyce’s description of the beach scene— "He was alone. He was unheeded, happy and near to the wild heart of life". (Joyce, 433) Stephen the artist is alone and needs to be alone, not to search in vein for companionship that, even if attained, could only drag him from his newfound freedom. This realization of self-fulfillment and self-control is the single defining point in Stephen’s education; it is the brushstroke that completes the "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man."

    Read More

More about Victorian Values on Sex and Sexuality

Open Document