Alcoholism among Victorians
Wrayburn: “It will be necessary, I think, to wind up Mr. Dolls, before anything to any mortal purpose can be got out of him. Brandy, Mr. Dolls, or - ?”
Mr. Dolls: “Threepenn’orth Rum.”
--Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Throughout Victorian society “gin was the preferred spirit of the lower class, while wine and brandy were imbibed by the more comfortable citizenry” (Alcoholic Beverages 12).
During the nineteenth century, the Victorians had high expectations of their class system to make sure the classes were distinct and properly represented. They “valued controlled, propitious behavior” and would tolerate nothing less (Harding Victorians and Alcohol). There was a “cultural value placed on teetotaling,” total abstinence from alcoholic drinks, but despite this value “alcohol consumption became a popular pastime” (Harding Victorians and Alcohol). Behavior such as drunkenness was strongly disapproved of because of its association with the lower class.
Alcoholism: Representation of the Working Class
It was widely known that “drunkenness, and the related loss of self-control, was associated with the lower classes” and therefore had negative connotations (Harding Victorians and Alcohol). Spirits, a popular hard liquor, “had become the everyday drink for less wealthy people” and “laborers commonly used spirits to flee from their desolate everyday lives” (Harding Victorians and Alcohol). The awful working and living conditions of the working class contributed to their “hard, controlled, and monotonous life, [leading] to excessive drinking of hard liquor” (Harding Victorians and Alcohol). This excessive drinking would sometimes result in public intoxication which was “regarded as anti-s...
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Garwood, John. “Religious and moral Character of the Pensioners, and Provisions made for their Instruction.” Social Investigation/Journalism – The Million-Peopled City. (1853): 94-96. 11 Mar. 2005
Harding, Stephen. “Alcohol.” Victorians’ Secrets.
“Absinthe and Victorians.” Victorians’ Secrets. 2000. University of Texas at Arlington. 24 Feb. 2005.
Kent, Christopher A. “Drink.” Twentieth-Century Britain: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1995. 239-240.
Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. Domesticating Drink: Women, Men, and Alcohol in America, 1870-1940 . Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
Enacting prohibition in a culture so immersed in alcohol as America was not easy. American had long been a nation of strong social drinkers with a strong feeling towards personal freedom. As Okrent remarks, “George Washington had a still on his farm. James Madison downed a pint of whiskey a day”. This was an era when drinking liquor on ships was far safer than the stale scummy water aboard, and it was common fo...
The hopes of the prohibitionist were dreams of a healthier and more successful nation. Their dreams were spun from the idea of shutting out the alcohol industry and enforcing large industries and stressing family values. The eighteenth amendment consisted of the end of sales, production, transportation, as for importation and exportation of intoxicating liquors. Their imaginations were large and very hopeful. The prohibitionists felt that alcohol is a slow poison of their community. They felt that if the liquor industry was shut out that Americans would spend their hard earned money in the clothing, food, and shoe industries therefore boosting the American economy. Many felt, “Seeing what a sober nation can do is indeed a noble experiment and one that has never yet been tried, (Crowther, 11) Prohibition was a test of the strength of the nation and an attempt at cleaning up societies evils. These reformers denounce alcohol as a danger to society as well as to the human body. Some ethnic hopes of prohibition was to regulate the foreigners whose backgrounds consisted on the use of alcohol for religious purposes. And try to enforce an American valued society upon them. Many reformists felt that ending the use of alcohol would protect American homes and families. They felt that alcohol use was the root of their family’s destruction. Many women felt that their husbands would waste a lot of their income on the purchase of alcohol and not on family needs. Alcohol was often known as a “poison, or sin”. Another hope for the eighteenth amendment was to reduce the crime and death rate. Many people felt that drunkenness was the cause of many of the nations crimes. Prohibitionist felt very passionately on their cause and were often called “dry’s.” They felt their battle was justified and that, “it is manifest destiny that alcohol will not survive the scrutiny,”(Darrow and Yarros, 20).
Alcohol has always been a part of feminine culture, but it took a dramatic shift in the early 20th century. In the book, Domesticating Drink, Catherine Murdock argues that during this period, women transformed how society drank and eradicated the masculine culture that preceded this shift. Murdock draws from a few different sources to prove her argument, such as: etiquette manuals published after the turn of the century and anecdotes from the time period. She provides many interesting and unique perspectives on how drinking culture evolved, but she shows a clear bias towards “wet” culture and also makes very exaggerated claims that turn her argument into something that is nearly impossible to completely prove.
During these times, domestic violence was commonplace and many blamed alcohol as the culprit. Reformers also noticed that alcohol decreased efficiency of labor and thought of alcohol as a menace to society because it left men irresponsible and lacking self control. One reformer, named Lyman Beecher, argued that the act of alcohol consumption was immoral and will destroy the nation. Document H depicts the progression of becoming a drunkard from a common m...
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
Did you know that in the 1920s the American government poisoned alcoholic beverages to stop excessive use of it from the consumers? Of course, this happened during Prohibition which was the America government’s attempt to stop and illegalize the manufacture and marketing of beer. Surprisingly, Prohibition lasted from 1920 until 1933.Throughout the prohibition period, many famous and infamous leaders rose, such as Alphonse Capone, Carry Nation, and Adolphus Busch. Expectedly the use of alcohol during the 1920s caused strong and respectable men to become diverted dull and to be extremely abusive to their spouse and children; therefore causing it to be a necessity to be abolished in the eyes of the American government. “We Sang Rock of Ages”: Frances Willard’s Battles Alcohol in the late 19th century is a selection from an autobiography by Frances Willard in which it provided detailed report of her experience participating in a temperance movement. Frances Willard’s literary piece uplifts the idea of humane purity against foul and slow working toxins that are capable of corrupting the most innocent kind of men, and stresses the importance for men to not be pressured to follow the crowd. Frances Willard’s “We Sang Rock of Ages” essay indicated the temperance movement’s pursuit to heal social morals, abolish the excessive use of alcohol, and target slaves of alcohol to turn to God through prayer as well as song.
After World War I ,the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America like stuffy. The dizzying rise of the social market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism, as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. A person from any social background could, Potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracy-families with old wealth-scorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919,which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand of bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike.
“By 1830, the average American over 15 years old consumed nearly seven gallons of pure alcohol a year – three times as much as we drink today – and alcohol abuse (primarily by men) was wreaking havoc on the lives of many.” In the 1800s millions of Americans took a pledge to refrain from drinking alcohol. This was known as the Temperance Movement. The temperance movement was a reaction to the increase of alcohol consumption throughout the nation. The opposition to drinking originally stemmed from heath and religious reformers. These groups were crucial to American society for their efforts to tighten social controls. During this era, there were multiple citizens who believed some individuals were living unethically. “These people feared that God would no longer bless the United States and that these ungodly and unscrupulous people posed a threat to America's political system. To survive, the American republic, these people believed, needed virtuous citizens.” Due to these
Many may say that the Antebellum Temperance Movement was primarily motivated by religious moralism. I tend to take that stance as well. The Antebellum Temperance Movement of the 18th century was focused around the idea that people, mostly men, should abstain from alcohol if they could not drink the spirits in moderation. In this era, many women had suffered greatly because their loved ones would imbibe excessively leaving them short on money, food, and even shelter which left many impoverished and unable to care for their families. Additionally, the excessive consumption of alcohol led to health care issues, crime and in the end, destitution. The first author, W.J. Rorabaugh, is a proponent on the side of how Christian ministers, “portrayed liquor as the tool of the devil and develop temperance societies as socialization institutions to ease social tensions and anxieties that contributed to alcohol consumption,” (Madaras, L.; SoRelle, J. Pg. 256) Appositionally, John J. Rumbarger opposes by stating that, “the nineteenth–century temperance reform was the product of the pro-capitalist market economy whose entrepreneurial elite led the way toward abstinence and prohibitionist campaigns. In order to guarantee the availability for a more productive workforce,” (Madaras, L.; SoRelle, J. Pg. 256). I agree with W.J. Rorabaugh that during the Antebellum Temperance Movement, the church’s played an enormous role in prohibiting alcohol consumption because it was the “tool of the devil”.
Blocker, Jack S. "American Temperance Movements: Cycles of Reform." Boston : Twayne Publishers, c1989. Ezell, Marcel D. "Early Attitudes toward Alcoholic Beverages in the South." Red River Valley Historical Review 7, 1982. Nott, Eliphalet.
The abolition of slavery became a more important topic of debate until after the Civil War. By the turn of the century, temperance societies were a common thing throughout the communities in the United States (“Prohibition”). Women advocated the unity of the family, and they believed alcohol prevented such a thing. Drunken husbands only brought about negativity to the home, and women could not support that behavior. Suffragists, in their pursuit of voting rights, also sought to eliminate alcohol from the home.
Robinson, David. From Drinking to Alcoholism: A Social Commentary. London: John Wiley and Sons, 1976.
William Rorabaugh does a good job of shining a light on a part of our history that many people are completely unaware of. His choice to write the book from the social history view provides a refreshing view of the times compared to the usual historical perspective. Rorabaugh uses many anecdotes to immerse his reader in first hand accounts during the very period he is writing about. Where he ultimately falls short is in his statistics. He admits that finding a single source that can provide accurate data from the early 1800’s is nearly impossible and proceeds to make his best effort at providing the most accurate statistics he can accumulate. How much Americans drank in the early 1800’s is hard to quantify, but one thing is for certain; they definitely drank their fair
This perspective on the effects of gin on well-being certainly points out that the author of this source would be in favor of the restriction of gin and the result it would have to help clear up health issues in England. Others expressed their hatred for gin and its terrible impact on well-being through more creative means than speeches. One of which was William Hogarth, an 18th century artist and social critic who had a strong stance on distilled liquors. In his piece entitled Gin Lane, Hogarth portrays a nightmare vision of a London street, and uses dramatic imagery to condemn the gin craze by depicting the working class drinking itself to death (Doc 11). The scene abounds in pain, suffering, and morbid conditions, even so far to show gin addicts burying a dead drinker and a woman letting her infant fall to its certain death. This strong social commentary embodies Hogarth’s view
Citizens of the time consumed rampant amounts of absinthe because of the extremely high prices of wine. Because of the high prices, absinthe became a more affordable alternative; therefore the poor could still achieve intoxication and escape reality. Society in the 1800’s started to blame Absinthe for cultural fears about sexuality, madness, and aggression. As a result of the overwhelming popularity of the drink, the wine growers of the time period started losing money, so they in turn backed the Temperance Movement, which targeted Absinthe and blamed it f...