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. In Life of Frances Power Cobbe As Told by Herself, Frances Power Cobbe retold her experience at a fashionable English boarding school. Other female students and she gained an education at this institution where they were taught general education courses, foreign languages, and even to play musical instruments. This autobiographical work was monumental in female advancement during the Victorian era. From male perspectives women were only needed to take care of a household and were certainly not intended to intellectually progress on the ... ... middle of paper ... ...rty would propel women to demand legal rights and equality in all aspects of society following World War I. The literary titles by Frances Power Cobbe, Sarah Stickney Ellis, Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte, John Henry Cardinal Newman, Sir Henry Newbolt, and Caroline Norton reveal society's view on women and men during the Victorian era. Throughout the Victorian era, women were treated as inferior and typically reduced to roles as mothers and wives. Some women, however, were fortunate to become governesses or schoolteachers. Nevertheless, these educated women were still at the mercy of men. Males dominated the opinions of women, and limited their influence in society. From an early age, young men were trained to be dominant figures and protectors over their home and country. Not until after World War I would women have some of these same opportunities as men.
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood. The roles that men and women were expected to live up to would be called oppressive and offensive by today’s standards, but it was a very different world than the one we have become accustomed to in our time. Men and women were seen to live in separate social class from the men where women were considered not only physically weaker, but morally superior to men. This meant that women were the best suited for the domestic role of keeping the house. Women were not allowed in the public circle and forbidden to be involved with politics and economic affairs as the men made all the
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.
Frances Cobbe described the boarding school that she attended as a young girl. The tuition cost was 25 times what Charlotte Bronte earned in 1841 (Longman p.1888). Cobbe describes the importance of women from well to do families at this time to be beautiful, and occupied with knitting and gossiping. Intelligence and accomplishments were not pursuits allowed to women.
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...
During the Victorian Period men and women's roles became more sharply defined than any time in history. Before the nineteenth century women could work alongside the men. In the nineteenth century, “The Victorian Period”, men went to work and women stayed home and their servants done all domestic duties. (bl.uk) The Victorian Period treat men as defenders and creators while treating women as cultured and mysterious. In The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde portrays men as being sleazy and liars and women as an ignorant and a maid.
This critical reflection will focus on Black women in the elite and middle class of Victorian America by using “Black Ideals of Womanhood in the Late Victorian Era” by Shirley J. Carlson and “To erect above the ruined auction-block ... Institutions of learning’: ‘race-women’, industrial education, and the artifacts of nation-making in the Jim Crow South” by Angel David Nieves. Both works discuss the roles of Black women in Victorian society as educated and poise while fighting for racial uplift. They also discuss how those roles were different from their white counterparts and how the white community reacted to the fight for the racial uplift. Overall, both works were very interesting, but could have gone into more detail about certain things.
The narrator and John were both victims of the Patriarchal expectations of the Victorian era which dictated that expectations of gender roles of men, and women because male power was curtailed greatly, ultimately resulting in men ruling over women in power and control, women were defined physically and intellectually as the 'weaker' sex, in all ways subordinate to male authority.
Lord Tennyson’s “The Woman’s Cause is Man’s” in itself is a manifestation of such issues going on during the Victorian period. As described by Henderson and Sharpe, “The Woman’s Cause is Man’s” is an excerpt from Tennyson’s “The Princess, in which the feminist heroine gives up her feminst ideals and beliefs to settle down and get married (p. 1203). This is a mirror image in itself of the challenge to woman’s roles within Victorian Society. The traditional roles of women as wife and mother were vigorously debated, yet still conformed to, since even “[powerful] proponents
In the 19th century, also known as the Victorian Era, men and women’s roles in society were not very clearly defined. Women were perceived as physically inferior to men but intellectually superior. This is what triggered the idea that women are
Before beginning with a discussion of the text, it is necessary to have a proper understanding of gender roles in the Victorian era. Victorian society was exceedingly patriarchal and oppressive toward women. “Traditionally, women were defined physically and intellectually as the 'weaker' sex, in all ways subordinate to male authority” (Marsh 4). The widespread ideology of the period was that men and women belonged to “separate spheres”: women to the domestic sphere and men to the public sphere. “Women were allotted a subsidiary
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.
“Girls wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it is okay to be a boy; for a girl it is like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading” (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the “housewife” or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a spot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories, poems, and novels in the early time period of literature. During the early time period of literature, women who opposed the common role were often times put to shame or viewed as rebels. As literature progresses through the decades and centuries, very little, but noticeable change begins to appear in perspective to the common role of women. Women were more often seen as a main character in a story setting as the literary period advanced. Around the nineteenth century women were beginning to break away from the social norms of society. Society had created a subservient role for women, which did not allow women to stand up for what they believe in. As the role of women in literature evolves, so does their views on the workforce environment and their own independence. Throughout the history of the world, British, and American literature, women have evolved to become more independent, self-reliant, and have learned to emphasize their self-worth.
There were still differences based on what social class they were in but most of their priorities were the same. Women were . . . “supposed to live a highly restrictive life with their life centered around their husband and subsequently their children (Victorian Women).” This was the case no matter what social class the women were considered to be a part of. The women in the higher class spent lots of time at social gatherings helping young women of their class become proper. These women were often very well educated and they were expected to instruct the servants. Next was the middle class, “The women belonging to this class were expected to take education, help in the family business and try to get married into the nobility (Victorian Women).” Though they were very close to the upper class they were also different in many ways. Next was the working class, they were the lowest of classes but the women were still in many ways the same as the other classes. The working class women were required to work sometimes in labor which was not very suitable for them. Even though they had to work they were still expected to take care of the children and husbands. So, they were the class of women that was the hardest at work and they still got no
It is flawless that it is impossible to interpret some of these 19th-century texts without coming across concepts of imperialism. The English, the social system used widely in England and the entire English community placed the male gender on a social platform that disregarded any advancement of the female sex (Pui-Lan). The ruling class made the authority and were not to be challenged, prompting them to put the woman in her place, considering her as physical property belonging to men and could be possessed. Although women had their ideologies and independent thoughts, they were to be represented by their men. Bronte in Jane Eyre gives a critical evaluation and contributing statements on the facts about female Other in the form of oppression and
Feminism and gender difference contribute a major role in the works of authors from the 18th and 19th century. During that point in history, women were essentially treated as second class citizens without the ability to do anything less they faced judgement and ostracization from members of society. Women were not allowed to vote, own property nor be accepted into prominent leading positions. Instead, many were required to stay in the home and care for the family. Women lacked the freedom and independence they not only wanted but needed due to a society run patriarchal views that hindered the growth of women. Women were tied down to marriage and childbearing with the expectation of blindly following their husband without challenging their authority.