Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Female roles in early British literature
Criticisms on the victorian culture for women
Female roles in early British literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Female roles in early British literature
Women’s Rights during the Victorian Era 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. In life women had only one main goal; to marry. Prior to a woman’s marriage, a woman would learn the basic necessities and qualities of a typical Victorian Woman. She would learn ideals such as cooking, cleaning, weaving, raising children and plenty more. If a woman was well of in the financial aspects, she likely did not have to learn much or work as hard other women due to having maids at hand. Women at the time were typically unable to better educate themselves beyond minimal knowledge of household duties because in essence men ruled society. “A woman was inferior to a mam in all ways except the unique one that counted most [to a man]: her femininity. Her place was in the home, on a veritable pedestal if one could be afforded, and emphatically not in the world of affairs” (Altick, 54). “Current views concerning Victorian femininity continued to be dominated by the 19th century concept of domestic purity and the association figure of the ideal woman, the ‘angle in the house’, carrying out her mission as wife, mother and daughter” (Swisher). During this era men had ... ... middle of paper ... ...n People and Ideas. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1973. 50-9. Chiflet, Jean- Loup, and Alain Beaulet. Victoria and Her Times. New York: Henry Holt, 1996. Print. Hudson, Pat “Woman’s Work” BBC News BBC, 29 Mar 2001. Web 03 Mar 2014 Nead, Lynda “Woman and Urban Life in Victorian Britain” BBC News, BBC July 2006 Web. 03 Mar 2014 Petrie, Charles. “Victorian Women Expected to Be Idle and Ignorant.” Victorian England. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 2000. 178-87. Schomp, Virginia. The Countryside. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2011. Print. Swisher, Clarice. Victorian England. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2000. Print. Swisher, Clarice. Women of Victorian England. San Diego, CA: Thomson Gale, 2005. Print Wilson, Ben. The Making of Victorian Values: Decency and Dissent in Britain, 1789-1837. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.
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
As mentioned above, women’s role were unjust to the roles and freedoms of the men, so an advanced education for women was a strongly debated subject at the beginning of the nineteenth century (McElligott 1). The thought of a higher chance of education for women was looked down upon, in the early decades of the nineteenth century (The American Pageant 327). It was established that a women’s role took part inside the household. “Training in needlecraft seemed more important than training in algebra” (327). Tending to a family and household chores brought out the opinion that education was not necessary for women (McElligott 1). Men were more physically and mentally intellectual than women so it was their duty to be the educated ones and the ones with the more important roles. Women were not allowed to go any further than grammar school in the early part of the 1800’s (Westward Expansion 1). If they wanted to further their education beyond grammar, it had to be done on their own time because women were said to be weak minded, academically challenged and could n...
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...
Calder, Jenni. Women and Marriage in Victorian Fiction. New York : Oxford University Press, 1976.
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.
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...
Peterson, Jeanne. "The Victorian Governess." Suffer and Be Still. Ed. Martha Vicinus. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1972.
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.
Subservience is one of the main characteristics of Victorian English women. They were "taught to be submissive and manipulative" (Kanner 305). Qualities of "selflessness, patience, and outward obedience" were also "required" in women (Prior 96). In contrast to men's "masculine energy," women were thought to possess "feminine passivity" that made them incapable of actively venturing into the world with curiosity (Kanner 208). Such false belief on the men's part, not women's "feminine passivity," is what hindered the women from venturing into the world and confined them to the home. Such confinement is evident in the following woman's diary:
Role of Victorian women was expected to be limited to childbearing and housewife. There were some changes that occurred in the lives of women during Victorian times.
The industrialization of the nineteenth century was a tremendous social change in which Britain initially took the lead on. This meant for the middle class a new opening for change which has been continuing on for generations. Sex and gender roles have become one of the main focuses for many people in this Victorian period. Sarah Stickney Ellis was a writer who argued that it was the religious duty of women to improve society. Ellis felt domestic duties were not the only duties women should be focusing on and thus wrote a book entitled “The Women of England.” The primary document of Sarah Stickney Ellis’s “The Women of England” examines how a change in attitude is greatly needed for the way women were perceived during the nineteenth century. Today women have the freedom to have an education, and make their own career choice. She discusses a range of topics to help her female readers to cultivate their “highest attributes” as pillars of family life#. While looking at Sarah Stickney Ellis as a writer and by also looking at women of the nineteenth century, we will be able to understand the duties of women throughout this century. Throughout this paper I will discuss the duties which Ellis refers to and why she wanted a great change.
Poovey, Mary. "Speaking of the Body: Mid-Victorian Constructions of Female Desire." Jacobus, Keller, and Shuttleworth 24-46.
Gorham, Deborah. A. A. The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982. Martineau, Harriet.
Thomas, Pauline. “A Women’s Place in 19th Century Victorian History.” Fashion Era. 5 April 2010 .
The advancements made in Victorian England socially, politically and technologically resulted in the questioning of how to grow and keep up with the times while still maintaining the core traditions that the Victorians idealised. One of the main debates in Victorian England was the discussion around the proper place and characteristics of women. Writers during the time period incorporated their personal opinions and outlooks on where women should be placed in society. Two writers and their pieces which will be further examined in this piece are Sarah Stickney Ellis’s The Daughters of England: Their Position in Society, Character and Responsibilities, and Charles Dickens Hard Times.