The Victorian Era

The Victorian Era is a remarkable time in history with the blooming industries, growing population, and a major turnaround in the fashion world. This era was named after Queen Victoria who ruled United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 1837 until she passed away 64 years later in January 1901.When Victoria received the crown, popular respect was strikingly low. The lack of respect for the position she had just come into did not diminish her confidence. Instead she won the hearts of Britain with her modesty, grace, straightforwardness, and her want to be informed on the political matters at hand even though she had no input. She changed Britain into a flourishing country. She also impacted how women interacted

The Victorian Era women was vastly different than the female we think of nowadays. Women during that time were expected to fulfill more of a domestic and motherly role, one that stayed at home and took care of the house. They were confined within the private sphere of the world while the men toiled away in the public sphere. The ideal Victorian women was described as:

The Victorian era refers to the time period in which Queen Victoria reigned in England. It is often known for having strict rules stating what is proper and what is off color. “The term Victorian morality is often used to describe the values of the period, which includes sexual proprietary, hard work, honesty, thrift, sense of duty and responsibility towards the less well off” (“Victorian Era Morality”). This standard worked well for the

“The real ornament of a woman is her character, her purity” (Ghandi). The Victorian society era was an era that prolonged from 1837-1901. The era inhabited queen Victoria of England when she reigned as a monarch of Great Britain. The Victorian epoch abided to be an epoch of virtue and purity. Women in Victorianism were not permitted to be seen with a man publicly and never the less be authorized to have sexual intercourse if not married. This era of constraints for the British had one goal and that goal was to cover women up and sex was only accredited when conceiving children. Society in the outside viewed a perfect female structure but if examined cautiously society converted sex and symbols in books. Soon the society

Social standing, and moral values were vital elements in Victorian society, and the fundamental doctrine of establishing this ideology, began at home. The home provided a refuge from the rigour, uncertainty, anxiety, and potential violence of the outside world. (P, 341) A woman’s role was to provide a safe, stable, and well-organised environment for their husbands and families. However, change was on the horizon with an underlying movement of business and domestic changes both home and abroad, with industrialization, and the suffragist movement. Women were beginning to gain autonomy and began to grasp their opportunities, thus significantly curtailing male supremacy and the definable acceptable ‘role’ of the woman.

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” (Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities).Victorian England was a melting pot of both good times and bad times. Some people experienced good, while others experienced bad. During the Victorian Era, mainly the wealthy experienced good times, while the poor experienced poor times. As reflected in contrasting Victorian paintings, literature, and historical accounts, Victorian England was a time of great prosperity for the wealthy few but a time of constant hardship for many poor.

When we are young we mostly treat each other the same. As we form our own opinions, while we grow, we naturally start to judge each other on merit; how we present ourselves. During the Edwardian era this was accomplished with greater ease due to the strict fashion and the use of corsets in everyday life, which was the last era that this occurred. This is presented strongly in the novel ‘Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul' (Wells, H.G. 1905) which was later adapted into a musical and film, titled ‘Half a Sixpence' (Schneer, C.H. & Sidney, G. 1967). The book and the film both present a realistic view of the separation through cultural class, it also represents how sudden wealth can dramatically change you and your outlook on people, objects, mannerisms,

The Victorian period was a time of great hypocrisy. Despite the fact that the Protestant work ethic was gaining popular support amongst the Victorians and myths such as Samuel Smiles' "rags to riches" became part of mainstream Victorian culture, the Victorians were greatly divided into their respective social classes. Works like Thomas Carlyle's "The Irish Widow" and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Cry of the Children" exemplified the blatant disregard of the upper classes to that of the lower class. If the Victorians were divided amongst themselves, imagine what it was like for people of different religions and races. The Blacks of this period was one such race that suffered tremendously

Victorian women had several hardships to overcome. Education, marriage, leisure, and travel amongst other things were limited and controlled. A woman was never to travel if not in the company of her parents or husband. Leisure, for example, was limited and a woman always had to look busy and find something to do. They did not have the right to vote, sue or own any property. Their bodies

During Victoria’s reign there were changes of great importance economically, socially, and technologically. London had a rapid growth from a 2 million to a 6.5 million population by the time of Queen Victoria’s death, due to a significant change. As a result of the industrialization, instead of a life based on ownership of lands, England was transformed to a modern economy. Based on trade and manufacturing they changed from an agrarian society in 1800’s with 75% rural to an industrial society by the 1900’s with a 75% modern urban economy. Socially, there were extreme discriminations especially between men and women. Consequently, women were not eligible for a higher education, employment and were denied the right to vote. Gradually and by the end of Victoria’s reign, women won significant political and legal rights. These included a greater access to education, the custody of children, economic independence and were able to work under fair conditions. Definitely, the Victorian Period was an era of dramatic changes that highly developed England’s power and

When a woman married in the Victorian age, she did not have an independent legal status. Women also had no right to any money, including the money that she earned and worked for. She could not make a will or buy property, she had no claim to her children, and she had to move with her spouse wherever he went. If the husband died, he could name his wife as the guardian of the children, but he did not have to if he did not wish to.

In the Victorian era, the status of women in society was extremely oppressive and, by modern standards, atrocious. Women had few rights, in or outside of the home. Married women in this period relied on men almost completely as they had few rights or independence. With this mindset in focus,

Despite being under the rule of a female monarch, women faced many inequalities and suffering during the Victorian age. Examples of these inequalities include not having the right to vote, unequal educational and employment opportunities. Women were even denied the legal right to divorce in most cases. As the Norton Anthology states, these debates over women’s rights and their roles came to be known as the “woman question” by the Victorians. This lead to many conflicting struggles, such as the desire by all for women to be educated, yet they are denied the same opportunities afforded to men. While these women faced these difficulties, there was also the notion that women should be domestic and feminine. There was an ideal that women should be submissive and pure because they are naturally different. The industrial revolution introduced women into the labor workforce, but there was still a conflict between the two identities; one of an employed woman, and one of a domestic housewife.

The beginning of the Victorian Period marked when Queen Victoria ascended the British throne in 1837 for 64 years until her death in 1901. She was only 18 years old when she was queen of England. In this era, there was a time when England had political stability and strict cultural patterns. Peace among the society in England was characterized by this era. There was a control in the way that people act and interact due to the cultural rules that needed to be followed. However, people in the British Empire appreciated having the consistency of having one ruler for such a long time. In addition, people lived in villages and worked on the land in the time of this period. At the same time, there were a lot significant changes. For instance, there

great prosperity in Great Britain's literature. The Victorian Age produced a variety of changes. Political and social reform produced a variety of reading among all classes. The lower-class became more self-conscious, the middle class more powerful and the rich became more vulnerable. The novels of Charles Dickens, the poems of Alfred,