Catherine Earnshaw: Gender Roles In The Victorian Era

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:

In John Osborne 's 1956 piece, Look Back in Anger, housewife Alison Porter is faced with the difficult decision of remaining in a toxic marriage or returning to live with her parents. Indeed, Alison is the archetype of the 1950s British woman, as depicted in both academic and popular discourse—meek, miserable and resigned to her fate as mother and housewife. While such a paradigm of the 1950s woman has long remained unchallenged, historians have begun to suggest that this stereotype is inaccurate and misleading, and overlooks the complexity of female gender roles during Britain of this era. When reviewing the literature on this topic, what emerges as a clear point of tension between academics is whether the 1950s was a static or a dynamic

These norms were influenced by various factors such as economy, domesticity, gender roles, religion, imperialism, and much more. Amid the period symbolized by the rule of British ruler Queen Victoria, women were not liable to have the right to sue, suffrage rights, or the right to own property. In the meantime, women took part in the paid workforce in expanding numbers taking after the Industrial Revolution. Feminist ideas spread among the informed female working classes, the women's suffrage movement picked up force and discriminatory laws were cancelled in the last years of the Victorian age. In the Victorian Era, women were thought as only fitting in with the domestic sphere and this stereotype obliged them to limit themselves only to their household and raising children. Alex Owen puts this Victorian ideal of woman in words as “ The categorisation of so-called female virtues found its expression in the sentimental and idealised notion of the spiritually refined ‘angel in the house’- woman as an angelic creature whose rightful sphere of influence was the home and domesticity” (7). By making domesticity seem desirable to the Victorian women they used such tools in order to keep them behind doors. Owen further explains the Victorian feminine roles by pointing out, “In analysing many discourses which together constituted the Victorian ideology of femininity, including the domestic literature written for, and often by, women, it becomes clear that perspective understanding was underpinned by certain major constituents. Among the most important of these was the notion of innate female passivity, a negative attribute constructed in opposition to so-called masculine will-power. Along with this went the concepts of female frailty, constructed in opposition to a standard masculine strength and virility; a moral and spiritual sensibility which acted as the

In the Victorian era, the people have to uphold their reputations to be accepted by society. Women, especially have harder expectations to live up to. Women are told to stay home and take care of the family. Women are meant to be at home in the kitchen, waiting to serve their husbands. Society also expects women to follow the

During the Victorian Era, women struggled to attain gender equality by challenging the traditional roles that defined them. These women no longer wanted to remain passive and obey the demands of their husbands nor be domestic and the caretakers of their children. They strived to attain the role of a 'New Woman', an intelligent, liberated individual who was able to openly express her ideas (Eltis 452). Whereas some women were successful in attaining this new role, others were still dominated by their male counterparts. The men felt threatened by the rising power of women and repressed them by not allowing them to work, giving them unnecessary medications, and diagnosing them with hysteria (Gilman

During this era men and woman was bound by Victorian codes that were strict on what they can and cannot do. Men

Gender roles is a major theme in this novel. This is because during the Victorian Era, many women

1. Throughout the Victorian era, one of the most prevalent concerns was a female's role in society.

Clothes, in the Victorian Era, stated who you were and how much money you had. Rich men and women dressed modestly and wealthy. Children had to dress almost the same, but not quite. Children got to wear almost whatever they wanted, but as long as they dressed appropriate. Men had more power but they still were expected to dress nice. Women stayed home a lot of times and acted as the housewives.

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

Throughout the Victorian era, a woman’s sole purpose was to marry, produce children, keep the house clean and have dinner on the table by the time their husband returned from work. They were restricted to working tedious jobs at minimum wage until they were married and were not allowed to receive a real education. Once married, a woman was expected to become a fulltime mother and house wife tending to the needs in the home on command. All these lovely skills were that of the traditional Victorian women. They were pressured to express their femininity through their dainty attire, gentle mothering, social order and expressing the manners and obedience that was expected of them. All in all it was required that they be as little of an

British literature and culture has been shaped by many movements and time periods. The Victorian Period had a huge impact on many aspects in British literature and culture. The roles of women were greatly affected during this time period. The question of what women could (or should) do attracted a lot of debate in the Victorian era.

A women’s profession can define her character in society during the Victorian Era. Women are known for strong work ethic. Originally a woman supposed to take care the house hold while the man work. The Victorian society was based off three classes. The Upper Class, Middle Class, and the Working Class. The Upper Class hold the most power because they were given authority, the best living, and control over the other classes. The Upper Class did not have to work hard because their families of years before their time had already gathered funds, so therefore, they would not run out of money. They lived Queens with a glamourous life. Aristocrats,

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,

The confinement that characters within the texts experience can be translated into modern values based on equality. In the novel, Catherine Earnshaw is constantly controlled by the circumstances that control her; she’s ruled by her father and Hindley throughout her childhood, restricted by her injury at Thrushcross Grange, and forced to marry Edgar because of her isolation from the rest of the world. Even in her passionate relationship with Heathcliff, which reflects the spontaneous, exciting nature of the Romantic period, Heathcliff