Proper Feminine Beauty in George Eliot's Adam Bede Essay example

The concept of beauty is shown to be highly valued in the story and the society that the story is set in. For example, Beauty chooses to marry the third and final man because he is a handsome scholar. Beauty is tricked into being pushed down a well because of beauty. “’Sister, come and look into the well. We will see which of us is the more beautiful’” (Lin Lan 129). They do not compare who is most skillful or who is the most intelligent; they value beauty so much that the concept is the only thing they decide to be compared on. The scholar, Beauty’s husband, is shown to also cherish beauty. He is horrified to see Pock Face instead of his beautiful wife and reacts very dramatically. “’Goodness! How changed you are! Surely you are not Beauty. My wife was never such a monster. Good Heavens!’” (Lin Lan 129). These examples serve as indicators of how much the characters, and therefore the story, are so intensely focused on the concept of physical

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 was known for its propriety, and for its social standards that could be as strict as the caste system in India. Citizens in England of low social regard faced many prejudices and limitations that could be almost insurmountable to overcome. Much like the caste system, people considered to be the dregs of society were often alienated and had little room for opportunity. In Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, the main character, Jane, suffers social prejudice because she is a simple governess, revealing much about the social stigmas about the working class during the Victorian Era. Jane’s social status limits her not only from being with the one she loves, but also hinders her endeavor to achieve true autonomy.

Ultimately, the evidence shown above reveals the many apprehensions and difficulties women endured during the 19th century, and the implications of their actions. Through the above examples, it demonstrates that women must show certain etiquette among European society despite personal heritage. As well as one being innocent and denying social norms, there are limitations and one should be cautious to personal decisions. Similarly, young women should be more vigilant towards warnings of others and adult figures that offer helpful advice even if their nature is to be ignorant to rules. Given these points, James emphasizes in the novella ‘Daisy Miller’ the taboo of young sexuality during the Victorian era, and the strict social conventions and

Women were raised to fit into gender roles, but that would not translate into a “man’s society”. The only solution was to make a hybrid role. As seen with Rosie the Riveter, “she is strong and at the same time beautiful.” (Hall, Orzada, and Lopez-Gydosh) This was a major distinction of the time- there was a mental image of elegant women, but also a hard reality that required women to abandon traditional views. While the definition of women had to change, so did their outward appearances.

In the 19th century, “Godey’s magazine” described the ideal of true womanhood behavior is piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. “A young lady may excel in speaking French and Italian; may repeat a few passages from the volume of extracts; play like a professor, and sing like a siren; Though the arts; which merely embellish life, must claim admiration, when a man of sense comes to marry, it is a companion whom he wants, and not an artist. It is not merely a creature who can paint and play, and sing, and draw, and dress, and

Victorian society is noted for its large anxiety over the relationship between desire and gender and traditional conventions of sexual difference: “The man’s power is active, progressive, defensive. He is eminently the doer, the creator, the discoverer, the defender.

“Nothing is so frightening as what’s behind the closed door,” said William F. Nolan… and society proved him right. The human race is terrified of what they do not understand. Whether centuries in the past, or right here in the present, women have rarely ever been, and still are not, afforded the opportunity of individuality and freedom. Victorian society in its time period took on an extremely conservative behavior. Sex and womanly freedoms were strongly controversial topics and thus, society encouraged an overall chaste and modest lifestyle.

Women in the Victorian society had two main goals which were to marry a respectable man and to have/raise children. The society had a vision of the “perfect woman” who did what she was told and did not question it. She did what her mother did before her, and her mother did what her mother did before her. They were constricted, as if they lived in a box. They couldn’t go too far forward or backward and they couldn’t tray too far off the sides. There were high standards and a true Victorian woman upheld those standards no matter how she felt about them. Victorian women were not their own; they were property-- property that was owned by their husbands or fathers.

Phoebe Marks subverts the Victorian belief that that regardless of how moral a person is, that her class is still easily determined based on appearances. Lady Audley, Phoebe’s upper class mistress, has a “fair” face,” “large and liquid blue eyes,” a “delicate” nose, small “rosy lips,” and a “fragile figure” (50). She is an ideal high-class woman, with perfect feminine features. Phoebe, similarly, has a “pale face”, “light grey eyes”, “small features”, and a

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.

Even before Lily walked amongst the living, the aristocracy treated women more like objects than people. A women’s value came from her beauty and how well she entertained the folk around her, not personality traits. The more beautiful the woman, the more valuable she became, and worse she was treated. Instead of being viewed as merely another beautiful painting in an exhibit, they became the star attraction. Society put more pressure on them to act like decorative beings than other women, and men treat them like prizes or trophies. These ideas of women traveled from one generation to the next with parents teaching their children how women should act and how to determine a woman’s value. Then here comes Lily into this world. A natural beauty, she has to be ‘…always keeping herself fresh and exquisite and amusing’ (Wharton

During the Victorian Era in 1837 the period that was ruled by Queen Victoria I, women endured many social disadvantages by living in a world entirely dominated by men. Around that time most women had to be innocent, virtuous, dutiful and be ignorant of intellectual opinion. It was also a time associated with prudishness and repression. Their sole window on the world would, of course, be her husband. During this important era, the idea of the “Angel in the House” was developed by Coventry Patmore and used to describe the ideal women who men longed. Throughout this period, women were treated inferior to men and were destined to be the husbands “Angel in the House”.

As usual, women have to imprint themselves in a society like we see babies that come into the world- kicking and screaming. Without a doubt, women molded into their stations in life during the 17th and 18th century. Nevertheless, many secretly planned, worked with , others with grief and countless with despair.

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,