Stereotypes In The Victorian Era

Fay Weldon’s ‘Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen’ (1984) through the form of an epistolic novel, serves to enrich a heightened understanding of the contemporary issues of Jane Austen’s cultural context. In doing so, the responder is inspired to adopt a more holistic appreciation of the roles of women inherent in Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813). Due to the examination of the shift of attitudes and values between the Regency era and the 1980s, the reader comes to better understanding of the conventions of marriage for a women and the role education had in increasing one’s marriage prospects. Weldon’s critical discussion of these issues transforms a modern responder’s understanding of the role of a woman during the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution was a period of industrial and urban growth in America during the 18th and 19th centuries. This period marked a transition from an agrarian based system, to one focused exclusively on economics and commodity production. Industrialization introduced innovative technology and the formation of factories would ultimately change how goods and materials were made. During the American Revolution, women were responsible for in-home production that aided the war effort, using their production as a means to contribute publically. As America transitioned from this period into the period of the Industrial Revolution, these widened roles became more restrictive, women were no longer producers, they were consumers, and it was not a common practice for women to work outside of the home. This generated an opportunity for women to challenge newly forming gender ideals in which women’s societal expectations were constructed according to the masculine majority and falling outside of these expectations was deemed inappropriate. The Industrial Revolution prompted an enlightenment period in which gender ideals suggested that men were intellectually superior to women and this perceived superiority helped to influence distinct public and private spheres of influence for both men and women and presented the idea that women had a specific set of virtues to uphold according to the “cult of true womanhood.”

The Second Industrial Revolution had a major impact on women's lives. After being controlled fro so long women were experiencing what it was like to live an independent life. In the late nineteenth century women were participating in a variety of experiences, such as social disabilities confronted by all women, new employment patterns, and working class poverty and prostitution. These experiences will show how women were perceived in the Second Industrial Revolution.

Many people had different perspectives on the idea of the working women during the Industrial Revolution. A portion of people had concerns for women’s equality in the workplace, some didn’t trust the women because they considered them as dishonest and finally, men started to prefer a wife that works outside the home.

The industrial revolution swept through Europe and North America during the 19th century, affecting the class structure, economy, government, and even the religious practices of everyone who lived in or did commerce with these new "industrialized nations." It made the modern age possible, but it was not without its "growing pains." The position of women before the industrial revolution was often equivalent to chattel, and then as now, they were expected to take naturally to housework and child rearing. The history of working women in the Industrial Revolution is rife with accounts of abuse and tragedy, but overall it improved their position in capitalist societies. Below, I will explain the

Beginning in the mid eighteenth century, much of Europe underwent a sustained series of changes in the way goods are produced known as the industrial revolution. During this movement, technological advancements greatly impacted the coal, heavy metals and textile industries as machines replaced hands as the main mechanism of operation. Consequently, a worker’s level of skill soon lost value and factories that demanded individuals performing menial tasks at a fast rate dotted the landscape. Females became more prominent in the workplace, especially because their smaller hands were better suited for textile factories and their smaller bodies allowed for easier movement in coalmines. Middle class males viewed female workers as a threat to morality, family structure and gender roles while the women saw their employment as a necessary means to provide for themselves and their families. This difference can best be explained by a cultural worldview that increasingly emphasized science and inherent differences between the two sexes. Furthermore, the firsthand accounts depicted by the females stand as the most reliable illustrations of work in the nineteenth century because they take into account the needs of the working class.

Comparisons of Emma and Clueless pose critical explorations into the importance of context and its role in shaping social values. Heckerling’s appropriation of Jane Austen’s 19thC Emma, provides contrasting social ideals regarding gender and class which can be accredited as a result of their differing contextual settings. Values surrounding the importance of social hierarchy, gender disparities and education are prevalent themes addressed within each text. Due to shifts in social standards during the 2 centuries separating these texts, there are particular distinctions between the mechanisms underlying these themes. However, a key similarity linking these texts are their critiques on the morality behind the actions of those in privileged

“The Era of the Common Man” did not produce the change in mentality that the new national trading system produced because it only deals with the aftermath and the products of “the Market Revolution.” The role of women also plays a large part during the early nineteenth century that “the Era of the Common Man” completely ignores. Women were far from the Common Man since they did not have the right to vote nor sway a politician. However, Walter Licht brings forth in “Paths: The Unevenness of Early Industrial Development” how the role of women transformed from working in the house to working in factories.

In the early nineteenth century, women were expected to be, “‘angels in the house,’ loving, self-sacrificing, and chaste wives, mothers and daughters or they are… ultimately doomed” (King et al. 23). Women of this time were supposed to be domestic creatures and not tap so far into their intellectual abilities (King et al.). The role of women in the nineteenth century is described:

Because the king could turn on you at any minute just because he doesn't like you. He could change; his mind about his loyal people and, might think that they are trading on We him

During the Industrial Revolution, women were, in general, considered socially inferior. A “good woman” was expected to stay at home, raise

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.

1815, Jane Austen published Emma in a time where social, gender and economic inequality was the norm. Jane Austen novel has a notion that is written in a satire context in the term of how women in a society should be less than men.However, the protagonist Emma goes against what society tells her to be, she is a character that goes against the grain. Emma is a strong female character that advocates for other women to better themselves, and this is why there’s a case to classified Emma as a feminist novel. Feminism, means the advocacy of social and economic equality for all sexes. As the book is not overtly feminist there are subtle with women empowering moments, as many characters in Jane Austen, Emma emulates a feminist figure. Emma Woodhouse, Ms Taylor, Harriet Smith and Miss. Bates are strong characters who possess a lifestyle of independence, though they are in different economic status. Jane Austen created moments where women can make choices for themselves with accepting or refusal of a marriage proposal an empowering feet in itself. As well there are moments in the novel when men belittle the female characters, however, one can see the females of the books stand up and determine to challenge the social norms. Emma is an unconventional feminist novel with subtlety of empowering women and trying to change social norms in their little town.

Written by John Stuart Mill in 1860-1861, as the Victorian era took place in England, “The Subjection of Women” is a critical piece of analysis in regards to the status of women in society and their unequal relationship with the opposite sex. During Mills lifetime, women were considered to be inferior to men by custom and laws, therefore, it was expected of them to be submissive in nature and to drive their aspirations as far as those of a homemaker, wife and mother could go. Deeply influenced by the ideas of his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, and John Stuart Mill’s own beliefs, “The Subjection of Women” was published in 1869, becoming a piece of literature that would not only challenge the common views of society at the time, but will advocate for different approaches in light of modern times.