The Change Of Social Structure In The Victorian Era

Sex, therefore, became solely for reproduction in the Victorian Era. Upper class families showed their refinement by not having children, and not having sex. But while the upper classes were showing their good breeding, the lower classes continued to have children. Children were needed in the lower classes because they were assets. Children helped in the house and contributed to farm work, so parents needed to reproduce, unlike parents of the upper class, who had no use for children and saw them only as a liability.

The Victorian Era was a time of peace and prosperity. During the Victorian Era the society was divided into various social classes like the working class, middle class. Upper class, Dickens/Victorians. Above all those classes the middle class was the most hard working class with all the various occupations but also they also had quite relaxing life also speaking of which let's get into the middle class.

The Elizabethan era, named for Queen Elizabeth who reigned from 1558-1603, was a very relaxed time in England because no wars or conflicts were happening at the time (Davis 231). Many people believe that all people lived wonderful lives in the Elizabethan era, yet most people were poor and lived hard lives. “Undeniably the span of life is shorter in the sixteenth century than it will be in subsequent ages” (Davis 162). Important parts of life in London during the Elizabethan era were social classes, living conditions, recreation, education, and gender inequality.

Jane Austen’s Persuasion challenges the notion that one’s social class determines one’s happiness. In the novel there is the upper class, which includes Sir Walter Elliot and his family; the nouveau rich, such as Admiral Croft and Captain Wentworth; and the poor

At first, Austen reveals the tensions between the working class and the upper class and emphasizes the rigid social structure that existed in nineteenth century London. The rigidity of the social structure can be attributed to the fact that “no class exists for itself but is bound by reciprocated rights and duties to classes above and below” (Kilger 359). Although the classes are separate and very distinct from each other, they still all depend on one another to thrive and succeed. However, this was definitely not the case during the

In the early 1800’s, women were second class citizens with little to no political rights, and limited access to education and professional careers. Women were not granted the same privileges as men, for educating women outside the home or women obtaining professional jobs went against traditional views. The ideology behind it was that men and women ideally inhabited different societal spheres. Men dominated the public sphere which had opportunities for education, paid labor, fighting in wars, and political rights. However, as industrialization and the population grew in the North, working class women began entering the public sphere for job opportunities.

The aristocracy had many of the same views and opinions as the middle class. They lived in fear of the revolt of the lower class. They however needed the courage to fight for politically they too wanted unification with dependency on the princes and soldiers (doc. 8). Economically, aristocracy had money in a time where most did not. They survived in better comfort than most but still managed to struggle when it came to providing for family members. In a women’s perspective, the labor of

The difference in class structures of Victorian England was dependent on the lifestyles and jobs of individuals. The Victorian era of England lasted from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian England hierarchy was divided into three different classes; the upper, middle, and lower class and was reliant of occupational differences. The hierarchy was very rigid and there was little social mobility, because of the fact that normally a person was born into their class and even their future career. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens displays the model of class structure through the character Pip Pirrup. Pip struggles to find his place within the hierarchy. Throughout the novel, Dickens writes about the different classes in England. Pip belongs the working class due to his family and is set to be a blacksmith, but finds himself in the societal shift that occurred in England in the nineteenth century. Pip wants to achieve his great expectations and change the path that his life was going on. He wants create a better life for himself than what he would have had if he followed in the footsteps of his family. Dickens also creates various characters in the different classes to expose the relationship between each class. An individual’s class was a dominant factor in creating an identity. People of the upper classes thought very little of the people “below” them. Throughout his journey, Pip reveals information about how the different social classes lived and how members of each

The importance of the middle-class grew in the Victorian period the diverse group that had everyone from the working class and the higher class. The middle class had industrialists and wealthy bankers it also included poor clerks that earned only half as much as skilled workers. In the upper middle class in this group included the Church of England clergymen, military and naval officers, men in high-status branches of law and medicine. The lower middle class consisted of small store workers and clerical works they needed to be able to read, but nothing too high needed for the

Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall are the authors of the novel, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class, 1780-1850. The novel, Family Fortunes bickers that men and women of the middle class had accepted distinctively colorful class identities, particularly the language of class configuration was gendered. Mostly all social associations were gendered. The affiliations between the sexes were planned by property behavior. During the eighteenth century, determined middle-class people asserted moral capacity for themselves. The middle-classed people had religious beliefs. At this time period men were to be active in the world as citizens. On the other hand, women were to be very dependent. “If religious belief offered individuals a sense of identity and a community, it also offered personal comfort and security in an unstable and unsafe world” (Davidoff, Hall 77). In this quote it states that religion can offer an individual with a sense of individualism or an identity. Many sections come up in this novel including, Religion, economic structure, and everyday life. The authors give many examples and provide vital information about these three topics in great detail. The setting of the novel takes place in Birmingham, England. The authors bring up multiple topics in their novel, Family Fortune. The topics give an understanding of what the middle class was like in England during the 1780’s through 1850’s. The novels give a context of the shaping of the middle

The Victorian Period was a great influence to the authors who composed novels at that time where distinctions between social classes as well as between men and women were strongly marked. During this period, it was precisely a woman who ruled. Alexandrina Victoria who was born on May 24, 1819 became Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 20, 1837 until her death on January 22, 1901. Victoria’s reign was one of the longest of a female in history. At only the age of 18, after her uncle William Henry IV died, she began a span of 63 years of reign. In spite of her independence and power, Victoria fell into a deep depression when her husband died in 1861 and ever since she wore black every day for the rest of her

The Regency time period was an era of great wealth. Both men and women worked vigorously to become part of the upper class. Marrying for upper class women was the only way to gain a source of income (Hall). Women would even change their way of life to be able to marry into wealth. A truth universally acknowledged, that a single main possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife, said Mrs. Bennett (Hall). In the Regency time period, wealth played a huge role in both men and women’s lives

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,

35. In this unit, what works have we read that reflect the Victorian Age’s “widespread doubt about the nature of man, society, religion, and the universe”? Give specifics from the works to demonstrate this doubt. Give at least 3 examples with details.

The Victorian period started in 1837 through 1901 under Queen Victoria’s reign. The period got divided into three stages: Early, middle and late Victorians periods. During, the early Victorian era took the throne. Under the middle years, the industrialization of the country began and everything stay steady. On the last few years, a lot of problems rise up with Ireland and the English colonies. In her 63 years of ruling lots of cultural, political and economic changes arise. The country became highly industrialized and expanded its land to some parts of the middle west of the World. However, under the period, many diseases were developed such as typhus and cholera because of the food distribution and hunger. Social changes such as women’s vote and rights were proclaimed. New science and technological theories were promoted such as Darwin’s Evolution Theory and Charles Lyell’s Theory of Uniformitarianism. Other social and economic changes