The Importance Of The Upper Class In The 19th Century

Darcy’s pride and his sense of superiority are considered rude and ungentlemanly behavior, and no amount of money or fine looks can save him from falling into disgrace with the people of Hertfordshire. Later, when Darcy first proposes to Elizabeth, she shocks him when she angrily exclaims that “had [he] behaved in a more gentleman-like manner” (168), then she may have felt

People only stressed attention to manners and and a person’s moral character.. “Ahem! Mr. Worthing, after careful consideration I have decided entirely to overlook my nephew’s conduct to you.”(Wilde 48). This quote was from Lady Bracknell after Mr. Worthing just informed her of Algernon's recent mis-doings. This shows that Lady Bracknell shows no sympathy towards Mr.Worthing, because all she is worried about now is Algy marrying Cecily to make him look better in high society. Another example on how Wilde expresses triviality is with Lady Bracknell again. Lady Bracknell says this just after she had been interrogating Cecily, “...We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces...”(Wilde 47). Lady Bracknell is hypocritical too in this act because she was just talking about not wanting her son to marry Cecily, but after hearing about Cecily's fortune she wants her. This clearly shows how the Victorian society did not worry about the person themselves, but focused on if they had money or any other type of fortune. Although Lady Bracknell shows great examples of Triviality, she is not the only person that shows it. Gwendolen in the first act tells Mr. Worthing that she only loves him and would marry him just because his name was Ernest. “I am told: and my ideal has always been to love some one of the of Ernest”(Wilde 10). If this does not show just how insane

England under the Victorian Era was a fascinating place to live. The streets of London were filled with horse-drawn carriages and tightly spaced flats. Along with those, the streets were also a place for theft, sickness, and musk from the local factories. Crime was present throughout the cities. Drug use and prostitution were the highest forms of criminal behavior (Garside). Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved and well-known character, Sherlock Holmes, emerged from the Victorian Era. The people of London came to love the weekly stories that were published about the great detective and were extremely excited to hear the next short tale (Clausen). As the city of London began to change and the people gained more wealth, the social statuses of the citizens began to change as well. The most prospered groups were the Upper Class the Middle Class. In the Victorian Era, the Middle Class flourished because of the development of industrialization. Factories opened up creating new jobs for the Lower Class and provided supplies for many.

Pride and Prejudice illustrated financial wealth as the decisive factor for marriage in the 19th century, because marrying a wealthy

Victorian Era England Lifestyles were quite diverse depending on where you lived and how much money you had. The rich were well off while the poor were complete opposites. Although the rich had great lives, I would not wish to live in that time period.

Attaining wealth brings with it many benefits. Certainly, wealth allows a person to buy more items and live a certain lifestyle. However, sometimes wealth comes at a cost—wealth can also blind a person to what is truly important in life and can lead a person to make choices that are actually harmful.   In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, the author explores the concept of wealth as a means of examining how individuals can lose sight of importance.

The importance of social class is introduced in Volume the First of Pride and Prejudice through the treatment and expectations of Elizabeth. Mrs.Bennet is the first character to express the importance of social class when she talks about the marriage of her daughters. While talking to Mr.Bennet she refers to Mr.Bingley as “a fine thing for our girls” because of his wealth (Austen 6). Mrs.Bennet’s obsession with marrying her daughters to someone of wealth shows her obsession with social class and social climbing. It also shows the importance of finding good husbands for her daughters..At the assembly, Mr.Darcy’s prejudices towards the lower classes are exposed through what he says about Elizabeth. He does not view Elizabeth as good enough for him and calls her “tolerable, but not handsome enough” (13). Elizabeth’s annoyance with Mr.Darcy is caused by her

The importance of social class is introduced in volume one of Pride and Prejudice through the treatment and expectations of Elizabeth. Mrs.Bennet is the first character to express the importance of social class when she talks about the marriage of her daughters. While talking to Mr.Bennet she refers to Mr.Bingley as “a fine thing for our girls” because of his wealth (Austen 6). Mr.Bennet’s obsession with marrying her daughters to someone of wealth shows her obsession with social class and social climbing. At the assembly, Mr.Darcy’s prejudices towards the lower classes are exposed through what he says about Elizabeth. He does not view Elizabeth as good enough for him and calls her “tolerable, but not handsome enough” (13). Elizabeth’s annoyance with Mr.Darcy is caused by her overhearing his uncomplimentary remark. Elizabeth

Social class systems in the nineteenth century were comprised of the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the underclass. The different social classes can be “distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture” (Cody). The poor, also known as peasants, were usually mistreated and segregated from the wealthy, or those of higher class. During his time, Charles Dickens “seen as a champion of “the poor” by some of the poor themselves” (“What was”). It is said that one of his greatest achievements “was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the “deserving” majority of the poor, bravely struggling against the forces arrayed against them” (“What was”). This is clearly evident in A Tale of Two Cities. During the nineteenth century Victorian era, social class systems were a common excuse for the division and mistreatment of many individuals, as evidenced in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

“There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully” (Chopin 129). One can interpret this to mean that parents in the 1800s (and to some extent today) desired a higher marital status for their daughters, so they could be well positioned for a stable life. As discussed in class, social status still exists in modern America which can significantly attract many candidates who want to marry a person for social status but not necessarily for love. These attitudes that continue to dominate America today stem from the aristocratic Old South as a means to achieve control of wealth for the few at the expense of impoverishing the masses.

If the lower classes are not controlled it will be hard to maintain the social structure and prevent internal conflict.

The Victorian era society was divided into three class's upper, middle, and working class. The upper class was made of aristocrats, noble's dukes, and other wealthy families that worked in the court system. They held the most powerful positions that gave them authority, better living conditions, and other facilities. The upper class of society had rules such as the proper forms of address, what to wear that would be appropriate it was something crucial to get right. Many aristocrats did not work as for centuries together their families had been gathering enough money for each generation to live life in luxurious. The upper class was broken down into three subdivisions which were the royal class, upper middle class, and lower upper class. Middle class put pressures on the upper classes for representation which resulted in series of reform acts giving commoners increased representation in parliament.

During the 1880s, access was a large problem throughout the world for social class and women. One known sector that occurred around the 1880s was the ‘Cinderella ‘sector, the government created many evening classes to allow students to gain education throughout the nights. This increased the number of students that were in education as children would have worked all day to earn money for their families. The government never made this a priority, but they were becoming more focused to create elementary and secondary schools which we have today. This sector was more focused on further education as it was aimed for students who had left education (Bailey,2002).

The economy is mostly made of money, processed goods & services, and it also controls the production and consumption activities. So how did these changes affect the rest of the country? All these components of the economy play a big role on the common people’s way of life. Most people in the United States during the 19th century had many challenges they had to face and overcome in order to be “successful”. In attempt to make the country better , there had been many changes in the economy. The common people in this era had been negatively affected , due to bad working conditions/wages, bad living conditions, discrimination, and job competition.

Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the