The Victorians ' Concern With Morality

The 1920’s was an age of dramatic social and political change, and most people knew this time as ‘the roaring twenties’. Most Americans lived in the cities rather than on farms and this was due to the nation’s total wealth was more than doubled and this economical growth took many Americans into the consumer society. Consumerism is the theory that it is economically attractive to encourage the attainment of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. As money was something that everyone was willing to spend people would lose morality and not spend their money wisely. The prohibition of alcohol, adultery and wealth played a big part in the 1920’s which effected the importance of morality.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”

The Victorian Era was a time of wide extremes. elegant city streets, gas lamps, and in contrast grinding poverty. It was also a time of exploration and invention. With their pioneer spirit wild frontier towns were born across the world. and with their flare and ingenuity the Victorians took with them their values and elegance. (Matthew Arnold) Though Victorian period was influenced by the reform act 1832 and subsequent acts, yet this period also marked by extreme diversities with the industrial reforms, cultural progress, scientific advancement on one hand and poverty and wars on the other.

The Victorian Era is a remarkable time in history with the blooming industries, growing population, and a major turnaround in the fashion world. This era was named after Queen Victoria who ruled United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 1837 until she passed away 64 years later in January 1901.When Victoria received the crown, popular respect was strikingly low. The lack of respect for the position she had just come into did not diminish her confidence. Instead she won the hearts of Britain with her modesty, grace, straightforwardness, and her want to be informed on the political matters at hand even though she had no input. She changed Britain into a flourishing country. She also impacted how women interacted

In modern day America and many other countries, it is common for women to express their sexuality. Trends such as crop tops and high-waisted shorts have allowed this to be acceptable to society. During the 19th century Victorian era, behaviors like such would be outrageous and horrifying. In that time, sexuality was especially feared. Women were viewed as domestic goddesses; their only desire was to care for the family and fulfill their husband’s needs. It became quite common that women came to also have anxiety over their sexuality. This is clearly seen in Dracula through Lucy’s diary entries. Despite her ultimate transformation into a sensual character, she begins as a woman hiding her sexual cravings. In his gothic novel, Dracula, Bram Stoker uses the title character to expose the repressed sexuality of the other characters, especially the females, criticizing the beliefs of the Victorian Era about woman as sexless figures.

What happens when morality is thrown away and forgotten by future generations? In the 1920’s, America was still recovering from World War I. Many young men died in WWI, and many who survived the war were suffering from PTSD. They could not escape their own minds which were their own jails. With the recovery from the war, people had a new sense of living while they were young. They pursued drinking, sex, and other pleasures that were originally biblically and morally viewed as wrong, but it was all changing. Sheila Liming saw this change and argued, “The post-war years saw the banishment of the Victorian hourglass archetype - a move which, on the surface, appears consistent with the logic of female emancipation, and with multi-national fights for women’s suffrage during this period” (Liming 109). She clearly stated the change throughout the generations. What caused this change? Because of the horrors of WWI, women in the 1920s rejected the moral codes of the previous generations by embracing hedonism and pursuing gender equality. This resulted in the wide acceptance of women

It was World War I that eventually sticks the terminal date for the Victorian mind set. Women were forced to leave their households so that they could enter the workplace, thus gaining economic freedom; they were permitted to seek a higher education, and to even refuse sexual taboos. This is the time when the woman comes to knowthat she does not have to be dictated, and will not permit others’ interference in her own life. Unfortunately woman was deprived of every possibility to gain her ownindividuality, autonomy, and contentment of her talents. This paper presents a detailed account ofthe extreme strong male power over women and over her inner dreams and

“The real ornament of a woman is her character, her purity” (Ghandi). The Victorian society era was an era that prolonged from 1837-1901. The era inhabited queen Victoria of England when she reigned as a monarch of Great Britain. The Victorian epoch abided to be an epoch of virtue and purity. Women in Victorianism were not permitted to be seen with a man publicly and never the less be authorized to have sexual intercourse if not married. This era of constraints for the British had one goal and that goal was to cover women up and sex was only accredited when conceiving children. Society in the outside viewed a perfect female structure but if examined cautiously society converted sex and symbols in books. Soon the society

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.

During the 1920s, people tended to lack the common morals of people today. People in the 1920s favored the party life and extravagant social gatherings. For example, Tom constantly cheats on his wife Daisy with Myrtle Wilson who lives in the Valley of Ashes. People tended to always cheat on their spouses although they claimed that they were in “love” with each other. The morals of people in the twenties does not surprise me since it was coming off prohibition. Men were usually drunks and were abusive to their wives constantly. Women usually married men who were older and rich and tended to spoil themselves with their riches. A few of the characters actually had good morals such as Nick Carraway.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing behind us…”

In the Victorian Era, society’s views of men and women and their roles in the world were beginning to dramatically change, and not all were content with these changes. The novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, represents the mindset that those who felt threatened by these changes had. Mina and the men of the vampire slaying group act in the traditional manner associated with their gender and represent the ideal way Stoker believed the sexes should behave meanwhile, Dracula and the female vampires are used to signify, and portray in a threatening light, those who didn’t conform to his society’s standards for men and women. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Stoker sets up traditional gender roles and ideals that he believed the sexes should embody and

The Victorian Age was a period of development and redefining social conventions. Throughout the chaos enveloping the changing world, literature from the time period reveals profound concepts which aligns with the dynamic reinvention of societal constructs. Literature from the Victorian Era addresses the importance of art, staging it as a hindrance or benefit to society. Antagonistic views referring to the representation of art reflects the confusion and controversy of the time. The poem, The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Tennyson and the epic novel, Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning both stress the significance of art in society.

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,