Victorian Women's Role During The Victorian House

The text ‘The Daughters of England’, is a book written to provide guidance for young women, pertaining to their character and behaviour; the book creates the framework for the role of women in the household. It instructs that women must offer a virtuous influence on men - as wives, mothers, and daughters - as part of their role within society. Estimated to have been written in 1842, in London, ‘Daughters of England’ was penned by Sarah Stickney Ellis; a popular author of Victorian conduct literature. Ellis’ popularity implies that the source was widely circulated at the time, thus represents an important view of contemporary society. This document reveals to us the ideals expected of middle class women of the time, and the principles that were envisioned for them, relating in particular to the ‘separate spheres’ ideology.

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:

In the Victorian era, the people have to uphold their reputations to be accepted by society. Women, especially have harder expectations to live up to. Women are told to stay home and take care of the family. Women are meant to be at home in the kitchen, waiting to serve their husbands. Society also expects women to follow the

The women of these novels showed feminine empowerment. Although they had obstacles that could have over come them they still stood against them and showed that females can be strong and independent too.

First and foremost, prior to the 19th century, women lived in a patriarchal system in which their views were constantly ignored and ridiculed. They were denied rights that made it difficult for them to gain any opportunity to perform outside their home. The stereotype in which their gender held at the time made them inferior to men. The “Culture of Domesticity” was the term used to describe a set of beliefs about women and gender roles in America and Great Britain (Cummings 1). The set of beliefs described that since men were busy working, women should be at home. An aspect of the Culture of Domesticity describes the ideal woman. This ideal woman, also called “True Woman”, must uphold “4 main principles: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity” (Cummings 1). The combination of these principles expected a woman to be supportive

This set her apart as a unique, but ultimately too potent writer in a literary period that had not yet awakened to the more modern notions of feminism...the fine line between author, narrator, and heroine is crossed and it seems useless to view this work as independent from the author’s most intense convictions. (Smith).

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.

The ideal home in Victorian Britain was romanticized by means of social values. The man of the house was simply the man of the house. He threw down the gavel, while the woman made sure the house was a well-oiled machine. With these separate spheres of work and home becoming more important for a well-run lifestyle, Victorian domestic households shifted from primarily economic to sentimental and emotional . The chivalric hard-working man provided for the family while the domestic woman watched over the household and to make sure things ran smooth as well as making sure the house was a peaceful safe haven for her family as well as company one may welcome in for a hospitable

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”.

They wanted to spend all their money on their homes because the way there house represented there dress and their personality. If your house was nice it probably meant that you had money or was rich. If you had money or was rich you was treated with kindness or you were treated proprly. If you wasn’t rich you wasn’t treated with kindness or proprly. If u wasn’t treated properly you was treated poorly. The rich people had horses with carriages or a sometimes if u were rich you had a car. If you was poor you either walked or rode in a broken down old carriage. Also if u had a big nice fancy house then u probably had a fancy horse and carriage. Most people back in the victorian era was treated by their personality and there looks. Your personality and looks were the main thing. and by looks i mean clothing. The women wore big poofy dresses tall hats and bellbottoms. The men wore Tuxedos long coats shiny shoes and big

The nineteenth century Victorian era woman needed wealth or position to avoid a life of drudgery.  Women were viewed as trophies or possessions men owned.  They were not permitted to develop nor expected to, and even venturing out on their own was considered inappropriate.  During the era in which Jane Eyre was published the home and family were seen as the basic unit of stability in society.  At the middle of this foundation stood a wife and mother representing the sum total of all morality - a Madonna-like image.  This image was reinforced by social institutions such as mainstream religious and political beliefs.  Women were steered away from independence, confidence, and

The Victorian era was not the greatest time for women. The pressure to be a prim and proper lady was stronger than ever. Queen Victoria herself even set ridiculous standards for how a women should act. She was a firm believer in the domestic spheres. The domestic spheres is a social theory that each gender has a specific role to play in society and neither can crossover to the other sphere.

Have you ever wondered what servants in the Victorian era were like? This will be about servants and aspects of their role in the Victorian era.

The Victorian women displayed cherubic-like qualities. From all social classes, whether endowed with wealth, or surviving on very little as a pauper, women were expected to be "a moral, yielding, and domestic paragon." (Rose) "Angels of the house" is the proper term to call these women. Whether they spent their time in the house or not, the term, "angels of the house" can refer to any woman who behaved like an angel – that is, sweet, kind, and innocent. "Angels" were never brash nor brazen. Never domineering nor opinionated. It was necessary for "angels of the house" to be strong for daily house duties that involved cleaning, yet gentle when teaching children. They

The woman’s place was in the home, caring for the child and meeting the whims of her husband. “The cornerstone of Victorian Society was the family; the perfect lady’s sole function was marriage and procreation (the two, needless to say, were considered as one). All her education was to bring out her “natural” submission to authority and innate maternal instincts (Vicinus x).”