Women In Victorian Era Essay

During the nineteenth century, women had few rights, and were often objectified by men. An ideal woman was subservient to her husband, had plenty of children, and was not expected to work outside the home. As the Victorian era progressed, some women

As a child, she obtained the knowledge how to mimic the emotions she is incapable of feeling. She uses this to her advantage in order to gain power and control by manipulating people, especially men. When she claims her own freedom by killing her parents in a burning house, she finds her first victim, Mr. Edwards. She uses her beauty and charm toward Mr. Edwards to gain his love and trust. Mr. Edwards was a cunning shrewd owner of a brothel, and withdrew his love and trust when he unraveled Cathy’s “dark secret”-not only the house, but her swindling.

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:

Cathy is perceived as a beautiful and delicate woman when in reality she is the representation of the devil. Her looks contradict her hidden personality that no one knows of. “Cathy had grown more lovely all the time. ” (pg 78) is how she comes off as to the public eye. It is just like a beautiful flower that attracts the eyes yet poisons its victims who get involved.

Her attractive persona and florid speech resulted in an initial impression of kindness and candor, though what lies beneath is hardly approachable. The one part of Cathy’s outwardly appearance that exposed her was the coldness in her eyes. Samuel Hamilton describes this phenomenon, saying, “There was nothing recognizable behind them,” and that “They were not human eyes,” (C). Cathy’s eyes are the window to her soul and represent her cold, haughty view of the world. Her soul is the the embodiment of whom Cathy really is thus, the real Cathy controls her environment, this controlling comes from the fear of being exposed. Charles recognized and saw through Cathy’s persona and therefore did not trust her blatantly stating to Adam, “I wouldn’t trust her with a bit piece,” (B). Charles saw the dangers of trusting Cathy due to her deceptive and manipulative ways that he easily recognized. He was able to see past her beguiling appearance and saw her as the inveigler she truly was. Although Samuel and Charles were able to see past Cathy, others such as Adam were not able to see her carefully crafted

During the Victorian Era, women struggled to attain gender equality by challenging the traditional roles that defined them. These women no longer wanted to remain passive and obey the demands of their husbands nor be domestic and the caretakers of their children. They strived to attain the role of a 'New Woman', an intelligent, liberated individual who was able to openly express her ideas (Eltis 452). Whereas some women were successful in attaining this new role, others were still dominated by their male counterparts. The men felt threatened by the rising power of women and repressed them by not allowing them to work, giving them unnecessary medications, and diagnosing them with hysteria (Gilman

When Catherine resides in Thrushcross Grange, her coarse demeanor is heavily augmented by the values of the upper class. Catherine’s return from a five weeks stay at Thrushcross Grange renders “her manners much improved” and her appearance as a “very dignified person” (Bronte,37). Catherine proves to be a proper, civil woman, when on the Grange, picking up on the well-mannered tendencies of Edgar and

Although women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries faced oppression and unequal treatment, some people strove to change common perspectives on the feminine sex. John Stuart Mill, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Virginia Woolf were able to reach out to the world, through their literature, and help change the views that society held towards women and their roles within its structure. During the Victorian era, women were bound to domestic roles and were very seldom allowed to seek other positions. Most men and many women felt that if women were allowed to pursue interests, outside traditional areas of placement that they would be unable to be an attentive

Victorian society is noted for its large anxiety over the relationship between desire and gender and traditional conventions of sexual difference: “The man’s power is active, progressive, defensive. He is eminently the doer, the creator, the discoverer, the defender.

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.

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.

In the Victorian era, women were expected to fulfill specific gender roles. Women possessed feminine qualities such as being nurturing, pure and docile, while men were expected to be bold and independent.

While at Thrushcross Grange, she grows infatuated with Edgar, despite her love for Heathcliff. Edgar came from an upper class family as well and took care of her when she was in a dog accident. This leads to her acceptance of Edgar Linton’s marriage proposal despite her statements regarding her love for Heathcliff. Heathcliff overhears unfortunate passages of Catherine's discourse and disappears for a period during which he mysteriously makes his fortune and changes irrevocably from the person he was. Vengeance consumes him, and Heathcliff attempts to destroy the lives of those who wronged him, (as well as their children). Ultimately, Heathcliff’s bitterly executed vengeance is effaced by a love between Hareton and Cathy that mirrors Heathcliff’s own love for Catherine. Hareton is Catherine’s nephew and Cathy is Catherine’s daughter, which makes the two first cousins.

This essay will analyse how gender roles are represented in Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Height’s by looking at the characters of Cathy and Heathcliff. By analysing these two characters it will be clear that the protagonists challenge social conformity during the Victorian period in England. To fully realise this it is important to first understand what the prescribed roles were that they were challenging. This will be achieved through close readings of the text and references made to secondary sources to provide evidence that this opinion has been fully investigated. It will be clear by the end to see that the characters challenge the roles expected of their sex during this time and together they challenge social norms. This essay will answer ‘yes’