Women 's Influence On Women

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.

A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest were both written in the late nineteenth century at a period in time when gender roles in society were not only significant to the structure of society but were restrictive and oppressive to individuals. This was particularly true in the case of women who were seen as the upholders of morals in polite society and were expected to behave accordingly. A Doll’s House and The Importance of Being Earnest challenge society and its inclination to categorise and expect certain behaviour of individuals based on their gender.

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:

During the middle of the nineteenth century, a so-called "cult of domesticity" arose in the United States and Great Britain predicated upon a number of assumptions regarding the proper role of women in society, and it served to protect male hegemony during a period of historical upheaval. According to Godey's Lady's Book, one of the most successful magazines of the period, "the perfection of womanhood... is the wife and mother, the center of the family, that magnet that draws man to the domestic altar, that makes him a civilized being... the wife is truly the light of the home." A woman's appropriate role was that of a wife and mother, and they were expected to follow certain cardinal virtues that contributed to the perpetuation of this role, which formed the basis of the cult's ideological work. The cult of domesticity was an ideological construct which served to support the dominant authorities of the time, and only by examining the cult of domesticity (and the "angel of the house" which served as its focus) as points of intersection between religious, political, and economic power can one begin to understand how the role of women in the nineteenth century was regulated in response to historical developments that threatened male hegemony, namely, nationalist anxiety following the American Revolution and the ascendance of capitalism as the overarching political and economic structure.

In the early nineteenth century, women were expected to be, “‘angels in the house,’ loving, self-sacrificing, and chaste wives, mothers and daughters or they are… ultimately doomed” (King et al. 23). Women of this time were supposed to be domestic creatures and not tap so far into their intellectual abilities (King et al.). The role of women in the nineteenth century is described:

Women in the Victorian society had two main goals which were to marry a respectable man and to have/raise children. The society had a vision of the “perfect woman” who did what she was told and did not question it. She did what her mother did before her, and her mother did what her mother did before her. They were constricted, as if they lived in a box. They couldn’t go too far forward or backward and they couldn’t tray too far off the sides. There were high standards and a true Victorian woman upheld those standards no matter how she felt about them. Victorian women were not their own; they were property-- property that was owned by their husbands or fathers.

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 Victorian era, a woman’s influence was restricted mainly to domestic spheres, being the angel of the house and tireless supporter of her husband. These gender roles were societally enforced, as women lacked the necessary rights to move up financially or socially without a husband. For women, the only possible moral actions come from choosing to stay pure or being lured by temptation, thereby becoming immoral. In two texts, Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” and Dickens’ Little Dorrit, young women are presented as lessons adhering to this morality, being rewarded for purity and servitude or punished for perceived immorality. Women were supposed to restrain themselves from any temptation, becoming subservient to a husband as the angel of

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”.

In today’s society, there is often a misconception among women and men and the roles they are expected to follow through with. Although there has been advances in the way women are treated, it is unfortunately still an unbalanced dynamic in our society. From an early age, women are often persuaded, even if subconsciously, to follow a certain pathway in life. They are most often associated with staying home, keeping the house clean, cooking, baking, and raising children. Certain mediums that girls are exposed to tend to sway them towards these specific wants and aspirations. The way in which certain products are presented to little girls create an image they feel like they need to master. Men, on the other hand, are taught something completely different. They are regularly habituated with more masculine and self-reliant tasks. From an early age, they are automatically seen as people that deserve to be educated and use their smart, resourceful assets to contribute to society. They are without a doubt going to get a job and become a father and husband that provides for his family. In most situations, even if the woman has a job, men are the main “bread-winner.” Going along with this belief, the products boys are often marketed portray the idea of strength and independence. Whether it is a toy or a book, men are more often than not characterized as the heroic, more capable gender. There are many cases in which different mediums exhibit the ideas of men being the superior

Most women were tied to the home in the 18th Century. Modesty had become an important part of family and society life. Women were considered to have a natural maternal instinct and a natural devotion to family. Attempting to leave this role of motherhood was seen as monstrous and unwomanly by society (Wolbrink, 4 Nov. 2011) Women expected to stay in the private sphere. This hiding from the outside world was an attempt to protect the purity of women reiterating that women are the weaker sex and must be protected. This philosophy is exemplified in an 18th century metaphor, “Women is a plant which in it’s own green house seclusion will put forth all its brilliant

In the essay Professions for Women written by Virginia Woolf there are very great key points made about the hardships she and other women had to endure. Through her sarcastic tone she was well able to convey to the reader that along with tangible obstacles in her way there were also intangible obstacles that she and every other woman had to endure. One of these obstacles she mentioned was The Angel in the House. This obstacle is sarcastically described as a woman whom is pure that is in the back of every woman’s mind. This “angel” is simply just the oppression that men have over women mentally. When ever a woman is in a “man’s” occupation there is this constant thought in the back of their head that they must be “lady like” in order to not

In nineteenth century England, the lives of men and women were completely different. The women had very few - or no - rights and the man had absolute power over his wife and children. He even had the rights to his wife's income or heritage! The only acceptable way for a woman to lead her life was to be a social character, a supporting wife and loving mother, so to speak an "angel in the house". The term "the angel in the house" refers to Coventry Patmore's poem with the same name. The poem depicts the ideal of a loving, unselfish, (sexually) passive and sensitive woman, who was religious and devoted to please her husband: "Man must be please; but him to please, is woman's

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).”

In Victorian England, “the bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation” (Engels). This upper middle class, the bourgeois, was divided into separate spheres determined by their “natural characteristics” such as being male or female (Gender 1). The bourgeois society’s main concern was their outward appearance and materialism while gaining respectability among their social class. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, criticizes Victorian bourgeois society and their strict adherence to gender roles. As Nora Helmer walked away from her family, she generated a “door slam heard around the world” (“A Doll’s House” 1).