Victorian Woman Essay

Governesses represented an unusual social class in Victorian culture. They were often women belonging to the middle class, however, they had a central role in the upbringing of upper class children and the construction of Victorian education and ideals. Despite their significance within the homes of wealthy families, many governesses were treated with suspicion and fear. This paper, however, seeks to analyze several notable governess representations as well as to understand how these various depictions

Through the reading of Victorian literature such as Hardy or Eliot, it is unlikely that we will have a fairy tale ending but hope that the characters will find a satisfying conclusion. For example, Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles does not give the reader the satisfying conclusion hoped for, a fact which the reader realizes once he knows Angel Clare has found Tess too late. No, the groundwork is lain for a very unhappy conclusion. It’s imagined, like Angel, when Tess comes running up to him

Talia Bardash English Thesis Paper The Influence of Society on Victorian Relationships Afraid of rejection in the Victorian Era, men and women sought after relationships that agreed with the expectations set by society. Victorian literature satirized and underscored these expectations and their effects on individuals. During the Victorian Era relationships were not focused on the emotional aspect of marriage but rather growth in reputation and status. The characters in Oscar Wilde’s works

every sin imaginable is included in this text if one were to interpret Bram Stoker’s writing to be as such. The glaring Christianity, coded sexual innuendo, and the vampire stereotype still attracts many to this novel. Despite the Victorian era’s social expectations of a woman, gluttony and lust are the two most abundant and greatly detailed sins alive in this text and usually descriptively, if not symbolically intertwined. The female characters of this novel lavishly display their sexual and physical

In the late 1800’s an independent and fierce woman was not a common occurrence and usually frowned upon, but in this strict time period one author creates his main character to be not only Victorian woman but also a “modern” woman. Dracula was written in 1897 by Bram Stoker, allowing it to become a treasured Gothic story. Due to this fact, there are many instances where Victorian virtues are implied in the story. These virtues are especially influenced on not the characters development but their

Introduction Prostitution looms large in the Victorian consciousness. The image of the fallen woman reflects the Victorian upper classes' ideas about sexuality, gender and class. The prostitute is a staple of 19th century fiction. Debate about prostitution is also a reflection of cultural anxiety about urbanization. Victorian ideas about fallenness create the ideological assumptions behind the creation of the Contagious Diseases Acts. Through the control of sexuality, the Acts reinforced existing

in the late 19th century, Bram Stoker’s epistolary novel Dracula is a pivotal book in gothic/horror literature. Like most novels written by men, Dracula appeals more to the male audience and their fantasies and fears about women than to the Victorian Age woman. In the novel, Lucy and Mina are the only two female characters the reader meets in detail, and they are also the only two characters that are seen becoming vampires – indeed, they are the only major vampire characters, with the exception of

(Realisms, 90) The reader is oriented immediately to bird imagery. The Victorians loved comparing women to birds. To the typical Victorian sentimentality, a woman was like a bird. She was beautiful and delicate. She needed to be taken care of, because on her own she was vulnerable. Her life’s purpose was to protect the nest and the nestlings, or children. However

Importance Of Being Hypocritical Ideals are only as ideal as the advocate's moral conduct. Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedic play that explores the convoluted beliefs of Victorian society through the use of satire. Wilde uses a satirical lens to examine not only the pretenses that typify Victorian culture but to explicate the fundamentals of the characters. Throughout the play, aristocratic social relations are revealed, specifically with regard to how individuals within the society

The play, The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde was written during the Victorian Era, characterized for its moral values. Throughout the play, Wilde used satire as comical relief to show his deviance from the social order by making ridiculous the ideas of standards, morals and manners. Oscar Wilde criticizes the superficiality of Victorian marriage and courtship through the character Lady Bracknell and the name Earnest. Lady Bracknell is presented by Wilde as the true definition of a satirical