ipl-logo

Domesticity During The Victorian Period

192 Words1 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social norms in the victorian norms

During the Victorian Era, society bound women to the home, as there was a prevailing attitude that considered domesticity and motherhood to be a sufficient emotional fulfilment for females. This glorification of a “woman’s mission” stifled women, as they were expected to conform to the demanding and restrictive expectations of being a model mother, wife, and daughter. Queen Victoria, who represented the revered femininity centred on the family, motherhood and respectability, epitomized the perfect realization of these societal demands. As a result of her idyllic marriage and family dynamic, Victoria came to be seen as the very model of marital stability and domestic virtue. However within this antiquated period, writer Thomas Hardy presented
Show More
Related
487 Words | 2 Pages

In the 1800’s women were expected to do all of the housework, take care, and educate children, while men were out doing labor work. Women were trying to find their freedom during this time while still doing their jobs. The Cult of Domesticity was important because it showed the tradition of women which was staying at home and doing all of the housework. They did not have the same rights as men did and were not allowed to do many things, such as voting. During this Market Revolution, the economy had changed in a way that most people made things to sell and used that money to buy what they needed.

Read More
665 Words | 3 Pages

During the victorian times childeren were viewed as nothing more than property. They where abuesed in maney ways such as child labor, fiscal and sexual abuse. There are now laws ristricting children from working in dangerus jobs and providing them with fair pay. These laws also prevent children from working long hours but during the victorian times there were no such laws. Childeren of the victorian era were emoployed as piecers, standing at the spinning machines repairing breaks in the thread.

Read More
557 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout her essay Brady used sarcasm and outlandish claims to incite a strong emotional reaction from her readers. I too was shocked by her requirements for a wife and the fact that women in that time period were expected to follow these requirements. Brady has done an excellent job of appealing to the readers using pathos while explaining how absurd the expectations of wives

Read More
1014 Words | 5 Pages

For all of Victoria’s reign, she would put emphasis on motherhood and family (Veldman et al.), along with women’s rights and education reform (Bernard 7), which helped to shape the Victorian era and society in Britain

Read More
539 Words | 3 Pages

If we could go back in time would you? What if we did not have to, we could change our lives and world around us to be however we want. Many people think that life in the eighteenth century was much harder than today; others, however, believe that the quick pace of work and home life, the lack of an appreciation of beauty, and a general laziness of the populace has made life in the 2000s much worse than in the 1880s. In the 1880s people spent more time at home with their families.

Read More
858 Words | 4 Pages

One of the many characteristic features of the Victorian culture was its patriarchal ideas about women. This culture looked upon sexual activity as a negative matter amongst women. The theme of sexuality is very significant

Read More
590 Words | 3 Pages

Alex Illetschko Hensch Honors Communications 10 17 January 2023 Cult of Domesticity Essays In the 19th Century, there was a prevalent belief called the cult of domesticity. In the cult of domesticity, women were expected to stay home in the private sphere while men went out into the world to jobs in the public sphere. They were expected to have qualities such as piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Women were also believed to be physically and mentally lesser than men.

Read More
774 Words | 4 Pages

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” critiques Victorian womanhood in several ways throughout the text. Victorian women were expected to be pure, dainty, and perfectly angelic. They were also expected to be perfect mothers, wives, and hostesses at all times. If a woman were to express too much emotion, she would be called hysterical. Hysteria was considered a medical condition which rendered a woman incapable of reason or generally thinking like an adult.

Read More
317 Words | 2 Pages

A housemaid is a female person employed in domestic service, although now usually found only in the most wealthy of households. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work uses. In the contemporary Western world, comparatively few households can afford live-in domestic help, usually compromising on periodic cleaners. In less developed nations, very large differences in the income of urban and rural households and between different socio-economic classes, fewer educated women and limited opportunities for working women ensures a labour source for domestic work. Maids perform typical domestic chores such as cooking, ironing, washing, cleaning the house, grocery

Read More
114 Words | 1 Pages

As a woman in the Victorian era, you have three options. You are either a pure blessed virgin, a married wife and mother, or a ravenous harlot. This seemingly repressed period of history was dominated by the idea that one’s sexuality formed their identity, social standing, and respectability. Ironically, the modern person would think of the common Victorian as extremely repressed and didactic, when in fact sexuality became a private focus in the public through literature and arts. These ideas of glorifying sexuality are very prevalent in Brahm Stoker’s

Read More
1472 Words | 6 Pages

Throughout Bram Stoker 's time in the Victorian Era, societal norms were prevalent in terms of the seclusion of women 's rights, as well as the religious revival of Catholicism. The time in which Stoker lived was when Catholicism made its breakthrough in english societies. In terms of prominent time periods,"The Victorian Age is in fact above all others an age of religious revival" (Arnstein 149). Because religion was one of the largest changes in the Victorian era, Bram Stoker was surrounded by efforts of incorporating Catholicism back into everyday life. In addition, Stoker grew up in an environment where the "Problem of women 's emancipation in nineteenth century Britain was...recognition for their achievements" (Jihang 49).

Read More
534 Words | 3 Pages

However, due to the satirical nature of this poem, one can see that Hardy does not fully agree with the restrictions that have been placed on women by society during the Victorian era. The belief of society was that women who had sex out of wedlock were ruined; although, the poem demonstrates how deviating from the values of a society can present options that would not have been available otherwise. This is evident within the tone and title of the poem. “The Ruined Maid” has a conversational tone which suggests

Read More
1540 Words | 7 Pages

Women during the Victorian era in the 19th and 20th centuries were considered a lesser class. They had nonexistent social power and became part of their husband’s identities after they married. Women were not allowed to own property, vote, or have sexual relations out of marriage. Victorian women were expected to be the “Angel of the Household” who would take care of the family, keep the house clean, and not be seen. The social environment encouraged Victorian women to write ghost stories to criticize the treatment of women in society.

Read More
919 Words | 4 Pages

The Victorian era was associated with a patriarchal society, protestant work ethic, family values and religious ideals Walkowitz (1980) The nineteenth century saw a massive amount of changes in society. The impact of the industrial revolution altered the nation’s demographics, changes in employment, increase in population and advances in medicine. Ninetieth century England was changing economically, socially and politically with a shift towards a more centralised government this in turn affected social structures. Foucault ( ) discussed in his work that sexuality was constructed at this time by the bourgeois as sexual activities were frowned upon and the belief that sex was a very private activity that is purely for husband and wife and

Read More
1162 Words | 5 Pages

The society of that time had ideas and expectations on how women should behave. They were expected to be humble, pure, innocent, good wives and mothers. Furthermore, they were seen as inferior to men in almost every aspect. Feeling himself as a 'misfit ', Hardy was always in a disagreement with editors and critics, thus he had to edit his texts to conform the Victorian Society. In this way, he identified himself with the suppressed classes.

Read More

More about Domesticity During The Victorian Period

Related Topics

Open Document