The victorian writer wrote essays, novels, plays and poems. Victorian women and their working roles digital commons at. In earlier centuries it had been usual for women to work alongside husbands. Women were very restricted within their classes and were even more. Pdf on oct 3, 2014, emy blesio and others published the woman. Shift from agrarian society to industrial society creates a middle class neither rich nor poor. Due to their reproductive system, women were seen by men as emotional and unstable to the point where they were incapable of making rational decisions.
Not up for discussion for people living in the western world in the 21st century, it is hard to imagine the lack of womens rights in the victorian era. Although the victorian era was a period of extreme social inequality, industrialisation brought about rapid changes in everyday life that affected all classes. Research article open access an overview of feminism in. In addition, hardy, thackeray, gaskell, trollope, bronte and george eliot also focused on the condition of woman. Her role, however, never initiated such heated deliberation as it did throughout midvictorian england, as evidenced by jane eyre, a novel published by a. During the victorian period men and womens roles became more sharply defined than at any time in history. Dickenss view on women there are many female characters in each novel, of charles dickenss novels. Still have brutal factory conditions, low wages, and crowded cities, but the 1830s mark the beginning of political and social reform acts. The industrial revolution, the railway age, steam engines were being used in mines, factories and ships.
The victorian era placed high value on honor, duty, moral seriousness, and sexual propriety. The study was largely based on twelve streets to the immediate west of glasgow city centre which, while practically contiguous, ranged from the very prosperous to the relatively modest. Victorian woman, or the angel of the house was defined by her role within the home because the family served as a sanctuary for the preservation of traditional moral and religious values zedner 12. The qualities valued by victorian society in the ideal female were submissiveness, innocence, purity, gentleness, selfsacrifice, patience. Victorian era, the period between about 1820 and 1914, corresponding roughly to the period of queen victorias reign 18371901 and. Victorian women in literature 143 account of the social institutions of victorian london. Victorian women and their working roles a thesis in english by kara l. The present research deals with the gender roles during the victorian era and the literature produced during the period that reflects the social status of women in. Queen victorian and feminism and lastly the victorian writer and the woman question. From marriage and sexuality to education and rights, professor kathryn hughes looks at attitudes towards gender in 19thcentury britain. Using the feminist critical theory, the paper argues that the predominant theme in victorian literature was the presentation of the new woman. Gender roles in the 19th century the british library.