THE
VICTORIAN ERA
As
a matter of context towards understanding the Victorian Era and how
it influenced social life, we present a brief summary of the facts.
Firstly, the crowning of a woman was due to the absence of a male
heir to be king, and out of a family dispute for regency Victoria
became the queen. A while later her advisers pressed her to get
married. She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840.
After
having children to raise, Albert ended up assuming control of the
monarchy. And when he died, Victoria was inconsolable and unable to
reassume her duties. She became negligent and her son, Prince Albert
Edward, was pronounced as unfit to be king. This situation summoned
an anti-monarchical sentiment from people and Queen Victoria's image
had to be restored, which was engineered by the second ministry,
Benjamin Disraeli.
Overall,
Victoria's reign was marked by transition in social life. There were
strict social rules and changes in ideals, influenced by science,
literature, religion, urbanization, industrialization, etc.
Conditions
of Life and Labour: T
he
work conditions in this period were very harmful, people had to work
long hours a day, and among the workers were included women and
children.
he
work conditions in this period were very harmful, people had to work
long hours a day, and among the workers were included women and
children.
For
women, common occupations were teaching and needlework, which was
considered “respectable” for middle-class or lower middle-class
young women. Although, by the mid nineteenth century it was getting more
and more difficult for women to find a good job, so the number of
women with long hours and a very small salary increased in a big
proportion, prostitution became an option.
Children also had to work during that period. It was normal for a family to support itself with the help of child labor. A low percentage of children were at school; the others were working as apprentices to respectable trades, general servants, iron and coal mines, gas works, shipyards, construction, match factories, nail factories, and the business of chimney sweeping, etc. or even as prostitutes (most of the prostitutes were between 15 and 22 years old). Many children worked 16 hours a day under atrocious conditions, as their elders did. ““How long,” they say, “how long, O cruel nation, Will you stand, to move the world, on a child’s heart (…).” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Cry of the Children”, lines 153-154).
Children also had to work during that period. It was normal for a family to support itself with the help of child labor. A low percentage of children were at school; the others were working as apprentices to respectable trades, general servants, iron and coal mines, gas works, shipyards, construction, match factories, nail factories, and the business of chimney sweeping, etc. or even as prostitutes (most of the prostitutes were between 15 and 22 years old). Many children worked 16 hours a day under atrocious conditions, as their elders did. ““How long,” they say, “how long, O cruel nation, Will you stand, to move the world, on a child’s heart (…).” (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Cry of the Children”, lines 153-154).
Public
Health: S
ince
there was lack of urban sanitary infrastructure and a highly
increased population, the Victorian Era confronted death of thousands
of citizens due to “cholera”. This disease out broke because of
the conditions of sewage system and the contamination of the Thames
River, which was the main water supply. Medical
community was stubborn to believe that the disease was air-borne,
and only a few
decades later they found the solution.
ince
there was lack of urban sanitary infrastructure and a highly
increased population, the Victorian Era confronted death of thousands
of citizens due to “cholera”. This disease out broke because of
the conditions of sewage system and the contamination of the Thames
River, which was the main water supply. Medical
community was stubborn to believe that the disease was air-borne,
and only a few
decades later they found the solution.
Urban
life was depicted by an increasing number of journalists, and their
resource for social images led to the connotation of a filthy and
shameful place. Writers such as Dickens
spoke about this low life condition: “being all asmear with filth
and fat and blood and foam, seemed to stick to me.” (Dickens,
“Great Expectations”, p.6). In Oliver Twist, Wilde expresses the
Thames River as a dangerous place, “this
strange place …[,] this dark and dismal hole” (Oscar Wilde,
“Oliver Twist”, p. 302).
Race:
D
uring
the Victorian Era, there was strong racism towards Irish, Black and
lower class citizens. An
interesting fact to this racism is how it was influenced by science,
and even called “scientific racism”. After Darwin's studies about
the origin of species, the idea of inferiority due to an individual's
physical differences grew inside social life. Also, the depictions by
“Punch Cartoons” reinforced these ideas by portraying “the
Irish as having bestial, ape-like or demonic features and the
Irishman, (especially the political radical) was invariably given a
long or prognathous jaw, the stigmata to the phrenologists of a lower
evolutionary order, degeneracy, or criminality”. (Wohl, “Racism
and Anti-Irish Prejudice in Victorian England”, The
Victorian Web).
uring
the Victorian Era, there was strong racism towards Irish, Black and
lower class citizens. An
interesting fact to this racism is how it was influenced by science,
and even called “scientific racism”. After Darwin's studies about
the origin of species, the idea of inferiority due to an individual's
physical differences grew inside social life. Also, the depictions by
“Punch Cartoons” reinforced these ideas by portraying “the
Irish as having bestial, ape-like or demonic features and the
Irishman, (especially the political radical) was invariably given a
long or prognathous jaw, the stigmata to the phrenologists of a lower
evolutionary order, degeneracy, or criminality”. (Wohl, “Racism
and Anti-Irish Prejudice in Victorian England”, The
Victorian Web).
The
Victorians considered Irish people to be immature and in need of
guidance, and many oppositions were made to reinforce Irish
inferiority: “Irish "emotion" was contrasted,
unfavorably, with English "reason", Irish "femininity"
with English "masculine" virtues, Irish "poetic"
attributes with English "pragmatism".” (Wohl,
“Racism and Anti-Irish Prejudice in Victorian England”).
Class:
E
arly
in the nineteenth century, emerged the
terms UPPER CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS, and UNDER CLASS, to
differentiate social classes of the
Victorian era. These social classes could be distinguished by
inequalities in areas such as
authority, working, living conditions, education, etc.
arly
in the nineteenth century, emerged the
terms UPPER CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS, and UNDER CLASS, to
differentiate social classes of the
Victorian era. These social classes could be distinguished by
inequalities in areas such as
authority, working, living conditions, education, etc.
In
the upper class were the wealthy families that didn't
need to work because they had inherited fortune, lands
or investments. In this class were included aristocrats,
nobles
and others who worked in the court.
This new gentry who owed their success to commerce and
industry evolved into an "upper class" which tenaciously
maintained control over political system, depriving not only the
working classes but the middle classes of a voice in the political
process.
The
middle class was the largest class, it was
considered hostile to other classes and was affected by immigration.
Only men provided
income, and it
was controlled by the the upper class, due to the progress of the
Industrial Revolution. In the middle class there was the working
class that was divided in Upper working class: skilled labour and
Lower working class: unskilled labour.
Finally, the under class was the one which lived in poverty, homeless, unskilled and ill, so they were considered “the sunken people”, unskilled workers and the under class beneath them remained much more susceptible to exploitation.
Finally, the under class was the one which lived in poverty, homeless, unskilled and ill, so they were considered “the sunken people”, unskilled workers and the under class beneath them remained much more susceptible to exploitation.
In
Charles Dickens'
novel, “Hard Times”, different characters are dipicted from
society at the time,
and one has a peculiar role,
since he became
rich starting from humble origins:
“A man who was always proclaiming, through that brassy
speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old
poverty.” (p. 25)
Gender
Issues: In this period, girls
usually married in their early to mid-20s. To find a husband, they
were supposed to have some skills like drawing and embroidery, which
were part of a conventional female education in the 18th and 19th
centuries, besides that, they should also have a certain knowledge
about music, singing, dancing, and the modern languages. It was also
important for a well-educated girl to act with gracefulness
and feminine manners, and they had no choice but to stay chaste until
they got married. As wife, a
woman should keep the whole household running. For men,
concerning marriage, they should be able to have enough money to
support a wife and their
future children. They didn't have a
father's permission until they had enough
money, so some young men had to be engaged for decades until they
could afford to get married. On the other
hand, for poor women there was factory
work, governess or prostitution. Prostitution
of women became a very polemic theme in literature and art at the
time, frequently refered to as “the fallen women”. Charles
Dickens was active in saving prostitutes, and even managed a refuge
for them, the Urania Cottage.
Many of his novels approached the theme,
such as “Oliver Twist”, “David Copperfield” and “Hard
Times”. Other writers also tried to sensitize about the matter:
Elizabeth Gaskell wrote “Mary Barton” (1848) and Thomas Hood
wrote “The Bridge of Sighs” (1844), just to name a few. Later in
1984, George Watt wrote “The Fallen Woman in the Nineteenth-Century
English Novel”, in which he defines two different types of women:
“the pure one to be married, the other to be used” (p.8)
References:
http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gender-roles-in-the-19th-century
http://www.striking-women.org/module/workplace-issues-past-and-present/working-hours
http://www.bartleby.com/224/
http://www.academia.edu/1505231/Water_and_the_Fallen_Woman_in_Victorian_Literature_and_Art
http://www.pbs.org/empires/victoria/majesty/index.html
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/sochistov.html
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/Class.html
http://www.bartleby.com/246/260.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/786/786-h/786-h.htm
(all
accessed on November 6, 2014)
Posted by: Rafael Damasceno, Mariana Dutra, and Naiara Reis
