In the mid-Victorian period women have been represented in many different ways, using various forms of literature, for example through poetry, novels, and newspaper articles and also in visual form through paintings and etchings, they show how women were represented, how fathers, husbands and society treated them in general. The mid-Victorian period is classified as being around 1851-1870, a period of "intense and prolific activity in literature, especially by novelists and poets, philosophers and essayists," (The Critical Poet). .
Unlike the earlier romantic 19th century novels of Jane Austen whose characters such as Elizabeth Bennett lived happily ever after, Victorian novelist George Eliot, broke the tradition of the standard romantic novel by representing women in unhappy relationships and the reality and problems of the woman's role in life and their place in society, this is particularly evident in her realist novel Middlemarch.
Another example of the way women were represented in the mid-Victorian period is in poetry such as Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" who is bound by the web she weaved within the confines of "Four gray walls and four gray towers", (p755, line 15, Romantic Period Verse), but once she broke free from the web to join the "delights" and the "magic sights", to follow Sir Lancelot, (lines 64, 65), her fate was sealed and she cried "The curse is come upon me", (line 116), as she is led to her death.
Art critic, and writer John Ruskin wrote the article Sesame and Lilies, it is a primary source published in 1865 to use as a lecture, which was given in Manchester on December 6, 1864. Deborah Epstein-Nord described in her edition of Sesame and Lilies that it is a "classic nineteenth-century statement on the natures and duties of men and women", (Epstein-Nord, 2002). Ruskin's account of how the Victorian women should behave can be seen as the "conservative ideal of Victorian womanhood", (The Norton Anthology of English Literature).
The Victorian Era is no exception. ... However, its most prominent influence has perhaps been on contemporary literature. ... First of all, Victorian society was one marked by class distinctions. ... As in the Victorian Age, these three classes in the novel also have marked differences. ... Another important feature of prisons in the Victorian Age was the Newgate Prison. ...
Victorian literature had a grandiose sense to it. Extravagance played a huge part in Victorian literature as well. ... The Victorian era, however, took a toll on their light hearted literature, it exploited the aspects of that century, its changes, the positive and negative outcomes of these changes, and how it affected the society and the lives of the Victorians. Although the content of the literature changed, the romance, extravagance and richness in the literature was still present in their writings. ... In spite of the uncertainty of terminology, there are some concrete statements that on...
Women in the Victorian Society as reflected in The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles ž What are we faced with in the nineteenth century? ... Indeed, the Victorian Woman is fixed in our minds in a series of strikingly different, often mutually exclusive, images. ... The French Lieutenant's Woman, though žexactly mid-Victorian in setting and subject matter is not regarded by critics as a historical novel and yet the images of its heroines presented appear to be quite close to the true portrait of a Victorian Woman. ... Ernestina can also serve as a typi...
It is characterized by rapid growth and extreme change in politics, literature, science, social class, and economy. ... Families were larger during the Victorian Era. ... The British Empire also saw a transformation and expansion in literature during the Victorian Era. ... Education was also a major aspect of the Victorian Era. ... Science also saw some expansion during the Victorian Era. ...
The end of the Restoration ushered in a new era of English literature. ... Amongst his works, Oliver Twist is a vivid interpretation of Victorian life and society. ... Such ideas apparently sprung from the Victorian novels" complaints at the social order. ... These works paved the way for the future avant-garde literature. ... The works of all the authors from the eras of Romanticism to Victorian to Modernism undoubtedly had their share in changing the society leading to the next generation of post-modern literature. ...
The Victorian Period (1870 v/s 1900) The Victorian age can be described as the age of transition, which by definition has a dual aspect when change is revolutionary: destruction and reconstruction. The Victorians recognised that they were breaking down the systems of: Christian orthodoxy under the rule of the church, civil government under the rule of the king and nobility, the social structure of fixed classes, each with its recognised rights and duties and the economic organisation. ... The Victorians reacted to their age with hope and dismay, optimism and anxiety. ... Social: The gro...
Marriage did not secure women the same right with men; however, was a norm that devised structures for judging women in Victorian society. Fletcher in his book The History of English Literature argues that Victorian respectability hides the importance of sexuality in the love relationship in a dark cupboard. ... Rossetti viewed the Victorian marriage market as a place of competition and betrayal. ... In Victorian society women were looked as being devoid of passions or desires. ... " As all the available Victorian structures proves a failure, where women are turned into potential victims...
Regionalism author Kate Chopin and Victorian poet Robert Browning have masterfully created literature classics depicting the plight of humanity. ... In My Last Duchess, Browning has the Duke dictate "Sir, ˜twas not Her husband's presence only, called that spot Of joy into the Duchess' cheek " questioning her joyous blush as painted in the portrait by Fra Pandolf within Victorian era societal expectations, yet the Duchess was left alone with Pandolf. ... Despite Chopin and Browning's different literary ties, Regionalism and the Victorian era respectively, they both masterf...
