Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen

It was very interesting to read about a woman’s role in society during the Victorian period. Middle-class women were expected to be the head of the domestic area, including the home and the family, while the men were expected to take care of the business side of the world. A passage from Tennyson’s The Princess is on page 555 and seems to describe the views of the different roles during the time period well:

“Man for the field and woman for the hearth:
Man for the sword and for the needle she:
Man with the head and woman with the heart:
Man to command and woman to obey:
All else confusion.” (555).

During that time, it was unheard of and quite rude for a woman to be out of the home and working. This idea seems quite absurd in today’s society since it is quite common and encouraged for a woman to work and accomplish whatever she wants. In the introduction describing the different gender roles, it describes women stating, “They could not work outside the home; they could not vote; they had no legal rights, even over their own children; they could not attend university or enter the professions.” (556). Women certainly seemed to be put in a second class during this time. It was thought that the women were there to take care of the men and to make sure that they were kept happy. In today’s society, if a woman wants to do nothing more than to do this, then I definitely support that, but if she desires more, than she should have that right as well.

An interesting work is included in the section from a woman’s point of view supporting their role in society at the time. Sarah Stickney Ellis advised other women to accept their inferior role to men and devote their lives to the happiness of their brothers, husbands, and sons. In addition, she discouraged intellectual ambition and saw it as a waste of time. I thought that this view was interesting to read about since very often we read works from women arguing quite the opposite.

In Ellis’s “The Influence of Women,” from The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits, she gives women many reasons why it is important that they accept their role in the home. She points out, “the influence of woman in counteracting the growing evils of society is about to be more needed than ever” (558). She then continues with asking, “Will an increase of intellectual attainments, or a higher style of accomplishments, effect this purpose?” (558). Women studying and becoming smarter will not solve the problems in the society that she describes as “growing evils.” She feels that women’s engaging in “superficial reading” does not enable them to be able to assist the men in her family. A book is not what can gain a man’s admiration according to Ellis. She states, “And yet what man is there in existence who would not rather his wife be free from selfishness, than be able to read Virgil without the use of a dictionary.” A woman could gain a man’s attention through being able to hold a compelling conversation with him, but studying was not the way. Although I do not agree with these ideas, I still find them to be interesting. Men actually saw this as a woman’s role in this time so in part she is probably right about many things. A man probably would have rather his wife made him happy than spend her time studying. Reading about these roles makes me happy to live in this time where woman can pretty much choose to do whatever they want to do. If they want to be the career woman, they can choose to do so, and if they choose to stay at home with a more domestic role, she may also choose to do that.