Defining the Victorian Woman Essay -- Expository Definition Essays

Defining the prudish Woman In the strait-laced Age, thither existed a certain ideology of what constituted the perfect straightlaced woman. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, young girls began attending schools that offered basic skills such(prenominal) as reading, writing, and math. Manuals of etiquette and conduct instructed young girls in manners of family and the photographic plate (Basch 3). All of this prepared a young woman for marriage, which, in the nineteenth century, was put forward as being the culminating point of a womans behavior (Basch 16). Thus, the perfect woman was also the perfect wife, an active part of the family, with limited regard to the children (Vicinus ix). Yet, although the perfect woman was a married woman, not every marriages were perfect. Victorian society set strict standards for the roles of women, specifically middle course of instruction women, as wives and mothers. Women often did not benefit from being m arried in many values, such as their personal rights. In addition, the census of 1850 revealed a significant imbalance between the sexes, creating a surplus of single women (Lerner 176). some of these single women joined the ranks of spinsters and old maids due to this imbalance in the population. However, society did not give unmarried women the same roles as married women. association challenged these women because it believed that a woman without a husband was worthless. Society did not respect the position of these unmarried women, often making them outcasts. Yet, there esd a dinky sect of unmarried women that did not allow societys rules to interfere with their idea of what living should be like. Th... ...or said. Instead, old maids flung themselves at life, unattached and uninhibited, in the surpass possible way so as to get as much out of it as possible. Supported historically by the likes of great Victorian female authors, these old maids laughe d at life, and themselves, showing the perfect Victorian wives there could be more to life than fitting societys mold. Works Cited Auerbach, Nina. Woman and the deuce The Life of a Victorian Myth. London Harvard UP, 1982. Basch, Francoise. Relative Creatures Victorian Women in Society and the Novel. New York Schocken, 1974. Lerner, Laurence. The Victorians. New York Homes and Meier, 1978. Vicinus, Martha. Introduction.The Perfect Victorian Lady. Bloomington Indiana UP, 1972. 7 - xv.