VICTORIAN ERA Cultural Values Reflected in Literature

Queen Victoria

Victorian Family Life

Victorian Parlor

Victorian People

Victorian Home

INTRODUCTION TO THE VICTORIAN ERA Named after Queen Victoria of Great Britain (reigned ) During this time there is a rise of middle class people and professions Houses were a symbol of growing wealth and importance through the decoration outside and inside the house People move out of city centers and the suburbs are born in this era Women are the keepers of the home and the teachers of moral values to children

During Victorian Era the middle class expanded and its control of political, social and cultural issues increased. Middle class consisted of people who did not work with their hands, earned a predictable salary, and could afford to buy a home. 1

2 Middle class included: doctors, lawyers, ministers, skilled craftsman, teachers, businessmen, bankers, newspaper editors, settled farmers, managers, clerks, white- collar workers, etc. About half the population in an average city belonged to the middle class.

Due to availability of inexpensive manufactured goods, the Victorian middle class could afford to copy the manners of the more prosperous members of the previous generation 3

Members of the upper and middle classes expected their houses to convey meaning, i.e., a message which observers could easily understand. Messages, portrayed by the elaborateness or simplicity of the home’s design, included the wealth, class status, virtue, and taste of the owner, as well as the importance of family life. THE HOUSE AS A SYMBOL: 4

Wealth and its display (through home decoration and the amassing of consumer goods) became the most important factor in evaluating success. Specific architectural styles also relayed messages. For example: Gothic Revival = owner of English descent romance, chivalry Italianate = a cultured and artistic household THE HOUSE AS A SYMBOL: 5

THE VICTORIAN WOMAN: Middle class Victorians believed in separate spheres of activity for males and females. Men were assigned to the work place, while women were to influence home and family. (This belief did not extend to the lower class, whose women often had to work outside the home.) 6

This belief system stressed: Home as sanctuary for the family Woman as teacher of moral and spiritual values Through the decoration of the home, woman as teacher of artistic merit and taste Home as place of woman’s care and labor 7 THE VICTORIAN WOMAN:

Eventually, middle class women were morally (although not legally) prohibited from participating in most activities outside of the home. Whatever leisure time they might have was restricted to visiting, handicrafts, church and charitable activities, car parties, book clubs, etc. 8 THE VICTORIAN WOMAN:

“An obsessive and self-conscious decorating and collecting frenzy resulted when women were cut off from participation in the world and made the guardian of the family’s aesthetic and moral well-being.” (Elan and Susan Zingman-Leith. The Secret Life of Victorian Houses. p. 36) 9 THE VICTORIAN WOMAN: