1. Victorian Women in England
Dracula

2. Assignment:
As you learn about ideals of womanhood in Victorian England, compare and contrast the ideals with both Lucy and Mina in Dracula. What about it is the same? What is different? How can we learn about the characters based on the historical information?

3. Overview– Victorian Era 1837-1901
A woman’s place was considered to be in the home. Then the mood changed as it became more acceptable for women to work in charitable organizations. This allowed women to start serving outside of the home.

4. Womanhood
Domesticity and motherhood were considered by society to be sufficient for emotional fulfillment.
Femininity was centered on the family, motherhood and respectability.
Queen Victoria was the perfect example of womanhood in the time period – inspired the country to act that way as well.

5. Ideal Woman Mrs. Frances Goodby
“…her ardent and unceasing flow of spirits, extreme activity and diligence, her punctuality, uprightness and remarkable frugality, combined with a firm reliance on God…carried her through the severest times of pressure, both with credit and respectability…”

6. Ideal Woman Life centered on home and family Good and virtuous
Pious, respectable and busy
No life of leisure
Constant devotion to her husband as well as to God
Helper to husband and domestic manager

7. Ideal Woman, cont.
Moral duty toward families, husbands and society as a whole.
NOT a weak, passive creature – rather a busy, able and upright figure who drew strength from moral superiority and virtue through service to others.

8. Female clothing
Female body dressed to emphasize a woman’s separation from the world of work.
Wore dresses that resembled interior furnishings (cozy, plush fabrics, heavy curtains, fussy furnishings)
Women’s fashions were to show off the body: corsets & large skirts to make the waist smaller & the chest, hips and bottom bigger.

9. Servants
Most middle class families only had one servant – could help with the hard physical labor of running a house, but not to provide leisure time.
Fetching & boiling water
Washing & ironing clothes
Washing & scrubbing floor with sand
Making clothes, underclothes, linens, etc.

10. Wife and Motherhood Spent time with children
Played with and educated them
Responded emotionally to infants and bonded with them through constant attendance
Marriage signified a woman’s maturity and respectability. Motherhood was a confirmation that a woman entered the world of womanly virtue and female fulfillment.

11. Wife and Motherhood, cont.
Motherhood was expected of a married woman and the childless single woman was a figure to be pitied.
Childless, single women were encouraged to find work caring for children as a governess or a nursery maid.

12. Charity work Mother and baby homes Kindergartens
Temperance (no alcohol) campaigns
Health and hygiene reform
Anyone who was deemed worthy of help and conditions required for charity.

13. New Woman From 1890-1920 women were 55% of all high school graduates
By 1920 two million women were in clerical positions (secretaries, stenographers, etc.)
Stressed women’s duties as well as women’s rights.