Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen

“The man, in his rough work in the open world, must encounter all peril and trial…often he must be wounded, or subdued, often misled; and always hardened. But he guards the woman from all this; within his house, as ruled by her…need enter no danger, no temptation, no cause of error or offense.” (Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen page 555). I support the fact that a man wants to be the head of his house and protect his wife and children. I want a man to treat me like a princess but at the same time treat me as an equal. A woman being treated as equals was not only reflected in the Victorian age. I truly feel that in the Victorian period, the women were stepping up to the plate and trying to gain some respect in the working and political distinctions of society.

Caroline Norton’s “A Letter to the Queen” is an example of a woman trying to fight for what she felt was owed to a woman. How can a man just take sole custody of the kids during a divorce just because he is a man? The answer is simply because a wife did not exist. I was really bothered by the “cannots” within this selection. On page 565, “An English wife cannot make a will.” Luckily she could leave belongings to benefit her children if she had them. On page 565, “An English wife cannot legally claim her own earnings.” Let me just say that if I get up every morning at 6:00am to go to work, you best believe that my earnings would be my earnings unless he wants to give up his pay too. In our society today, any woman that is giving up her paycheck and she is not retrieving anything from it then she is a good one! On page 565, “An English Wife may not leave her husband’s house.” In our society today, taking a woman by force and keeping refuge over her is considered abuse and or rape. These laws and guidelines were outrageous. And to think that the husband could sleep and lay with whomever he wanted to and not be penalized. The woman could never divorce the rascal even if she wanted to. That is ridiculous. As I have stated in one of my earlier blogs, I am not married, but if I had to live in the 1800s under these “can’t” guidelines, I would be dead or in jail or he would have had to kill me! Thankfully in 1882, the Married Women’s Property Act was passed, but poor little Caroline was dead already.

I am glad that Caroline Norton wrote this letter. The unfortunate part of it is that she had to go through it personally. I am thankful that she showed women like me how good we have it in today’s world compared to the 1800s. This Victorian age has lit a fire under me. I have really enjoyed these readings more than the Romantics.