Kat @ Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:07 pm wrote:Thanks for all those!
I went to a few sites.
The one on Acton was hard to read- Meaning how women were viewed.
Of course I tried the Spinsters and Old Maids site but got an error.
Here is the bit on spinsters:
Spinsters and Old Maids as Defined by the Victorian Age
Geneva Napolitano
In the Victorian Age, there existed a certain ideology of what constituted the perfect Victorian woman. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, young girls began attending schools that offered basic skills such as reading, writing, and math. Manuals of etiquette and conduct instructed young girls in manners of society and the home (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 woman's life" (Basch 16). Thus, the perfect woman was also the perfect wife, an active part of the family, with specific regard to the children (Vicinus ix). Yet, although the perfect woman was a married woman, not all marriages were perfect. Victorian society set strict standards for the roles of women, specifically middle class women, as wives and mothers. Women often did not benefit from being married in many respects, 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). Many 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. Society 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 small sect of unmarried women that did not allow society's rules to interfere with their idea of what life should be like. These women laughed at society's idea of the perfect woman. Victorian society, therefore, presents different models for the women of its society based on their role in that society and whether they are married or not.
Most often, marriage defined a woman's status and her attitude and emotions. Married women represented the angel of the house. Women learned "passive virtues of patience, resignation, and silent suffering" (Lerner 175). Women were expected to take care of their families and the home as if it were the only thing that mattered in the world. A good wife did not want to be outside the home or do anything that would distract her from her duties. These virtues characterized their lives. Society directed their use of them to guide their families emotionally and morally as wife and mother. Women always maintained their submissive, dependent status in their marriage (Basch 6). This idea of wife as an inspiration was central to the Victorian concept of the home and its meaning. Because the Victorians viewed the home as the haven from evil, it only made sense that the woman's place, with these prescribed virtues, was in the home (Basch 7). In addition, women were not emotional, especially when it came to sex. Although part of her defined role included child-bearing, a woman did not exhibit any sexual impulses. Women were not supposed to generate passion or even enjoy sex. Sex in the marriage was meant entirely for the purpose of procreating (Basch 9). Furthermore, Victorian society believed that while a woman, again due to her prescribed virtues, did not have sexual impulses, that a man did most often, sometimes even before he was married. Thus, a part of a woman's role becomes saving the man "from himself and his carnal appetites" (Basch 9). By succumbing to her husband's desires, "her sacrifice helps the man to sublimate his instinct while doing the minimum to perpetuate the race" (Basch 9). As defined by Victorian society, women did not enjoy natural impulses, but restricted their passions to the home and family life. In the same way, women were restricted individually once they were married as well.
Once married, women lost all individual rights, and their status depended upon that of their husband. According to the law, the woman now belonged to her husband. Husbands retained control over their wives' assets, property, inheritance, children, and even their bodies (Basch 17). Everything belonging to the wife at the time she was married, became her husband's, "as well as anything she might acquire later on: annuities, personal income, gifts and emoluments" (Basch 20). Husbands could do with these acquired goods as they saw fit; they needed approval from no one. For upper-class wives, no laws protected their family's wealth, which may have been provided as a stipend in part to the wife, from the husband. The husband also had unlimited power over the rights of the children. The laws did not recognize the mother, but only stipulated "that children owed obedience to their father" (Basch 22). Yet, despite all the downfalls of marriage, Victorian women still continued to be married chiefly as a means of raising their family's economic status. Victorian society never let women forget family was its cornerstone and their "sole function was marriage and procreation" (Vicinus x). Women who broke away from these ideas threatened the fabric of society.
Unmarried women, or spinsters, found themselves in a difficult position following the industrial revolution. In Victorian England, rising numbers of women made the spinster a familiar character. Society, due to the changing economic and social standards, lacked respect for spinsters, making them outcasts from regular society (Basch 103). Women who could not catch a husband were seen as useless by society. Society felt marriage was the most important accomplishment a woman could achieve and, if she did not, then society felt her prime purpose had been defeated. Due to these factors, a spinster's role became distinct from a woman's role and took on a negative connotation. She becomes a "comic grotesque," or an unattractive, unintelligent woman incapable of a human connection, much less one with a man or husband (Auerbach 111). Society also forced some spinsters out into the workforce in an attempt to make their own livings because they had no family to support them. These women worked hard to support themselves although pressures of society's ideal woman "stood in the way of their practising a profession and acquiring the necessary education" (Basch 105). This lack of work and opportunity often led spinsters to a withdrawn, melancholy existence. Yet, not all spinsters felt they were meant to be viewed in such a disturbing light.
In contrast to the traditional idea of a spinster, an old maid preferred to establish herself in society with the audacity and aplomb of a hero of sorts (Auerbach 112). For many old maids the purpose of being unmarried was to dispel two primary fears of society: a female as a hero and a spinster as a spectacle of defeat of the family (Auerbach 114). Old maids do not always fade into the background of a society that makes them outcast and pitiable. A small sect of spinsters, here referred to as old maids, took it upon themselves to make their lives fulfilling regardless of their marital status. In some, spinsterhood generates "an authority that was no less potent for being virtually unmentionable" (Auerbach 119). Some of the most famous female writers of the Victorian Age would have been called old maids by their society. Authors like Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot remind society that being unmarried is not aligned with death. Women like these made an old maid a heroic status to keep, one with a power all its own. These women saw employment as an alternative to marriage, not a supplement (Lerner 176). These women believed the journeys made outside the family were "central to a Victorian spinster's sense of her life" because she literally had the freedom to move (Auerbach 124). True old maids do not see marriage as necessary, unlike the Victorian idea of a woman whose family is the crux of her identity. True old maids allow the power within themselves to direct their lives and happiness thereby setting themselves apart from both spinsters and married women (Auerbach 145).
The ideology of women in the Victorian Age adhered to strict rules about a woman's status, rights, and attitudes. Nineteenth-century women were supposed to display ideal characteristics such as submission, sacrifice, and silent resignation. A woman's life was mapped out for her from the time she was a small child, with her marriage being the central point. After being married, women had little to look forward to and little left to call their own. Many of their individual rights were taken over by their new husbands. Unmarried women, on the other hand, fall into a very different position. Spinster became figures of pity to Victorian society as women with no hope of ever being married, which is how they defined a woman's identity. Due to harsh economic conditions, those spinsters without family support may have encountered trouble securing a steady job. Yet, many spinsters felt their lives were worth more. A small sect of spinsters, or old maids, balked at the traditional model of what a spinster did or said. Instead, old maids flung themselves at life, unattached and uninhibited, in the best 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 laughed at life, and themselves, showing the perfect Victorian wives there could be more to life than fitting society's mold.
I love to research all things Victorian, anything to do with Nineteenth Century America. It really is an interesting era. What I wouldn't give to have lived during this time. So I thought I would share a bit of my recent research with you all. Maybe you'll find it interesting, maybe you'll yawn and say well thanks but no thanks. Either way, you have to admit, it's an interesting time. One that will never be recaptured.
