Elizabeth Barrett Browning Social Structure

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the Victorian Context
Traditional social structure
• Different social classes can be (and were by the classes themselves) distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture.
Working class – physical labour
• Poor living and work conditions
• Did not follow rules of courtships
• Did not participate in social entertainment
• Had very little chance for education
Working conditions/living conditions
• Workers included women and children
• Long work days
• Poor nutrition and health
• Often overcrowded
• Poorly ventilated
• No sewage or draining system
Middle class – performed clean
A great number of people were habitual church-goers, at least once and probably twice, every Sunday. The Bible was frequently and widely read by people of every class; so too were religious stories and allegories. Yet towards the end of Queen Victoria's reign, the hold of organized religion upon the English people began to slacken for several reasons. E.g. education, science
Patriarchal society and gender roles
• In general, man possesses virtue, morality, honesty, straightness and reason opposing to the image of the woman, sensitive, emotive and weak.
• The public sphere was dominated by the male figure and the private one by the female figure, where she will become a woman.
• Ideal state, that of looking after and to serve to her husband and her children, once they are born, so as to say, motherhood. With this it was supposed that women would get
• Men, in contrary, where expected to be the brave knights, defending their country and their women, standing upright in the society, working hard – the same perfect picture of men, as it always had been.
Rules and social interaction
• During the Victorian Era social interaction between men and women was regulated by a strict set of rules.
• Proper introductions needed to be made and chaperones were always close at hand.
• Since strict social codes limited flirtation and verbal expression in Victorian times, ladies often used their fans to communicate their feelings.
The economic dependence of women
• Women were dependant on their husbands
• The economical factor was the criterion of worth of individuals in this society. And it was this factor also which determinate and allowed achieve a good marriage, meaning good, in a high social status.
• Women were dependent of their fathers, first, and of their husbands, afterwards. This economic dependence created problems when the husband went away from home, leaving her