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 1837-1901)
• 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
1
:
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.
2
:
Middle class included: doctors, lawyers,
ministers, skilled craftsman, teachers,
businessmen, bankers, newspaper editors,
settled farmers, managers, clerks, whitecollar workers, etc.
About half the population in an average
city belonged to the middle class.
3
:
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
4
THE HOUSE AS A SYMBOL:
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.
5
THE HOUSE AS A SYMBOL:
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
6
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.)
7
THE VICTORIAN WOMAN:
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
8
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.
9
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)