While the Victorian era ended over a century ago, its values are likely familiar. These included roles and duties dealing with the family as well as duties stemming from social class. The morality of the era encouraged charity as well as sexual propriety. Victorian values could be considered elitist insofar as they prescribed paternalistic duties to men and the upper classes to those who were considered lesser, e.g., women and the lower classes. While Victorian values were well-known, the social trends of the era suggest that the advocacy of Victorian morality was at least somewhat hypocritical.
Family Structure
One of the main concerns of Victorian morality was the family. Families tended to be large with many children. Moreover, the expected roles of the family, such as the mother, father, eldest child, etc., were rigid and demanding. Consequently, one's familial role was a source of duty, and the division of domestic roles and labor were divided along gender and generational lines. Ultimate authority was vested in the father, and thus "family values" in the Victorian era entailed perpetuating a patriarchal structure. It was considered proper, for instance, for a woman to obey her father until she was married, at which point she was expected to obey her husband.
Within the family, fathers were given the authority to command the rest of the household and could punish disobedience. Victorian mothers were charged with domestic duties, e.g., nurturing and educating children. It was assumed that women were "naturally" more religious than men, so it fell on mothers to foster religious values in the household. Children were expected to be obedient as well as honest.
Victorian Ideals: Charity
One of the general ideals of the Victorian era was charity. It was expected that those who had the economic means should seek to help the "deserving poor." The deserving poor were those who were considered innocent, or in other words, were not the cause of their own poverty. This includes the sick and infirm, orphans, widows, and the elderly. By contrast, the undeserving poor consisted of those who did not have much money due to their supposed moral flaws. This class included gamblers, prostitutes, single mothers, drunkards, etc.
Victorian Era Sexual Repression
Gender difference was central to many of the Victorian social expectations. For instance, it was assumed that men naturally had an inclination toward sexual gratification that women did not have. Instead, women were expected to find pleasure in motherhood and should only have sex for reproductive purposes. At a minimum, women were expected to not have sex before marriage. Sex was viewed in the upper classes as vulgar, and consequently, the Victorian era developed a system of metaphors using flowers, called the language of flowers, to express (sexual) affection.
Victorian women who apparently experienced sexual gratification were depicted in literature as immoral. They were often further portrayed as being righteously punished or suffering for their impropriety. Men were not subjected to such strict limitations on their sexuality, although certainly "perversions" of various sorts, including hom*osexuality, could result in serious social censure. Note that these standards were largely a concern of the upper and middle classes. Consequently, it was often overlooked that women from the lower classes turned to prostitution for money. In sum, the Victorian era sexual repression certainly focused on (middle to upper class) women, but it applied to everyone.
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FAQs
In the late nineteenth-century, British people became hypocritical in their moral. In the Victorian, standards of personal morality can be seen in class social and the high levels of cohabitation without marriage and illegitimate births.
What were the moral values of the Victorian era? ›
Elements of Victorian morality explained. Although truthfulness, economizing, duty, personal responsibility, and a strong work ethic were strongly regarded as morals of the Victorian era, the years between 1837 and 1901 involved much more.
What are the Victorian standards of morality? ›
British Victorian morality refers to a set of social and moral values that were prevalent in Britain during the Victorian era (1837 to 1901). These values were characterized by a strict code of conduct that emphasized sexual repression, traditional gender roles, and conservative social norms.
What Victorian values and ideals are being mocked in The Importance of Being Earnest? ›
The Importance of Being Earnest criticizes Victorian values, specifically those placed on marriage, love, and status. Social status was significant to Victorians, yet Wilde reveals that social status does not negate one's value.
What is moral hypocrisy theory? ›
Studies have revealed the nature of moral behavior to be hypocrisy; that is, people desire to appear moral to themselves and others without practicing moral behavior (Batson et al., 1997, 1999, 2002).
What is the critique of Victorian morality implied in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest? ›
From this research, it is finally found that Wilde has criticized Victorian morality that loses its sense of humor through his social comedy work. Through The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde seems to suggest that triviality should sometimes replace seriousness.
What are the 5 Victorian values? ›
If we ask academics to enumerate archetypically Victorian values, they might say: prudishness, thrift, individualism, responsibility, self-reliance, an entrepreneurial spirit, the idea of the self-made man, the civilising mission, evangelism to name a few.
What were Victorian values and ideals? ›
Victorian morality is associated with family values, charity, and thriftiness along with sexual repression. These values conflict with the social tendencies of the time including rampant prostitution, child labor, and the exploitation of the lower classes.
What were Victorian values for kids? ›
Children would have been well aware that they were expected to obey God, their parents, teachers, betters, elders, as well as being a loyal subject of Queen Victoria! Wealthy Victorians believed that good breeding and respectability separated those from 'polite society' from the awful, lawless poor.
How does Victorian morality relate to religion? ›
Victorian morality and virtues were governed by religious thoughts and teachings. Through their sermons on faith, the clergy were able to spread the “Word of God” to followers. They had the responsibility of engaging their congregations in prayer and service.
The expectations men had for women caused women to prepare for marriage and gave women hardly any freedom. The men's expectations pressured women to be the ideal Victorian woman society expected them to be. The women had to prepare themselves for what was to come of their lives and it determined their future.
What was the ideal Victorian woman? ›
The ideal Victorian woman was pure, chaste, refined, and modest. This ideal was supported by etiquette and manners. The etiquette extended to the pretension of never acknowledging the use of undergarments (sometimes generically referred to as "unmentionables").
Which character best represents Victorian moral codes and ideals? ›
More than any other character in the play, Jack Worthing represents conventional Victorian values: he wants others to think he adheres to such notions as duty, honor, and respectability, but he hypocritically flouts those very notions.
How is hypocrisy shown in The Importance of Being Earnest? ›
Algernon pretends to be Ernest in order to approach Cecily, Jack's ward, a woman fascinated by her guardian's romantically evil brother. Algernon piles hypocrisy upon pretense by assigning to the fictional Ernest the same fictional invalid friend that he himself uses.
How does Ulysses reflect Victorian ideals? ›
Ulysses stated that he wants to discover knowledge that is “beyond the utmost bound of human thought” and “follow knowledge like a sinking star” which reflects the Victorian spirit of inquiry that transcends beyond human consciousness and logic.
What are the moral dilemmas of the Victorian age? ›
Victorian morality is associated with family values, charity, and thriftiness along with sexual repression. These values conflict with the social tendencies of the time including rampant prostitution, child labor, and the exploitation of the lower classes.
What is the hypocrisy of Victorian society Dorian Gray? ›
Alan is a prime example of a victim of Victorian society and its hypocrisy; he has been conditioned to believe that his relationship with Dorian was immoral and fears its capacity to tarnish his reputation, thus choosing to commit the less socially condemning criminal act over the other.
What were the negative aspects of the Victorian society? ›
On the other hand, there were negative aspects, like the overcrowding of cities, the exploitation of women and children (because they work more and cost less), the building of Workhouses and the growth of slums.
What were the bad things about the Victorian times? ›
Worst Things about the Victorian Era:
- Social Inequality: The Victorian era was characterized by significant social disparities. ...
- Limited Women's Rights: Women faced significant gender inequality during the Victorian era. ...
- Repressive Social Mores: Victorian society was marked by strict moral and social codes.
