Importance Of Morality In The Victorian Era

Superior Essays
The Victorian Era is understood to have existed during the rule of Queen Victoria during 1837 to 1901 and it was realized to be an exciting period that saw various literary schools, artistic styles, along with, social and political movements. Notably, the period was described to have led to swift developments and changes from observed advances in scientific, technological, and medical knowledge to changes in population growth. It was reckoned as an era of prosperity, great political reforms, and a widespread imperial expansion. However, in the modern world, the era has been perceived to have been filled with numerous contradictions. This was evident owing to the existence of social movements that were concerned with promoting public morals …show more content…
Morality was recognized as a significant element in the Victorian era. It however gained exceptional concern due to the lack of material progress and religious belief. The term as well represented the moral of people who lived during the Victorian era hence Victorian morality has been defined as the values that support low acceptance of crime, resilient social ethics and sexual control. Having portrayed huge importance and impact in the British Empire, these values spread all over the world (Rosner, Mary …show more content…
This was due to the fact that Victorians were presumed to be great moralizer most probably because they had faced many issues on a scale that they felt to be obliged in advocating for specific values that would aid in offering a solution to their problems. Being a rule, these values were realized to promote and reflect the world not in harsh realities that surrounded them but rather in their perception on how they would have preferred it to be (Altick, Richard).
It has been recorded that the Victorians were honored by their good manners, middle class values, welfare and many a times ignored the issues that afflicted England. The working class population was known to experience distress and miseries with the urban conditions making it worse as growth of slums created numerous health problems. In many cases, the whole families were crowded in tiny single rooms resulting to lack of hygiene that occasionally led to diseases such as cholera (Homer,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Victorian Action What decides what one as a person can or cannot do? Theoretically speaking, one could do anything one’s body is capable of, but society has chosen what is right and wrong. In the late nineteenth century, Queen Victoria ruled England. Her moral code, which is now known as victorianism, was widely accepted and acted upon by those who she ruled. Accordingly, the works of literature published during this time depict the popular-known, prudish nature of the population.…

    • 2044 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    During this time the Industrial Revolution occurred making the separation of classes not very big. Morals and conduct an extremely strict code of what was told to be a big issue back in the Victorian Era, everyday new inventions were being made back when the world didn’t know what technology was. Bram Stoker demonstrates in his book Dracula that society back in his generation was a time capsule full of ideas, thoughts and beliefs of the Victorian era. During the late 19th and 20th centuries evil, sex, and…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Victorian Era, lifestyles of the whole human population was shifted to more of modern styles. The Victorian Era was started from 1877 to 1915. In this period…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Great Gatsby Essay

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The 1920’s is an unnecessarily romanticized period of American History. A time described by Frederick Lewis Allen as a superficial world of flirtatious women, fast cars, and flowing liquor, the twenties seemed to be years of nothing but excitement. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a classic piece of American literature that captures the essence of this decade. It reflects America and its values by exemplifying the abounding loss of morality, the sense of materialism, and the period of denial which succeeded the war. Money and morals had an inverse relationship during this decade.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It also became a time when people started to explore the light and the dark, the good and the bad, that is when men in London started looking for excuses for their sinful behavior which basically caused duality in London. “In the late VIctorian London (as elsewhere), this medico-juridico-scientific world relied upon its own perceived authority to control representations of identity through the dialectically related acts of looking and constructing a discourse of visual description” (Rago 2). People in the Victorian Era were more about what the society though, what was okay according to the society, and not about what I like, what I want to do. These standard of society is what lead Robert Louis Stevenson to write the gothic novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The novel is written in a dark perspective, it is primarily focused on the evil side of human nature, which go along with the Victorian…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Why were Victorian cities so unhealthy? There are many reasons out there as to why so many people died in the industrializing cities such as Leeds and Manchester at this time. We from the future look back on this time as a disgusting one, and it was: Children will get sick if they come in contact with feces. Unfortunately, the Victorians didn’t know this. However, perhaps the root cause lies with these four reasons: the population explosion, back to back housing, diseases, and water and waste management.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Victorian Age was the most important time period in the history of England. The time period was filled with extraordinary inventions, cultural changes, and the development of literature. New inventions helped boost the economy, and along with cultural changes, separated social classes even more. During the Victorian Age, the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. Greed was at a resounding high, and poverty was at an appalling low.…

    • 2060 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1913, he managed to introduce electoral reform, which extended suffrage so that only left without voting women and servants. Victorian society a great moral rigidity characterized the society of that historical period. The Victorian era was thirsty vigor, correction, dignity and aspired to human moral stability so that romanticism, feelings, emotions, the "adventures", but did not provoke mistrust and contempt. The good bourgeois dreamed of absolute order, a society where emotions and feelings were hidden and capitalism was utopia of a perfectly competitive market. Bourgeois culture certainly believed in discipline, thrift and practicality.…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women In The 1920's

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages

    According to Victorian morals, women should marry early and start a family. They were expected to uphold morality and daintiness, dress elegantly and limit themselves to the home.…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Questions on Three Narratives 1. What is the difference between naysaying ethics and yeasaying ethics? Explain. What does this have to do with the story of the people of LeChambon? Naysaying ethics “forbids our doing certain harmful things”, even if that means to close the eyes to the reality and don’t do what people know it’s a right decision.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The rise of new forms of sexual control stemmed from a cultural shift that was occurring throughout the nineteenth century in America. This shift was the rise of the middle class— a small part of the population defined by the privacy of the home and principles such as the importance of childrearing and sobriety. The middle class held significantly different values from the ones afforded to the working class and the sharp contrast between the classes led to new sexual authorities creating definitions of sexuality based on status. The advent of public versus private spheres also characterized this time and the ideal of sexual privacy led to the creation of the “natural woman,” a view that to be womanly is to be chaste. Between 1860 and 1930,…

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Brave New World The standard for societal morality is deteriorating. One needs only to open their eyes in order to see that the traditional definitions of principle and correctness are being redefined. In the news, one is able to witness this gradual loosening of morals through current articles which cover the rising rates of cohabiting couples, or the increase of clandestine businesses which provide sexual services. Not only are these and other societal norms redefining morality; they are revaluating the very essence of individual worth and being.…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The idea of a moral standpoint or compass, no longer exists in a corrupt society, corrupt societies only care about power and control along the way morals are lost in order to achieve such a goal. The roaring twenties were a time of corrupt moral values, Nick explains the loss of moral and traditional values through Tom’s infidelity, “He nodded sagely. ‘And what 's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time.” (Fitzgerald 7).…

    • 1322 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Question 1: Where do our morals come from? Morals are not as instinctive as heartbeats. A sense of right or wrong is teachable, but not as permanent as bones and blood. People are not born with morals instilled in them.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    ( Reed 302). Findings have shown that duality was causing many other things in a bigger platform. The Victorian age was right around the time when Jekyll and Hyde were introduced. Victorian meaning, long period of peace, prosperity, and refined sensibilities and national self confidence.…

    • 1954 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays