Catherine Hall "The Early Formation of Victorian Domestic Ideology"

The paper’s author reflects the initial formation of Victorian Domestic Ideology in England. Analyzing the article, it can be understood how big the religion’s influence was in the Victoria’s time and in what way it attempted to influence and change the society’s life and perception. The French Revolution and organizations, which fought for abolition of slavery, were important facts, which introduced changes in moral and society’s behavior norms. Literature sources, which were written in the Victoria’s time, show men dominance and complete patriarchal society’s structure, because a woman was depicted as a housewife, who had no rights and was unable to survive without man’s care. Exactly thanks to this fact, we can’t blindly believe all historical sources of literature, because they do not precisely reflect a woman’s life. Likewise it is clearly understood that men did not describe the way of woman’s thinking, and the way women felt in the society of that time. Women were made to live by the principles and moral norms imposed by men. (Mitchell and Oakley, 1976:217) The author describes how self-evident the gender inequality and women discrimination in all life sectors was. In the early Victoria’s reigning years, the ideology was formed, which ruled in England for more than fifty years. It was the ideology, in which a woman had no significant role. “Correct” position, model of “perfect” family, which all families tried to resemble, ruled in the society. Still, nowadays we clearly know how “perfect” those families described by the author were and which were the models for everybody. During Victoria’s time, the society’s opinion had a very important role; people were afraid from condemnation that is why they blindly followed the model of society and moral given by the Gospel and the higher society. (Perkin, 1993:210) In my opinion, Victoria’s time made women think about their rights. Women started to slowly resist the patriarchal power that had ruled for many centuries. Of course, we all know how difficult it was for women to achieve equality between genders. …