The Victorian age can be described as the age of transition, which by definition has a dual aspect when change is revolutionary: destruction and reconstruction. The Victorians recognised that they were breaking down the systems of: Christian orthodoxy under the rule of the church, civil government under the rule of the king and nobility, the social structure of fixed classes, each with its recognised rights and duties and the economic organisation. That was ¡§the old European system of dominant ideas and facts¡¨ which Arnold saw dissolving in the 19th Century. As the older doctrines and institutions were attacked and until they could be modified, discarded and a new order proposed or inaugurated, the people lived in a constant state of confusion and uncertainty. The Victorians reacted to their age with hope and dismay, optimism and anxiety.

„h The breakdown of the old conception of status was primarily caused by the economy. The development of commerce, drawing men off from the land and opening new and independent careers to talent, had been the main instrument in dissolving the feudal nexus of society.

„h The old system of fixed regulations was abandoned by the principl

„h Educational and employment opportunities for women were limited. These inequalities stimulated a spirited debate about women¡¦s roles known as the ¡§Woman Question.¡¨

„h By the late 19th Century it was clear that the feudal and agrarian order of the past had been replaced by a democratic society. The emergence of democracy meant the transference of political power from the aristocracy to the people, mainly by the successive Reform Bills of 1832, 1867 and 1884. The Reform Bill in 1967 extended the right to vote to sections of the working classes, and this together with the subsequent development of trade unions made labour a powerful political force.

„h In 1840 James Martineau observed ¡§a simultaneous increase, in the very same class of minds, of theological doubt and of devotional affection.¡¨

„h The only occupation at which an unmarried middle class woman could earn a living and maintain some claim to gentility was that of a governess. A governess could expect no security of employment, only minimal wages and an ambiguous status, somewhere between a servant and family member that isolated her within the household.

Some topics in this essay:
Victorian Period, Oxford Movements, Theism Christianity, Florence Nightingale, Reform Bill, Stuart Mill, Thomas Arnold, Custody Act, Causes Act, William Morris, upper classes, middle class, 19th century, upper classes „h, class women, property divorce, society „h, wives daughters, „h mills, classes „h,