Feminism and the Bronte Sisters - Research Paper Example

?Feminism during the Victorian Period and the influence of Bronte sisters during such period: “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer...it is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex.”1 Man and women, are the two wheels of society. If one wheel remains weak, how will the society move ahead? If men and women are treated equal by God, why are they parted in the human society just because of their gender? It was the question of rebel Victorian ladies, New Women, to the Orthodox Victorian society. The then society was confined by the patriarch attitude. Though it was a transition period in the feminist history of England, the woman was not completely living her life in liberty. Victorian feminism was a comprehensive terminology which was related to the personal experience and feminist commitment. The feminism is reflected through the literary work of many Victorian writers. Jane Austen in her novel tried to define the status of the women in her period. Though she depicted the picture of feminism in a light manner, it was not as light and soft as portrayed in Jane Austen’s Emma or Pride and Prejudice. Later on many writers, through their novels propounded the feminist issue with its dark shade. Among them are Alfred Tennyson and the female writers such as George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Bronte sisters and many more, in fact the list is so long. The feminist philosophy of Bronte sisters is solicitous and it gave a new insight to the feminist movement. The paper tries to conduct a thorough study of Victorian era and its influence on literary and the private life of Bronte Sisters. It is therefore very essential to know the Victorian age with all its aspects: Keywords: Victorian age, Bronte Sister, feminism, Gender equality. Victorian period was regarded as a crucial period in the population history of England. Not only in England, but in entire Europe it was a period of demographic transition. It can be one of attributes of Victorian age that the Victorian society was a child-dominated society. The rapid growth in industrialization and urbanization resulted into the population explosion in the age. The families would tend to be large and the birth rate also declined. The towns were started growing rapidly which led to overcrowding and poor sanitary systems. The infectious diseases coupled with impure milk and food resulted into the high infant and child mortality rate. In upper class people areas of England such Liverpool, out of 1000 newborn babies, 136 babies would die before the age of one. In working class the condition was worse. Out of 1000 infants the number of dying babies was 274. The number in slum area would be alarming and it reached to 509 infants. (Mitchell Sally 1988) “Census figures revealed that while the general death was falling, the infant rate remained steady at around 150 deaths per 1000 live births from 1840 until the end of the century.”(B.R. Mitchell, Phyllis Deane 1979) All this information reveals that the mortality rate among the infants remained high though the general death was falling. In nineteenth century as in twentieth, the babies would mostly die soon after birth. The leading killer in nineteenth century was tuberculosis. It was responsible for one – sixth of all deaths in 1838. (Mitchell Sally 1996) The Victorian culture has its own special characteristics. English society experienced many cultural changes and transformations. The cultural changes occurred in various fields such as science, art, literature, and religion. With the advent of industrialization and tremendous progress in science and technology, the trend of inventing things for the betterment of human life was on its peak. This is the age of reason and religious faith was at stake. The people started challenging the prolonged monopoly of the religious institutions. The age experienced many historical movements such as Democracy, feminism, unionization of workers, socialism, and Marxism. The industrialization and scientific invention was the culmination of declining faith on Christianity and emergence of doubts. The age is also called as the age full of anarchy and chaos because the religious faith had started shaking. The contemporary generation was living life with full dilemma, between theism and atheism. The people could not completely give up their long lived religious faith. The complete denial of religious faith was not possible and at the same time the science was shaking the long established faith in God. The age was the age of reasoning and questioning the religion and Christianity. The scholars and the revolutionaries were started challenging and attacking Christianity directly, which was a shock to conservative people. The state of Anarchy of the age is reflected in the literary work of many popular Victorian writers and poets. Mathew Arnold, for example, has described the confused state of mind of Victorian people in his poem “Dover Beach” The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world2 The modern theory evolution propounded by Charles Darwin also brought a great threat to the conventional beliefs of Christianity. On the other hand some of the missionaries through their social work were trying to spread Christianity all over the world, especially in the colonies of England. The Christian missionaries like Amy Carmichael, David Livingstone, George Mueller, a German missionary devoted his evangelistic ministry to English orphans. Hudson Taylor became the first missionary to China. The rapid changes occurred in the Victorian period and they stirred the entire society. They were so rapid that it was not possible for the people to adjust with them and to cope with them. The poverty, unsanitary and overcrowded housing, malnourishment, insecurity in employment, sickness and old age were the major problems in industrially advanced England. The Age witnessed many contradictory things existing simultaneously in the society. The industrialization brought many job opportunities, but on the contrary the poverty was yet prevalent in the society. The population of Great Britain increased. Most of the industrialization took place in the cities. Consequently the major source of employment was centred in the big cities. People started migrating from town to city for new opportunities and prosperity. The people were immigrating from potato famine to the big cities. The population was thus centred in big cities which led to the population explosion. The condition of the workers was horrible. If the work was seasonal, the condition became even worse. When the demand slumped, they were laid off from the company and they had to remain jobless for several days. It would be a great problem for them how to survive their families. The parents let their children to live their life on streets. In 1948, around 30,000 homeless and filthy children were living on the street of London. The small children also were spending their life in doing hazardous job which snatched away their childhood from them. The small boys were the Chimney sweepers or coal mine workers or shoe shine boys. Their circumstances would lead them to work in the noisy looms retrieving cotton bobbins. They even would sell matches to keep both ends meet. The poverty was not limited to unskilled and uneducated people but it was prevalent among the educated people also. One other example of paradoxical characteristics of Victorian society was the status of women. Under the rule of a female ruler, i.e. Queen Victoria, Victorian England was quite patriarchal. They neither had education, nor were other economy opportunities available for them. The woman’s life was completely bound in the hands of the male person from the family, be it father, brother, husband or son. The concepts of morality also were weird and in favour of men. The woman was not supposed to be pure if she disobeyed her husband. Her value was like that of a prostitute. Women were always seen as a property of men. Man had authority to kick out his wife by divorcing her if he was convinced about her impurity. For such girls there was no source of income. Eventually they would accept the path of prostitution. Young girls were forced to have sex with their masters. “Most women’s entry into prostitution appears to have been circumstantial rather than premeditate.” (Judith Wlkowitz) The poverty also forced the women to drive themselves into the field of prostitution. Most of the prostitutions were from lower class. These poor lower class women did not get involved in this field voluntarily but because they wanted to survive themselves by earning money. Being an uneducated and having very less or no opportunity of financial stability they were forcefully pushed into the filthy field of prostitution. Some of the girls were kept as mistresses by the upper class men. According to the Victorian protocols, respectable women must not consider sex as a pleasure. It was their duty to have sex with their husbands. Prostitutes, on the other hand, would be intimate to the man because they used to enjoy sex. Men generally were in need of prostitutes because they were not sexually satisfied with mere dutiful wives. Respectable men and women lured the young girls from poor class and sold them into the prostitution. Once she was caught by her procurators or procuresses, she could not return back to her home. If she tried to run away her home, her family did not accept her. “Worst type of brothel operating in Victorian times... was the dress house, where women lived under constant debt to the owner.” (Wells 1982) The most valued prostitutes would be the virgin women. In Victorian age the schools taught their students in a different ways. The school-going was primarily based on gender and the financial position of the parents. The educational field was also not detached from patriarch society. The Education Act was passed in 1870 and 1876. After the Education Act, some schools were able to obtain government grant and as a result, the number of school going pupils increased. The girls’ education was not an important matter. They would be given less education than the boys and were not allowed to take University education. They went to school but in school also they would get the education related to their house activities such as classes in laundry, home management, needle work etc. All these skills aimed to facilitate them to do their homemaker’s role satisfactorily. However “[t]here was little in a woman’s education to prepare her for the realities of housekeeping, the demands of domestic economy, the management of servants, the care of children, the cultivation of taste” (Calder 1977). “Apart from bearing children, the social function of bourgeois woman was to be a living testimony to her husband’s social status. Accordingly, her virtues were chastity and a sense of propriety. They did not include either industry or intelligence” (Klein 1949).According to the contemporary writer John Ruskin, the education of women should “take into consideration a husband’s need to share his interest with his wife and conduct intelligent conversation with her.”(Phillippa Levine 1994) The idea of educating girls and making them financially independent was still in its infancy. The clever women were not welcomed by the society. The term ‘educated women’ was an oxymoron. (Paxman1998)The source of income for educated, poor and needy girls was either teaching or being a governess. It was a misconception that the women’s brain is smaller. In Victorian era, man was the bread winner. He was the most dominating and influential personality in the patriarch family. The Victorian man would marry for love and he would choose his wife from the same class he belonged to. He used to prefer his bride from the family with whom he has his business connections. Though the women started getting a status of an equal gender in Victorian era, still there was a dominance of men in the family life as well as outside family life. Man had a privilege to take decision in economic, political and social matter. The ideal Victorian men should have the characteristics such as honour, loyalty, intelligence, and moral. Many authors have depicted typically ideal male characters in their works and so their ideal heroines marry such men and led a very happy life. But the real male character has been portrayed by Charlotte Bronte through Alfred, the Duke of Zamorna, fails to meet the high standards. They have obtained a significant amount of responsibilities but they did not bother about their morals. They would enjoy gambling and even becoming sexual active and going to the prostitutes. Though this was the situation, the Victorian society was in the phase of transition and the equal rights to the women. The Victorian period was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign, from 1837 to 1901. As mentioned above, though the period was ruined by a lady, the status of women in those days was not satisfied. The woman was supposed to be sensible, sympathetic and dutiful towards her husband and her children. Her major job was to take care of her husband to maintain all household chores. A typical Victorian woman was expected to be the companion of her husband and she was never expected to be his competitor. The Victorian ladies were kept far away from those works which would make them independent and empowered. Their job was basically to hold domestic responsibilities. If they wanted to work, they could do it as a supporter to their husband and of course by staying at home. She hardly had an exposure to the world outside. Alfred Tennyson has represented a typical Victorian woman in his poems Mariana and Lady of Shallot that her life was inside the four wall of house. 1. But in her web she still delights 2. To weave the mirror's magic sights, 3. For often through the silent nights 4. A funeral, with plumes and lights 5. And music, went to Camelot: 6. Or when the moon was overhead, 7. Came two young lovers lately wed; 8. 'I am half sick of shadows,' said 9. The Lady of Shalott 3 10. The web in the above line represents the limited periphery of her life, her home. The act of weaving is associated with the typical household task the ladies were supposed to perform in Victorian Era. The Victorian woman was a typical housewife. Women in Victorian era thus were expected to be subservient but she is not passive like the typical romantic woman. She used to be busy. She was the house manager and her main duty was to keep her husband and children glad, to obey her husband and rely on him and God. 11. 'She [the housewife] is the architect of home, and it depends on her skill, her foresight, her soft arranging touches whether it shall be the "lodestar to all hearts", or whether it shall be a house from which husband and children are glad to escape either to the street, the theatre, or the tavern.”4 Working class daughters had to follow their domestic responsibility from an early age. 12. Child Labour was prevalent in Victorian society as a culmination of industrial revolution. The problem of Child Labour is described in Dickens’ novels such as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. There were around 120,000 domestic servants in London who worked 80 hours a week and were offered an amount of just halfpence per hour. Many children in those days would work 16 hours a day in a very tyrannical environment and they were molested by their masters. The children worked apart from many hazards and obstacles because they needed money. In the factories the children used to work under many hazardous situations. They were told by their masters to clean the machines when the machines were kept running. In such cased many accidents would take place. Many children lost their fingers; sometimes they were crushed and killed. 13. Most of them were from orphanage. It was till the Factory Act 1833 was enacted under which it was illegal to employ children under the age of 9 in factories. Innumerable children in those days were working and living on streets. As mentioned earlier, the children used to sell matches, firewood, buttons, and flowers. They worked as shoe shine boys and sweep the crossing places where rich people would cross. The other places where children used to work were coal mines, and as trappers. The severe problem of child labour has been vividly depicted by Dickens in his literary work. 14. The Bronte sisters were born in the same are in Pre-Victorian era. They were born at Thornton. Among them Charlotte was the eldest one, who was born on 21st April 1816, followed by Emily on 30th July1818 and Ann on 17th January 1820. The Bronte family later on shifted to Haworth W. Yorkshire in 1820. Their father Patrick was a clergyman in Yorkshire. Soon after shifting to Yorkshire, Mrs. Bronte, the mother of Bronte sisters died and the Bronte siblings were brought up by their Aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. This was the permanent home of the Children till their death. The family of six children were living on the bleak Yorkshire moor. The Bronte siblings were living in isolation under the strict rules of their father and their aunt. Two of their sisters, Maria and Elizabeth died very early. The trio of Bronte sisters were living unmarried lives in their adulthood, which was quite absurd and unacceptable in the contemporary society. 15. The two sisters Charlotte and Emily were sent in Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire. They studied in the school for one year and then returned back because the rules of the school were very rude. The next year, all the Bronte children were taught at home. They would spend their time in each other’s company by sharing self-made stories and self-invented games. Charlotte attended Miss Wooler’s school at Roe Head in 1831. She returned home after one year and taught her sisters. After that she joined Roe Head again in 1835 as a teacher. She suffered a lot due to the depression and ill health and decided to resign from the school. In Roe Head she met her lifelong friend Ellen Nussey. 16. The next few years Bronte sisters joined many schools. Anne worked as a governess in 1838 and then from 1841 – 1845. The other sister Emily was teaching at Miss Patchett’s school at Law Hill. It was a dream of Charlotte and Emily to start a school. In 1842, they went to Brussels to their Aunt to learn French and German. After their Aunt’s death they came back. Emily never went there again but Charlotte went their second time as a pupil teacher. In Belgium her period was bad. She started getting attracted towards her married employer. Next year, she returned back to Haworth. The dream of opening school was remained unfulfilled. 17. Bronte sisters achieved success and acclaim for their work after they wrote their fictions. After this success, the next year, the Bronte sisters had a tragedy in their family and that is the death of their brother Branwell. Their brother died due to excessive addiction of alcohol. He died in September 1848. Soon after Emily fell ill and died by tuberculosis in the same year in December 1848. Ann also contracted tuberculosis and died in May28, 1849. She was buried in St. Marty’s churchyard. Charlotte left alone though her father was there with her. She later on married to her father’s curate Arthur Bell Nicholls. She spent some period of her life in happiness after her marriage. During pregnancy Charlotte fell ill and died in March 31, 1855. It was a tragedy that all the gifted children of Mr. Bronte died before him. The literary world thus lost one of the most geniuses, fantastically innovative and robust writers. 18. All the Bronte sisters had a tremendous intellectuality hidden in them. They were not aware about each other’s qualities. It is Charlotte who first found that they had a similar interest, passion and talents. It was when Emily had written many poems and Charlotte found them. All of them actually were writing poems secretly. They never told about their passion to each other. The idea of publishing the book came to their mind when, Charlotte first read the poems composed by Emily. Charlotte was very impressed by the literary sparking in her sister. But, the poems were not enough for making a book. So Charlotte and Anne added their own poems. The title of the book was “Poems by Currer , Ellis and Acton Bell. They took the pseudonyms, in which the first letters started with their original names. The trio were expecting some financial support from the publication of the book but they did not get income. Soon they started thinking seriously about their passion of writing. Charlotte wrote her first novel called “The Professor.” Unfortunately her story was rejected by the publishers. Thus her first attempt failed but her second attempt of publishing was a great success for Charlotte. It was her book Jane Eyre, which was an autobiography. After few months, Emily’s Wuthering Heights and Anne’s Agnes Grey were published in three volumes. These novels got immense popularity. Shortly after that Anne’s “Tenant of Wildfell Hall was published. 19. Bronte sisters published their first book and they published it by their pseudonyms, which were resembles to the male names. It is because they wanted to hide their gender. In Victorian age, the female writers were supposed to be less competent. They did not have the status in literary world. Their work was never considered and acclaimed in literary world, just because of their gender. It was very essential to hide the gender identity to gain the popularity. Hence they changed their name and preserve their identity. They hoped that they would be appreciated for their work and not for the gender. 20. Being poor, it was necessary for Bronte sisters to earn money for their survival. In Victorian age the condition of poor girls was not so much good. For poor and educated girls, the only option of income was either being a teacher or a governess. Her father had no private income or any kind of asset. 21. Ann Bronte accepted the work of governess which gave her terrible anguish by her employer. She was harassed mentally by her employer. She was proved to be ineligible for the post as she could not control the children. Her novel Agnes Grey (1847) is a governess novel, which is known as a special genre in literature. There was a lot of debate on the position of the governess in those days. Emily’s life on the other hand was very mysterious. It was a typical Victorian woman’s life, an isolated, private and domestic. The life line of the whole family was very short except their father. The Bronte sisters’ status as motherless daughter was very prominent in Victorian fictions. All the sisters had occupied private and domestic space. Emily in particular had possessed the characteristics such as aloofness from the outside world and lack of social intercourse. 22. Emily Bronte was the daughter of a strict Evangelical minister, but the symbolism in her poetry frequently reflects the processes of doubt permeating Victorian society (Gilmour 1993) 23. The style of each of the sisters was unique one. The topic of Ann and Charlotte’s novel would be the oppressed governess and later on they would solve their problems with marriages. Emily on the other hand, was not interested in writing about social problems (governess’ problems) and their solutions. Emily and Ann were somewhat rebellious and bold in including the scenes of violence and perversity. This style was of course condemned by many critics. Unlike them Charlotte had created her image as a typical Victorian lady, but a New and Independent Lady. Charlotte’s literary work was based on realism. Emily’s work reflects romanticism and it would be lyrical. Ann’s novels would be didactic and reformative in nature. Charlotte achieved critical acclaim probably because of her sensible way of writing the novel. 24. Though the tone and approach was different, the common thing among the writing of Bronte sister was the theme of feminism. The central theme of the trio or sisters’ novel was the adversaries faced by women in male-dominated Victorian society. Women had very few employment opportunities were available for women in Victorian period. Most of the novels of Bronte sisters depict the protagonists’ struggle for their identity, independence and self-reliance. 25. The three sisters were very intelligent and tremendous creative. They contributed a lot in literary world with their extraordinary work despite their short lives. Their works include some of the novels about which the details have been given below. 26. Emily Bronte wrote only one novel Wuthering Heights whereas Anne and Charlotte published several novels in very short life spans. Emily’s Wuthering Height was her only novel published in 1847. Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre depicts an orphan’s struggle for gaining financial settlement and a social respect in the time when self – reliance, independence was like a dream for contemporary women. The protagonist of her novel Jane joins as a governess for Mr. Rochester and she falls in love with him. Second novel of Charlotte is “The Professor” which was republished after her death. Shirley is another novel of Charlotte which again shows the struggle of the protagonist. She is an independent woman and searching for something new in her life. The protagonist of the novel Shirley represents the character of her own sister who is very courageous. Charlotte’s last novel was Villette . Again it is the depiction of an independent lady Lucy Snow who takes a job in a girl’s school in some other country. Anne Bronte wrote the novel called Agnes Grey. It was a story of a dreary life of a governess in Victorian England and the problems the young women were facing while earning money in a respectable ways. 27. “The Tennant of Wildfell Hall” is another novel by Anne Bronte. The protagonist of the novel Helen stands firmly against her abusive husband. It was a revolutionary step taken by the protagonist in such an era where meekness was the main quality of a respectable woman. 28. The above mentioned novels are mainly centred with the primary idea of feminism. Through the heroines of their novel, Bronte sisters want to convey the message of feminism to the literary world. 29. If studied overall the work of Bronte sisters, it is realized that their novels are based on Victorian feminism with its entire struggle, and the position of Victorian women, their ideologies, motives of life etc. These sisters had very less access to the outer world; hence their novels are based on their personal experiences. Sometimes the female characters are very independent, and having self-respect and self-dignity. They are courageous enough to break down the established norms and codes of conduct of the society, while sometimes they go with the conventional society. 30. Through the character of Catherine in Wuthering Height, Emily Bronte has portrayed a stereotype Victorian woman. Catherine is deeply in love with Heathcliff, an orphan young man whom her father had brought. "My love for him resembles the eternal rocks beneath, a source of little visible delight, but necessary...I am Heathcliff...",5 Despite her intense feeling for Heathcliff, the orphan, she marries to Linton. Catherine is ambitious and she wants a good fortune. For possessing good and wealthy fortune, she sacrifices her true love and marries to a rich person. It is a typical presentation of Victorian women, whose only aim was to marry to a person from affluent background. At the same time some of the facets of Catherine’s personality resembles with the Emily. She is not meek and obedient woman but so aggressive, rebel girl. She sometimes resembles with the character of Charlotte Lucas in Pride & Prejudice. The character of Isabella is also symbolic. It is the symbol of the transformation of a meek obedient typical Victorian girl to a New Woman. At the end Isabella is shown strong lady, stronger than Catherine. Catherine somewhere is shown as surrendering herself to the patriarch Victorian society. ‘What Catherine, or any girl must learn is that she does not know her own name, and therefore cannot know who she is or whom she is destined to be’6. 31. The Feminism means advocating equal rights to women, the rights that men area enjoying. It is because she is also a human being like men. Charlotte Jane Eyre or Emily’s Wuthering Heights advocated the feminine ideas at the advent of the feminist movement in England. Jane unlike Catherine does not define herself by the two marriageable factors, i.e. economic status and beauty. 32. "Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you--and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you" (Bronte 222). ‘Jane Eyre’ is the representation of Charlotte’s own personality and her life. We find many resemblances in Jane and Charlotte. Like Charlotte, Jane too was a poor clergyman’s daughter. Like Charlotte Jane’s mother and even father also had died in her childhood. The spread of diseases like typhoid and the negligence showed towards the patients also is shown in Jane Eyre. The diseases Charlotte had experienced when her siblings died due to the contagious diseases. In short Jane Eyre is a perfect representation of the contemporary Victorian age with many of its elements. The protagonist Jane is a rebellious, independent girl who is looking for a life of dignity and good social status. At the same time for getting status, she is not ready to sacrifice her selfhood and self respect. Like Charlotte, she also wants to live a life with equal and unbiased status due to gender. Like Jane, Charlotte also married a man, whom she respected. She did not think about the tags such as money and status while getting married. In The Professor also Charlotte has tried to show the struggle of a professor. Though a male protagonist, Charlotte somewhere reveals some part of her life to the readers. In her novel Villette, also somewhere the character of Charlotte reflects in the character of Lucy Snow. It was again the story of her one sided love with a married professor. She portrays the character of Lucy Snow as if her own character. Lucy is shown as an independent unselfish lady. Though the concept of “New Woman” started very late, Bronte sisters were much ahead of their time. This is seen in the novels of Anne Bronte. “Agnes Grey” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” are the two novels in which she has introduced the characteristics of New Woman. Like Charlotte, she also has incorporated her own personal experiences and her dilemma in her real life through the story of a governess. She depicts her own experience and the general hardship, the Victorian women had to face while accepting the occupation of a governess. She explains the status of a governess and the humiliation the governesses would get from the aristocratic class. Her own personality is reflected in these two novels. Both the protagonist of her two novels succeeded in invading the masculine domain of economic motives. They are typical feminists, who confess gender definitions which conflict with prevalent conventional Victorian ideologies. 33. The literary work of Bronte sisters unfolds many facets of their lives. Though many incidents are similar to their lives, the characters are fictitious. It would certainly be the suppressed desire of every Victorian woman to live a free life with status, respect from the society. But their inner voice was suppressed by the society. This suppressed voice came out through the characters of Bronte sisters. They not only showed the New Woman through their knowledge, but like their female characters, they also spent their life like New Women, far ahead of their contemporary era. Their novels were really inspirational for the coming generation and for the feminist movement. 34. Sources: 1. Gubar Marah, “The Victorian Child,” University of Pittsburgh .1837-1901 http://www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu/victorian.htm 2. Mitchell, Sally. “Victorian Britain Encyclopaedia”, New York: Garland Publishing 1988 3. “B.R. Mitchell and Phyllis Deane, Abstract of British Historical Statistics, 37 – 38, cited in F.B. Smith, The People’s Health: 1830 – 1910 (London: Croom Helm 1979), 65 4. Mitchell, Sally, “Daily Life in Victorian England,” (Greenwood Publishing: 1996), .193 5. Wells, Jess. “A History of Prostitution in Western Europe,” Berkeley: Shameless Hussy Press, 1982. 53-54 6. Judith Wlkowitz, “Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women Class, and the State”, (Cambridge University Press),14 7. Pillippa Levine,” Victorian Feminism” 1859 -1900 (Univ. Press of Florida: 1994), 29, 30, 33, 36 8. Klein, Viola. “The Emancipation of Women: Its Motives and Achievements: Ideas and 35. Beliefs of the Victorians” (London: Sylvan: 1949), 261-67 9. Calder, Jenni. “The Victorian Home”.( London: Batsford, 1977.) 10. Gilmour, Robin. “The Victorian Period: The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature 1830-1890.”( London: Longman, 1993), 72 11. Paxman, Jeremy. “The English: A Portrait of a People.” (London: Penguin: 1998) 12. Victorian Web www.victorianweb.org/ 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. Read More