Victorian Ladies and Gentlemen

During the Victorian time period the society did prosper, however, people became more aware of class. Social distinctions were determined by birth, people who were born into aristocracy were seen as ladies and gentlemen, people who worked the land or in the factory were not. To determine one's social status you were to take into account, manners, money, birth, occupation, and what they did in their lesuire time. Also, their roles in society were different. Ladies and gentlemen were to conform to a different ideology during the Victorian time. Middle class women were to take care of the family, and men were to work. Then there was seperation between middle class men, thos who attended public school and those who did not. Education was not important for the women to be considered a lady, her position depended upon her parents or her husband.

I liked John Henry Cardinal Newman who wrote "The ideal of gentlemanliness was central to the Victorians' notion of themselves, yet for a society in flux it was a concept increasingly difficult to pin down." It appears that during this time that people strived to be perceived as a gentleman or a lady, because during this time social status was important it determined what you did as well as your wealth. A womans social class however depended upon the man she married or her father. So it was more important for a man to be educated and do well than for a woman. For a man to be considered a gentleman it was synomous that he was a Christian. Newman did not agree with this stigma attached to being a gentleman. "Thus for Newman, who was both, a gentleman is not necessarily a Christian: one may have character and education but not faith." One must think does some of these characteristics of their society influence us today?