Morals of Victorian England. Victorian era
In the Victorian era, real erotic and pornographic films were in circulation. literary works like "My Secret Life". There was even a porn magazine “The Pearl”... But the Victorian code of conduct, in fact, did not require a person to have no sins - the main thing was that they should not be known about them in society.
Reign of Queen Victoria
The cheerful 19-year-old girl, who ascended the British throne in 1837, could hardly have imagined what associations her name would evoke a hundred years later. And after all, the Victorian era was far from the worst time in British history - literature flourished, economics and science developed rapidly, the colonial empire reached the peak of its power... However, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name of this queen is “Victorian morality” "
The current attitude towards this phenomenon in best case scenario- ironic, more often - frankly negative. In English, the word “Victorian” is still a synonym for the concepts of “sanctimonious” and “hypocritical”. Although the era named after the queen had little to do with her personality. The social symbol “Her Majesty Queen Victoria” did not denote her personal views, but the basic values of the time - the monarchy, the church, the family. And these values were postulated even before the crown was placed on Victoria.
The period of her reign (1837-1901) for the internal life of England was a time of calm digestion after a grandiose gluttony. Previous centuries were filled with revolutions, riots, Napoleonic wars, colonial conquests... And regarding morality itself, British society in previous times was by no means distinguished by excessive strictness of morals and stiffness of behavior. The British understood the joys of life and indulged in them quite unbridled - with the exception of the not too long period of existence in the country of a powerful Puritan movement (which temporarily turned England into a republic). But with the restoration of the monarchy, a long period of considerable relaxation of morals began.
Generations of Hanoverians
The generations of Hanoverians preceding Victoria led a very dissolute lifestyle. For example, King William IV, Victoria's uncle, did not hide the fact that he had ten illegitimate children. George IV was also known as a womanizer (despite the fact that his waist circumference reached 1.5 meters), an alcoholic, and also drove the royal house into enormous debts.
Prestige of the British Monarchy
was at that time lower than ever - and no matter what Victoria herself dreamed of, time pushed her to a fundamentally different strategy of behavior. She did not demand high morality from society - society demanded it from her. The monarch, as we know, is a hostage to her position... But there were reasons to believe that she inherited the extremely passionate Hanoverian temperament. For example, she collected images of naked men... She even gave one painting to her husband, Prince Albert - and never did anything like that again...
Victorian Code of Conduct
She got a husband who was completely in line with the trends of the times. Albert was so puritanical that he “felt physically ill at the mere thought of adultery.” In this he was the direct opposite of his immediate family: his parents were divorced; his father, Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was simply an enchanting womanizer who never missed a skirt - as was Albert’s brother, Duke Ernst II.
The Victorian Code of Conduct is a declaration of every conceivable virtue
. Hard work, punctuality, moderation, thriftiness et cetera... In fact, no one has calculated or formulated all these principles. The briefest summary of their essence is contained, oddly enough, in the novel by the American Margaret Mitchell “Gone with the Wind”: “They demand that you do a thousand unnecessary things just because that’s how it’s always been done”... 
Of course, the idea that “it’s always been done this way” was a lie. But in any society suddenly gripped by a struggle for morality, the view of the past takes on a “Chinese accent”: history is presented not as it was, but as it should have been.
Victorian persecution of sensuality
Victorianism traced its particularly cruel persecution to sensuality. Men and women were forced to forget that they had a body. The only parts of him that were allowed to be exposed in the house were his hands and face. On the street, a man without a high stand-up collar and tie and a woman without gloves were considered naked. All of Europe had long been fastening their pants with buttons, and only in England they used ropes and laces.
There were a huge number of euphemisms; for example, calling arms and legs other than “limbs” was very indecent. They wrote and spoke about feelings and emotions mainly in the language of flowers. The bend of the neck of a shot bird in a still life was perceived in the same way as erotic photography is now (it is not surprising that offering a woman a bird’s leg at dinner was considered rude)…
The principle of "separation of the sexes"
At the feast, the principle of “separation of the sexes” was observed: at the end of the meal, the women left, the men remained to smoke a cigar, drink a glass of port and talk. By the way, the custom of leaving a company without saying goodbye (“leaving in English”) did exist, but in England it was called “leaving in Scots” (in Scotland - “leaving in French”, and in France - “leaving in Russian” ).
Open displays of sympathy between a man and a woman were strictly prohibited. The rules of everyday communication recommended that spouses address each other formally in front of strangers (Mr. so-and-so, Mrs. so-and-so), so that the morality of those around them would not suffer from the playfulness of the tone. Trying to talk to a stranger was considered the height of cheekiness.
The word “love” was completely taboo. The limit of frankness in explanations was the password “Can I hope?” with the response “I have to think.”
Courtship
Courtship consisted of ritual conversations and symbolic gestures. For example, a sign of affection was the gracious permission of a young man to carry a young lady's prayer book upon returning from Sunday service.
A girl was considered compromised if she was left alone with a man for a minute. The widower was forced to either separate from his adult unmarried daughter or hire a companion in the house - otherwise he would be suspected of incest.
Girls were not supposed to know anything about sex and childbirth. It's no surprise that the first the wedding night often became a tragedy for a woman - even to the point of suicide attempts.
A pregnant woman was a spectacle that offended Victorian morality to no end. She locked herself within four walls, hiding the “shame” from herself with the help of a specially cut dress. God forbid you mention in a conversation that she is “pregnant” - only “in an interesting situation” or “in happy waiting”.
It was believed that a sick woman deserved to die rather than allow a male doctor to perform “shameful” medical procedures on her. Doctors' offices were equipped with blind screens with an opening for one hand, so that the doctor could feel the pulse or touch the patient's forehead to determine the fever.
Statistical fact
: Between 1830 and 1870, about 40% of English women remained unmarried, although there was no shortage of men. And the point here is not only the difficulties of courtship - it also rested on class and group prejudices: the concept of misalliance (unequal marriage) was brought to the point of absurdity.
Who is a mate for whom and not a mate was decided at the level of a complex algebraic problem. Thus, the conflict that occurred between their ancestors in the 15th century could have prevented the marriage of the offspring of two aristocratic families. A successful rural merchant did not dare to marry his daughter to the butler’s son, because the representative of the “senior master’s servants,” even penniless on the social ladder, stood immeasurably higher than the shopkeeper.
Classes in English society
However, harsh Victorian rules were implemented in English society only to the level of the lower middle class. Ordinary people - peasants, factory workers, small traders, sailors and soldiers - lived completely differently. This is in high society children were innocent angels who had to be protected from the world in every possible way - children from lower social strata began to work in mines or factories as early as 5-6 years old... What can we say about other aspects of life. Ordinary people have never even heard of any politeness in gender relations...
However, in high society everything was not so simple. It circulated real erotic and pornographic literary works like “My Secret Life.” There was even a porn magazine “The Pearl”... But the Victorian code of conduct, in fact, did not require the absence of sins in a person - the main thing was that they should not be known in society.
Born a little before the accession of Her Majesty, Victorianism died before her. This can be clearly seen in English literature. The three Bronte sisters are complete mature Victorians. Late Dickens recorded signs of the destruction of the Victorian code. And Shaw and Wells described only the “Canterville Ghost” victorian era. Wells was a particularly remarkable figure: the author of popular novels was a desperate, first-class womanizer. And he was proud of it.
The prim British people during the reign of Queen Victoria seem to be models of decorum and good behavior. It’s hard to imagine, but British women of those years wore pantaloons with a hole in the most interesting place, and respectable doctors relieved them of hysteria with the help of a thorough massage... of the clitoris. Rotten food and canned food with arsenic, dead children in photos, a glutton queen, and other strange and disgusting facts about the Victorian era.
Doctors of the era treated hysteria in women with masturbation
At that time, female "hysteria" (i.e. restlessness, irritability, nervousness and other similar symptoms) was seen as a serious problem. But doctors have discovered that these symptoms can be temporarily relieved with the help of “finger massage in the intimate area,” which, if done correctly, will cause a “hysterical paroxysm.”
Women's underwear was open in the crotch area
Victorian pantaloons were, as it were, cut in two, the halves for each leg were cut separately and connected with ties or buttons at the waist, on the back. Thus, the crotch seam (i.e. the crotch) was open, which could be very convenient in certain cases, which we, being very well-bred, will not mention.
Many historians believe that due to the lack of special hygiene products at that time and the fact that women's clothing consisted of many layers of fabric, most women did nothing at all during menstruation and allowed bleeding flow freely and be absorbed into petticoats. Other solutions to the delicate problem involved the use of cloth diapers, which were secured with a belt, or sheep's wool, which was glued to the vulva with lard. Thank God, modern women have pads and tampons.
During this era, women were very hairy... everywhere
In the Victorian era, such useful items as a safety razor did not yet exist. And although depilatory compounds had already been invented, they were very toxic and were used only for removing hair from the face and hands. So my armpits, legs and intimate area were terribly overgrown. But considering that they were all hidden under several layers of clothing, it didn't matter.
The Thames was so full of feces, garbage and dead animals that you could walk on it
By 1860, about a thousand tons of feces were dumped into the Thames every day, since there was simply no other storage facility for wastewater. And at the same time, the river was the main source of drinking water for the residents of London. People died like flies from dysentery, cholera and typhoid, believing that the dirty air was to blame for everything. Oh, how wrong they were!
A written account from Lady Harberton in 1891 states that during a short walk in London, the hem of her long dress collected: two cigar butts, nine cigarettes, a piece of pork pie, four toothpicks, two hairpins, a piece of cat food, half a shoe sole , tobacco bars (chewed), straw, dirt, scraps of paper and God knows what else.
In the 1960s, crinolines became so wide that women got stuck in the doors
The "Era of Crinolines" lasted from 1850 to 1870. At that time, the basis of the women's toilet was a domed gathered skirt, the shape of which was given by numerous petticoats. Sometimes a lady in such an outfit really could not squeeze through the door. You could also inadvertently touch the candle and knock it over on yourself, and this is truly life-threatening. The satirical magazine Punch even advised husbands to buy insurance for their wives in case of fire due to crinolines. So this fashion trend did not last long.
Before the invention of pasteurization, milk could be a source of tuberculosis. The safety of products, especially those purchased in major cities. Unscrupulous traders sold rotten meat mixed with fresh carcass fat; bakers added alum and chalk to the dough to make the bread appear whiter. Arsenic was added to pickles and other canned foods to improve the flavor and make it brighter. Well, and kill the buyer.
Victoria hated spicy food, but, as the ruler of India, she insisted on preparing curry every day - just in case “oriental people” came to visit her.
As a child, Victoria was raised very strictly and was not allowed to eat much, so when she became queen, she did everything to make up for lost time. She ate a lot and at an incredible speed, which was a problem for her guests - after all, according to etiquette, they were supposed to finish each dish as soon as the queen finished eating it (even if they only had time to take a bite). In general, by today's standards, Queen Victoria was a rather obese woman.
One beauty advice writer recommended to readers: “Make a mask every night using thin slices of raw beef, which is said to protect the skin from wrinkles and keep it fresh.” Of course, unless your dog gnaws your face in your sleep.
This Russian boy's name was Fyodor Evtikhiev, and he suffered. Fyodor and his father Adrian were presented to the public as “the two greatest wonders of our time.” Their faces were covered with hair, making them look like Skye terriers. Subsequently, Andrian died from complications caused by alcoholism, but Fedor continued to “delight people” for many more years.
Boys wore dresses as children - until it was time to go to school
In wealthy families, young children, regardless of gender, were usually dressed in white, elegantly decorated dresses with frills and lace. And the caps with ribbons were also the same for both girls and boys.
Almost 50% of children died before reaching the age of five
Most high level infant mortality was, of course, in the slums. The slums of Seven Dials in London and Angel Meadow in Manchester were so terrible that they were called hell on earth. Manchester was home to more than 30,000 workers, mostly Irish immigrants, in just one square mile. The children there were left to their own devices, eating whatever garbage they could find, and some even ate cats and rats.
Rich people usually took photographs, and those who could not afford this expensive pleasure hired an artist. For example, a kind-hearted artist named John Callcott Horsley often visited morgues to paint portraits of recently deceased children. Such a posthumous image was often the only memory of departed relatives.
In the Victorian era, when gluttony coexisted with incredible frugality, not a single piece of food was wasted. For example, whole veal heads were boiled for dinner, and the brains were cooked as a separate dish: they resembled pink lumps floating in a butter sauce. Veal ears were shaved, boiled, and then fried in boiling oil. A sort of feast in the style of Hannibal Lecter.
Charles Darwin was very fond of dishes from exotic animals
Darwin not only studied rare animals, but also loved to feast on them. He joined the Cambridge Glutton Club, whose members ate unusual dishes from hawks, squirrels, grubs and owls. And during his travels, the scientist tasted an iguana, a giant turtle, an armadillo and a puma.
July 14th, 2012
Victorian era (1837-1901) - the period of the reign of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India.
Although this era is, in general, clearly tied to a specific country (Great Britain), it is often linked in general as the steampunk era. And there are reasons for this.
But first, a little about Queen Victoria herself.
Victoria (English Victoria, baptismal names Alexandrina Victoria - English Alexandrina Victoria) (May 24, 1819 - January 22, 1901) - Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 20, 1837, Empress of India from May 1, 1876 (proclamation in India - 1 January 1877), the last representative of the Hanoverian dynasty on the throne of Great Britain.
Victoria remained on the throne for more than 63 years, longer than any other British monarch. The Victorian era coincided with the Industrial Revolution and the height of the British Empire. The numerous dynastic marriages of her children and grandchildren strengthened the ties between the royal dynasties of Europe and increased Britain's influence on the continent (she was called the "Grandmother of Europe").
1837 Portrait of the Queen after her coronation.
And this is her classic (one might even say canonical) look.
The Industrial Revolution turned Britain into a country of smoky factories, huge warehouses and shops. The population grew rapidly, cities grew, and in the 1850s the country became covered with a network of railways. Highly productive and leaving other countries far behind, Britain was becoming the “workshop of the world,” which it demonstrated at the first international industrial exhibition in 1851. The country maintained its leading position until the end of the century. Against the backdrop of rapid transformation, negative aspects became increasingly noticeable: unsanitary conditions in workers' homes, child labor, low wages, poor working conditions and exhaustingly long working hours.
World Exhibition of 1851. The first exhibition of this kind.
The British themselves in our time perceive the era of their zenith ambiguously. There were too many different things there, including hypocrisy..
During this period, people belonging to the upper and middle classes adhered to strict values, which included the following:
Sense of duty and hard work;
Respectability: a mixture of morality and hypocrisy, rigor and conformity to social standards (having good manners, owning a comfortable home, regular church attendance and charity), it was this that separated the middle class from the lower;
Charity and philanthropy: activities that attracted many wealthy people, especially women.
Patriarchal orders reigned in the family, so a single woman with a child became marginalized due to the widespread idea of female chastity. Sexuality was suppressed, and affectation and hypocrisy were extremely common.
Colonialism was also an important phenomenon, leading to the spread of patriotism and being influenced by ideas of racial superiority and the concept of the white man's mission.
Rules of conduct and morality were very strict, and violations of them were strongly frowned upon. Severe corporal punishment was extremely common in families and educational institutions. Such phenomena as affectation and excessive moderation, suppression are considered important and very common features of the Victorian era. Thus, in English, the word “Victorian” is still synonymous with the words “sanctimonious” and “hypocritical”.
Despite the efforts of the state to streamline economic life, the industrialization of society also had its negative consequences. Unthinkable poverty may not have increased compared to the old days, but it became a real problem for society when masses of the poor migrated to urban slums. People's uncertainty about the future grew, because in the conditions of the new economic system ups alternated with downturns, as a result of which workers lost their jobs and joined the ranks of the poor. Defenders of the system argued that nothing could be done, since these were the “iron laws” of economics.
But such views were challenged by socialist thinkers such as Robert Owen and Karl Marx; their views were condemned by Charles Dickens, William Morris and other prominent writers and artists.
In the Victorian era, it was born and strengthened labor movement, from mutual aid and self-education programs (cooperatives, mechanics' schools) to mass protests such as the Chartist struggle in the 1830s and 40s. for the expansion of political rights. Trade unions, which were illegal until the 1820s, gained real strength with the growth of socialist sentiments.
Although the Victorians failed to overcome the problem of poverty, social and economic achievements eras were significant.
Mass production led to the emergence of new types of products, and the standard of living gradually increased. The development of production opened up new professional opportunities - for example, the growing demand for typists allowed a significant number of literate women to get a job for the first time in their lives. The new kind transport - trains - transported employees from the city home to the suburbs every day, and workers every weekend - on excursions to the coast, which over time became an invariable attribute of the English way of life.
English school 1897. Late Victorian era.
Victorian family photo.
Another photograph of a Victorian school.
And here’s what the Victorian era looked like through the eyes of photographic lenses (by the way, photography appeared right then):
Children's photographs from that time:
By the way, back then they went to school at the age of 8-9 years.
Do you want to see how teeth were treated back then? Like this:
Mechanical drill from the Victorian era. Want to try?
Rule Britain over the seas! World map 1897.
Indeed, an empire on which the sun never sets.
This is not a documentary photo at all. But this could very well happen in world history. Advanced steampunk, yes.
Here's what daily life looked like during that era:
A train leaving Paddington station.
And this is the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Victoria's coronation. 1897
Photos of this event:
Would I have wanted to live at that time? And it depends on social status:) Back then the social class division was much sharper than it is today.
Moreover, the average life expectancy in those days was approximately 40 years.
The years are merciless. Some thirty years pass - and the young coquette in pink frills turns into a caricature of herself (unless, of course, she is smart enough to change her wardrobe, manners and habits). Roughly the same thing happened to England in the 19th century. Having greeted the young century with classicism, enlightenment, strict morality and other wonders of the Regency era, this stately maiden with a proud profile, by the end of the century England arrived in the image of an elderly prude in lace bustles and bugles.
Okay, okay, an old woman arrived there in a car, accompanied by airplanes, who owns a good half of the land on this planet, but such magnificence did not make her any less funny. In general, the Victorian era is one complete contradiction. This is the time of the boldest discoveries and the most cautious morals; a time when a person was as free as possible and at the same time entangled hand and foot in a dense network of rules, norms and social contracts. This is the time of the most false hypocrisy and the most daring movement of thought, the time of impeccable rationality and nonsense elevated to the rank of virtue... In short, the Victorians are worth having a passionate interest in them.
Little woman in black
It’s probably worth starting with the queen who gave the era its name. Never before has such an insignificant creature been on such a high throne (at least, one that managed to stay on this throne). Alexandrina Victoria of Hanover became ruler of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837 at the age of 18. She was a plump girl, a little over one and a half meters tall, not the sharpest of minds, and extremely well-mannered. The little girl knew from infancy that someday she would have to become a queen. Her father died when Victoria was still very young, and there was no one in the family closer to the throne than she. The British, who had already learned over the past centuries that a woman on the British throne means almost guaranteed prosperity for the country, did not try to find a boy of suitable blood to replace her, and this turned out to be a far-sighted decision.
When little Victoria talked about her upcoming reign, she said that “she will be good, very, very good.” Usually, growing up, we are in no hurry to implement our childhood plans (otherwise there would be no breath of astronauts, firefighters and ice cream sellers around), but Victoria turned out to be a man of her word. At least she definitely didn't become bad. Brought up in the already mentioned Regency era, the queen placed morality and virtue above all else.
Morality and virtue, however, can be very bloody instruments of power, but it all depends on the scale of the personality of the one who took it upon himself to look after them. Fortunately, Victoria was just a small, good-natured bourgeois and managed to remain so even when half the world was subject to her power - a test that would have broken, perhaps, the most powerful titans of the human race. Very young, she married her distant relative and demonstratively adored her husband. Victoria gave birth to children every year, and soon the royal family consisted of nine princes and princesses. So after some time, almost all the monarchs of Europe turned out to be sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and granddaughters of Victoria, who added the nickname “grandmother of Europe” to the titles of Queen of Great Britain, Empress of India, etc. (Empress Alexandra, the wife of our Nicholas II, was the granddaughter of Victoria*.)
“In fact, Victoria’s fertility led to tragic consequences for the European monarchy. She turned out to be the ancestor of the most dangerous mutation leading to hemophilia - a disease in which blood clots very poorly and any scratch can be fatal. Only men suffer from it, but they cannot pass it on to their descendants, but women, remaining only carriers of a dangerous gene, risk giving birth to sick sons. Tsarevich Alexei, the son of Russian Emperor Nicholas II, suffered from precisely this disease, inherited from his great-grandmother. In general, the deck is shuffled interestingly. If Victoria had not been a carrier of the hemophilia gene, the Tsarevich would have been healthy, his parents would not have fallen under the influence of Rasputin, who knew how to alleviate the boy’s suffering, and perhaps our history would have taken a completely different path. And this comment would not be read by you at all, but by some completely different person.”.
After the death of her husband, Prince Albert (he died of typhus), Victoria mourned all her life. True, this did not stop the queen from starting an affair, apparently completely platonic, with his former valet, Scotsman John Brown, who long years was her closest friend and confidant.
Was Victoria really a dim-witted creature? This question hangs in the air. She dealt with Parliament, ministers and admirals with the ease with which the wise mother of a large Victorian family dealt with the male part of the family - infinitely respecting their opinions in words and not taking them into account when it came to action. The fact that under the leadership of the Queen England has finally become a world leader in everything related to economics, progress, science, technology and culture is in no way subject to doubt. And the Queen's love of moral plays, smelling salts and embroidered napkins should not deceive us too much.
Victoria ruled the country for 63 years and died three weeks into the 20th century, in January 1901.
Everyone in their place
The best-selling titles in Victorian England were:
a) The Bible and edifying religious brochures;
b) books on etiquette;
c) books on home economics.
And this selection very accurately describes the situation there. Led by the burgher queen, the British were filled with what Soviet textbooks liked to call “bourgeois morality.” Splendor, splendor, and luxury were now considered not quite decent things, fraught with depravity. The royal court, which for so many years was the center of freedom of morals, breathtaking toilets and shining jewelry, turned into the abode of a person in a black dress and a widow's cap. The sense of style caused the aristocracy to also slow down in this matter, and it is still widely believed that no one dresses as poorly as the high English nobility. Saving was elevated to the rank of virtue. Even in the houses of lords, from now on, for example, candle stubs were never thrown away - they had to be collected and then sold to candle shops for refilling.
Modesty, hard work and impeccable morality were prescribed to absolutely all classes. However, it was quite enough to appear to have these qualities: there was no attempt to change human nature. Agatha Christie once compared the Victorians to steam boilers, which are boiling inside (and every now and then someone’s valve opens with a terrible whistle). You can feel whatever you want, but giving away your feelings or doing inappropriate things was highly discouraged, unless, of course, you valued your place in society. And society was structured in such a way that almost every inhabitant of Albion did not even try to jump a step higher. God grant that you have the strength to hold on to the position you occupy now.
Failure to live up to one's position was punished mercilessly among the Victorians. If a girl's name is Abigail, she will not be hired as a maid in a decent house, since the maid must have a simple name, such as Anne or Mary. The footman must be tall and able to move deftly. A butler with an unintelligible pronunciation or too direct gaze will end his days in a ditch. A girl who sits like this will never get married. Don’t wrinkle your forehead, don’t spread your elbows, don’t sway when walking, otherwise everyone will decide that you are a brick factory worker or a sailor: that’s exactly how they are supposed to walk. If you wash down your food with your mouth full, you won't be invited to dinner again. When talking to an older lady, you need to bow your head slightly. A person who signs his business cards so clumsily cannot be accepted in good society. Everything was subject to the most severe regulation: movements, gestures, voice timbre, gloves, topics of conversation. Every detail of your appearance and manners should have eloquently screamed about what you are, or rather, trying to represent. A clerk who looks like a shopkeeper is ridiculous; the governess dressed up like a duchess is outrageous; a cavalry colonel must behave differently from a village priest, and a man's hat says more about him than he could tell about himself. Being Sherlock Holmes in Victorian England was like being a duck on a pond, that is, natural to the extreme.
Victorian naked feeling
A living person fit extremely poorly into the Victorian value system, where each subject was supposed to have a specific set of required qualities. Therefore, hypocrisy was considered not only acceptable, but also obligatory. Saying what you don’t mean, smiling when you want to cry, lavishing pleasantries on people who make you shake—this is what is required of a well-mannered person. People should feel comfortable and comfortable in your company, and how you feel is your own business. Put everything away, lock it, and preferably swallow the key. Only with the closest people can you sometimes allow yourself to move the iron mask that hides your true face a millimeter. In return, society readily promises not to try to look inside you.
What the Victorians did not tolerate was nudity of any kind - both mental and physical. Moreover, this applied not only to people, but to any phenomena in general. Here's what Christina Hughes, author of the book, writes: Everyday life in the Regency era and in Victorian England: “Of course, the fact that the Victorians put knickers on the legs of furniture so as not to conjure up an indecent allusion to human legs is an anecdote. But the truth is that they really couldn’t stand anything open, bare and empty.”
If you have a toothpick, then there should be a case for it. The case with the toothpick should be stored in a box with a lock. The box must be hidden in a locked chest of drawers. To prevent the chest of drawers from seeming too bare, you need to cover every free centimeter of it with carved curls and cover it with an embroidered bedspread, which, in order to avoid excessive openness, should be filled with figurines, wax flowers and other nonsense, which it is advisable to cover with glass covers. The walls were hung decorative plates, engravings and paintings from top to bottom. In those places where the wallpaper still managed to immodestly come out into the light of God, it was clear that it was decorously dotted with small bouquets, birds or coats of arms. There are carpets on the floors, smaller rugs on the carpets, the furniture is covered with bedspreads and strewn with embroidered cushions.
Today's directors who make films based on Dickens or Henry James have long given up on attempts to recreate real interiors of the Victorian era: it would simply be impossible to see the actors in them.
But human nakedness, of course, had to be hidden extremely carefully, especially female nakedness. The Victorians viewed women as some kind of centaurs, who had the upper half of the body (undoubtedly, the creation of God), but there were doubts about the lower half. The taboo extended to everything connected with feet. This very word was prohibited: they were supposed to be called “limbs”, “members” and even “pedestal”. Most words for pants were taboo in good society. The matter ended with the fact that in stores they began to be quite officially titled “unnameable” and “unspeakable.”
As corporal punishment scholar James Bertrand wrote, " English teacher, regularly pulling off this part of the toilet from his students to inflict proper punishment, he would never say out loud either its name, or, of course, the name of the body part it covers.”
Men's trousers were sewn in such a way as to hide the anatomical excesses of the stronger sex as much as possible from view: padding made from thick fabric along the front of the trousers and very tight underwear.
As for the ladies' pedestal, this was generally an exclusively forbidden territory, the very outlines of which had to be destroyed. Huge hoops were worn under skirts - crinolines, so that a lady's skirt easily took 10-11 meters of material. Then bustles appeared - lush overlays on the buttocks, designed to completely hide the presence of this part of the female body, so that modest Victorian ladies were forced to walk, dragging their cloth butts with bows, protruding half a meter back.
At the same time, shoulders, neck and chest for quite a long time were not considered so indecent as to hide them excessively: ballroom necklines of that era were quite daring. Only towards the end of Victoria’s reign did morality reach there too, wrapping the ladies’ high collars under their chins and carefully fastening them with all the buttons.
Ladies and gentlemen
In general, there are few societies in the world in which gender relations would please the outsider with reasonable harmony. But Victorian sexual segregation is in many ways unparalleled. The word “hypocrisy,” already mentioned in this article, begins to play with new bright colors here.
Of course, things were simpler for the lower classes, but starting with the townspeople mediocre the rules of the game became extremely complicated. Both sexes got it to the fullest.
Lady
By law, a woman was not considered separately from her husband; her entire fortune was considered his property from the moment of marriage. Quite often, a woman also could not be the heir of her husband if his estate, say, was a primordial estate*.
* Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik: « Inheritance scheme, according to which the estate can pass only through the male line to the eldest in the family».
Women of the middle class and above could only work as governesses or companions; any other professions simply did not exist for them. A woman also could not make financial decisions without her husband's consent. Divorce was extremely rare and usually led to the expulsion of the wife and often the husband from polite society.
From birth, the girl was taught to always and in everything obey men, obey them and forgive any antics: drunkenness, mistresses, ruin of the family - anything. The ideal Victorian wife never reproached her husband with a word. Her task was to please her husband, praise his virtues and rely entirely on him in any matter. However, the Victorians gave their daughters considerable freedom in choosing spouses. Unlike, for example, the French or Russian nobles, where children's marriages were decided mainly by their parents, the young Victorian had to make a choice independently and with her eyes wide open; her parents could not force her to marry anyone. True, they could prevent her from marrying an unwanted groom until she was 24 years old, but if the young couple fled to Scotland, where it was allowed to get married without parental approval, then mom and dad could not do anything. But usually young ladies were already sufficiently trained to keep their desires in check and obey their elders. They were taught to appear weak, tender and naive - it was believed that only such a fragile flower could make a man want to take care of him. Before leaving for balls and dinners, young ladies were fed for slaughter, so that the girl would not have the desire to demonstrate a good appetite in front of strangers: an unmarried girl was supposed to peck food like a bird, demonstrating her unearthly airiness.
A woman was not supposed to be too educated (at least to show it), have her own views and generally show excessive knowledge in any issues, from religion to politics. At the same time, the education of Victorian girls was very serious. If parents calmly sent boys to schools and boarding schools, then daughters had to have governesses, visiting teachers and study under the serious supervision of their parents, although there were also girls’ boarding schools. Girls, it is true, were rarely taught Latin and Greek, unless they themselves expressed a desire to learn them, but otherwise they were taught the same as boys. They were also especially taught painting (at least watercolor), music and several foreign languages. A girl from a good family had to know French, preferably Italian, and German usually came third.
So the Victorian had to know a lot, but a very important skill was to hide this knowledge in every possible way. Of course, only from strangers - with her friends and parents - was she allowed to be either Spinoza or Newton. Having acquired a husband, the Victorian woman often gave birth to 10-20 children. The contraceptives and miscarriage-causing substances so well known to her great-grandmothers were considered so monstrously obscene in the Victorian era that she had no one to discuss their use with.
* Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik:
« By the way, the development of hygiene and medicine in England at that time left 70% of newborns alive, a record for humanity at that time. So the British Empire throughout the 19th century did not know the need for gallant soldiers».
Gentlemen
Having such a submissive creature as a Victorian wife on his neck, the gentleman took a deep breath. From childhood, he was raised to believe that girls are fragile and delicate creatures who need to be treated with care, like ice roses. The father was fully responsible for the maintenance of his wife and children. Count on the fact that in difficult times his wife will deign to help him real help, he could not. Oh no, she herself will never dare to complain that she lacks something!
But Victorian society was vigilant in ensuring that husbands dutifully pulled the strap. A husband who did not give his wife a shawl, who did not move a chair, who did not take her to the water when she was coughing so terribly all September, a husband who forces his poor wife to go out for the second year in a row in the same evening dress, - such a husband could put an end to his future: a profitable place will float away from him, the necessary acquaintance will not happen, they will begin to communicate with him at the club with icy politeness, and his own mother and sisters will write him indignant letters in bags every day.
The Victorian considered it her duty to be sick constantly: good health it was somehow unbecoming of a true lady. And the fact that a huge number of these martyrs, forever moaning on their couches, lived until the First and even the Second World War, outliving their husbands by half a century, cannot but amaze. In addition to his wife, the man also had full responsibility for his unmarried daughters, unmarried sisters and aunts, and widowed great-aunts. The Victorian may not have had the extensive conjugal rights of the Ottoman sultans, but he often had a larger harem than theirs.
Free love Victorian style
Officially, the Victorians believed that girls and young women were devoid of sexuality or, as it was then whisperedly called, carnal lust. And in general, an unspoiled woman should submit to shameful bed rituals only within the framework of the general concept of submission to a man. That's why the slogan "Ladies don't move!" was really close to reality. It was believed that a woman does this only with the goal of having a child and... well, how can I put it... to pacify the demons tormenting the sinful flesh of her husband. The public treated the husband's sinful flesh with disgusting condescension. He had 40 thousand prostitutes at his service in London alone. These were mostly the daughters of peasants, workers and traders, but there were also former ladies among them who charged 1-2 pounds for their services compared to the usual fee of 5 shillings. In Victorian slang, prostitutes were supposed to be referred to figuratively, without offending anyone's ears by mentioning their craft.
Therefore, in the texts of that time they are referred to as “unfortunate”, “these women”, “devil cats” and even “Satan’s canaries”. Lists of prostitutes with addresses were regularly published in special magazines, which could be purchased even in some quite respectable clubs. Street women, who were given to any sailor for coppers, were, of course, not suitable for a decent gentleman. But even when visiting a hetera of the highest rank, the man tried to hide this unfortunate fact even from close friends. It was impossible to marry a woman with a tarnished reputation, not even a professional, but simply a girl who had stumbled: a madman who decided to do this would himself turn into a pariah, in front of whom the doors of most houses would be closed. It was impossible to recognize an illegitimate child. A decent man had to pay a modest sum for his maintenance and send him somewhere to a village or a run-down boarding house, never to communicate with him again.
Humor, madness and skeletons in the closets
It is quite natural that it was in this world, drawn out to the point of strain and decent to the point of complete nonsense, that powerful opposition to the polished routine of everyday life arose. The Victorians' passion for horror, mysticism, humor and wild antics is the same whistle on the steam boiler that for so long prevented the artificial world from exploding and flying into pieces.
With the greed of civilized cannibals, the Victorians read the details of the murders, always brought to the front pages of newspapers. Their tales of horror are capable of causing a shiver of disgust even among fans of the Chainsaw Massacre in Texas. Having described in the first pages a gentle girl with clear eyes and pale cheeks watering daisies, the Victorian author delightedly devoted the remaining twenty to how her brains were smoking on those daisies after a burglar with an iron hammer had broken into the house.
Death is the lady who is unforgivably indifferent to any rules, and, apparently, this is what fascinated the Victorians. However, they made attempts to trim and civilize even her. Funerals occupied the Victorians as much as they did the ancient Egyptians. But the Egyptians, making a mummy and carefully equipping it for the future life with scarabs, boats and pyramids, at least believed that this was reasonable and prudent. Victorian coffins with rich carvings and floral paintings, funeral cards with vignettes and fashionable styles of mourning bands are a vain exclamation of “We ask for decency!” addressed to a figure with a scythe.
It was from the early Gothic novels of the British that the detective genre developed, and they also enriched the world's cultural treasury with such things as surreal humor and black humor.
The Victorians had another absolutely amazing fashion - for quiet crazy people. Stories about them were published in thick collections, and any inhabitant of Bedlam who escaped from his nurses and walked around Piccadilly with “unspeakable” on his head could entertain guests at London social dinners for months. Eccentric persons, who, however, did not allow serious sexual violations and some other taboos, were highly valued as a pleasant seasoning for society. And keeping at home, say, an aunt who loved to dance a sailor’s dance on the roof of a barn, although it was troublesome, was not worthy of public discontent.
Moreover, ordinary Victorians, especially older ladies and gentlemen, got away with strange antics if these antics were, say, the result of a bet. For example, Gilbert Chesterton's story about a gentleman who wore a head of cabbage on his head for a week and then ate it (as payback for carelessly exclaiming “If this happens, I swear to eat my hat”) is a real incident he took from a Devonshire newspaper .
We know exactly when Victorianism ended. No, not on the day of the little queen’s death, but thirteen years later, with the first radio messages about the beginning of the First World War. Victorianism is that wax bouquet under a hood that is completely out of place in the trenches. But in the end, the Victorians could admire in awe the ease with which this whole colossus of decency shatters into small rubbish, forever freeing from its bonds the captives who had basked in them for so long.
Victorian era, 1837–1901
These years, like the Elizabethan era, are often depicted as a golden age in English history. Trade flourished industrial production gained unprecedented strength, lively cities grew everywhere, and the possessions of the British Empire extended throughout the world.
Among the many changes that took place in those years, I would like to note one, the most significant, - the outflow of the population from rural areas to cities. If in 1801, according to the census, the urban population was only 30% of total number English, then by the middle of the century this figure had increased to 50%, and in 1901 80% of the population lived in cities and their suburbs. This trend, undoubtedly, was very convenient for developing industry, since it created an inexhaustible reserve of labor, but it also generated serious problems. Due to the great overcrowding, terrible dirt and poverty reigned in the cities. At first, the government tried to turn a blind eye to the plight of poor citizens, but then individual employers appeared who tried to take care of their employees. Gradually they realized that this could only be done properly if there were appropriate state laws. Such laws began to appear under pressure from industrialists, and each new law controlling the living and working conditions of workers meant more and more interference in the lives of British citizens. The army of civil servants grew steadily: in 1832 there were about 21 thousand, by 1880 there were already over 50 thousand, and in 1914 there were state enterprises Over 280 thousand hired workers worked.
Victoria: Queen and Wife
For many years, Queen Victoria was a symbol of reliability and stability for the entire nation. This woman, even in her youth, showed extraordinary strength of character, as evidenced by her refusal to sign documents while ill with typhoid fever in 1835. However, she achieved true greatness when she ascended the English throne. Already in the first year of her reign, one of the journalists noted: “She never leaves her post for a minute - the most hardworking and obliging queen in the world.” Although there were those who considered Victoria a limited and stubborn person.
A year after her coronation, in 1838, the queen fell in love with her brilliant cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the wedding soon took place. Since then, Victoria relied on her husband in everything, recognizing his intellectual superiority. Those around him immediately felt Prince Albert's influence. If before that Victoria had the habit of sleeping late, then the very next day after her marriage, her subjects saw their queen walking hand in hand with her husband in the predawn fog. As one of the courtiers sarcastically remarked: “Not the best way to give the country a Prince of Wales.”
It was an extremely successful marriage, although, naturally, there were some disagreements: the parents did not always see eye to eye on raising children. And they had a lot of children - nine. The first, in 1840, was born Victoria, who later became the wife of the German emperor. She was followed in 1841 by Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. Besides them there were three more boys and four girls. Prince Albert attached great importance family life, taking special care of children's education. Their married couple served as role models throughout England for many years.
Queen Victoria
If in previous centuries Since members of the royal family were often prone to gambling, drinking and love affairs, the current monarchs expressed vehement disapproval of all these vices. Part of this condemnation fell on their eldest son, who indulged too zealously in the joys of life. Victoria inherited three estates - Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Either these buildings were not spacious enough for the royal family, or did not seem private enough, but the family acquired two more houses - Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and Balmoral Castle in Scotland. In these places they finally found the peace and solitude they had so dreamed of. Queen Victoria later wrote: “Here we can stroll peacefully without fear of running into a crowd of curious people.”
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