Gender In The Victorian Era

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Pages: 5

The Victorian era was a period of time where England made dramatic changes that led them to their highest point as a world power. The Victorian era lasted from 1837 to 1901, in which Queen Victoria was in power. During this time period, England saw the opening of its first railway, its first Reform Parliament. Not only did it see these things, but it was a time of prosperity, optimism, and stability. By the end of the Victorian era, everything started catching up with England. The costs of running this great empire became apparent, they were confronted with threats to their military and their economic preeminence. Literature was a major part of the Victorian era. Many topics of literature was present in the VIctorian era. For example, many …show more content…
For example, in Robert Browning’s Porphyria's Lover, he takes a weird way of showing that men and women are not equal in the Victorian era society. Another example is, Christina Rossetti in The Goblin Market, the goblins (men) were controlling and superior over the women. These poets show that men in the Victorian era are superior to women during this time and see them as just objects. Robert Browning used the theme of gender roles in many of his poems. In most Victorian Era, woman are not really equal with men in society. However in Porphyria’s Lover, Browning switches up the gender roles. In the poem, Porphyria is out at a party and the narrator is at home. Now this is unusual because most of the time this is the other way around. In the Victorian Era, the man is the dominant figure and would be out on the town; the woman would be at home taking care of the house and the kids. Browning made the gender swap clear when the women gets home. Browning wrote: She put my arm about her …show more content…
She was poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. One of her most famous works was Goblin Market, in which she wrote in 1893. Goblin Market is about two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, that live near a goblin market. Laura goes to the market, eats a fruit and gets very sick. So, Lizzie goes to the market gets all of the fruit juice on her after fighting with some goblins and makes Laura suck it off of her to miraculously heal her. In this poem, there are many things that show that men were the superior ones during this time. Although this is true, Rossetti does show that women are much stronger than what the were interpreted to be. For example, in stanza 21 it