Women's Portrayal In 19th Century Literature

Women’s Portrayal in 19th Century Literature
In the 19th century women were suppose to be the perfect wife, mother, and lady. Women were set to a standard by Coventry Patmore in his poem The Angel in the House. In which he describes what the perfect woman does, inspired by his wife Emily's actions. The Angel in the House is meant to reinforce the Victorian ideal of feminine self-sacrifice, submissiveness, and motherly devotion. In novels like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre the idea of the Angel in the House is addressed.
These perfect women stayed at home and oversaw all domestic activities, while the husbands went to work and maintained the social reputation of the family. The women and men were in “separate spheres”, only coming together at breakfast and dinner. Women were considered physically weaker yet morally superior to men, which meant that they were best suited to the domestic sphere. Women were suppose to be okay with being in this domestic sphere and be okay with being seen as weaker than men. While the women were in the house the men were constantly in the public eye and responsible for the
Throughout the novel she constantly questions the norms of 19th century women. In the novel Jane and Rochester marry out of love instead of out of convenience, which was typically unheard of in this day and time. Most marriages were to help a family get ahead financially and on the social ladder. Bertha Mason’s marriage to Mr. Rochester is typical of this marriage of convenience. Rochester marries Bertha for her money and social status. This kind of marriage, as Jane implies, is not only a “well of mystery” but also a “Bridewell,” a prison, like “a corridor in some Bluebeard’s castle” (Bronte, 108). Bertha Mason is somewhat of a sacrifice to the marriage of convenience and hence Thornfield, symbolizing this institution of marriage of convenience, must be destroyed before Jane and Rochester get