Victorian Women

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the position and expectations of women in the Victorian era. The paper discusses two poetic works by Victorian writers, "Aurora Leigh", by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and "Freaks of Fashion" by Christina Rossetti, in which they not only hint at disdain for the expected position of women but, not so subtly yet ever so charmingly dig at the expectations of women of the day.

From the Paper:

"Speaking of the challenge of the frivolity and impracticality of the Victorian dress that was expected to be closely adhered to in all its pomp and circumstance is also the poetry of Rossetti. Freaks of Fashion expresses disdain for frivolity and for the extravagant and detailed manner in which women were expected to dress. Her work is slightly more subtle in that it begins as if it is a mere allusion to the kinds of things women were allowed and possibly even expected to write about, the beauty of nature, but is clearly an analogy of the pomp of Victorian style."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Aurora Leigh. Ed. Kerry McSweeney. Oxford: Oxford University Press UK, 1993.
• Rossetti, Christina G. A Pageant and Other Poems,. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1881.

More papers on Victorian Women:

• Analytical Essay # 47294 : "Victorian Women"
• Comparison Essay # 17041 : "Victorian Women"
• Essay # 137416 : "Analyzing Symbolism and the Submissive Role of Victorian Women in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: