Mothers of the Victorian Period Essay -- literature literary criticism

M other(a)s of the squared-toe Period There is no doubt in the fact that motherliness has changed throughout history in the way that it is practiced and perceived. Although hard to classify motherhood as an easy task in any time period, mothers of the prudish period were among those who have had it the hardest. For example, Natalie McKnight, author of Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels, states When I first began studying the lives of Victorian women, I sympathized with the many women who suffered through the agonies of labor only to break off shortly after the baby was born. As I continued my research, I began to feel more sympathy with those who survived (McKnight 1). Victorian mothers were put under tremendous pressures and expectations when it came to mothering their children. earlier to this time, mothers raised their children based on what felt natural and instinctive. Moving into the mid-nineteenth century, however, mothers were expected to follow conduct and medica l books for wives, mothers, and invigoratedborns, as well as use new products on the market for mother and baby. The duties that were placed upon the woman were to maintain and develop the childs complete physical, mental, and spiritual health, pretty much without the help of the dumbfound (McKnight 2). Mothers took care of domestic matters and their children, while men were free to concentrate on work and public affairs (Shiman 35). Motherhood, thereby, had come to be a skill that had to be learned rather than acquired by observing other women who had been mothers. In a broader sense, men, women, and children each had their own sphere. Within the privacy of their home, members of the household were divided into groups between children and other members of ... ... of failure deemed them as an unfit parent. In addition, the mothers of the nineteenth century were basically trying out a new form of parenting on their own without the avail of any previous mothers to guide them. Alth ough motherhood will never be easy, Mid-Victorian mothers suffered in their attempts to be what society at the time considered the maternal ideal. Works Cited Gorham, Deborah. The Victorian Girl and the Feminine Ideal. London Croom Helm, 1982. Kane, Penny. Victorian Families in Fact and Fiction. London Macmillan, 1995. McKnight, Natalie. Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels. New York St. Martins, 1997. Shiman, Lillian Lewis. Women and Leadership in Nineteenth-Century England. London Macmillan, 1992. Thaden, Barbara. The Maternal portion in Victorian Fiction Rewriting the Patriarchal Family. New York Garland, 1997.