The Victorian Morale

Victorian Morality
The term represents the moral of the people living in the Victorian time. It especially refers to the
moral climate in general in Great Britain during the 19th century. Victorian morality can be described
as a set of values that supported sexual repression, low tolerance of crime, and a strong social ethic.
Due to the impact and importance of the British Empire, many of these values were spread across the
world.
History of Victorian Morality and the Royal Family
Two hundred years before Victoria took the throne, the Puritan Republican Movement had temporarily
overthrown the British monarchy. While England had been a Republic, strict moral codes had been
imposed on people and even the celebration of Christmas had been abolished. The two forces of
Puritanism and Liberty influenced Great Britain especially the public perception of the Hanoverian
monarchs.
When Victoria took the throne, the gap and interplay between high cultural morals and low vulgarity
was strongly embedded in British culture.
Victorian Family Life
Families were most important to Victorians. They were rather large compared to families nowadays,
with an average of five or six children and their organization was also very patriarchal.
The father was the head of the family and the household. He was mostly strict and obeyed by
everyone.
The
children
did
not
dare
to
talk
back
to
him.
When the father demanded peace and quiet time, he would retreat to his study and the rest of the
family was not allowed to enter without permission.
The mother would spend her time planning dinner parties, visiting the dressmaker, or calling on her
friends. She did not engage in household chores like cleaning, cooking, or washing clothes.
The children did not see much of their parents. They spent most of their time in the nursery or were
brought up by nannies. Children were expected to rise early, because lying in bed was thought to be
lazy and sinful. Some children would see their parents not more often than once a day. In some
households the mother would teach their children how to read and write while the father would
educate the sons in Latin.
Every household, except for the poorest families had servants for the everyday chores: cook (operating
the kitchen, did the shopping), butler (answered the front door), maids (cleaned the rooms), footman
(did the heavy work).
Victorians encouraged hard work, respectability, social deference and religious conformity.
Upper and middle class families usually lived in big and comfortable houses. Each member of the
family had its own place and the parents made sure the children were taught to 'know their place'. For
the parents the upbringing of their children was the most important responsibility. They believed that a
child must know the difference between right and wrong in order to become a thoughtful, moral adult,
and when they did something wrong, they punished them for good.

Poor working class families feared to end up at a workhouse, where thousands of homeless and broke
families were forced to live. This could happen to the families when the father grew sick or was for
some other reason unable to work. In the workhouses the families would be split up and dressed in
uniform with their hair cut short.
Science
This was the time of a great scientific progress and ideas. Darwin took his 'Voyage of The Beagle' and
later published 'The Theory of Evolution'.
Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition took place at Crystal Palace in London in 1851, exhibiting
technical and industrial advances of the age.
Medicine and Physical Science continued to develop and improve throughout the century. There were
significant changes that increased the specialization in surgery and hospital building. Also there were
notable breakthroughs in anesthetics. Queen Victoria was the most famous patient publicizing
anesthetics by taking Chloroform for the birth of her son in 1853. Modern Psychiatry began with men
like Sigmund Freud. Furthermore by the end of the century a radical economic theory was developed
by Karl Marx and his associates.
Politics
Politics were important to the Victorians. They believed in the perfection of their evolved,
representative government and in exporting it throughout the British Empire. The Victorian time saw
the beginning and spread of political movements, most importantly socialism, liberalism and
organized feminism. The social classes were newly reforming. The old hierarchical order was
changing with the steady growing of the middle class. The composition of the upper class was
changing from pure aristocracy to a combination of nobility and emerging wealthy gentlemen of
commercial class.
Art and Literature
Culturally the novel developed during this time.
Some great novelists were Sir Walter Scott, Emily, Anna and Charlotte Bronte, Oscar Wilde and of
course Charles Dickens.
An author criticizing the Victorian morality was the author Robert Louis Stevenson, writing the novel
'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' which explored the duality of good and evil. Increasing
literacy stimulated growth in popular journalism. The novel however became the most powerful
popular icon.
The Victorian era covers multiple art styles, including Classicism, Neoclassicism, Romanticism,
Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. The artists focused on painting directly from the nature,
producing colorful, detailed, almost photographic representations.