Victorian literature context

Question 1

What is realism?

Answer 1

portraying a realistic, detailed depiction of modern life, often with the purpose of critiquing aspects of modern society. Influenced by authors such as Emile Zola

Question 2

What were the Married Women’s Property Acts and when were they introduced?

Answer 2

1870 - women allowed to control and retain their income
1882 - women gain the right to be able to control and own property

Question 3

When was the term ‘New Woman’ coined and who by

Answer 3

1894 by public speaker and author Sarah Grand

Question 4

What did Dr Andrzej Diniejko describe the New Woman to be?

Answer 4

‘She was intelligent, educated, emancipated, independent and self supporting’

Question 5

what did Dr William Acton suggest about women’s sexual desires?

Answer 5

‘The majority of women (happily for them) are not very much troubled with sexual feeling of any kind’.

Question 6

What was a Blue Stocking?

Answer 6

‘women who were considered unmarriagable as they tried to usurp men’s intellectual superiority’ according to Kathryn Hughes.

Question 7

When was a Doll’s House published?

Answer 7

1879

Question 8

When did Rossetti publish poetry?

Answer 8

1862-1882

Question 9

What is romanticism?

Answer 9

•the celebration of the powers of nature, nostalgic for Rural England before Industrial Revolution
•the glorification of individuality and emotion
•the rebellion against tradition and rationality
• infusion of spiritual and supernatural elements.

Question 10

What did middle class women wear in the Victorian period?

Answer 10

crinoline skirts that were large and rigid, preventing her from taking part in housework

Question 11

How was social hierarchy maintained?

Answer 11

•etiquette, distinguishing the upper class from new upper middle class
• manuals made to deal with this such as How to Behave

Question 12

What female author opposed women gaining the vote and wanted more respect for women’s traditional role?

Answer 12

• Mary Augusta Ward, wrote under her married name
• female politician and writer, founded Anti Suffrage group in 1908

Question 13

When was Why are Women Redundant? by W.R Greg released and what statistic did it highlight

Answer 13

•1862
• In England and Wales 1851, 1 248 000 out of 3 000 000 women between 20-40 were unmarried

Question 14

When did Rossetti break her engagement and why?

Answer 14

1850 to James Collinson as he moved to the Catholic church

Question 15

Which actress demanded that Ibsen should change the ending of a Doll’s House?

Answer 15

Hedwig Niemann-Raabe

Question 16

Opinions expressed by critic Eliza Ekstein Frank

Answer 16

females are ‘stuck inside the social prisons of wifehood or motherhood’
Ibsen felt more able to make Nora leave at the end of a Doll’s House because of ‘social and legislative change towards the fin of the Norwegian siécle’

Question 17

What did Anne-Marie Beller say about infantilisation in the Victorian period?

Answer 17

‘The image of the innocent childlike woman continued to exert a potent hold over the Victorian cultural imagination’

‘in legal terms the mid nineteenth century woman’s position was synonymous with that of a child’

Question 18

Where did Rossetti volunteer to help fallen women?

Answer 18

the Highgate Penitentiary for Fallen Women for several years

Question 19

How does ‘hug me, kiss me, suck my juices’ link to the Holy Communion?

Answer 19

‘eat me, drink me, love me’ - lines more loving in this sisterly context

Question 20

What animal is Aphrodite associated with?

Answer 20

doves - goddess of sexual love

Question 21

What sexual metaphor was often used in literature?

Answer 21

women giving their bodies via a lock of hair