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Romanticism and Socialism Romanticism
as a concept |
19th century Society Influences on Scientific Thinking |
 Ludwig von Beethoven Portrait by J.K.Stieler 1819-20  Karl Marx |
Some day the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit! -- Mother Jones (1903) |
First, forget whatever you think the word "romantic" means: it has only to do with romantic love in very small portion.
In general, romanticism was a reaction against the rationalism
of the 18th century, the foundation of the Enlightenment,
and its result: the industrial world. In fact, some reacted
directly. Those wishing to reform conditions were often
direct in their criticism:
Workbook
document: Charles Dickens' A Walk in the Workhouse (1850)
Most would consider Charles Dickens a realist writer rather than a romantic one. But in his understanding of human feelings, in his Rousseau-like reliance on humanity, he's also a romantic.
In the tradition of Rousseau, romantics valued human intuition and nature. They valued the wild over the tame, the savage over the civilized, the emotional over the rational. Industrialization seemed the ultimate poor result of man's dominion over nature, thus in many ways romantics sought an alternative to the industrial world.
The gardens of the elites provide an excellent contrast between rational and romantic values. Take a look at those at Versailles:
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Notice the orderly, geomentric beds of perfectly cut grass with perfectly conical trees. Ever twig is tended, presenting the ultimate symbol of man's domination over the natural world. |
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The map of the gardens at Versailles show very clearly the organized layout. Gardens represented the comprehension of the natural world, its divine order as organized by human beings. Most elite Enlightenment gardens, though not as grand as this, included strictly geomentric arrangements, paved pathways, and elegant fountains. They were tended continually by gardeners. |
| Romantic gardens emphasized nature, though they also required tending. In this case, the tending was needed to keep them looking natural: flowers spilling out of beds, curving pathways, windblown trees. It was a visual rejection of order and human control of nature. Notice also the "ruins"; romantics valued the old, and deliberately installed "ruins" in their gardens to establish a connection to the past. The country gardens of Europe had profusions of perennial herbs and flowers, with vegetables tucked among the flowering plants. |  |
Literature is the natural expression of a literate culture, and the Romantics were often well-educated, even as they rejected the foundations of neo-classical education. The literature of the Enlightenment had been witty, polished, elegant. Like the gardens, romantic writing ws designed to be natural, emotional, intuitive. Poetry was popular:
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Workbook document: George Gordon, Lord Byron: On This Day I Complete My Thirty-sixth Year (1824) |
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Lord Byron, like most romantics, was romantic in life as well as work. He had torrid affairs. He fought for the Greek side in its war for independence from the Ottoman Empire, and died in Missolonghi the same year he wrote this poem. That's romantic. |
Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) was the daughter of Jacques Necker, Swiss financial advisor to Louis XVI of France. Her mother Suzanne Curchod raised her according to Rousseau's theories and ran a popular salon. After her marriage to a Swedith baron, Germaine ran her own salon in Paris. Napoleon exiled her in 1803, because her salon had become a hotbed of new ideas that criticized militarism and because she had published works he considered objectionable in their support of individual freedom. Most objectionable to Napoleon were the writings focused on Germany, which give us the first evidence of nationalism. In her discussion of German morals, culture, philosophy and literature she denoted these accomplishments as particularly German. For me, her most interesting work was about literature, which she insisted was always influenced by its historical context. |
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From Germany came romantics like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who wrote on the spur of the moment, providing his works with a sense of immediacy and enthusiasm. His greatest work was:
The story was based on the medieval legend of a man selling his soul to the devil in return for magical powers (the Middle Ages were a strong influence on romantics everywhere). |
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In Part I of the play, Faust's experiences are personal, as he uses his powers to get women and wealth. It is clear that Méphistophélès is using Faust to get the best of the deal. But in Part II, which was published posthumously, Faust represents a wider humanity. Méphistophélès seems to be used by Faust, instead of the other way around. Ultimately, Faust is saved by the divine love of a "goddess". Love is revealed as a kind of emotional faith.
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But I've saved the best for last. George Sand (Aurore Dupin) (1804-76), like Byron, shows the close relationship between life and art for the romantic set. She married, at 16, Baron Dudevant, a stupid country squire whom she left to move to Paris and live "a free life". She wore men's clothes, smoked in public, and took famous lovers. Her two-year affair with romantic writer Alfred de Musset scandalized Paris. His jealousy was characteristic of her lovers, whom she tended to leave devastated even as the affairs seemed to have little effect on her. She was part of the romantic circle that included artist Eugœne Delacroix, composer Franz Liszt, and writer Gustav Flaubert. She had an intense love affair with Chopin. Her many essays and novels were influential, and also combined life with art. Her novel Consuelo (1843) was designed to show a similar character to Germaine de Staël's Corrine (1803), a woman abandoned by her lover because of her personal complexity, who ends in self-destructiveness. Consuelo uses her abandonment to become an independent artist in the cause of revolutionary France, achieving self-fulfillment and social purpose. "The world will know and understand me someday," Sand wrote. "But if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter. I shall have opened the way for other women." |
View this slideshow first. I'll let the art speak for itself as much as possible.
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Romanticism from Lisa M Lane on Vimeo. |
Romanticism was a multi-faceted movement. It was a reaction against the sterile and controlling neo-classical style. It was an effort to de-emphasize the forces of reason, science, and industry, and emphasize passion, humanity, and nature. It was an exploration into the exotic and the unconscious, into the violence of the natural world, and the futility of human efforts to control what cannot be controlled. Romantic art reflects these themes and more. |
You can then see the images separately if you wish, and
a few extras, using this art list:
Sources: Mark
Harden's Artchive
Tigertail
Virtual Museum
Boston College Digital
Archives of Art
CGFA -- A Virtual
Art Museum
ibiblio: WebMuseum,
Paris
Since the 17th century, when court masques provided the opportunity for theatrical dance, dancing had evolved. In the 18th century, professional dancers had emerged who did more than imitate the graceful poses begun on the dance floors of elite gatherings. Neo-classical dancing had been done primarily by men, with women hampered by full-skirted costumes. But by the 19th century, dance performances could relay the emotion of romanticism as well or better than any other art form, and ballet became the premiere form of dance.
The ballets of the 19th century told romantic stories of many kinds. Russian choreographer Marius Petipa (1855-1881) of the Maryinsky Theater collaborated with composers like Tchaikovsky and ballet soloists to create such classics as Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and La Bayadere. Ballerinas like Marie Taglioni became the toasts of Europe, dancing en pointe (on the tips of their toes). The press wrote in 1827 that she was "Romanticism applied to dance".
One of the best examples of romantic ballet is Giselle, choreographed by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, with music by Adolphe Adam.
It opened in 1841 at the Paris Opera with Carlotta Grisi in the starring role.
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| Giselle saving Albert's life |
Giselle is the story of a peasant girl with a weak heart. She falls in love with a nobleman, Albert, who is in disguise as a peasant. He dances with her and swears undying love. Upon discovering he is noble and betrothed to another, she goes crazy and dances herself to death in front of everyone. In the second act, she is in the land of the Willies, the souls of women who died before marriage. These women lure men into the woods and kill them. Giselle is ordered to kill Albert when he comes to the woods, but she saves his life and dies again.
What makes Giselle romantic is, well, everything. Unrequited love, spooky setting, death by heartbreak.
And it's become the ultimate ballet by which a prima ballerina's mettle is tested.
Most
people consider anarchy to mean "total chaos".
But that is not its original definition, and it is a precise
political theory.
Webster's defines it as "a political theory opposed to all forms of government and governmental restraint and advocating voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups in order to satisfy their needs." Thus anarchy is voluntary government.
The origin of anarchy was apparently something called
"Libertarian Socialism", advocated by radicals
in Mexico during the 18th century. In Europe, the first
study of it was done in 1793 by William Godwin, husband
of Mary Wollstonecraft. But Pierre Proudhon is often given
credit for inventing anarchism, because he added to the
definition the abolition of property rights.
Workbook
document: Pierre Proudhon's What is Property? (1840)
One way to help understand Proudhon is to look at his assertion that "property is theft". Try reversing the equation:
If no one owns anything privately, than nothing can be
stolen from an individual. If all is shared, there can
be no stealing, because everything belongs to everyone. 
In 1870, this theory was attempted in practice in Paris, with the Paris Commune. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War, which you'll learn about later, the National Guard in Paris refused to admit defeat. When the government tried to disarm them, they revolted and became the support for the Third Republic, which called for city elections and became the Paris Commune, full of radicals voted in by working people. They voted in elementary education for all, education for women, day nurseries to help working women. But they were constantly attacked by the French army, against which women and children put up barricades in the street. Every time a barricade fell, defenders were put against the wall and shot. As many as 30,000 Parisians were killed before the government of Napoleon III regained authority (this is more people than died in the Terror or the Franco-Prussian War).
After the Commune, anarchism became more associated with violent resistance against violent oppression. Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin took 15 pages to define anarchism in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1910. Here he discussed briefly whether the state is really needed as a form of social control:
Web document: Kropotkin: Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal (1896)
Kropotikin noted that in an anarchist society, harmony is achieved "not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of the needs and aspirations of a civilized being. . ."
Imagine a world where everyone has what s/he needs, not just in terms of material goods like food and shelter, but in terms of job satisfaction and self-fulfillment. Where individuals can achieve this because the only authorities they answer to are those they join voluntarily, and from which they are excluded if they can't agree. To anarchists, this is the ultimate in human liberty, not a beourgois constitutionalist government under laws made by and for the middle class.
The socialist response to industrialization we have already seen, in the last lecture. Socialism was based on the idea of cooperative, rather than competitive, norms for society. Socialists like Fourier, Owen, and Saint-Simon also worked to undermine the competitive nature of the 19th century.
Workbook
document -- Marx and Engels: Communist
Manifesto (1848)
Karl Marx's influences were several. His theories of history were based on the German philosopher Hegel, who believed that all history moved in a pattern of thesis -> antithesis -> synthesis. This was developed into Marx's two-class system, where one class is the thesis, the other the antithesis. The two clash and produce a synthesis. The battle between the beourgeoisie and the proletariat would be the end of history, because Marx saw it as the final battle, and the synthesis of a classless society would be the end of the Hegelian dialectic.
Marx's ideas of economics came from Adam Smith, and classical economist David Ricardo, who had developed the ideas of industrial development. Through the competitive system of Smith, and the analyses of labor developed by Ricardo, Marx could see the proletariat's development within the system of capitalism.
Influenced also by earlier socialists, Marx saw their efforts as utopian, and counter to the nature of human beings. He felt that revolution would be the result of the clash between beourgeois and proletarian interests, and that only revolution would change the system. His historic example was the French Revolution, of which he was an avid student. In the French Revolution, during the Terror, France got as close as anywhere in history to a communist system. But then the revolution turned back toward liberal, beourgeois values. Marx felt that could not happen again.
Marxism was not, of course, the only form of socialism, but it did inspire the Russian Revolution that was to come, in 1917. In the meantime, during the 19th century, it was simply another philosophical possibility. Socialism was an appealing idea generally to those desiring to counter the abuses of industrialization in a political, rather than romantic or cultural, way. It continues in Europe as a vibrant, vital concept.
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"We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English court on Friday last ... it is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs and close compressure on the bodies in their dance, to see that it is indeed far removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion." --July 1816 editorial in The Times of London
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The Newtonian synthesis instituted the scientific method: the combination of data (gathered through empiricism/experimentation) and hypothesis (tested through application). The discovery and application of universal principles became the norm in "natural philosophy" during the 18th century. Scientific laboratories became the usual place for testing hypotheses by the 19th century.
During the Enlightenment, the scientific method was applied in several areas. One of the most important expressions of the new faith in the manipulation of nature was the science of classification, pioneered by Carl Linnaeus. You may be familiar with his system: kingdom -> classes -> orders -> genus -> species. The kingdom Animalia contained the class Vertebrata, which contained the order Primates, which contained the genus Homo with the species sapiens (that's us). Controversial at the time (partly because Linnaeus organized everything by sex), this kind of organization exhibits the confidence of the Enlightenment in cataloging all that could be known.
In addition, the 18th century Enlightenment saw the application of science to society. This approach was taken as a norm by the 19th century: the idea that science could be applied to social problems in order to alleviate them.Comte's positivism is the last step in forming the 19th century scientific consciousness. His approach, which presented his own time as entering the positive stage, emphasized the reliance on scientific proof to create social progress. See the lecture section in Industrialization: Philosophical Reaction for a review of positivism.
Darwin did not invent the theory of evolution.
Even Linneaus had changed his mind from the idea of immutable
life forms to the notion that life evolves over time. 
The
difficulty was that the amount of time required for evolution
meant that the earth must be very old. Ancient and Biblical
beliefs about the age of the earth dated its creation
at only a few thousand years previous, but geological
and fossil discoveries in Darwin's day provided solid
scientific evidence of an older earth.
Darwin was influenced strongly by Thomas Malthus' work on population, in which Malthus claimed that population would always increase past the food supply. Malthus, a classical economist in the tradition of Smith and Ricardo, noted that humans struggle for existence, increasing their numbers beyond the ability of the environment to sustain them. The"Malthusian nightmare" is that the population of the earth will outrun the planet's ability to provide food. Plagues, epidemics, starvation provide checks on this population. Darwin wrote:
"In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long- continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The results of this would be the formation of a new species. Here, then I had at last got a theory by which to work".
What
Darwin invented was Natural Selection. This is the idea
that there are more plants and animals than food, so they
must compete to survive. Those able to adapt to the environment
survive because they have characteristics favorable to
food collection, and they reproduce ("favorable variations
would tend to be preserved"). Those that can't adapt
don't survive and thus don't reproduce. This meant that
all species, including humans, had evolved from simpler
life forms. It was this that caused a public outrage,
since Biblical fundamentalists believed that God had created
the world and everything in it (including humans) in perfect,
final form. A war began between Darwinian naturalists
and theological fundamentalists which continues to this
day. (Comte would have said that this was was the expected
result of positivism, as the abstract and the positive
argue over what replaces supernatural causation.)
Many scientists making significant geological discoveries disputed Darwin because they believed in Divine Design: the idea that God had deliberately designed a set pattern to evolution. Although this position might be seen to be the "middle ground" between creationists and Darwinians, it actually supported the non-scientific view. As Darwin himself wrote in his autobiography in 1887:
The old argument of design in nature, as given by Paley, which formerly seemed to me so conclusive, fails, now that the law of natural selection had been discovered. We can no longer argue that, for instance, the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being, like the hinge of a door by man. There seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings and in the action of natural selection, than in the course which the wind blows. Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Although true scientists did not condone it, the Divine Design perspective became the foundation for popular textbooks, which adopted the premise that all of nature had been created for human benefit (one textbook claimed that nature was ""a beautiful world, which was made for the enjoyment and benefit of the whole human family"). By positing non-natural causes for natural phenomenon, divine design theorists sought to undermine the very foundations of science.
An unexpected extension of Natural Selection proved to be far more dangerous. In an attempt to apply science to society, Darwinian naturalism became an excuse for racism, imperialism, and other rotten deeds of mankind.
"Social Darwinists" like Herbert Spencer of England considered society to be a set of organisms in competition. He coined the term "survival of the fittest". In intra-human competition, the victors are those who "adapt" to the changing "environment". Progress was the result of the "fittest" winning the political and economic competition.
Web document: Herbert Spencer on Social Darwinism (1857)
According to Social Darwinists, the "unfit"
should be allowed to die off, in order to make a better
world. In fact, they claimed it is morally right, and
natural, that this should happen.
This argument could be easily extended to races, ethnicities,
nationalities, sexes, or any other definable group of
human beings. It can be used to argue that white is naturally
superior to black, and can support racism. It can be argued
that Europeans are inherently superior to Asians, and
can support imperialism. It can be argued that Germans
are superior to Jews, and lead to a Holocaust. Might makes
right.
This theory did not go unopposed. Evolutionary biology, applied to human sociopolitical life, can support other views. Peter Kropotkin (remember him? the anarchist?) wrote a book called Mutual Aid in 1902 (take a look). It argued that cooperation was required for survival, and thus implied that cooperation was at a higher form of evolution than competition.
The 19th century experienced a revolution in medicine.
Prior to the 19th century, examinations of the patient were based to a large extent on the patient's own view of his/her illness. If a patient refused treatment, the doctor's reputation would be in jeopardy, so trust was very important.
But by the 19th century, exams were based on new ideas, developed due to new technologies. Philippe Pinel developed the idea of separate tissue types, popularizing the notion that disease could be traced to certain organs. He used observation and statistics, and his ideas led to improvements in post-mortem analysis of diseases. But the stethoscope was clearly the most important device. Developed by Dr. Laennec, it was at first just a cylinder of cardboard for hearing internal sounds of the body. A doctor with training and experience could identify emphysema, pneumonia, or tuberculosis just by listening.
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What this meant was that the doctor knew more than the patient about the patient's condition. As further devices were developed, the patient's interpretation became less important. Thus the doctor's relationship with the patient became less critical, and the doctor's relationship with other doctors (the "medical community") became more important.
The development of anesthesia was the result of investigation into air and gasses. Nitrous oxide was isolated by a medical assistant in Bristol who breathed some in 1798. This "laughing gas" was good for light anesthesia (as it is used today at dentists' offices), but it was most popular as a party drug.
For extensive surgeries, the first major development
was ether, the gas of which was breathed to create the
first deep anesthesia. It was first used in the removal
of a neck tumor in the 1840s. For the first time, surgeons
had time to work on deep cases inside cavities of the
body, without relying on pain-induced unconsciousness
or unreliable methods like drunkenness. 
Ether
drops could be administered on a mask over the patient's
nose and mouth until the patient was deeply asleep, and
the dosage was somewhat forgiving. The problem with ether
was that it smelled horrible, sometimes causing the patient
to vomit and choke. It was also highly explosive.
Chloroform was the answer to these difficulties. It was not as flammable, and more pleasant to breathe than ether. It was, however, more dangerous in that exact dosage was required (thus leading to the specialty of anesthesiology). Queen Victoria, with her physician John Snow (who also had helped clean up the water system in London), popularized the use of chloroform for childbirth. The delivery of her seventh child convinced her to try light anesthesia for her eighth, ninth and tenth deliveries. She was so happy with it that anesthesia became the norm among the elite, and eventually acceptable to all.
Various theories of the spread of infection were popular
in the 19th century. Among them was the idea that putrid
gas (miasma) spread disease from filth. In 1831, the first
cholera epidemic in 
London
provided an opportunity for study. Cholera causes diarrheah,
vomiting, loss of fluid, limb and abdominal pain, greying
skin, and ultimately death. Data was kept about where
the most deaths occurred, enabling John Snow and others
to trace a connection to the water and sewage systems
in 1853. Sand filters installed on the drinking water
lines stopped the epidemic. 
By
1850, Pasteur's germ theory was dominating thought, and
disinfectants (such as alcohol and vinegar) were in use.
One of the most persistent killers was post-operative
infection or sepsis (also the major cause of death in
childbirth). In 1865, Joseph Lister (Listerine?) developed
the use of carbolic acid (phenol) as an antiseptic. Carbolic
was sprayed over the open cavity of a person being operated
on, which helped kill germs on instruments within the
body cavity. At the time, surgeons wore street clothes
to operate, usually with an apron. In 1878, Robert Koch
used hot steam to sterilize instruments and other tools
in the operating room, creating the "aseptic surgery"
that is standard today. Perhaps it's a good time to point
out that as early as the first cholera outbreak (1831),
Samuel Hahnemann (below) was already using sterilization.
The physician's highest calling, his
only calling, is to make sick people healthy --- to heal
--- as it is termed. The highest ideal of therapy is to
restore health rapidly, gently, permanently; to remove
and destroy the whole disease in the shortest, surest,
least harmful way, according to clearly comprehensible
principles.
Samuel Hahnemann,
Organon of Medicine, 1810
Homeopathy is a system of medicine with which most Americans are not familiar. It is based on the principles of Samuel Hahnemann, a German doctor.
Hahnemann, discouraged with the failure of early 19th century medicine to cure as much as it harmed, became a medical translator. In translating a work on cinchona bark, he read that it was a treatment for malaria due to its particular action on the organs. Knowing that other substances had similar actions but did not work against malaria, he began dosing himself with cinchona (the active ingredient is quinine) and found it created malaria symptoms. He went on to experiment with other substances, and disovered curative properties in small amounts of substances which in larger quantities caused harmful symptoms. He discovered that extreme (sub-molecular) dilution and impaction (shaking the dilution) could lead to cures that began with a toxic base, such as arsenic or mercury. Homeopathy is based on the principle of "like cures like".
Hahnemann had much success when he resumed his practice
using these remedies, and they are still widely used today
to cure illnesses. Homeopathy was introduced around the
world, as it 
proved
itself curing illnesses safely and cheaply (for example,
treating eye diseases in the Russian army in the 1820s).
Homeopathy today is the preferred medicine of both Britain's
royal family and the poor in India, where over 100 homeopathic
medical schools exist, and is used as normal medicine
throughout Europe. It is unpopular in the U.S. as a result
of the American Medical Association, a group of allopathic
("opposite" cures disease) doctors formed in
1847 to counter the popularity of homeopathy. At the turn
of the 20th century, the U.S. had 15,000 physicians practicing
homeopathy and 22 homeopathic medical schools. By 1938,
the AMA had pushed for the closing of all the schools
and succeeded in having the subject excluded from standard
medical texts.
In 1816, on a dark and stormy night, the daughter
of Mary Wollstonecraft visited poet Lord Byron with her
lover (later husband), poet Percy Shelley. She was 19. Accepting
a challenge to write a ghost story, Mary Shelley created
one of the scariest stories of all time, and a fictional
representation of the fear of science.
In the story, Dr. Victor Frankenstein creates a monster from dead body parts, reanimating them using electricity. The monster comes to control his creator. Treated badly by society, it becomes a killer. Ultimately, Frankenstein must destroy his own creation.
Many elements of the 19th century are infused in her story. In line with both Locke's theory that people are born tabula rasa (blank slates) and Rousseau's ideas on education, the monster is not born evil. He becomes bad due to his cruel treatment by society. The book also contains references that were the result of Shelley's exposure to literature, poetry, philosophy, and more.
Medical experiments
at the time were going on which focused on rescuscitating
the dead (some had been used on Percy Shelley's first
wife, who had died by drowning). Galvinism 
(electrical animation) was being tried.
There have also been more personal interpretations of the book. Shelley herself gave birth to a daughter who died. Dr. Frankenstein is trying to create life without the body of a woman, without a womb. He is mother and father to the creature, and has to kill his own child. There are studies of Victor Frankenstein, who comes to think himself god-like after being raised by a family who treats their only son like a god. It goes on and on.
For the sake of this class, the story can be seen as a cautionary tale. Even before the many advances of 19th century science, Shelley is noting the horrors that can happen when technology goes beyond the ability of humans to control it. There are few issues of more concern today, in a world of atomic weapons, life-prolonging procedures, and interglobal communications.
The values of the Victorian era were those of the middle class, and indeed they show the rise of the middle class as the group dictating morality to everyone else. As the moneyed class, these folks still had little claim to social respectability, which relied on the possession and inheritance of land. In order to lay claim to social respectability, middle-class Victorians devised a new moral code that could be exhibited publicly. It was partly based on romantic notions of the Gothic era, which was seen as a time of noble knights and untouchable ladies. But it also included the values inherent in the faith that science could solve problems.
Policy development went hand-in-hand with medical achievements, as statistics provided a postivist way to examine problems, such as the cholera epidemics.
Workbook
document: Chadwick's Report on Sanitation (1842)
Note that in this document, Chadwick relates the scientific management of sanitation to the betterment of society. That's very Victorian. Industrialization and trade had created the wealth and luxury of the middle class. The lower class was a constant reminder to them that poverty and ugliness were part of the life created by industrialization.
You can see it in the architecture, the art, the literature and the manners: a romantic view of the Middle Ages. While in reality medieval times were gritty, Victorians saw it as a time when men were great and women were ladies.
One example is the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The standard of art was based on rules deriving from the Renaissance artist Raphael and his followers, and included restrictions on light, shadow, poses of figures, and idealized beauty. Reacting to paintings they considered frivolous, these young English artists were drawn to the 15th century for their inspiration.The pre-Raphaelites are known for their use of alternative subjects and natural light, but they tended to use medieval settings.
 Dante Gabriel Rossetti St. George and the Princess Sabra (1862) |
 Edward Burne-Jones The Beguiling of Merlin (1874) |
 John Millais The Bridesmaid (1851) |
The foundation of public morality was private security, protected by the middle-class wife. The home was supposed to be a haven from the industrial workplace, where the husband spent his days. Depending on their financial status, women were expected to have specific knowledge of managing a household.
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Workbook document: Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861) |
A home was a complex place to manage. In a lower middle-class home, the woman needed to be able to cook and do all but the heaviest cleaning. At a higher income, she was expected to manage servants. And this was not your minimalist artist's loft decor. Victorian homes were a crowded combination of the latest technological knick-knacks and older heirlooms. Overstuffed chairs, fireplaces, gaslights, furnaces, private bedrooms, a kitchen far from the dining room (to avoid icky cooking smells) were all expected. In larger homes, a conservatory of glass and steel provided a place to grow hothouse plants in cooler climes. And the whole thing was cluttered with personal items: silver-backed hairbrushes, pictures in ornate frames, a gramophone, a piano, and many, many books. The wife's job was to keep it quiet and happy, with the kids ready for a good-night kiss from daddy before going to bed. After tending house all day, and making the round of social calls necessary to her station, her job in the evening was as confidante and supporter of her man.
In return, middle-class men were supposed to worship
their wives, and many did. One historian said that they
gave women indulgence instead of justice. She should always
be a visible representation of her husband's love and
regard. Some women, and some men, didn't fit the mold.
Workbook
document: Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899)
Interestingly enough, Kate Chopin wrote this book in her parlor, surrounded by her children.
Real men could afford domestic help; ones wife should not have to soil her own hands. In wealthier families, a parlormaid (whose only job was to answer the door) was a necessity, and she had to be pretty. A cook, groom for the horses, gardener, chambermaid (for bedrooms), downstairs maid, tweeny (between-floors maid) all demonstrated to society the wealth and status of the occupants. In 1851 in Britain, 25% of all females over the age of 9 were domestic servants.
As in the medieval image, women were subject to protection by men. They were to be shielded from the harsh realities of life so they remain pure and modest. This went to extremes (you may recall the image of a gynecological exam where the doctor can't see anything). In fact, women were expected to endure pain rather than submit to the "indelicacy" of an examination by a man. This was even an argument used by some against health exams for prostitutes!
Menstruation was considered a "disability", and motherhood was honored above all. But little sexual information was given to women, even by their own mothers, leading to extraordinary ignorance of ones own body.
We must not here lose sight of the
fact that the desire for sexual intercourse is strongly
felt by the male on attaining puberty, and continues through
his life an ever-present, sensible want; it is most necessary
to keep this in view, for, true though it be, it is constantly
lost sight of, and erroneous theories, producing on the
one hand coercive legislation, on the other neglect of
obvious evils, are the result. This desire of the male
is the want that produces the demand, of which prostitution
is a result, and which is, in fact, the artificial supply
of a natural demand, taking the place of the natural supply
through the failure of the latter, or the vitiated character
of the demand. It is impossible to exaggerate the force
of sexual desire.
-- William Acton, Prostitution, considered in its Moral,
Social, and Sanitary Aspects 2nd edition 1870
The ignorance women had of their own bodies must have made marriage difficult. Subject to a repressive upbringing, women were taught to be embarrassed by their bodily functions, from menstruation to orgasm. Even if not utterly revolted by sexual contact, most virgins were terrified on their wedding night. Men were expected to be exceedingly gentle, a task made easier by previous experience. It was expected that men would not "impose" on their wives more than necessary to beget children.
Under such circumstances, prostitution, as you can see in the quote above, was a necessity as a way for men to vent the "baser" instincts. Even doctors agreed that sex with a prostitute could be needed to maintain male health. Combined with Victorian respectability, this sinful necessity created a hot underground throughout Europe and America, leading to a thriving community of prostitutes (male and female) in cities like Vienna, New Orleans, and London.
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Female prostitutes were often "fallen" women, who had turned to prostitution out of desperation. The "fallen" idea was that a woman who had a sexual lapse (such as being seduced/raped by her employer) was "ruined" and no longer marriageable. Poor girls, industrial workers far from the control of their village, domestic servants often became fallen women. Sometimes no one would know until they got pregnant. See this picture, where the father is shutting out his daughter and her child.
Many female prostitutes were professionals, raised in brothels. In 1820s Vienna, there were 20,000 registered prostitutes for a population of 400,000, one girl for every 7 men! Similar statistics exist for New York, London, Atlantic CIty. Some were high-level courtesans, others street-walkers who rented rooms by the hour. Brothels advertised in the "Gentlemen's Guides" in major cities, a book no gentleman would ever leave in his coat pocket.
Need I say that in this environment VD was a problem? There was no cure for syphilis until 1909, and even then it was derived from arsenic. Syphilis, as you know from the lecture on the 18th century, was blood-borne and caused sterility and insanity. The result was a high demand for first-time prostitutes. Only a virgin could be guaranteed to be free of disease. Brothels marketed girls as young as 12 to the highest bidder, and many helped their prostitutes become born-again virgins by using techniques such as vinegar (for its astringent properties), a sponge soaked in pig blood (to similate the bleeding hymen) or sewing up the vaginal opening to make it tighter.
In some ways, gay men were tolerated in Victorian times, so long as they maintained public respectability. Two men with their arms around each other were assumed to be out on the town looking for women. If a person were liked, respected, and fit in with society, his private life was considered his business. But should he be disliked, sodomy laws were still on the books, and a sodomy charge could ruin a career or a life.
Male prostitution was a thriving business, and many young men who needed money sold their bodies in the cities. There have been many studies of this underworld, including some that claim a "sexual imperialism" of upper-class men taking lower-class prostitutes as an assertion of status.
A
good way to get to the heart of the issues surrounding
Victorian sex and society is to look at the case of playwright
Oscar Wilde, whose domestic comedies took London by storm
in the 1890s. He married Constance Lloyd and they had
two sons together shortly before his fame began. Wilde
was a maverick, disliked by some because of his biting
wit. Some examples:
"Women's styles may change but their designs remain
the same."
"Charity creates a multitude of sins."
“Vulgarity is the conduct of others.”
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield
to it.”
"Either that wallpaper goes, or I do." (his
last words as he lay dying)
During his most productive period, he had an affair with an aristocratic young man, Lord Alfred Douglas (reverse sexual imperialism?). Lord Douglas' father, the Marquess of Queensbury, publicly accused Wilde of sodomy. Wilde's friends (?) persuaded him to sue the Marquess for libel. Though he withdrew the case, Wilde was arrested and his whole sex life came out at the trial. The result was the loss of his lover, the departure of his wife and children, and two years hard labor in prison, which almost killed him.
At his trial, Wilde referred to one of Douglas' own poems,
which had called homosexuality "the 
love that dare not speak its name":
“The Love that dare not speak its name” in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect.... It is in this century misunderstood ... and on account of it I am placed where I am now.
Formed in Germany in 1897, this was the first political organization of gay men and women. It was led by Magnus Hirschfeld, M.D., a physician who founded the Institute for Sexual Science in 1918. They focused on legal revisions to the penal code of the German empire, trying to get prohibitions against "coitus-like acts" between men removed, first in 1898 and again during the 1920s. Their argument was that homosexuality was a natural disposition, and thus involuntary and not a crime.
Diverse forms of sexuality, including sado-masochism and fetishes of all kinds, flourished in the publicly repressive sexual environment of Victorian Europe. Pornographic photos, art, and books were very popular. Even today, Victorian images and items of sexuality are popular; just visit a Victoria's Secret store.
It was also an age of "sex crimes". In 1888 London, Jack the Ripper murdered and mutilated six prostitutes in a period of 4 months, and was never caught. He didn't just kill them. He excised their nipples and reproductive organs and arranged them in designs on their bodies, like happy faces. (This detail was kept out of the newspapers to prevent copycat murders.) It has long been thought that the precision of his technique was the mark of a medical doctor.
While I may hesitate to put crimes of violence on a page about sex, the Victorians wouldn't have. In particular, the crimes of killers like Jack the Ripper seemed to mark the extremes to which sexual immorality could go.
Before 1825, Victorian dress was marked by Napoleonic neo-classicism and Orientalism. The women were dressed in very little, but adorned with feathers and a shawl. The gloves were a sign of sophistication, and the Empire waist did allow freedom of movement to an extent. Male fashion continued with stockings and breeches, high collar and tailed coat, but shorter hair. |
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By 1826, we see a return to a more conservative style that covers the woman's body more. The waist becomes more pinched, a signal that fertility is becoming more important than freedom of movement. The hats have gotten larger and more ornate, and more fabric throughout means more expense. The shawl is large and actually adds warmth. Victorian hair is really interesting. Women were supposed to never cut their hair. Unmarried girls wore their hair down to indicate their available status. Married women were to always pin it up in public. In private, only with their husband, could they let their hair down. |
At the height of the era, women are covered to the neck and floor, gloved, and sedate. Movement is restricted by a corset under the dress, and stiff petticoats. The bonnet kept the sun off the face so that the skin remained pale. Make-up was not permitted unless one were a prostitute, so the skin must be naturally fair. Notice that the little boy's clothes are an imitation of a man's clothes, as Victorian kids were seen as little adults. He does have a boy's straw hat, but not much freedom to move or be a kid. |
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Crinolines were frameworks made from bone and cloth, and made possible the huge skirts of mid-century (ever see Gone With the Wind?). Big skirts use lots of cloth and are a sign of middle-class prosperity (as were houses with wide doorways to let them through!). The fertility symbol is at its finest here: large hips and breasts, teeny-tiny waist held in by boned hour-glass corset. It was hard to waltz in these things, but they did prevent unwanted caresses and literally kept folks at a distance. Since everything was covered, the favorite sexual peek was seeing a woman's ankle. Men (yeah, there's a guy there) have outrageously high hats that I'm sure Freud would have something to say about. The tight trousers and somber colors create an upward style to counter the women's width. |
By the 1870s and 1880s, conditions had changed. The Franco-Prussian War brought on an era of harder times, and fabric was at a premium. Pinched-waist corsets were seen as unhealthy (some women had removed ribs surgically to be able to wear them, and they'd restricted air supply and caused fainting). The sewing machine and artificial dyes made possible greater designs and colors even with the slimmer line. The longer corset made movement difficult, as did the narrow cut of the skirt's bottom. Women in this style obviously did not perform manual labor, which was the social point. Men's necks came down and coat went up, creating a slimmer, cleaner line. From this we get the modern tuxedo, but it would also be influenced by the freer movement of sporting costumes. |
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The 1890s saw the advent of the "mutton-chop" and "balloon" sleeves for women, and the origin of children's clothing. The sailor suit is not as easy to get around in as shorts and a tee-shirt, but it was better than before. Men's hats became more conservative, facial hair (especially the handle-bar moustache) were popular, and mixing patterns was trendy. Notice how, in response to the popularity of golf and other sporting oufits, the trousers have become more relaxed. |
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All text, lecture voice audio, and course design copyright Lisa M. Lane 1998-2018. Other materials used in this class may be subject to copyright protection, and are intended for educational and scholarly fair use under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the TEACH Act of 2002. |
