7 Fascinating Facts about Victorian Women

0
177

The Victorian Era was an interesting time in history. We still admire the fashion and what people looked like based on the pictures and paintings we see from that time of Victorian Women.

But it was also a very strange time, and once you dig deeper you find out that all those pretty pictures are just the top layer that’s hiding a whole bunch of fascinating and sometimes bizarre things.

In the Victorian era, men and women sought a healthy relationship based on the expectations of a complex society.

Women in Victorian society played a key role in life, namely marrying and participating in their husbands’ interests and business. Before getting married, they learned the skills of housewives such as weaving, cooking, washing, cleaning, and unless they came from a wealthy family.

Generally, women were not allowed to be taught or acquired knowledge outside the home because it was a man’s country. Another critic, Richard D. Altick, states: “The woman was inferior to the man in every way other than the most distinctly calculated [of the man]: her femininity. His place was at home, on a real foundation if one could not be given, and with emphasis not on the world of news.”

The patriarchal society did not allow women the same privileges as men. Women were often attributed to the more feminine duties of looking after the home and pursuing female outlets of creativity.

So let’s talk about some of these things of Victorian Women

1.
Black Clothing Was Super Popular

You might think that it looked very chic, but the real reason behind black clothing was high levels of pollution. There was so much dust in the air, mostly from coal, that it simply didn’t make sense to wear light colors. If you wore a white dress, it would become grey very quickly, so most women opted for black dresses. Victorian Women was wearing black clothing.

7 Fascinating Facts about Victorian Women

2.
Mourning Rings

Another strange thing that Victorian Women was wearing mourning jewelry. Women would often have rings made of black onyx to symbolize mourning for the deceased person, and what’s even weirder they would often have a piece of hair encapsulated instead of a gem, to remember the person who passed away.

7 Fascinating Facts about Victorian Women

 

3.
Crying Actresses For Funerals

It was very common for people to hire women to cry at funerals, especially in cases when the deceased didn’t have much family or a wife. So people would hire women to cry hysterically at funerals to make the person who died seem loved and sorely missed.

7 Fascinating Facts about Victorian Women

Interested about Victorian Women?

Read the full post here