Abstract

Victorian era is the United Kingdom's "golden period" of capitalist development. The development of the industrial revolution had brought unprecedented economic development and social change to the United Kingdom of the period. In this transition period of the British, the employment situation and lives of middle-class women had shown new features. Women at that time gradually became aware of the unequal status with men. They began to desire the right to access to formal education and into the community to obtain economic independence position. At this point, the traditional concept that women must attached to men and family was challenged. The social norms required women to go back to the family life, and greatly restricted the women to express and develop themselves independently. As a result, women of this period suffered spiritual oppression and struggle in varying degrees. Many women refused to succumb to this bondage, so they left home and made efforts to obtain their rights. With the improvement of economic and social status, they became an integral part of the British economy.

This paper will focus on two aspects to show the women’s life in 19th century. On one hand, I will show the prevailing social form and characteristics by observing the historical facts and Victorian scholars’ commentary. Then we can understand the status and living environment of Victorian women from a historical perspective. On the other hand, the paper will explore the lives and spiritual pursuit of women in literary works. I will focus on the analysis the heroines’ struggling and compromise in “Jane Eyre” and “The Mill on the Floss”. Works of art can not only depict the society, and its producing process is also impacted by social environment and some external environment factors.

Through the study of women in the 19th century British, we can have some acknowledge of both human and social developing, and make the whole society more and more harmony.

Key words: Victorian times, Female literature, Angle in house, Feminist