During the Victorian era, women were expected to live by certain rules and virtues and had a fairly rigid role in society. They had to have children, do housework and be selfless, submissive and pure. They were considered to belong to the weaker sex and were therefore not allowed to work (with a few exceptions) or pursue higher education. (Victorian-era.org) This was more or less the conventional view of women, which many women began to question in one way or another. This is seen in many examples of Victorian literature, some of which I will discuss (victorianweb.org). The subject of this essay will be three different texts: “The Great Social Evil” by ANONYMOUS, excerpts from “The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits” by Sarah Stickney Ellis and the Autobiography of Harriet Martineau. I will discuss whether these examples of Victorian literature challenge or sanction this degradation of women in Victorian society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In the era of sexual repression, prostitution grew rapidly. The Church believed that sex was only for procreative purposes and should not be something pleasurable. Women were not to be passionate or have sexual desires as this was considered a sin and a disease. They were to be the “angel of the house” – the perfect housewife; helpless, completely devoted to her husband and children, and above all, to be "pure", that is, someone without desire, someone who would not participate in sexual relations outside of marriage, because women could not have sex with anyone other than their husbands. (Victorian.org, Victorianweb.org). Hence the social persecution of prostitutes, based on the belief that they were impure. The unnamed woman in the film "The Great Social Evil" strongly opposes this, as she argues that women are not as "pure" as society wants them to be. That they are in fact also curious and sexual beings (using herself as an example) and that there is nothing inherently wrong with that (Anonymous 1621). As someone who has never been taught moral principles, she is perplexed by the conventional view of women such as herself and those of a better class (Anonymous 1622). She does more than question it, she doesn't understand it, nor the idea that one is superior to the other; “[. . . ] if all the circumstances and conditions of our lives had been reversed, Madam, my Lady, would she have done better or been better than me? » (Anonymous 1622). A rhetorical question intended to make it clear that if we remove everything that causes the social distinction between them, they are equal human beings who have just been conditioned in different circumstances. That being said, she doesn't think there's enough basis to build the prejudices and condescension that people tend to have towards women like her. Knowing his education; how she had fun with boys her own age and was inspired by this independent tradeswoman she frequently met (Anonymous 1621), and the general lack of good examples around her, one could say that for her there was no There has never been a conventional way for a woman to be. Ellis's "The Women of England" is not that simple. Although she is extremely supportive of the conventional view of women, she remains somewhat progressive in her beliefs. She believes that the influence of women in the world is just as important as).