Regret

In the late 19th century, marriage and motherhood were exalted as spiritual roles and obligations for white women in the middle and upper classes. A married woman enjoyed the status and protection that marriage provided, and in return, she served a supporting role for her husband. She was, in essence, her husband’s property, and her role did not involve following self-determined objectives and whims but responding to her children's and husband’s needs. What’s more, she served as the spiritual center that inspired the members of the household toward piety, a role described in Victorian literature such as Coventry Patmore’s famous poem “The Angel in the House.” In earlier times, women often worked in conjunction with their husbands or brothers; in contrast, in the Victorian period, separate roles were the norm except in lower social classes. Men worked outside the home, and women stayed inside it. As the 19th century progressed, women were upheld as the weaker but also morally superior sex. They cleansed the home of their husbands’ dealings with the outside world and raised their children in innocence and purity. The alleged importance of women’s role in the home was used to argue against women’s suffrage and other progressive ideals.