The Victorian era was a time of great social and political upheaval, particularly for women. Growing opposition to women's lack of political rights regarding marriage and property laws, such as the fact that any income earned by a woman automatically belonged to her husband, as well as debates over education, have been called “the woman’s question”. However, there were also men and women, such as Sarah Stickney Ellis and Coventry Patmore, who believed that allowing women more freedom went against their "natural" temperaments. The deeply ingrained patriarchal values ​​in Victorian society meant that instead of openly declaring women as the inferior sex, they were instead praised for the virtues that women were believed to possess naturally: selflessness, patience, the ability to love and maternal instinct. Although seemingly praising women for their contributions to society, this ideology was instead used to justify women's inferior roles and was very restrictive and condescending. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem Aurora Leigh interested me because it seemed to reflect and highlight many of the issues surrounding the complex "Woman Question." in the Victorian era, particularly the type of education deemed appropriate for women and their expected roles as wives and mothers, rather than the freedom to pursue their own careers. The concept of the "women's question" in Victorian society seems to be filled with many competing ideologies, both mainstream and dissenting voices. The poem, written in the style of a modern epic1, concerns the upbringing, education and poetic aspirations of a young girl who chooses not to conform to society's expectations and marry her cousin Romney but to devote his life to pursuing a career as a poet. . Aurora Leigh can be considered one of the first feminist texts and therefore expresses ideas that were not supported by the patriarchal society of the time. However, she was also extremely popular in Victorian society. I found it interesting that this was so and questioned my understanding of the Victorians, as I would have thought that as a dissenting voice she would be unpopular or frowned upon. I was curious how poems like these could be reconciled by the general public with the patriarchal ideology of the time. However, as Antony Harrison explains in his chapter “Discourse, Ideology, Poetry,” poetic works were consumed more by the Victorians. widely than other art forms, and poetic words on a page were expected to mean more than other writings; “embodied the voice of a being endowed with extraordinary epistemological capacities.” Poetry was a very popular form of entertainment during the Victorian era, so the messages and ideologies represented by poems were more likely to influence readers. I found this confirmed in my mind when reading an extract from “The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits” by Sarah Stickney Ellis. Ellis's book represents the dominant ideology of the time, which held that girls should be educated in ways that took into account the heart rather than intellectual pursuits, so that they would be better equipped to run a household, raise a family and being a loving and comforting wife. , "the humble instructor who sat alone, keeping comfort by the fireside of her distanthouse." Despite the popularity of books like this, it seemed to me that the nature of Browning's poem, as a more exciting and dramatic form, would have wider appeal and thus more effectively convey a particular ideology, under covered to arouse pleasure The main subject of the first excerpt from Aurora Leigh's book is that of her education Aurora's education is administered by her aunt and is listed in a repetitive education and described as "liberal" in a manner. somewhat mockingly, in order to highlight the Uselessness of the things that Aurora learns, "I danced the polka and the Cellarius/Spun glass, stuffed birds and modeled flowers in wax/Because she loved the achievements among the girls." However, this is an effective technique to ensure that the reader is fully aware that the poet herself was not lacking in education and was knowledgeable about subjects such as literature and story, for example the famous French author Balzac - "I learned my complement of classical French/kept pure from Balzac", such as that which was not taught to Aurora in the poem because her work was considered inappropriate for women. At the time, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most famous female poets in Victorian England, and she was known to have an unusually "masculine" upbringing: she studied Latin and Greek, as well as philosophy. and literature. In this way, Barrett Browning seemed to me to embody the argument that women should have an education equal to that of men - she proved that this would not be "wasted" on women, that they are just as capable talent and successful careers. Aurora Leigh was the first poem written by a female poet about a person who was also a poet and is therefore often interpreted as semi-autobiographical. However, there are obvious discrepancies between the character of Aurora Leigh and Elizabeth Barrett Browning herself, particularly regarding marriage. While Aurora Leigh rejects her suitor Romney, choosing instead to focus on her poetry, Barrett Browning was deeply in love with her husband Robert Browning, with whom she eloped to Italy. I have often thought that marriage, for a Victorian women's rights activist, would be out of the question, as it would require her to compromise her political values, or somehow reconcile them with her decision . While poetry was an influential art form that could be used to shape the reader's values ​​and opinions in reality, the poem also seems to demonstrate that it is much easier to discuss social issues through fictional characters of Aurora and Romney than through life itself. . These contradictions seem to embody the many aspects and arguments of the "woman question" which was so widely debated throughout the Victorian period. The dominant ideology in the Victorian era regarding women was the idea that women were born with certain personality traits that made them suitable to be wives, mothers, and generally submissive to the male population. This was justified by the widely accepted belief that God intended it to be this way, and therefore, "a woman who attempted to cultivate her intellect beyond parlor accomplishments was violating the order of nature and religious traditions." ". In Aurora Leigh, the character of Aurora's aunt is used as an example of this type of woman: "She had lived, shall we say/A harmless life, she called a virtuous life/A quiet life, which was not a life at all. "While Aurora's aunt represents the "natural" virtues of a Victorian woman - calm, charitable and devoted (as she, 2000.