The Feminine Religious Experience in Victorian Times Essay -- Victoria

The Feminine Religious Experience: Beyond the â€Å"Angel in the House† The conception of the Victorian woman as the pious repository for her family's stockpile of religiosity consistently permeates contemporary notions of the gender roles of the era. However, the idealized role of the â€Å"angel in the house† was often simply that - an ideal rather than a reality. Women's involvement in religion and spirituality varied widely based on class and level of devotion. Though the majority of women's religious duty consisted of assisting charitable works sponsored by parishes (Heeney 330), women were also employed as local missionaries. The era also witnessed the revival of the convent as an alternative avenue for women of all classes. For the Victorian-era upper middle class family of the Pagets of London, the women received a Christian education in terms of learning the Bible and reciting psalms. In adulthood they fulfilled their Christian duty by volunteering for and donating to various charities for the poor and/or feeble-minded (Peterson 692) However, the private letters of the Paget women often indicate that their helping the poor was not inspired by an altruistic love of all God's creatures, as the â€Å"angel the house† myth would lead one to believe. Instead these were societal obligations, on par with social calls to friends: Catherine Paget wrote â€Å"I spent the morning seeing poor people, the afternoon calling on rich ones.† (Peterson 706) Lydia Paget also wrote, â€Å"†¦I always go with such reluctance to visit the poor people under our care; when I once get amongst them I quite enjoy myself, but on setting out I feel inclined to bend my steps in any other direction rather than th e right.† (Peterson 706) Beyond charity work, women also... ...t beyond embodying the moral and spiritual core of the family. Works Cited Heeney, Brian. â€Å"Women's Struggle for Professional Work and Status in the Church of England, 1900-1930.† The Historical Journal 26 (1983): 329-47. JSTOR. University of Florida Lib., Gainesville, FL. 8 Nov. 2004. Peterson, M. Jeanne. â€Å"No Angels in the House: The Victorian Myth and the Paget Women.† The American Historical Review 26 (1984): 677-708. JSTOR. University of Florida Lib., Gainesville, FL. 8 Nov. 2004. Roden, Frederick S. â€Å"Sisterhood is Powerful: Christina Rossetti's Maude.† Women of Faith in Victorian Culture. Ed. Hogan, Anne and Andrew Bradstock. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. 63-77.