Author: caterpillerflying

In the opening to Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell’s novel Ruth she sets the scene of her story by discussing the view one might have of a city street in the Victorian Era. She examines the classes’ use of transportation and how the upper class are transported from place to place via coach, carriage or sedan while the middle class, “The professional men and their wives, the shopkeepers and their spouses, and all such people, walked about at considerable peril both night and day (Gaskell, 1).” This post will discuss transportation in the Victorian Era and how it divided the classes.

 

Walking:

As stated by Gaskell in the beginning of Ruth, walking was the common way of transportation in the Victorian Era. Walking on the streets was made dangerous by passing traffic and lurking criminals. Despite the dangers, the lower classes preferred walking because it cost nothing but a pair of shoes and one did not have to keep and feed a horse. The poor were restricted to the means they had while the wealthy could afford to be transported safely and in style.

Bicycles:

The cost of a bike was approximately $135. At this time the average income was $400 a year. So we can assume that only the wealthy could afford this mode of transportation that cost over a quarter of one’s yearly wages (Capri). Buying a bicycle was similar to buying an expensive car in the twenty-first-century: only the well off could afford this stylist mode of transportation. The lower class could not.

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Early buses:

In 1829 the first public carriage was created to provide the lower classes with transportation that would have otherwise been deemed unaffordable. The creator of this system was English man, George Shillibeer. These sizable trams were drawn by two or more horses (Crank). While this early bus system was immerging, many of the lower class could still not afford the low rates. Many families barely managed to scrap together enough money to pay rent and feed themselves.

 

(Crank, wordpress.com)

 

Carriages:

A Hansom cab was a two passenger horse drawn vehicle in which the driver would sit in the back. This carriage was only owned by wealthy upper class gentlemen and being the equivalent to today’s sports car, dignified ladies of status did not ride in them (Crank).

 

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Clarence carriages were also privately owned vehicles. The wealthy in the Victorian Era would use these carriages for transportation to and fro. They were acceptable for ladies of high propriety to ride in as well as gentlemen. Being privately owned, many of these carriages were lavishly furnished with matching interior and accessories. The family crest would often be painted on the carriage side. The drivers and the horses’ tack would match the carriage itself. The very wealthy would have four to six horses pulling one carriage at a time. These transportation devices were symbols of status (Crank).   

 

(Google.com/images)

 

Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. Ruth. Chapman and Hall, 1853, http://www.gutenberg.org , most recently updated: July 9,         2011. Date assessed: September 18, 2012.

Capri, Tom Berger. Transportation. www.Library.thinkquest.org. Date of access: September 18, 2012.                                   

Crank, Cindy. Transportation and Carriages in the Victorian Era (1837-1901). <Horseandhistory.wordpress.com>.   Post Date: May 2, 2011. Date Accessed: September,18, 2012.

–K. Anthony

 

The despair seen in Denis Diderot’s article Regrets for My Old Dressing Gown is the anguish of a singular old man, but I would argue that he voices the anguish of the Victorian upper class. It is the “Deceitfulness of riches” which drives him to this state and caused him so much pain. After gaining money and buying new, fancy and fine material possessions, Diderot realizes that his wealth does not have the power to satisfy him. He yearns for his old things when he understands that all the expensive new dressing gowns in the world could not make him as content as his old familiar one. I would argue that many upper class Victorian individuals held the same feelings as Diderot but did not have the understanding or ability to verbalize them and that this discontent was a direct cause of suicide (Diderot).

“[People] reached the stage in [life] life when the grimness of the general human situation first becomes clear; and the realization of this causes ambition to halt awhile (Gates).” There are many things that created this “human situation,” poverty, illness, brevity of life, scandal etc. Discontent with a person’s situation was a main cause for what Gate’s called “self murder” in the Victorian Era. Upper class women like Florence Nightingale fought with the heartbreaking desire to end her life because her class suggested women should be confined to the home and entertain. For a woman as intelligent as Nightingale, her class standing was to her a prison that invited death. While she did not succumb to this dreadful and tragic end, many people in the upper class did take their lives and I believe it is because they were so overwhelmed with the realization that material possessions could not fulfill their spiritual and emotional needs that their only solution was to leave this world.

Let us, in the twenty-first century, not make this same miserable mistake. Let us not look to riches, wealthy, financial stability and fine things to satisfy us but instead let us look, as Diderot did, to God for our rescue, solace, fulfillment and peace.

–Katie Anthony

Google.com/images

Diderot, Denis. Regrets for my old dressing gown. www.marxist.org. Accessed Sept. 9, 2012.

Gates, Barbara T., Victorian Suicide, mad crimes and sad historys. www.victorianweb.org. Accessed Sept. 9, 2012, last updated:  Sept. 25, 2009.

The upper class, the wealthy have generally been considered the elegant, the truly beautiful and picturesque. In art the beauty of kings and their families are displayed. Lovely and pastoral scenery accompany such demonstrations of the upper class in art. The upper class also worked the most prestigious jobs or they did not have employment but rather lived off of family money. This lifestyle is neat, clean, seeming to have arrived at perfection of rest and freedom. The of beauty in the upper class is picturesque because the appearance of unattainable perfection by human beings draws the eye, the imagination and desire.

In contrast, the ruggedness of the lower class, the devastation, ruin and pain that embodies their lives provides the proverbial contrast of hope and struggle as a painter would create light and dark contrasts.  The lower class traditionally have worked the messy, dangerous, disorganized jobs and have had to fight to survive. The ruggedness of the lower class is picturesque because the mind is drawn to the struggle the lower class endures. The pain they suffer is elevated in a romantic sense that makes one yearn to participate in the struggle.  

Images from Google.com