Here are a few suggestions for a 21st Century man to present an illusion of a Victorian gentleman: All honor codes are created to motivate society’s members towards behavior that the group believes will fulfill its needs and ensure its health, happiness, and security. The Victorian honor code created new standards for emerging professions. A reputation for bad manners, immorality or lax character, or a poor work ethic at your employer would slam shut the doors of both society and business; when meeting a new social or business contact, you had to present letters of recommendation and introduction from others who could vouch for your character. And justice – carried out in primitive times in a reflexive, eye-for-an-eye fashion — was increasingly administered by professional law enforcement and legal systems. And even those in the middle and upper classes struggled to reconcile what felt like a very manly urge to be aggressive and rowdy, with the ideal of being a refined and restrained gentleman, who was above such things. Maybe even all this week, so we can actually have time for working on other posts, and showering. If manliness be in his heart, At the start of the Victorian era (1830s-1900), English society was highly stratified and hierarchical, and the population fell into three main classes. Get Revising is one of the trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. A slip in morality or the breaking of decorum could bring public shame, and ostracization from social and professional circles. Wealth did not come down to dollar amount as much as it did land holdings. Then we tackle the evolution of honor in the wars of the 20th century, followed by the decline of honor during the countercultural movement and its modern state. Who was I kidding? While England’s economic center of gravity was shifting away from agricultural and towards industrial capitalism, and while many of the nascent middle-class were earning incomes greater than those who owned acreage, the status and political power of the new rich in manufacturing, business, and finance did not keep pace with their rising contribution to the nation’s wealth. It was considered unthinkable to ape the class above or below you – you had to follow the rules of your own class. The more he excelled at the code, and the more he cultivated ambition, industry, discipline, and so on, the higher a gentleman rose in the ranks of society and the more status he gained. The Gentlemen and the Roughs by Lorien Foote Second, the Victorian era represented the last manifestation of honor as a societal culture, not simply as a private concept. The Victorian Age is considered to be the Heyday of the gentlemanly ideal, both in society and in literature. Each class had its own rules, standards, culture, and even terminology. Reform bills during this period expanded the franchise to millions more men, creating a greater sense of egalitarianism and fostering the idea that gentility, and the title of “gentleman,” could transcend class. The code of honor that developed from the middle-class of the Victorian age was truly an amalgam of several influences: Rebellion against the values of the aristocracy. Reputation and Social Perfection: the Social Creation of Mr. Hyde The Victorian era was famed for its outstanding morals and social customs, and was often seen as being a period of peace and perfection for England. Though the Victorian code had much to recommend it, it did not last – stumbling into the 20th century and finally expiring after the First World War. There was enormous pressure to conform to the code, and as the celebration of individualism – of following one’s own convictions and desires — increased in the 20th century, and shame became a negative, the Stoic-Christian honor code would be tossed aside as far too constraining. Podcast: The Gentlemen and the Roughs with Dr. Lorien Foote, ___________________________ If you put all these influences in a pot, and mix them together, what you come up with is the tenets of the Victorian honor code or what Bertram Wyatt-Brown terms “Stoic-Christian honor,” and what Victorians often used interchangeably with “respectability.” The expanding democratic spirit had inspired a code based on merit over birth, and each of the other influences imparted several qualities to the standards that comprised this new honor code. When Victoria died in 1901, the pace and texture of life had dramatically transformed. The shift from agriculture to industry opened the possibility (no matter how long the odds were in reality) of social mobility, or what the English called “removable inequality.” High status in society could be earned, but only if a man cultivated the skills and character traits necessary to rise in an industrial economy. 806 8067 22 Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. 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The Role of Reputation. According to Sally Mitchell, these peer mentors learned “to give orders in a way that would not arouse resentment and to internalize a sense of responsibility.” In the athletic arena, young men dedicated themselves to the concepts of teamwork and “fair play,” and upbraided those who violated the code of sportsmanship. Reputation reputation was very important to Victorian gentleman reputation can be linked with morality and how people portray themselves in public compared to private immoral activities would damage a gentleman's reputation and they would lose social advantages and status These morals usually included any set of values that supported chastity, not committing crimes, a strict code of conduct within society. "The essense of a gentleman," John Ruskin would write, "is what the word says, that he comes from a pure gens, or is perfectly bred. … Sought after as an indication of social status, the term gentleman retained a certain value as an index of rank and affluence until the early 19th century. If yes you answer when I ask, He noble birth may claim. The Industrial Revolution not only created manufacturing work, but a booming expansion in trade and banking, along with a whole new stratum of white-collar jobs. Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South by Bertram Wayatt-Brown For centuries, the landed nobility had constituted a near iron-clad oligarchy — controlling Parliament, and the culture as well. Victorian People and Ideas by Richard D. Altick Dr Jekyll is a well-respected and intelligent scientist. Nor where his youth was nursed; With the rise of industry, the population shifted from rural areas to cities. From the medieval period, they drew from the ideals of chivalry (or at least the folklore of chivalry that had been passed down). It introduces students to the key figure of the Victorian gentleman, the theme of reputation and Victorian views on religion and science. Despite perceived shortcomings in one's family, personality, wealth, and so on, the Victorians always put up a front to maintain a good appearance and uphold their reputation. Born of the middle class, while it had an enormous influence on Western societies that extended both to the upper and lower classes, its penetration to the latter was minimal. She carries a parasol. For the urban working class, honor still resembled the primal variety, with disputes settled with fists and status based on physical prowess and strength. Part VI: The Decline of Traditional Honor in the West in the 20th Century Prior, there had generally been two classes: those who owned land were the noble – everybody else, ignoble. They believed that just as they had used human intelligence to channel the powers of steam and electricity, and had engineered ways to master their physical environment, so too could each individual harness his latent powers in order to master himself. The most important change of the 19th century, however, was the rise of the middle class. What they think of, in other words, is the honor code of the Victorian Era. Duality is shown not only through the various characters, but also in the setting to portray facets of the duality within the … He has a good reputation in his workplace and with the people he interacts with and as you can see by the image presented on the page, he was extremely well presented. In the previous posts in this series, we talked about how the decline in traditional honor is rooted in its shift from being external and public to inner and private in nature. Get Revising is one of the trading names of The Student Room Group Ltd. Register Number: 04666380 (England and Wales), VAT No. They owned land, but rented it to others to work. The sleeves are tight and she also wears a shawl. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. (Contrast this standard with the advice that traditional honor-ist Thomas Jefferson gave to his nephew decades prior to “ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.”). Nostalgia. The Rise of the Self-Made Man. [8] Victorian Gentlemen & His Reputation. The middle-class also had disdain for the way the aristocracy held up idleness as a virtue, and looked down upon those who worked for a living. He consistently seeks to preserve order and decorum, does not gossip, and guards his friends’ reputations as though they were his own. The Victorian honor code fostered the use of oaths and the creation of smaller male honor groups. The idea of classes is hard for us to fully grasp from our modern viewpoint. Click here to buy. Manners were designed to foster decorum, but they also eased the interactions between strangers. blackness came about his eyes”. Yet, at the same time, some of these codes made it a provision of honor that if a student saw a fellow student cheating or otherwise doing something dishonest, he was obligated to turn him in – sometimes even tolerance of a violation was considered a violation itself. Many of these clubs are no longer exclusively male. Now brace yourself – today’s post is a doozy. Sources: But the middle-class would force them to give way, not simply by attaining wealth and fighting for a voice in government, but by creating a new honor code – one that was open to all, regardless of class — a code based on ethics and virtues that would come to supplant the one based on birth. Before the 19th century, travel and communication was greatly limited, as was trade, and communities were largely self-contained and self-sufficient. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. I ask not for his name; University honor codes celebrated the ideal that simply by giving one’s word of honor, a student could be trusted to do the right thing – academically or otherwise – even when someone wasn’t looking over his shoulder. ‘Is he an honest man?’. A man could now write a letter on his typewriter, get his portrait taken by the local photographer, have an x-ray, vaccination, or chloroform administered by his doctor, and shave with a safety razor at home instead of visiting the barber to have his whiskers trimmed. Many felt that during England’s Regency era (roughly 1795 to 1837), the upper classes had grown decadent, reveling in flamboyance and dandyism, and focusing too much attention on appearance and clothes. Traditional honor was based solely on your having a reputation worthy of respect and admiration in a group of equal peers, while inner honor is judged only by the man (and perhaps God) himself. », Could someone please grade/give feedback on my Jekyll and Hyde essay please? If they were seen doing such things, they may no longer be seen as a gentleman at all, which would mean losing many social advantages. For a Victorian gentleman, this was a great test of one’s honor – would you keep your word and maintain your standards when no one was watching? You couldn’t remain entirely anonymous even in large cities. This restrictive and demure line is typical of the early Victorian period 1837 – 50. Utterson. He seems to keep a lot to himself and show little signs of emotion which could be due to his reputation as a lawyer. While styles did change over the 100 year Victorian era, this guide will work just as well for the 1840s as it does for the 1880s. 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