What was the Victorian Era's Ideal Woman? Analysis of John Ruskin’s ‘Of Queens' Gardens’ (1865)

Analysis of how John Ruskin describes the Victorian era’s ideal of womanhood in his lecture ‘Of Queens' Gardens’, from ‘Sesame and Lilies’ (1865), in keeping with the figure of the Angel in the House. This text is a mid-19th century statement on women’s role, duties, & (supposedly) innate characteristics. John Ruskin’s ‘Of Queens' Gardens’ (in ‘Sesame and Lilies’) is an exemplar of repressive & oppressive Victorian Age notions of the female gender, ‘ideal’ femininity, & womanhood as symbol: or, in the words of Coventry Patmore, ‘The Angel in the House’ (1954-62).

The lecture analyses the section of John Ruskin’s lecture ‘Of Queens' Gardens’ from ‘Sesame and Lilies’ that considers the “separate characters” of Man and Woman, focusing particularly on Ruskin’s use of binaries, in order to illustrate what the Ideal Woman/Wife was considered to be in Victorian era England/Britain, & what Victorian society assumed a woman’s role to be (esp. within marriage). How was a woman to be an Angel in the House? I outline 8 qualities that comprise the Victorian era ideal of womanhood—but this list is by no means comprehensive or exhaustive!

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