The Feminine Religious Experience in Victorian Times Essay -- Victoria

The Feminine Religious Experience Beyond the Angel in the HouseThe conception of the prissy woman as the pious repository for her familys stockpile of religiosity consistently permeates contemporary notions of the gender roles of the era. However, the idealized role of the holy man in the house was often simply that - an ideal rather than a reality. Womens involvement in religion and spirituality varied widely based on class and level of devotion. Though the majority of womens religious duty consisted of assisting charitable works sponsored by parishes (Heeney 330), women were overly 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 discipline 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 component part the poor was not inspired by an altruistic love of all Gods creatures, as the angel the house myth would lead one to believe. Instead these were social obligations, on par with social calls to friends Catherine Paget wrote I spent the morning seeing poor people, the afternoon calling on rich ones. (Peterson 706) Lydia Paget also wrote, I unendingly go with such reluctance to visit the poor people under our care when I once get amongst them I quite enjoy myself, nevertheless on setting out I feel inclined to bend my steps in any other direction rather than the right. (Peterson 706)Beyond benignity work, women also... ...t beyond embodying the moral and spiritual core of the family.Works CitedHeeney, Brian. Womens Struggle for Professional Work and Status in the Church of England, 1900-1930. The Historical Journal 26 (1983) 329-47. JSTOR. Univ ersity of Florida Lib., Gainesville, FL. 8 Nov. 2004. Peterson, M. Jeanne. 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. Sisterhood is Powerful Christina Rossettis Maude. Women of Faith in Victorian Culture. Ed. Hogan, Anne and Andrew Bradstock. New York St. Martins Press, 1998. 63-77.