this essay provides valuable insights into the social and economic realities of 19th-century England, as well as their relevance to contemporary discussions of wealth inequality and social justice. The work was carried out in poorly ventilated cellars and generated a lot of dust. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Their accommodation was truly appalling, especially in the rapidly growing industrial towns. The modern world is only a little more equal: children growing up today in the most deprived areas of Britain can expect to live between 85 per cent and 90 per cent as long as those in the least-deprived areas. 52 0 obj The highest class in society was the royal family, consisting of the king, queen, prince, and princess. British class structures were in flux leading up to the Regency period. R.J. White describes how all sorts and conditions of men, at every stage of transition of a rapidly changing society, crowded the early-nineteenth-century scene. Portraiture was a popular form of art, and the newly wealthy middle class was also able to afford many of the luxuries before only afforded the nobility. After being slighted by Mr. Elton, Harriet becomes in pursuit of Mr. Knightley; thus, showing Harriets complete loss at her position in the social class structure of Highbury. This is where the name "Regency Period" comes from. Society revolved around social classes, which typically correlated with wealth and family ties. Ninety per cent did not make it to 40. endstream Then she married the much younger Duke of St Albans and ended up both a multi-millionaire and a duchess. The poor, also known as peasants, were usually mistreated and segregated from the wealthy, or those of higher class. Mrs. Elton is representative of a slave trading family that once again has transformed their wealth into pastoral privilege. Disinherited of her fathers property, Elizabeth is not financially independent, and in fact depends upon an advantageous marriage for her future survival. Some people spent decades in prison for failing to repay a few pounds; many died behind bars. The Social Classes were divided as such: Cottagers and laborers ~ Cottagers were a step below husbandmen, in that they had to work for others for wages. Portrait of George III (17381820) by Sir William Beechey, 1820. send you account related emails. Turner, whose watercolors played with light and dark in new ways. <>3]/P 6 0 R/Pg 40 0 R/S/Link>> Emma acts as a commentary on British society showing how the classes are divided, how they should act, and the restrictions that the characters face within their social positions. 5 0 obj It was not democracy, and the seats in the House of Lords were not elected in the way it is done today. The first estate consisted of clergy (Social Order 58). The placement of these two characters together goes against the social class structure that Austen has portrayed. The third and final estate was for the poor. Mr. Eltons rejection of Harriet shows the rigidness of the social class structure that Harriet inhabits, and Emma attempts to change. Mrs. Elton lacks the social graces that are representative of the upper-class society which results in Emma being indignant with her for not understanding her place in society. What are some defining characteristics of the Regency Period? Even an ordinary gentleman with an income of about 2,000 per year from his country estate could afford a London house as well as a country seat stuffed with mahogany furniture designed by the likes of Hepplewhite and Sheraton, and decorated with art by Reynolds, Gainsborough and many more great British artists of the time. Though industrialization and urbanization had begun to take hold at the end of the eighteenth century, the most influential sector of society in Austens time was the landed gentry. He has experience in communications, marketing, writing and editing. This is made clear when Mr. Elton remarks, who can think of Miss Smith, when Miss Woodhouse is near further placing Harriet Smith apart from higher class society. 51 0 obj Elegance. The poorest sectors of society found themselves eating as their medieval ancestors had done, with very little protein in their diet. At the same time it had an impact on the wealthy, too, enriching them to an unprecedented degree. Members of the ton came from the aristocracy, gentry, royalty and monarchs. Immoderate labour and a noxious atmosphere had marked their countenances with the signs of disease and decay; they were mostly half-naked, blackened all over with dirt, and altogether so miserably disfigured and abused that they looked like a race fallen from the common rank of men and doomed, as in a kind of purgatory, to wear away their lives in these dismal shades.. Uncertainty and unrest: the madness of the Regency period 2020-10-06T12:51:25-07:00 Liquid from cesspits and the foetid rubbish strewn across the ground outside oozed through the cellar walls where many were forced to sleep. To continue reading this article you will need to purchase access to the online archive. Though the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries marked an explosion in novel reading and the production of the novels themselves, the widely affordable novel would not become ubiquitous until the middle of the nineteenth century. <> Claudia L. Johnson. These taxes were in fact at their height during Austens career. The communal cesspits in the courts had no doors as the landlords claimed they would have been used for firewood. The nobility were the fighters and knights, which many had died in the War of the Roses. It is said that one of his greatest achievements was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the deserving majority of the poor, bravely struggling against the forces arrayed against them (What was). Additionally, Jane desires to be a governess to provide for herself which is seen unsuitable by the upper-class society. Social Class in the Regency Period | Every Woman Austens display of Highbury social class shows that it is restrictive of the actions the characters are able to take in finding their match for marriage. Despite the upper-class having a duty to manage friendships and be charitable to the poor, Emmas and Knightleys reactions to those moments reveals their characters. Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. Members of this class were typically the most wealthy. That the Regency Period is known as a time of luxury and romance should come as no surprise. Frank and Janes marriage became possible because of the death of Mrs. Churchill removing the barrier that would prevent their marriage. Yet this age offered men and women more opportunities than perhaps ever before to start life at one end of the social spectrum and end it at the other. Hundreds of thousands of men and women lacked regular employment altogether. Members of the middle class were not as rich as the higher class, however they have much freedom. Working-class people in towns like Liverpool, Preston and Manchester were lucky if they reached 19, at a time when average life expectancy from birth in the UK was more than 40. Social Classes in England, 1814 January 20, 2008 by Vic From: Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England: From 1811-1901, Kristine Hughes, Ohio, 1998, p The middle class contains the farmers and plantation owners. Through the novel Emma, Austen creates the town of Highbury to mirror British society. Percy Shelley's work included poetry, novels, and pamphlets and exemplified the ideals of romanticism: passion, ecstasy, and brutal despair. If a couple with a family were denied poor relief and did not wish to go into a workhouse,they had no choice but to resort to more desperate measures. Samplius is for students who want to get an idea for their own paper. Fashionable ladies in London could spend 4 on a single tall feather to wear in their hair at a ball a sum that would have fed a labourers family for 10 weeks. Registration number: 302620120. Its quick and easy! Few were educated. The result was a greater variance in living standards than probably ever before or since. Engraving of a scene from Pride & Prejudice, 1833. Harriot Mellon was the illegitimaate daughter of a poor Irish woman who looked after the wardrobe of a troupe of travelling actors. For the next 14 years he was required to work without pay for 14 hours a day, six days a week, on the spinning frames, in dusty conditions. Next, there was the middle class of white people. Create your account, 18 chapters | An individuals class was a dominant factor in creating an identity. Tutor A Tutor was employed to teach boys, before they reached the age where they were sent off to boarding schools. This meant extra costs (gaolers fees) and prevented him from earning while inside. Of their total income of 8s 6d per week, 8s 3d went on food. The children of the upper class were often educated by personal tutors or at private schools in South Carolina and abroad. Because the King had not died, his son could not be officially named king. For them, it was not so much a matter of having a balanced diet as obtaining anything to eat. 511 Words 3 Pages Decent Essays Read More She learned from them how to act and came to London to star on the stage. 511 Words 3 Pages Decent Essays Read More This is clearly evident in A Tale of Two Cities. Though the rural countryside in which Austens novels are set seems at a far remove from the tumultuousness of the period, the world of Pride and Prejudice bears the traces of turmoil abroad. This barrier of family shows that those within the limits and restrictions of their class are not able to marry those that they wish so easily; therefore, showing that the class structure must be upheld. Regency society strictly adhered to class structure. If the principal breadwinner was hanged or transported to Australia, then a family was left in a worse position than before. His clothing was minimal; he was not given soap to wash nor was he fed properly. Hence one of the key reasons why life expectancy was so low: many more working-class babies did not live. The people that made up the gentry included plantation owners (the Tidewater), merchants/business owners, ministers, royal officials, successful lawyers and wealthy artisans, such as goldsmiths. It was highly improbable to ever do so. The Regency Period officially lasted nine years, from 1811 to 1820, and saw the rise of many well-known authors and styles of art, including Jane Austen and Regency Classicism. Portraits became much more common during this period. Those who had such a start in life, with no education and nothing else to offer, were generally doomed to a short existence of hard labour. Through the character of Mrs. Elton, Austen critiques the conceit and lack of understanding of new money individuals who Turn to our writers and order a Major Events in World History Study Guide, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, History of the Ancient Middle East & India, The Magna Carta & The Constitutions of Clarendon: Definition & Significance, The Renaissance Timeline: Events Overview, France and the Valois at the End of the 100 Years War, What is the English Enlightenment? Engraving of a scene from Pride & Prejudice, 1833. (For comparison, in the modern world, less than a quarter of arrests involve stolen property.) This paper derives new estimates of social mobility in England and Wales between 1851 and 1901, using a large new dataset of fathers and sons linked across He started stealing doughballs from the mills pigsties but the pigs soon became wise to his pilfering and threw them in the mud when they saw him coming. endobj At the same time, from 1780 onwards there was a fairly steady rise in the number of new novels being published, so that by the end of Austens life, the novel was the dominant form of literature in England. While Austen wrote prim heroines who avoided the behavior of ruinous moral behavior, Percy Bysshe Shelley embraced the ideal of free love. Whether we are talking about ancient Rome or 20th-century Britain, the pattern is commonly described as a pyramid, with a small number of exceedingly rich individuals at the apex and a large number of poor people at the base.
social classes in regency england