Classes The Social Condition of 19
Katherine Daltry is an upper class woman because of that position Kate has some benefit one of them is that people will treat her respectfully:
Kate knew quite well that the household was on her side. They couldn’t help
it; it was bred into the bones of the best servants. They were trained to serve ladies and gentlemen, not those of their own class. Obviously they had
sensed that Mariana’s origins were not genteel. James, 2010: 29.
From above quotation, we could see that as an aristocrat woman, Kate has right to be treat respectfully by the servants which is the lower class. She has
higher status than Mariana, which her origin is not genteel. It means that women status in the society also depend on her breed.
An aristocrat woman should be treating respectfully. Prince Gabriel is also an aristocrat has sensed to treat her with good respect. At first, Gabriel wants Kate
to be his Mistress. However, since Kate is a granddaughter of an earl, she cannot become a mistress:
He opened his eyes. “Had I asked you something?” “ Why have you lost your mind?” she asked. “Is it because I’ve allowed
you such liberties?” “Perhaps.”
She scowled at him. “Offer me a post as your mistress and I’ll stab you with a fork, just
as Effie stabbed Beckham. Except the fork won’t go in your hand. I am not to be trifled with.”
“I like my mistresses fat and juicy,” he said, slanting her another of his wicked looks. James, 2010: 204.
Gabriel really wants Kate to be his mistress but Kate is an aristocrat woman,
means that she has higher position in the society. She could not be a mistress. It is why Prince Gabriel not pushes Kate to be his mistress when she refused.
Even though Kate is an aristocrat, she is poor and has no dowry. Women without dowry would be difficult to find husband. Katherine Daltry is a poor
aristocrat woman, so when she fall in love to Prince Gabriel, it is became a problem since Gabriel need a rich woman to marry with:
“If I were not a prince, would you have me?” He said it so low that she almost didn’t hear. “To put it another way, if you had thousands of pounds,
Kate, if your estate was your own, would you buy me? Because that’s what I needed, you know. I needed a woman who thought I was worth the
price, and my brother found one in Russia.” James, 2010: 256.
Kate and Prince Gabriel are in love, but they cannot marry because money is very
important at that time. Even though aristocrats have some birthright, money also important to the women in the 19
th
century. At that time upper class women need dowry to be success in the married market.
Victoria Daltry is a granddaughter of an earl out of wedlock and her mother is from lower class, it means that Victoria is a lower class. Her mother
Mariana Daltry wants to sec ure Victoria‟s position by marrying her with a
viscount. If Victoria marries a viscount she will be a viscountess, then she will belong to the upper class. In the 19
th
century British, women position also depend on their husband position. It is the reason why the women at that time want to
marry a man from higher position. For that matter, Mariana makes all of her inheritance as Victoria‟s dowry. Mariana not really objects when Victoria
pregnant before she married, because Mariana thinks that it will encourage Victoria‟s lover to propose:
The lines between Mariana’s nose and mouth couldn’t be plumped by a miracle cream made of crushed pearls. “Dimsdale was slightly tardy in his
attentions.” “Not tardy in his attentions ,” Kate said. “He’s seems to have been
remarkably forward in that department.” Mariana threw her a look of dislike. “Lord Dimsdale very properly
proposed marriage once he understood the situation.”
“I would kill the man, were I you,” Kate told her. “Would you?” She gave an odd smile. “You always were a fool. The
viscount has a title and a snug fortune, once he gets his hands on it. He’s utterly infatuated with your sister, and he’s set on marrying her.”
“Fortunate,” Kate commented. James, 2010: 14-15. Mariana does everything to makes Victoria becomes an aristocrat, because
at that time social position is very important. Them who belong to the upper class will get good facilities. Marrying for a position is a common affair at that time.
The next is Mariana status as a lower class who marries a son of an earl. Though Mariana is marry an aristocrat, people who really know her previous
status not really accept her as an aristocrat. They still treat her differently from Kate who is an aristocrat by birth:
K ate knew quite well that the household was on her side. They couldn’t help
it; it was bred into the bones of the best servants. They were trained to serve ladies and gentlemen, not those of their own class. Obviously they had
sensed that Mariana’s origins were not genteel. James, 2010: 29.
It means that a lower class could not really raise her status to be an upper class. Though a middle class people who married to the aristocrats still acceptable, its
not the case to the lower class women. When the lower class women married to the upper class, they still consider as lower rank.
The characters of the lower classes in the novel are the servants and tenants. The servants are Mr. Cherryderry, Mrs. Swallow, and Mary, then the
tenants is Mrs. Crabtree. The lower classes in the novel conduct a simple lifestyle, the servants and tenants are depend to Mariana as their employer. Mariana treats
them badly but they cannot do anything because looking for a new job is very difficult:
Mariana preferred to avoid all the people working on the estate or in the village, except on the rare occasions when she developed a sudden taste for
playing the lady of the manor. Then she would put on an ensemble extravagantly calculated to offend country folk, descend from her carriage,
and decipher in her tenants’ startled expressions their shiftless and foolish natures. Finally she would instruct Kate to jettison them from their homes
James, 2010: 8.
The lower classes not have complicated rules like the upper class people. They do some hard work every day, and then could do everything they wish. Sometimes
they just follow the moral rule from the church