B. Women’s Life in England in 1800s as Seen in Roxana’s Characteristics
In the first part of the analysis, the writer explained the characteristics of Roxana in the story are the used by the writer to describe how the woma
n‟s lives in 1800s is like.
Colin Ford and Brian Horrison in A Hundred Years Ago: Britain in the 1880s in Words and Photographs
book stated that “The highest class was the
Nobility and Gentry, who inherited their land, titles, and wealth. To the outsider, it might seem as if women of this class did very little but their work was very
important and sometimes very hard, as they were expected to manage the home and the household
”. It can be inferred that the middle women who inherit land, titles, and prosperous are also expected to manage the home and household. They
have no duty outside home. As Etty Raverat, who was a young woman in the late 1800s, said, Ladies were ladies in those days; they did not do things themselves,
they told others what to do and how to do it Harrison and Ford: 1983, 226. It can be seen that the women have some servant to help his duty like cooking and
cleaning the house. The upper class women only command the servants what have they do and how to do the household.
Travelyan in A Shortened History of England 1959: 318 book, discussed for marriage.
It is still exception for women to choose their own husband and when the husband has been assigned that he is lord or master, so far at least as law
custom make him ”. From the quotation above, it means that women have
no right to choose their own husband because there is a patriarchal system in the society Travelyan, 1959: 318.
From the quotation above, it means that women have no right to choose their own selves because there is a patriarchal system in the society. The parents
will choose the mate for the m. Roxana is arranged to marry her parent‟s chosen
husband. Roxana was fifteen when she was married with a Brewer. Moreover, according to Lucy Bushman who writes an article entitled
“Family Life in the 18th Century”, she stated that women and men of the upper classes did not marry for love. Instead, they married strictly for financial and
social reasons. Women who wished to continue living within a wealthy household simply
did not
marry a
man of
the middle
or lower
class http:EzineArticles.com?expert=Lucy_Bushman.
It can be inferred that the middle class men and women have to marry for financial supported and social status not for love. If an middle class woman wants
to live in good fashion and prosperity, she will have to marry an aristocratic man or an middle class man who is mostly working as a Brewer, Landlord, and
Merchant. In patriarchal family, the parents will choose a husband or a wife to their children. The middle class men and women marry supposedly for financial
support and social status. This custom of marriage arrangement is often happened in England in 1700s-1800s. Roxana who is a middle class woman also faces a
marriage arrangement with a Brewer.
In the first part, Roxana is described as an educated and smart woman.
She is educated and smart woman but still gets inequality from man. Not only lower class women get inequality and hard life but also the upper class women. At
that time, only a child of the rich family can go to school. Roxana learn some
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