Rossetti Context

Question 1

Rossetti’s Life

Answer 1

• Father was a political exile, poet, and translator
• Lifelong devotion to the Anglican faith.
• poor family despite literary connections
• Wanted to be governess but poor health prevented it
• Brother Dante Gabriel, helped found the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, one of the most influential artistic movements of the Victorian period.
• All three siblings were writers
• As her family’s financial situation worsened and her health deteriorated, Rossetti grew more devoutly religious.
• 1859-1870, Rossetti volunteered with the Church Penitentiary Movement, which offered a home, religious instruction, and training to former prostitutes.
• The experience influenced her thoughts about fallen women
• Christina never married, although she was engaged twice - one of her fiancés was the Pre-Raphaelite painter, James Collinson (1850)
• Broke up w Charles Cayley in 1866

Question 2

Historical Context

Answer 2

• 19th C: strict societal expectations about women’s behavior.
• female expressions of sexuality looked down upon.
• sexual double standard
• women suffered much more serious consequences for their sexual
  actions than men.
• Victorians believed women were morally superior to men, so sexual “transgressions” made them bad and irredeemable.
• Women expected to be virgins until they married, be faithful, and avoid looking interested in sex.
• If a woman violated these norms, she might be regarded as “fallen” and lose her reputation, and maybe family and home
• Men’s sexual behavior was not limited or policed in this way.
• The term “fallen” itself could encompass a variety of acts, from engaging in sex outside of marriage, to becoming a mistress, to prostitution.
• Husbands could divorce their wives for being unfaithful
• many works of art and literature from the nineteenth century represented the fallen woman as abandoned by her family, husband, and lover, contemplating suicide, or even as a corpse.

Question 3

Historical context 2

Answer 3

• 1860’s: emerging but still uncommon view that women should have access to higher education. Repetitively denied throughout the century. Rossetti’s parents believed in girls being educated, could access reading/writing/language skills
• 1867 John Stuart Mill: controversial, stated gender inequality is “one of the hindrances to human improvement”
• complicated views on female equality. due to biblical interpretations, believed women were inferior to men- status quo should be maintained
• Often argued for female representation in parliament
• Vocal about unjust sexual exploitation of prostitutes (seeking redemption for fallen women at the St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary, Highgate)
• Augusta Webster wrote asking for support on campaign to give women the vote
• Received letter of refusal due to “unalterable distinction between men and women”
• Queen Victoria: ‘wicked folly of women’s rights’
• Victorian values: ‘courage’ v ‘virginal innocence’ outlined by Jan Marsh