16 Times Victorian Women Slipped Savage Burns Against The Patriarchy Into Their Work

Updated January 16, 2020 17.2k votes 2.3k voters 43.3k views

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It's easy to understand why many assume the Victorian era was all business and no play. They had a morbid fascination with death and appeared to rarely smile in their portraits. Though most evidence seemingly points to the notion that Victorian life was just as colorless as the photos from that period, it would be a huge disservice to the people who lived during that time to believe they had no sense of humor. Not only were they funny, either, but some Victorians also were downright savage.

The wry cleverness of Victorians is put on full display in the works of literature from the period. As evidenced by the quotes below, female writers from the era never missed an opportunity to slip a burn against the patriarchy into their work.

Like 18th-century slang, these Victorian insults reveal people in history were perhaps more relatable than we expected.

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1
"Marriage, they say, halves one's rights and doubles one's duties.”
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
2
”You don't understand women. They don't admire you half so much as you admire yourselves.”
George Eliot, Middlemarch
3
"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.”
George Eliot, Impressions of Theophrastus Such
4
"Better be happy old maids than unhappy wives or unmaidenly girls running about to find husbands.”
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
5
“And, of course men know best about everything, except what women know better.”
George Eliot, Middlemarch
6
"Many men are neither worthy of their wives, nor of their dogs.”
Charlotte M. Yonge, The Heir Of Redclyffe
7
"I can fancy no degradation greater than that of having another man perpetually directing and advising and lecturing me.”
Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
8
"She would have despised the modern idea of women being equal to men. Equal, indeed! she knew they were superior.”
Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford
9
"You cannot wrong or degrade a woman without wronging or degrading yourself.”
Frances Harper, Iola Leroy
10
"He was highly spoken of, everybody knew; but nobody knew who had spoken highly of him.”
Margaret Oliphant, The Rector
11
"The cleverest, the acutest men are often under an illusion about women: they do not read them in a true light.”
Charlotte Brontë, Shirley
12
"His remaining a bachelor will usually depend on her resolution rather than on his.”
George Eliot, Middlemarch
13
"What are men to rocks and mountains?”
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
14
"Mama, the more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.”
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility
15
“When a man is brilliant there is always a doubt in some minds whether he is trustworthy, or sincere, or to be relied upon; but an ordinary commonsense sort of talker is free from such suspicion.”
Margaret Oliphant, Miss Marjoribanks
16
“If this man had not twelve thousand a year, he would be a very stupid fellow.”
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

"Marriage, they say, halves one's rights and doubles one's duties.”

”You don't understand women. They don't admire you half so much as you admire yourselves.”

"Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.”

"She would have despised the modern idea of women being equal to men. Equal, indeed! she knew they were superior.”

"His remaining a bachelor will usually depend on her resolution rather than on his.”

"What are men to rocks and mountains?”

"Mama, the more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.”

“When a man is brilliant there is always a doubt in some minds whether he is trustworthy, or sincere, or to be relied upon; but an ordinary commonsense sort of talker is free from such suspicion.”