Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Connubial aptitude exact,
Diversity that never tires. (16)
While the angel in the house possesses the beauty and charm to attract men, she is cautious and careful
about whom she attracts. She is intensely loyal and faithful to her husband, and she stays true to their
marriage and their conjugal love even though she has the ability to attract other men.
The two characteristics that Ruskin praises in the middle-class woman are her virtuous goodness
and wisdom. He argues that she
must be enduringly, incorruptibly good; instinctively, infallibly wise—wise, not for selfdevelopment,
but for self-renunciation: wise, not that she may set herself above her
husband, but that she may never fail from his side: wise, not with the narrowness of
insolent and loveless pride, but with the passionate gentleness, of an infinitely variable,
because infinitely applicable, modesty of service—the true changefulness of woman. (31)
In this passage, Ruskin, like Patmore, demonstrates that a noble middle-class woman must be devoid of sin
and corruption. Wisdom, the other characteristic that Ruskin deems necessary for the Victorian woman,
emphasizes his belief that women are men’s companions and not their superiors. He argues that women are
not to use their wisdom to overcome male superiority, but to faithfully and modestly serve men. He also
believes that women should possess wisdom, but they should not be so wise as to be independent of men:
they use their wisdom to accommodate men and their needs. Besides goodness and wisdom, Ruskin also
values women’s beauty.
Another quality that Ruskin seeks in the ideal Victorian woman is beauty. Her role “is to secure for
her such physical training and exercise as may confirm her health, and perfect her beauty, the highest
refinement of that beauty being unattainable without splendour of activity and of delicate strength” (31).
Victorian women must strive for perfection even though they will never achieve it. Their attempt to perfect
their beauty is just as important as managing the household and taking care of the family. Ideal beauty not
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