Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

only secures her husband‟s social status; it demonstrates her health, and therefore, the health of the family.
While Patmore and Ruskin demonstrate the traditional views and roles of Victorian women, Victoria
herself challenged this traditional view and encouraged society to see women as powerful and independent
beings.
When Victoria succeeded William IV in 1837 at the age of eighteen she was unaware that she
would be one of the most beloved monarchs in English history. Throughout her long and successful reign,
the British people referred to her as “the mother of the nation” (Cagna 378) and “England‟s Good Angel”
(Cagna 383). As a wife and mother she emulated the Victorian feminine ideal and she represented the
model of domesticity. The public was able to love and respect Victoria for her adherence to the domestic
ideal, and therefore, accepted her as their matriarch. Victoria, in a letter to her Uncle Leopold, said that
“„[the British press] say[s] no Sovereign was more loved than I am . . . and that from our happy domestic home—
which gives such a good example‟” (Arnstein 57). This suggests that the British public loved Victoria
because she upheld the domestic ideal and, she continued to portray herself as the traditional angel in the
house throughout her reign.
As an angel in the house, Victoria portrayed her family as the epitome of the domestic ideal. The
lithograph, "The Royal Family at Home (1843)" depicts Victoria and Albert playing and frolicking with
their children, and they appear to be carefree and blissfully happy. Through photographs, lithographs, and
other forms of propaganda, Victoria consciously portrayed herself as exemplifying the Victorian feminine
ideal. Therefore, the British public, and certainly Wilkie Collins, thought of Victoria as a traditional, and
not a progressive woman. Therefore, while Victoria occupied the most powerful position in England, her
views concerning women‟s rights were highly traditional and conservative. She doubted women‟s
leadership capabilities, for she said, “„I am every day more convinced that we women, if we are to be good
women, feminine and amiable and domestic, are not fitted to reign; at least it is contre gr that they drive
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