Two books that greatly demonstrated the social norms of London in the early twentieth century were “The Golden Bowl” and “Night and Day”. Both of these books looked at the woman’s role in society, what the common marriage looked like and societies opinion of being single after a “certain age”.
In “The Golden Bowl”, the average marriage at the time was portrayed. The husband and wife were married due to money and social standing, not love. The husband was cheating on the wife, and rather than divorcing him, the wife tried to secretly have his mistress move away. Considering the time era and place, relationships like this were not uncommon at all.
A big part of the reason why so many people got married either through pre-decided arrangements or because of money/social standing rather than love had a lot to do with the Victorian Period, (which ended in 1901). One article I read stated that:
‘The term Victorian, which literally describes things and events (roughly) in the reign of Queen Victoria, conveyed connotations of "prudish," "repressed," and "old fashioned."’
Because of this and the large Catholic community in London at the time made it so that sex, sexuality and public displays of affection were all highly frowned upon. Because of this, it would naturally be very difficult for people to fall in love. This also explains why Maggie Verver, (main character in “The Golden Bowl”) did not try to divorce her husband after she discovered that he was having an affair. Although it was not explicitly stated, considering the time and place, Maggie was probably Catholic, and getting a divorce is typically not allowed within the Catholic religion, (as a note, I have nothing against Catholicism).
What is really interesting is that in the next book I want to discuss, “Night and Day” several of these norms started to change. In “Night and Day” one of the main female characters, Mary Datchet, actually remains single throughout the entire book, despite her being at an “advanced age” which is almost anytime after about the age of twenty-five. She was also was an advocate for women that wanted the right to vote, which was not only a revolutionary idea, but one that was not widely accepted at the time.
The reason why I think “Night and Day” had such a different look at social norms, (and the breaking of them) is because of the end of the Victorian period. “Night and Day” took place a bit after the true end of the Victorian era, when people started changing their views on what marriage, love, and women’s rights. So because of that, “Night and Day” was a truly revolutionary book.
Both of these books showed a solid interpretation of a very prim and proper England at the turn of the century. One showed what London looked like at the very beginning of the twentieth century, and the other showed what just a few short years could change. It would be very interesting to see what the next decade in London looked like.
