Victorian morality

Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria's reign (1837–1901) and of the moral climate of the United Kingdom of the 19th century in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period. Many of these values spread throughout the British Empire. Today, the term "Victorian morality" can describe any set of values that espouse sexual restraint, low tolerance of crime and a strict social code of conduct.

The term "Victorian" was first used during the Great Exhibition in London (1851), where Victorian inventions and morals were shown to the world. Victorian values were developed in all facets of Victorian living. The morality and values of the period can be classed as Religion, Morality, Elitism, Industrialism, and Improvement. These values took root in Victorian morality, creating an overall change in the British Empire.

Historians now regard the Victorian era as a time of many contradictions, such as the widespread cultivation of an outward appearance of dignity and restraint together with the prevalence of social phenomena such as prostitution and child labour. A plethora of social movements arose from attempts to improve the prevailing harsh living conditions for many under a rigid class system.

The term Victorianum has acquired a range of connotations, including that of a particularly strict set of moral standards and rules often hypocritically applied. This stems from the image of Queen Victoria—and her husband, Prince Albert.

Two hundred years earlier the Puritan movement, which led to the installment of Oliver Cromwell, had temporarily overthrown the British monarchy. Cromwell imposed a strict moral code on the people (such as abolishing Christmas as too indulgent of the sensual pleasures).

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