Questions about victorian/pride and prejudice era?

Question

1. What were sort of respectable avenues for a young man of consequence, like ... a clergyman was thought to be ok wasn't he? And there was the law? Any other jobs that you can think of? Or any more detail on those two?

2. What were womens hobbies? How did they fill their time?

3. What music and books were in circulation around that time or before? Like what would people be likely to be reading or listening to? Between 1800-1850 for example?

thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Just 'Google' Vicrtorian era, there are hundreds of websites that will help you.

Answer 2

You need to focus more on what era you actually mean. There was huge social and technological change between 1800 and 1850, so the habits of Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have been history for young people in 1850. Also, 1850 is only the very beginning of the "Victorian era" - Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901! - and when peope speak of "Victorian" they normally mean the second half of the 19th century.

Answer 3

1. The Church, the Law, Soldiering (Army/Navy), and standing for Parliament.

2.  We are talking about women of the upper classes -- Management of children, servants,  needle-work, drawing, genteel education, going on the marriage mart....

3.  Regency/18th century authors would include:  William Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Samuel Johnson, William Blake, Lord Byron....

Victorian authors would include: Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) , William Thackery, Anthony Trollope, the Bronte Sisters, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Butler, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, and James Joyce.

Musicians -- Johann S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Verdi.

Answer 4

   There was a lot of social change between the Regency period(reign of George III) and the Victorian era. During the Regency period the most respectable pursuit was to be a gentleman which meant living on inherited wealth and the rents on inherited property.  If you weren't in such an advantageous social position it was quite acceptable to be a member of the clergy although it wasn't a comfortable way to live unless you had some inherited income. The military was also acceptable, but to advance in your career you had to pay your way to advancement. A vogue for farming arose among the landed class which was generally approved by society. As the Industrial Revolution advanced inventing and manufacturing gained respectability.  Law and medicine, originally lower tier careers, were recognized.  Prominent lawyers and manufacturers could be knighted in recognition of their work. Making money was no longer considered somewhat dirty.

Women were often occupied by nursing sick family members. All but the wealthy sewed much of the family clothing.  Domestic tasks were very labour intensive. Young ladies were expected to learn languages and to pursue minor artistic talents. Women of other classes did not have a lot of free time. Playing card games was acceptable to all but the most puritanical.

Lower class people in the towns and cities in the Victorian era went to music halls to listen to comic and sentimental songs and to see acts which were unsophisticated precursors to vaudeville.  Young people liked to dance. And there was a LOT of drinking among men of the upper clases and both sexes of the lower classes.  Drinking became a major public health issue in the cities-mothers would even give gin to their babies.  

Many authors work was published on a serial basis in newspapers and magazines which made current literature more affordable and expanded readership of novels to a less affluent public.  If you had a bit more money you could subscribe to a lending library.  There was a vast expansion of the staples of popular tastes-romance, tales of virtue rewarded like Richardson's Pamela and stories of gothic horror and military adventure.