الرساله الاصلية
Dear Laila
I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about western literature. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was writing during the late Georgian period, named after King George. King George's daughter Victoria became Queen in 1837, beginning the Victorian Age. It might help to say that the most important thing was the class system.
1 Working Class (the poor, servants, laborers)
2 Middle Class (shopkeepers, merchants, factory owners)
3 Upper Classes (the rich: Kings, Queens, Dukes, Duchesses, lords and ladies)
Husbands could leave their property and money to their wives but a member of the nobility, say a Duke, could only leave his title (Duke) and property to the eldest son. He could and often did leave his money to the wife, who then passed it on to the children. I don't understand it perfectly myself but it has been explained
HERE quite well.
At that time the laws considered women the property of their husbands. Women of the upper classes who worked for a living were thought of as wicked. Poor women worked (they had to) and so did middle class women (often in shops). Upper class women had to stay at home with the children. It was not believed that women needed education so they mostly spent their time with things considered acceptable for women such as sewing, reading and water-colour painting.
Boys were sent to University -- women stayed home and prepared for lives as wives and mothers. Most upper class marriages were arranged by the fathers. Women of any class could not vote and rarely could she divorce her husband unless he was a monster.
Female authors like Jane Austen (as well as actresses) were also considered to be working in wicked occupations. Most men (not all) scorned women writers and insulted them.
It might interest you to note the dates when women were allowed to vote and to stand for election in different parts of the world. In Canada this did not happen until 1918. Today women in Canada are considered equal to men under the law. She can vote, be a policewoman or doctor, join the army, go to University, divorce her husband, drive a car -- anything a man can do so can a woman. See
HERE and
HERE.
I am curious about woman's life in Arabia -- I don't know much -- the news says that women are fighting for the right to drive. Do women study in Universities? Write me anytime you have a question about literature or life in the west and I will be happy to reply. Two people who exchange letters are known in Canada as "pen-pals," and a pal means a friend.
Write anytime (smile)
وفي روابط تبون انقلهم لكم ؟؟؟
اظن اني بطلب منه اشراكي في هالقروبات واتعرف على اشخاص من مختلف الحضارات
اللحين بكتب له رد وبحط له صور عن المرأة الخليجية وحياتنا
