Women's Roles and Rights in Victorian England

Women's Roles and Rights in Victorian England

Lady Audley's Secret handles the issue of the role and rights of women in Victorian England very well. Braddon brings to light no fewer than four female characters in her novel who suffer to varying degrees at the hands of the men in their lives. The women of Victorian England certainly found her writing to be appealing given her immense popularity after the publication of Lady Audley's Secret. The social structure of England was changing in the 1860s, and women were being given more and more choices than ever before. Braddon reins in her heroine from her transgressions by the end of the story, but up until that point she highlights the disadvantages that women experience in the society of her time. Each of her four major characters suffers either from marital or filial obligations...