We’ve established at this point that women had next to no independent freedom in Victorian society, especially when it came to financial or marital opportunities. Whilst this was definitely less enforced in the lower classes of English society, it was still prevalent and this plight for women is presented in multiple characters throughout all of Dickens’ novels. Arranged marriages were obviously the norm, as we see in Bleak House but many of the social customs regarding marriage actually became more relaxed upon Queen Victoria becoming the queen.
Much like other stigmatized issues at the time regarding women, the inability to question the queen meant that she was able to open paths for women that had never been available before. One such path is independence, and whilst not the kind we’re familiar with today, was a significant improvement over the situation women had found themselves beforehand. This independence, unfortunately, didn’t extent to legal representation or a change of legislature and was instead found in the attitudes towards women.
Tea with Charles Dickens 