The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction

The introduction in the 1851 census of the new category of ‘housewife’ as distinct from the paid post of ‘housekeeper’, suggests that the Victorian cult of domesticity had created its own gendered ethical economy. This paper explores some of the ways in which the figure of the housekeeper in Victori...

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Main Author: Elisabeth Jay
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2005-12-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/14179
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author Elisabeth Jay
author_facet Elisabeth Jay
author_sort Elisabeth Jay
collection DOAJ
description The introduction in the 1851 census of the new category of ‘housewife’ as distinct from the paid post of ‘housekeeper’, suggests that the Victorian cult of domesticity had created its own gendered ethical economy. This paper explores some of the ways in which the figure of the housekeeper in Victorian fiction became the site for the expression of a series of class and gender anxieties and why Victorian writers were particularly alive to the potential threat posed by a servant whose role was that of understudy.
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institution Kabale University
issn 0220-5610
2271-6149
language English
publishDate 2005-12-01
publisher Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
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series Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
spelling doaj-art-2ad135ad32ff433c94b39a84f8a15f9a2025-01-30T10:21:28ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492005-12-016110.4000/11s9gThe Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian FictionElisabeth JayThe introduction in the 1851 census of the new category of ‘housewife’ as distinct from the paid post of ‘housekeeper’, suggests that the Victorian cult of domesticity had created its own gendered ethical economy. This paper explores some of the ways in which the figure of the housekeeper in Victorian fiction became the site for the expression of a series of class and gender anxieties and why Victorian writers were particularly alive to the potential threat posed by a servant whose role was that of understudy.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/14179
spellingShingle Elisabeth Jay
The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
title The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction
title_full The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction
title_fullStr The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction
title_full_unstemmed The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction
title_short The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction
title_sort enemy within the housekeeper in victorian fiction
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/14179
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