1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,040 MUSIC: Habanera by George Bizet 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:07,760 In our modern world, 3 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,960 there's an idea that fills our dreams and desires - 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,240 something we've all searched for. 5 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:18,840 Romantic love. 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:21,960 Ooh! 7 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,080 What's fascinating is that so much of romance 8 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,320 isn't about spontaneous feeling. 9 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:34,280 All of love's rituals 10 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:35,720 had to be invented. 11 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:43,360 Even the way we feel can be traced back to specific historical moments. 12 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,080 Now we reach the Victorian age 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:49,920 when a changing society 14 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,840 drew inspiration from the Middle Ages. 15 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,200 Chivalry was reborn 16 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,560 and there were new roles to play 17 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:59,560 as manly men paid tribute 18 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:01,720 to sweet, angelic ladies. 19 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,480 Valentine's cards and flowers 20 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:07,400 created a new language of love... 21 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,480 ..and novels continued to shape our vision of romance, 22 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,520 transforming the way we felt and behaved... 23 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,800 ..but then women began to speak their minds, 24 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,000 hidden desires were revealed. 25 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,280 Welcome to the Victorian way of love. 26 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:47,920 It's sometimes hard to see the softer side of Victorian Britain - 27 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,440 a world of Industry, machinery and hardship... 28 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,320 ..but the workshop of the world 29 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:58,320 didn't only manufacture cloth. 30 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:03,920 Tales of romance were being woven into ordinary lives, 31 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,880 even in the most unpromising of places - 32 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:09,080 the factories themselves. 33 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:11,880 For millions of women, 34 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:13,920 romance became an escape. 35 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,720 Women like Scottish power-loom weaver, Ellen Johnston... 36 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:25,000 ..part of a tiny tribe of working class WOMEN writers. 37 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,200 Sent out to work at the age of 11 38 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:35,280 by her villainous stepfather, 39 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,120 Ellen toiled all of her life in factories. 40 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,680 She was twice abandoned by a lover 41 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,760 and her daughter was born out of wedlock. 42 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,120 Ellen's life was as tough as you could imagine 43 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,120 and yet she had an escape. 44 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,760 She lived as if she were the heroine of a romantic novel. 45 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,640 "By reading love adventures," she said, 46 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:02,800 "my brain was fired with wild imaginations." 47 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:09,720 Ellen's romantic fantasies 48 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,280 helped her to step outside the difficulties of her young life. 49 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,560 In her autobiography, she wrote, 50 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:19,720 "I had many characters to imitate 51 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:21,320 "in the course of the day. 52 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:24,520 "In the residence of my stepfather, 53 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:26,640 "I was a weeping willow. 54 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,960 "In the factory, I was pensive and thoughtful." 55 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,920 And soon, Ellen began to turn these daydreams into poetry. 56 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,160 Her work was published under the pseudonym of "the Factory Girl". 57 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,240 This was quite surprising 58 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,920 and so too were some of the poems. 59 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,120 One of them was written in praise of 60 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,320 the surpassing beauty of a young man she fancied. 61 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,000 And Ellen did not take the easy way out, 62 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,440 she refused an offer of marriage 63 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:14,040 from a middle class man 64 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,320 because he wanted her to stop writing 65 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:19,800 and she didn't really love him anyway. 66 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,280 For Ellen, romance was more important 67 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:26,400 than the drudgery of her everyday life. 68 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,480 Ellen may have been unconventional, 69 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,680 but the books that inspired her were not. 70 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:41,800 One writer, in particular, began her journey - 71 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:43,240 Walter Scott. 72 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:46,600 Scott introduced Ellen, 73 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:48,480 and indeed the whole of Britain, 74 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:50,880 to a new world of romance 75 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,040 with his own take on medieval tales of love and honour. 76 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:58,040 He became so famous 77 00:04:58,040 --> 00:04:59,400 that he was regarded 78 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,560 as the 19th century's own equivalent of Shakespeare. 79 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:06,600 His home, Abbotsford, 80 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,160 represents him perfectly - 81 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,520 a peculiar mix of ancient baronial pile 82 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,720 and middle class domesticity. 83 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:20,120 And when it came to his most influential book, Ivanhoe, 84 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:22,160 Scott applied the same approach 85 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,120 to the chivalric romances of old. 86 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,160 Published in 1820, 87 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,800 it was a tale of 12th century knightly adventures... 88 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:32,480 but with a modern twist. 89 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,280 In the story of Ivanhoe, 90 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:39,520 the hero has quite a lot in common 91 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,480 with Walter Scott himself. 92 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:43,960 He's modest and honourable, 93 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:45,520 and diligent. 94 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,120 He's basically a man of the 19th century, 95 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,600 rather than a knight of old... 96 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:52,640 and Scott doesn't really approve 97 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,320 of the heroines of the medieval romances 98 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,200 that inspired his work. 99 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,440 "These haughty beauties," he said, 100 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,080 "sometimes conferred upon their lovers 101 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:03,920 "the rights of a husband 102 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,840 "before any wedding had taken place." 103 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:10,840 The leading ladies of Scott's own tales of the olden days 104 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:13,880 never get up to any premarital hanky-panky. 105 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:18,840 There isn't much in the way of passion. 106 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:21,120 We're told more about what the women are wearing, 107 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:22,800 than what they're feeling, 108 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,520 which might explain why ladies liked to dress up 109 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:27,120 as the heroines of the book... 110 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,240 ..particularly for the climactic scene, 111 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,400 where the women in Ivanhoe's life 112 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,640 compete in a kind of virtue face-off. 113 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,840 Rebecca is dark, glamorous and Jewish. 114 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:47,880 She's also supremely self-sacrificing. 115 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:53,160 Ivanhoe rescues Rebecca after she's accused of being a sorceress. 116 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,880 She loves him, but she knows that she can never marry him, 117 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:00,400 because she's a Jew and he's a Christian. 118 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,760 When Rebecca comes to meet her rival, 119 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:07,360 she begs to see the face of the woman who's won Ivanhoe's heart. 120 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,640 Rowena is a Saxon noblewoman. 121 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,400 She's blonde, she's virtuous and she's loyal. 122 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,920 Some people might think she's a bit boring 123 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:22,280 but many thought that she was perfect wife material 124 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:27,240 and, in the story of Ivanhoe, it's goody-goody Rowena who gets the man. 125 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:32,600 Ivanhoe was a phenomenon, 126 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:34,680 a guide for behaviour, 127 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,040 and one of the most influential books of the 19th century. 128 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,720 The idea of chivalry it promoted 129 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,280 helped the British to define themselves 130 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:50,360 just as society was being totally transformed by industry and empire. 131 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,640 When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1839, 132 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:01,800 chivalry became part of THEIR romance, too. 133 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,000 Albert dressed up as her knight in shining armour. 134 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:12,800 It was an idea that caught on. 135 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:21,360 MEDIEVAL DRUMBEAT AND FANFARE 136 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:24,600 Chivalry was the perfect expression 137 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,480 of what it meant to be a Victorian gentleman. 138 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,440 It gave you a set of rules for living. 139 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:36,520 You could aspire to be 140 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:38,120 LIKE a medieval knight, 141 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:40,320 a man of action and honour - 142 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:43,560 even if you were, for example, a bank clerk. 143 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:45,880 Medieval knights were supposed to be strong, 144 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,760 but also gentle and polite. 145 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:50,760 They were supposed to be manly. 146 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:52,800 They probably had beards 147 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,960 and that was behind the Victorian fondness for facial hair. 148 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,600 Chivalry was basically romance, 149 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:01,640 but for MEN! 150 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:03,240 Ooh, hello! 151 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,200 No more soft, swooning lovers - 152 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,440 men were champions. 153 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,720 They paid homage and then went off to do great deeds. 154 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,280 And what about the knight's lady? 155 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:30,600 Well, obviously, she had to be pretty special 156 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,240 to deserve all this worship. 157 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:37,720 In an ideal world, she'd wait at home to be rescued. 158 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:40,000 She was far too pure to experience 159 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:42,120 anything like sexual desire. 160 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,520 It was her job to heal the knight, 161 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:46,520 to tend to his wounds 162 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:48,880 or, perhaps, to inspire him 163 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,280 with the shining example of her virtue. 164 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,920 A chivalrous gentleman 165 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,200 needed to treat his middle class damsel 166 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:02,880 with great delicacy 167 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,000 if he was to win her heart. 168 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:06,560 His visits had to be paid, 169 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:08,560 not to the young lady herself but, 170 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:10,760 to a respectable guardian 171 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:12,600 with calling cards left only 172 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:14,720 within certain visiting hours. 173 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,240 The lives of well-off Victorian young ladies 174 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,760 were very tightly restricted, 175 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,560 but there was one moment when THEY held the balance of power 176 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:30,080 cos they could decide 177 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:31,920 whether or not to receive 178 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:33,880 a gentleman who'd come to call. 179 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,480 You had to make this decision with care, 180 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,360 cos if you received somebody who was disreputable, 181 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,360 your own reputation would suffer. 182 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:48,920 A "suitable" gentleman might be invited to an informal gathering - 183 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:52,640 perhaps an afternoon at home with refreshments and music. 184 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:55,440 Hmm. 185 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,240 Oh, no, Aldwell, tell him I'm not at home, please. 186 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:01,480 Ah! 187 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:03,960 "Professor Derek Scott, University of Leeds." 188 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,720 He sounds interesting, he can come in. 189 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,880 And there was one place where romance could blossom - 190 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:13,240 at the piano. 191 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,640 Derek, what role does music play in courtship? 192 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:23,760 Well, music was a great way of gaining attention. 193 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:25,800 The possession of some musical skill, 194 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:27,400 especially for a young woman 195 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:29,360 seems to be connected with 196 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:31,360 her whole moral character. 197 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,040 And it's quite good if you weren't particularly good looking. 198 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:36,880 You could show yourself off, in other ways, at the piano. 199 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:40,640 That added, kind of, emotional projection 200 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:42,000 that music gives 201 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,720 can make most people attractive. 202 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,840 If a man and a woman were going to sing together or play a duet, 203 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,560 presumably this led to wonderful intimacy. 204 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:54,160 If the man was playing the bass part, 205 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:57,800 and they tend to, the man's right hand and the woman's left hand... 206 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,880 - They might touch! - Yeah, they're going to clash... - Whoa! 207 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,600 - ..together at times and... - Yes. - ..that's most unfortunate. 208 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:04,840 Oh, dear, yes. 209 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:06,720 That's most regrettable, isn't it? 210 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:10,240 So, what sort of songs would they be singing in the drawing room 211 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,080 when a courtship was underway? 212 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:17,200 For example, if you're a man and you want to impress, maybe you sing... 213 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:19,760 ..a soldier song. 214 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:27,840 # Yes, let me, like a soldier, fall 215 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,960 # Upon an open play. # 216 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:32,160 And the woman will think, 217 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,080 "Wow, there's a butch guy. 218 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,840 "Maybe I can interest him." 219 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,720 And women had their own songs as well. 220 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,120 Songs about the home. 221 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,240 You'd think, "Oh, this is someone that really cares for their home." 222 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,760 Songs about children, songs about flowers, 223 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:49,800 The Last Rose Of Summer or... 224 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:51,800 Did the idea of chivalry 225 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:54,000 have any effect on music? 226 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:55,360 Oh, certainly. 227 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:56,840 If it was a man's song 228 00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:58,440 that suggests that, 229 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:00,600 "I'm not singing this to you 230 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,840 "because I find you gorgeously attractive 231 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:05,960 "and I'm consumed with desire. 232 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:08,960 "I'm singing this because 233 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:12,320 "you seem to be radiating truth and honesty and, 234 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:14,920 "even when you're an old ruin, 235 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,760 "my love will be like... 236 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,080 "ivy clinging round a castle wall. 237 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:23,320 "I will still feel passionate about you." 238 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,600 Let's sing that song, that sounds good. 239 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,680 # Thou would still be adored 240 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:37,760 # As this moment thou art 241 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,360 # Let thy loveliness fade as it will 242 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,280 # And around the dear ruin 243 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,880 # Each wish of my heart 244 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:59,800 # Would entwine itself verdantly still... # 245 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,040 If a song failed to win her heart, 246 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:15,880 perhaps you could try the big, new craze - the language of flowers. 247 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,240 Each flower was supposed to represent 248 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,600 a particular idea or emotion, 249 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,160 so Victorian lovers could communicate 250 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:29,960 without ever saying a word. 251 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:38,240 The author of this book 252 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:39,560 thinks that everybody 253 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:43,240 ought to be able to understand the "language of flowers". 254 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,200 That's because, if you send your girlfriend a bouquet... 255 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:47,960 "It'll make her far happier 256 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,080 "than the far-fetched expressions 257 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,200 "of even the most tender note." 258 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:55,320 Ladies like flowers. 259 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:58,200 They're soft, marshmallowy creatures. 260 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,560 It says here that, "The art of lovemaking is, with women, 261 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:03,600 "the art of self-defence; 262 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,760 "the more scrupulous and delicate they are, 263 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:08,840 "the more worthy, are they, 264 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,000 "of the homage rendered to them." 265 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,400 Now, because each individual flower 266 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:16,240 has its own individual meaning, 267 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:18,360 you can put them together in bunches 268 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,320 to make quite complex sentences. 269 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,880 For example, if you send her 270 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:25,280 strawberry, mignonette, 271 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:26,720 bluebell and tulip - 272 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,520 all in the same bouquet - 273 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:29,640 you're saying, 274 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:34,480 "Your perfect goodness, excellent qualities and kindness 275 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,800 "constrain me to declare my regard." 276 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:39,240 If, on the other hand, 277 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:41,360 you send violet, jasmine and roses, 278 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:43,400 you're saying something quite different. 279 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:49,280 "Your modesty and amiability inspire me with the warmest affection." 280 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:52,160 So I love the idea of Victorian ladies 281 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,720 going, rather desperately, through the book thinking, 282 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,720 "Oh, I hope he made a mistake, 283 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:58,800 "because he seems to have sent me... 284 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:00,520 "painful reflections." 285 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:06,400 Despite the potential for error, 286 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,000 one thing was for sure - 287 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,480 romance was selling books. 288 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,560 Floriography - note the sciencey name - 289 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:15,720 became something of an industry. 290 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,640 The commercial possibilities of Valentine's day 291 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,080 were also being explored, 292 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:28,720 partly due to the arrival, 293 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:31,320 in 1840, of the Penny Post. 294 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,360 Tender expressions of love 295 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:38,920 were now available ready-made, 296 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:40,800 complete with poem, 297 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:42,360 and assembled, quite possibly, 298 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:44,360 by burly blokes in factories. 299 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,360 These are all Valentine's cards 300 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:52,680 from the workshop of Jonathan King, 301 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:54,600 who ran his business next door 302 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:56,760 to his stationery shop in Islington. 303 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:58,160 Now, in the 18th century, 304 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,800 you probably would have made your own Valentine's card 305 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:02,360 but, by the 19th century, 306 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:03,920 you could go to a shop 307 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:06,640 and you get a sense that the stakes were raised 308 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:11,240 because your lady friend would judge you on how much money you'd spent. 309 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,120 Here's a lovely, simple, little card. 310 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,200 Love amongst the roses, 311 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:18,840 a sweet looking girl, 312 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,280 but if you received that AND this, 313 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:25,240 you might think that this gentleman loved you more 314 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:28,200 because he'd obviously spent a lot more money on the gold, 315 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,480 the lace, the cut-out of the lady 316 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,680 and the silver mirror in the middle of it all. 317 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,840 Now, if you think this is a bit too saccharine and feminine, 318 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:39,920 here's a curious phenomenon - 319 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,440 the vinegar valentine. 320 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:44,280 You would send one of these, 321 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,440 as an anti-Valentine's card, 322 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,520 to, maybe, a girlfriend who'd dumped you. 323 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:50,920 Here's an overdressed, 324 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,880 horrible-looking lady and it says, 325 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,320 "False, false, false, false." 326 00:17:55,320 --> 00:17:57,920 She's got false hair, false cheeks - 327 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,200 too much make-up - and a false bosom. 328 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,800 But the best card of all is this. 329 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:10,760 This... This is the mother 330 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:12,920 of all Valentine's cards - 331 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,480 and this was made by Jonathan King, himself, 332 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,360 for his lady love 333 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:21,920 and, as you open it up, you discover... 334 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,080 there are flowers, 335 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:25,240 a poem, 336 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,760 there are all these, sort of, lacy, ribbony layers to it 337 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:30,480 with shells, 338 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,800 and gold and silver. 339 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:36,760 You can imagine her opening all this up and thinking, 340 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,600 "That must be the end of it, there cannot be any more." 341 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:40,960 But there is... 342 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:45,640 because, on the back of it, is a secret hidden compartment... 343 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:48,920 ..and if you open up this one, 344 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:50,480 you discover 345 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,040 a hidden paper chest of drawers 346 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:58,400 and each of the drawers contains a womanly virtue. 347 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,200 We've got good humour, 348 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:04,360 here's humility - very important... 349 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:07,040 You should employ innocence 350 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:09,080 and if she works her way through, 351 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,560 she would have discovered a gold ring. 352 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:13,400 This Valentine was probably 353 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,600 his proposal to her. 354 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:18,200 They did get married 355 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:19,520 the very next year. 356 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:21,680 They had 15 children together 357 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,000 and they named one of them Valentine. 358 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,280 Valentine's cards helped to reinforce 359 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,080 an ideal of Victorian womanhood - 360 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:33,760 pure, delicate and selfless. 361 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:41,640 Woman's mission, as this painting by George Elgar Hicks would have it, 362 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,120 was to serve as the companion of manhood - 363 00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:46,840 a source of quiet comfort 364 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:49,080 for the careworn husband... 365 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,480 but the ideal didn't always translate well into reality. 366 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,560 I've come to the home of one fascinating 367 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:07,560 and famously bickering 368 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:10,880 Victorian couple - Jane and Thomas Carlyle. 369 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,400 When they moved here in 1834, 370 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:18,760 Thomas Carlyle was a poor writer, 371 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,480 soon to become famous for his works of history, 372 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,560 philosophy and social comment. 373 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,120 Jane was the elegant - and clever - 374 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:30,360 daughter of a doctor. 375 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,120 As a young woman, Jane read romances 376 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:41,640 and she decided never to get married. 377 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,200 "The perfect mortal," she wrote, 378 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,680 "exists only in the romance of my imagination." 379 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,920 Hearing about people getting engaged, 380 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,720 "brought on her asthma," she said. 381 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:57,320 But over five years, Thomas Carlyle wooed her with his letters. 382 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,080 He was like her tutor bringing her on. 383 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,440 Eventually she said, "Yes, I am going to marry him. 384 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,480 "He has a towering intellect to command me, 385 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:09,520 "and a spirit of fire, 386 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,720 "to be my guiding star." 387 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,840 In other words, a bit of a bossy boots. 388 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,400 They were a freethinking couple in their romance... 389 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:22,400 ..but once they were married, 390 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,160 they adopted the roles that 391 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,040 contemporaries prescribed. 392 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,640 He - at his writing, 393 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:32,720 she - keeping the house quiet and tending to his needs. 394 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:39,960 Author AN Wilson has agreed to help me understand their relationship 395 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,080 with the help of some Victorian conduct manuals. 396 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,520 This is incredibly unromantic. 397 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,680 It says here, "Married women, it must be gratifying to receive, 398 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,640 "from a husband, just so much attention 399 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,560 "as indicates a consciousness of your presence." 400 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:00,440 THEY LAUGH 401 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:02,880 - Oh, dear. - So, you must be very grateful 402 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,920 if he even recognises you've come into the room 403 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:06,760 or that you're sitting inside of the room. 404 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:08,520 And that's enough. 405 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,720 How typical would you say that Thomas and Jane Carlyle's marriage was? 406 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,120 Well, they were very strong characters. 407 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:17,320 It was an unusual marriage in lots of respects. 408 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,680 It was childless and I think, probably, deliberately childless. 409 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,400 Certainly on his part. 410 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,080 They got on extremely badly. 411 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:26,400 - I mean, legendarily badly. - Oh, dear. 412 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,760 When they were apart, they realised that they did, deep down, 413 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:32,920 really love one another, so it's a heartbreaking marriage, actually. 414 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:34,560 Do you think that Thomas Carlyle 415 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,760 expected his wife, Jane, to do all the things 416 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,440 that Victorian gentlemen expected their wives to do? 417 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:40,520 Certainly. 418 00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,800 I mean, he regarded her with awe and reverence, 419 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,160 and he realised what a clever person she was. 420 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,880 This didn't, in any way, stop him expecting her to do all the chores 421 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:53,320 and take responsibility for absolutely everything. 422 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,160 When she married him, he was a very poor man 423 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,320 and there was no money for all the servants that she'd been used to 424 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,120 so she taught herself how to cook, 425 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,720 how to run a household as 426 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:06,320 if she was a housemaid. 427 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,680 She didn't do it quietly and meekly, though, did she? 428 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:10,800 She did not do anything quietly or meekly. 429 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,440 She was a very hot-tempered, difficult person 430 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:16,600 and he was aware of her doing all these chores. 431 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,840 "The domestic sphere is the woman's sphere, 432 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,680 "the sphere of the man is work and club, land and that sort of thing." 433 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,120 But what's always intriguing about conduct books is that 434 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:29,040 they present an ideal and 435 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,960 reality rarely matches, doesn't it? 436 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:33,880 Well, that's absolutely true 437 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:35,760 but I think these books are 438 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:37,520 attempting to make us 439 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,120 come to terms with reality - 440 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:40,960 if we are Victorian, young women - 441 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,920 and one of the realities is that, for much of the time, 442 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,240 the life of a domestic women, 443 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,840 whether in the 19th century or any other century, is extremely boring. 444 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:55,040 Don't expect life to be like a romantic novel. 445 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:56,120 Mmm. 446 00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:59,040 On the other hand, obviously, it's rather nice if, 447 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,320 when you first set out to live with somebody, 448 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:03,520 if you're in love. 449 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:07,160 But they're recommending a sort of steady, sensible, everyday, 450 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:08,920 mundane sort of love, aren't they? 451 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,120 They certainly are because, I mean, passion... 452 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:14,320 Oh! That's bad. 453 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,160 - That's rather dangerous. - It's dodgy. 454 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:17,840 I mean, I think it's a little dodgy. 455 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,760 - Passion is the enemy of domestic bliss. - Yes. 456 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:27,240 What was an independent-minded girl to do? 457 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,040 In the end, the chivalrous suitor 458 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,720 expected you to devote yourself to serving him. 459 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:38,160 Then, in 1847, 460 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:39,680 a book appeared that proposed 461 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:41,080 a new kind of romance... 462 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,320 ..and introduced a new kind of heroine. 463 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,200 The author, Charlotte Bronte, 464 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,280 had set out to prove to her sisters 465 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,960 that it was possible to write a romantic novel 466 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,360 about a girl who wasn't beautiful. 467 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:13,440 "I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself, 468 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:18,200 "who shall be as interesting as any of yours," she said... 469 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,080 and along came Jane Eyre - 470 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,200 "A plain, Quaker-ish governess." 471 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,760 Jane isn't a conventional Victorian heroine 472 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,400 and Rochester is pretty unconventional too. 473 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,880 He's 20 years older than Jane. 474 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,160 He's almost ugly. 475 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,200 He's described as having a "grim mouth" 476 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,640 and he's got a cruel, dark brow. 477 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,160 He also behaves cruelly to Jane. 478 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,080 He plays games with her, 479 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,960 he tricks her into thinking that he's going to marry her beautiful rival 480 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,720 and Rochester says things to Jane 481 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,240 that no conventional Victorian woman should hear. 482 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:11,640 He tells her about his previous sexual indiscretions. 483 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:17,560 One commentator concluded 484 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:21,360 "The hero and heroine are both so singularly unattractive 485 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:24,520 "that the reader feels they can have no vocation in the novel 486 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,600 "BUT to be brought together." 487 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:32,760 But most shocking of all is the way that Jane speaks to Rochester. 488 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:36,360 Jane. 489 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,440 Jane is clever, she's proud, she's combative. 490 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,800 "Do you think I am an automaton?" 491 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:48,080 She says. 492 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,600 "A machine without feelings? 493 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,720 "Do you think - because I am poor, obscure, plain and little - 494 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,440 "I am soulless and heartless? 495 00:26:57,440 --> 00:26:59,320 "You think wrong! 496 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,480 "It is my spirit that addresses your spirit, 497 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,800 "just as if both had passed through the grave 498 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:06,320 "and we stood at God's feet - 499 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,360 "equal, as we are!" 500 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,680 Contemporary reviewers were shocked. 501 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,160 Charlotte Bronte used the pseudonym of Currer Bell 502 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:18,880 and many felt that the author 503 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,120 could not have been a woman. 504 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:26,080 What woman could create a heroine so outspoken, so unfeminine? 505 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:27,920 What woman could imagine a plot 506 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:32,720 where the so-called hero tries to commit bigamy? 507 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,920 But the book was a spectacular success. 508 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:39,880 Jane Eyre changed the romantic landscape for ever. 509 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,480 A few years after Jane Eyre came out, 510 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,880 another novelist, Mrs Oliphant, 511 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,600 described it as "a declaration of the rights of woman." 512 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:57,520 She said that the age was past for chivalrous, knightly, reverent love - 513 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,760 all that really did was make the woman look inferior. 514 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:03,280 "Girls of today," Mrs Oliphant said, 515 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:08,400 "didn't want to be treated like sensitive lilies or beautiful roses," 516 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:13,040 and that this was "the most alarming revolution of modern times." 517 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,360 Jane Eyre introduced a new type of courtship, 518 00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:19,200 one in which women could fight, 519 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,160 could prove their strength 520 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,560 and achieve something like equality. 521 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,080 This new vision of romance, 522 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:32,320 a battle of the sexes 523 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,440 where the outcome was an alliance of mind and soul, 524 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:37,160 could be an inspiration... 525 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,880 ..but it could also sow discontent, 526 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,960 when real marriages did not match the ideal. 527 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,240 The intimate fantasies 528 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:49,440 of Victorian wives 529 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,320 have rarely been preserved for posterity - 530 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,520 but there is one startling exception. 531 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:06,720 Isabella Robinson was a respectable, married lady, 532 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,000 living with her slightly horrible husband, Henry. 533 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:15,480 He was grumpy with her and she felt he was misusing her money. 534 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,440 The three volumes of her diaries 535 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,120 that go from 1850-1855, 536 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,120 give the details of her growing friendship with a doctor, 537 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:24,720 Edward Lane. 538 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,960 He was ten years younger than Isabella 539 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,240 and he was married to somebody else. 540 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:33,160 At first, this was a meeting of minds to Isabella, 541 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,720 they used to have deep intellectual conversations, 542 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,880 but, as time went on, her feelings 543 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,480 developed into something even deeper. 544 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,320 It all came to a head in 1854 545 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,640 when they went out together on a country walk. 546 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:56,120 "We walked on, and seated ourselves in a glade of surpassing beauty. 547 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,080 "The sun shone warmly down upon us. 548 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,920 "I gave myself up to enjoyment. 549 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:10,360 "He leaned over me and exclaimed, 'if you say that again, I will kiss you.' 550 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,120 "You may believe I made no opposition 551 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:19,040 "for had I not dreamed of him and of this full many a time before." 552 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:20,560 SHE SIGHS 553 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,400 What Isabella wrote in her diary 554 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,600 was terribly, terribly romantic... 555 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:28,120 but when you compare it to contemporary novels, 556 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,280 it was also terribly shocking. 557 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,560 A novel with such an immoral take on adultery 558 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,560 would never have made it into print... 559 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,640 but Isabella's husband, Henry, used her diaries 560 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,920 as evidence in his petition to divorce her. 561 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:51,560 It was one of the first cases 562 00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:53,800 in London's new divorce court. 563 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,320 Before that, you'd needed an act of parliament to dissolve a marriage. 564 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,800 And so, in 1858, Isabella's diaries 565 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:03,640 became the talk of the town. 566 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:09,280 Author Kate Summerscale has studied the case. 567 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,160 Shall we have a look at a bit of the diaries 568 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,040 that ended up being read out in a courtroom like this? 569 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:15,360 Yes, and not only that, 570 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,360 all the extracts that were read out in court 571 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,920 were published, in full, in just about every newspaper in Britain. 572 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:24,000 Including The Times, the paper record. 573 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:26,720 So, here are all the divorce court reports 574 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,280 and then we get on to the Robinson case. 575 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:32,480 It says, "What followed, I hardly remember. 576 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:37,120 "Passionate kisses, whispered words, confessions of the past." 577 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,320 "Oh, God!" 578 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,720 "I hoped never to see this hour 579 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,160 "or to have any part of my love returned." 580 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,120 Yes, and this "What followed, I hardly remember" 581 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,320 is very typical of her style in the diary. 582 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,160 A, sort of, coyness when it comes to really describing 583 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,040 what happened between them. 584 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,560 - And that's what happens in fiction, isn't it? - Yes. 585 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,960 The diary was written in a very high-flown, elaborate... 586 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,640 swooning style - 587 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,960 as if drawn from the pages of romantic fiction - 588 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,960 and this caused a real problem for the court 589 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,680 whether to trust passages so written, 590 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,080 whether they could constitute proof of adultery. 591 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,520 It says here, "We adjourned to the next room 592 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:21,920 "and spent a quarter of an hour in blissful excitement. 593 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:24,960 "I became nearly helpless with the effects of his presence." 594 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,200 I loved the idea of a lot of very serious judges going, 595 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,680 "Now, what do we think that she means by that? 596 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,200 - "Does that mean...?" - "The effect of his presence." Yes. 597 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,280 "Does that mean yes or does it mean no?" 598 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:36,960 Dr Philimore, one of the lawyers, 599 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,040 said that "the journal had evidently been written by a woman 600 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:43,400 "of so flighty, extravagant, excitable, romantic 601 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:48,400 "and irritable a mind as almost to amount to insanity." 602 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,360 And that's HER lawyer. 603 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:52,360 That's her lawyer?! Oh, my goodness. 604 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:53,440 Poor woman. 605 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,480 What's the ending of the whole story, then? 606 00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:58,880 Who were the winners and the losers from it? 607 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:00,480 Well, in the end, 608 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,480 the judge in the case, 609 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,000 after much deliberation, 610 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,880 adjournments, it was months before they gave a verdict 611 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,520 and he refused Henry Robinson his divorce. 612 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,400 What they eventually ruled was 613 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,840 that Isabella was not mad, 614 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,600 the diary was an essentially truthful document 615 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,240 but because of the coyness and romance 616 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:26,520 in which she couched her descriptions, 617 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:27,920 it was impossible to know 618 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,960 if they had actually consummated their affair. 619 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,160 Now, clearly Mrs Robinson's diary 620 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,120 has been affected by novels. 621 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,080 Did it, in turn, affect novels that were to come? 622 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:39,320 I think so. 623 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,320 I think the divorce court proceedings, in general, 624 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,400 which began in the year of this trial 625 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,800 and Isabella's diary, specifically, 626 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,040 did feed into the sensation fiction 627 00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,440 of the 1860s and afterwards - 628 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:55,480 particularly, the figure of 629 00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:57,760 the brooding, moody, 630 00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,920 dissatisfied wife - 631 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:02,600 the dangerously frustrated woman 632 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,720 starts to become a, kind of, anti-heroine 633 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:07,360 of the novels of the period. 634 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,160 These new books were page-turners 635 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:16,960 and came in cheap editions 636 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,800 perfect for long railway journeys, 637 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,160 which is why they were sometimes known as "railway novels". 638 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,720 One book, from 1861, seems to have had a distinct connection 639 00:34:29,720 --> 00:34:32,200 to the case of Isabella Robinson... 640 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:33,880 both in the heroine's name, 641 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,440 and in the theme of adultery - 642 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,760 East Lynne, by Mrs Henry Wood. 643 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:45,880 It's about the beautiful Lady Isabel Vane. 644 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:51,120 She gets seduced by the dashing Sir Francis Levison. 645 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,080 She leaves her children. 646 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:56,560 She leaves her rather stolid husband 647 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,760 in order to go off to France with Sir Francis. 648 00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:02,280 Her husband divorces her. 649 00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:04,320 Sir Francis abandons her. 650 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,400 Alone and penniless, she gets onto the train 651 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:09,520 to return to England... 652 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:12,120 but then things get even worse. 653 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:20,480 HORN BLARES 654 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,680 Lady Isabel's fate is far worse 655 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:29,240 than that of Isabella Robinson. 656 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,640 There's no chance that a fictional Victorian adulteress 657 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:35,560 will go unpunished. 658 00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:39,560 The train crashes... 659 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:49,000 ..but Isabel's terrible journey continues. 660 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,000 Her new baby is killed and she, herself, 661 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:57,920 is transformed into a shattered, crippled invalid. 662 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,000 She now returns to her former home, 663 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,320 her husband had remarried 664 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,200 and, because of her injuries 665 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,880 and with the help of a pair of blue-tinted spectacles, 666 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:14,480 she gets a job, in disguise, as her own children's governess. 667 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,520 She experiences tremendous anguish, 668 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,880 she wastes away and she dies. 669 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,880 No-one could have missed Mrs Henry Wood's point. 670 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,440 She bludgeons you over the head with it. 671 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:31,680 "Lady, wife, mother," 672 00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:33,480 she addresses her readers, 673 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,960 "should you ever be tempted to abandon your home, 674 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:40,600 "you will fall into an abyss of horror." 675 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,520 East Lynne was an instant hit 676 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,520 and stage adaptations followed. 677 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:57,760 Audiences revelled in the opportunity to have a good weep. 678 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,720 The end is a sentimental tour de force. 679 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:04,560 On her deathbed, Lady Isabel 680 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,840 reveals her true identity to her former husband 681 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:09,920 and they are finally reconciled. 682 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:15,440 Such maudlin stuff was absolutely 683 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:17,480 to the tastes of the time. 684 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,120 Somehow, death had become part of the romantic idea. 685 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:36,320 Love beyond death was a big feature of Victorian romance, 686 00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,240 particularly as the 19th century wore on 687 00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:41,320 and the cult of mourning deepened. 688 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,640 Sometimes it seems that people were more passionate about the dead 689 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,160 than they were the living. 690 00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:47,960 At least there was the advantage 691 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,520 that no embarrassing questions of sex came up. 692 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:54,920 It turns out that you could have a pretty hot date at a seance. 693 00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:00,160 Spiritualism had begun in America, 694 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,000 but quickly spread to Victorian Britain. 695 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,360 In an age of science and scepticism, 696 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,040 it offered up proof of Christian belief - 697 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,280 above all, the existence of an afterlife 698 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:16,960 The promise of reunion with a lost beloved 699 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:19,640 made seances hugely popular 700 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:21,840 and soon a new phenomenon 701 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,800 made them more overtly romantic. 702 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:31,760 Roger, what would happen at a dark seance of the 1870s? 703 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:36,360 This was the brand-new sensation of Victorian culture 704 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:39,280 around spiritualism at the time. 705 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:41,640 You would arrive... 706 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,560 for about 8 o'clock, 707 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:45,960 it's a dark space, 708 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,840 you would sit at a table very much like this, 709 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:53,640 and then you'd be introduced to the young girl medium - 710 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:55,720 15, 16 years old, perhaps - 711 00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:57,720 who would be showing you round, 712 00:38:57,720 --> 00:38:59,040 introduced to you, 713 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,680 then she would be taken into an adjoining room, 714 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:03,760 what was called a cabinet, 715 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,600 and then, after the lights went completely dark, 716 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,800 you would have this magical appearance through the curtain. 717 00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:12,360 This is the full-scale 718 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,840 emanation of spiritual force. 719 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,360 It's an other-worldly, weird, 720 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,280 strange, kind of, atmosphere that's been built. 721 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,800 And then, the spirit would arrive, 722 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,400 wander round, perhaps introduce herself, 723 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,360 perhaps talk, perhaps not, 724 00:39:29,360 --> 00:39:33,360 perhaps engage physically with the sitters, 725 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:36,320 touch them, slap them, 726 00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,800 gesture, swear at them, 727 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:41,040 talk to them, comfort them perhaps, 728 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,920 speaking about what life was like in the afterlife, 729 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:49,360 and then, after that, would vanish again behind the curtain. 730 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,400 Surely that was the medium, herself, dressed up in a sheet? 731 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:53,600 Depends on your position. 732 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,120 If you fully believe this, 733 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,960 then this was an emanation of spirit matter 734 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:02,320 from the medium, that was their power. 735 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:04,400 Do you think that people enjoyed 736 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,640 having this beautiful, young lady 737 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:09,640 coming up to them, passing closely by them 738 00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,520 in the dark, maybe brushing them with their hands. 739 00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,720 Absolutely, this was the literal sensation of it 740 00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:17,920 and it was quite common 741 00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,080 to feel the bodies of the spirits - 742 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,000 to have a quick squeeze, if you like - 743 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,080 of a sense of what this creature was. 744 00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:27,720 SHE LAUGHS 745 00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:29,920 So, if I was going to squeeze the spirit, 746 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:31,760 what would I be hoping to feel? 747 00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:33,440 Surely, she'd feel, sort of, mushy. 748 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:35,320 Actually, what they were feeling 749 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,320 was something...so Victorian. 750 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,240 On this side of the world, 751 00:40:40,240 --> 00:40:43,600 if you were a young woman, then you are constrained in your clothing. 752 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:45,960 You're wearing a corset and 753 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,680 part of the feeling and checking out here 754 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:52,320 was whether or not, the spirit was, in fact, wearing a corset. 755 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:54,400 So, if she's not wearing a corset, 756 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:56,000 it's proof that she's a real spirit. 757 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:59,040 Absolutely, this is definitely the afterlife. 758 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:01,720 - 100%. - Fantastic, cos if she was a real human being, 759 00:41:01,720 --> 00:41:04,400 - she would be wearing a corset. - Obviously. 760 00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,720 Now, it seems also that some spiritualist investigators, 761 00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:10,040 like Professor William Crooks, for example, 762 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,360 they fall in love with the spirit, don't they? 763 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,200 - They have a romance with a ghost. - Absolutely. 764 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:19,560 Yes, so, Professor Crooks was a very respectable scientist, 765 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,120 happily married with ten children 766 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,880 and he set out to try and prove, scientifically, 767 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:28,080 that this was an actual force - 768 00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:30,160 something that he called "psychic force". 769 00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:31,680 He began to investigate 770 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,480 women mediums like Florence Cook, 771 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:36,880 this lovely 15-year-old girl, 772 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,200 from Hackney, 773 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:41,280 who was a famous medium, 774 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:46,160 able to materialise, fully, this spirit, Katie King. 775 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,160 Do you think that his wife was bothered by this 776 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,040 or did she think, "No, it's fine, 777 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,480 "he may be in love with her, but she's dead?" 778 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:59,080 I think his wife would probably have seen 779 00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,320 that the seance was a kind of ritual, 780 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,440 so it's a sense of getting away from 781 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,680 the conventions of family life 782 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,400 and the conventions of married life. 783 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:11,360 This is the space where respectable middle-class men 784 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,720 can be hanging out with 785 00:42:13,720 --> 00:42:15,440 working class girls from Hackney. 786 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,360 What did the young women get out of it? 787 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:20,120 Presumably, they were in charge, it must have been quite fun. 788 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:25,280 It's a licence, really, to be able to perform however you wanted to - 789 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,360 so, they would be coquettish 790 00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:33,240 and, of course, if they said something foul or filthy, or rude, 791 00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:34,960 it's nothing serious, really, 792 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:36,560 it's just a passing spirit. 793 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,960 These working class girls were able to break into restricted, 794 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,080 middle class drawing rooms 795 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:47,520 and middle class men could reassure themselves 796 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:52,840 that their illicit desires were evidence of a spiritual affinity - 797 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:56,880 a perfect match which transcended earthly convention. 798 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:02,640 Usually the classes were utterly separate 799 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:04,920 and so were their romantic lives. 800 00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:11,040 Working class women often had extraordinary freedom 801 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:12,920 compared to middle class girls - 802 00:43:12,920 --> 00:43:14,600 they could walk out alone 803 00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,080 and spend time with men unchaperoned. 804 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:21,280 Sex before marriage was common 805 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:24,280 and, as long as the couple stayed together, 806 00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:25,560 all was well... 807 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:26,920 but the unfortunate women 808 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,240 who were deserted when pregnant 809 00:43:29,240 --> 00:43:33,680 might petition the Foundling Hospital in London to look after their baby. 810 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:42,360 The hospital investigated each pregnancy 811 00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:46,760 to make sure the mothers were of previously good character, 812 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,320 which means the hospital's archives contain a rare insight 813 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,160 into the lives and loves 814 00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:54,840 of working class Victorian women. 815 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:03,480 This is the petition of Annie Culver. 816 00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:06,880 She was a maid in a big house near Regent's Park 817 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:10,080 where she wouldn't have had many opportunities of meeting men. 818 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:13,160 Her gentleman was a friend of the cook. 819 00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:15,640 They used to meet up in the street 820 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:17,440 and then, in September, 821 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:20,080 criminal conversation took place 822 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:23,560 two or three times in the park. 823 00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:26,040 "When pregnant, I told him 824 00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:27,920 "and he slighted me. 825 00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,920 "He told me to drown myself." 826 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,280 Poor Annie. 827 00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:35,720 Luckily for her, the hospital did look after her baby 828 00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:37,480 so she didn't have to worry. 829 00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:41,800 There wasn't much in the way of romance for Annie - 830 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:43,280 but in these records, 831 00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:46,840 you get a sense of a different set of rules for courtship. 832 00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:51,040 Couples go out together, to the theatre, or to eat, 833 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:54,520 and public places allowed all sorts of encounters - 834 00:44:54,520 --> 00:44:56,680 as in the case of Charlotte Parker. 835 00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:01,800 She was walking in Regent's Park... 836 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,680 "Where I met with a gentleman 837 00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:05,640 "who offered me an umbrella 838 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,000 "as it began to rain." 839 00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:11,440 They later met up at the Adelphi Theatre 840 00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,000 and then, it says here, 841 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:18,760 that the seduction took place at the Coliseum Coffee House 842 00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:22,040 where she slept with the father three times - 843 00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:25,080 they passed for man and wife. 844 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:28,240 And this passing for man and wife was Charlotte's problem, 845 00:45:28,240 --> 00:45:30,440 the governors weren't convinced 846 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:32,120 that she was truly respectable - 847 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:35,640 they thought that she knew, all too well, what she was doing. 848 00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,280 Unfortunately for Charlotte, 849 00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:47,800 that meant the hospital didn't accept her baby. 850 00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:51,040 She may have had greater freedom, but when it all went wrong, 851 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,640 she was required to prove that she, at least, 852 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:56,040 had thought a wedding was on the cards. 853 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:00,880 Those who sat in judgment on Charlotte 854 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:04,480 made sure that middle class values prevailed. 855 00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:06,840 A woman's desires were not to extend 856 00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:08,640 beyond marriage and the home. 857 00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:21,640 In the middle classes, 858 00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:24,320 some adult women played out this obsession 859 00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:26,080 by creating doll's houses. 860 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:30,240 This one, from 1890, 861 00:46:30,240 --> 00:46:31,840 is a tiny snapshot 862 00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:34,080 of the Victorian domestic ideal. 863 00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,000 The men are in their masculine world, 864 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:40,520 in the billiard room, 865 00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:43,960 while the women are separated off in the parlour, taking tea. 866 00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:49,280 In the dining room, there's a wedding breakfast being prepared 867 00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:53,280 with champagne, and a newly fashionable white wedding cake. 868 00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:54,480 How very romantic! 869 00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:57,960 And yet Amy Miles, 870 00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,640 the middle class woman who created this tableau, 871 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:03,800 was a spinster in her thirties. 872 00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:08,480 For her, the only way she could fulfil her proper feminine role 873 00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:09,880 was in miniature. 874 00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:15,320 The fact was that, for many women, 875 00:47:15,320 --> 00:47:17,440 domestic bliss was out of reach. 876 00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:24,800 Was it right that they were being taught 877 00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:27,080 it was the only thing to make them happy? 878 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:31,840 Some people were beginning to think women 879 00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,640 needed to turn their back on the home completely. 880 00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:41,520 In 1889, a play opened on the London stage 881 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,080 which argued just that - 882 00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:46,720 Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. 883 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:50,760 In act three, Nora, the heroine, 884 00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:52,880 is in trouble with her husband, 885 00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:54,160 Torvald, 886 00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:58,600 cos he has discovered that she's taken out an illegal loan of money 887 00:47:58,600 --> 00:48:01,240 and is now being blackmailed for it. 888 00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:02,640 He's furious. 889 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:04,360 "You're not fit," he says, 890 00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,760 "to look after our three children." 891 00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:11,200 But then, in comes the maid. 892 00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:12,520 She's got a letter. 893 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:17,760 It's good news. The blackmailer has returned the incriminating document. 894 00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:19,920 Torvald is very pleased. 895 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:22,080 He says, "Let's make it up. 896 00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:25,480 "I know you only did it, Nora, because you're a bit stupid, 897 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:29,520 "and I quite like the way you're dependent upon me, like a child." 898 00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:32,040 SHE MAKES KISSING NOISES 899 00:48:32,040 --> 00:48:34,960 But Nora isn't having this. 900 00:48:34,960 --> 00:48:37,120 "All my life," she says, 901 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:40,040 "I've been treated like a doll." 902 00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:42,240 She leaves behind her wedding ring, 903 00:48:42,240 --> 00:48:44,160 she leaves behind her keys, 904 00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:46,680 she leaves behind the three children 905 00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:48,760 and she storms out, 906 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:51,160 slamming the door. 907 00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:54,000 She wants to discover who she really is. 908 00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:01,360 One critic described Nora as 909 00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:06,840 "the most morally repulsive woman ever to appear on the stage," 910 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:08,520 but after the performance, 911 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:10,480 women lingered behind to talk. 912 00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:15,120 The idea that self-fulfilment was more important 913 00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:17,000 than a role as wife and mother 914 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:18,560 inspired a generation 915 00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:20,200 of proto-feminists, 916 00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:22,520 who became known as "New Women." 917 00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:26,960 A rash of campaigning novels shaped them - 918 00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:30,200 "attacks on men," as this cartoonist has it. 919 00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:32,440 Books like A Superfluous Woman, 920 00:49:32,440 --> 00:49:35,360 The Heavenly Twins, The Yellow Aster... 921 00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:38,800 ..replete with debauched husbands, 922 00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:40,160 unfulfilling marriages 923 00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:42,320 and rebellious wives. 924 00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:44,920 They said that things had to change for women. 925 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:54,920 Whoo! 926 00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:56,600 In the public imagination, 927 00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:58,800 New Women were inextricably linked 928 00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:01,000 to another innovation of the period - 929 00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:02,880 the bicycle. 930 00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:04,720 Suddenly, middle class girls 931 00:50:04,720 --> 00:50:06,680 could get around unaided 932 00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,040 and their new, strenuous activity 933 00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:11,760 required less restrictive clothing, 934 00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:13,120 such as bloomers - 935 00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:14,640 shockingly trouserish. 936 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:20,840 New Women were derided as mannish, 937 00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:22,400 over-intellectual, 938 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,200 child-hating and dull... 939 00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:26,600 but for the women themselves, 940 00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:28,000 there were new opportunities 941 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:29,800 and new freedoms. 942 00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:36,440 How do you think that the bicycle, 943 00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:39,000 humble though it is, changed society? 944 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:44,320 More than, almost, anything intended to bring women liberation. 945 00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:48,160 The bicycle changed reality for them 946 00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:49,960 in that it did away with 947 00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:51,880 the chaperonage system. 948 00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:53,760 You couldn't have a maid... 949 00:50:53,760 --> 00:50:55,800 She can't keep up with you, going... 950 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:57,200 That's right. 951 00:50:57,200 --> 00:50:59,400 Secondly, she said it was the first amusement 952 00:50:59,400 --> 00:51:03,080 women did for their own pleasure rather than for the pleasure of men 953 00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:07,160 and they did it in the outside, in the open air. 954 00:51:07,160 --> 00:51:10,800 What does the New Woman like, apart from bicycling, which she loves? 955 00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:12,360 Depending on who she is, 956 00:51:12,360 --> 00:51:13,680 she could like feminism - 957 00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:15,360 she could be a feminist activist. 958 00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:16,920 She could be an ordinary, 959 00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:18,840 middle class, young woman 960 00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:22,120 who wants to have a little bit of fun and education. 961 00:51:22,120 --> 00:51:23,920 Socialising with her friends, 962 00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:25,280 female and male, 963 00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:30,240 not always being in the hothouse atmosphere of the marriage market. 964 00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:32,480 When I imagine the New Woman, 965 00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:35,120 I picture her wearing bloomers, 966 00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:37,240 she's been to university, 967 00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:39,680 maybe she has premarital sex. 968 00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:43,800 Premarital sex, of course, happened... 969 00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:46,640 more often than, probably, was talked about 970 00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:49,320 but it was still very much a case 971 00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:52,120 of losing your reputation if it came out 972 00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:56,080 unless you were among the avant-garde, the literati, 973 00:51:56,080 --> 00:51:58,160 the intellectuals and, even then, 974 00:51:58,160 --> 00:51:59,960 it could be very problematic. 975 00:51:59,960 --> 00:52:02,520 In one case of Edith Lanchester - 976 00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:04,520 a very prominent case - 977 00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:06,640 a young, socialist woman 978 00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:10,760 who had a working class partner 979 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:14,080 and declared to her family that she was going to live with him, 980 00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:15,480 and her father and her brothers 981 00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:18,360 had her committed to a lunatic asylum. 982 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:22,760 Because she was organised politically, 983 00:52:22,760 --> 00:52:25,160 she was released very quickly. 984 00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:26,400 That's incredible. 985 00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:29,440 So, Edith Lanchester was sent to a lunatic asylum for saying that 986 00:52:29,440 --> 00:52:32,160 she was going to live with a man without being married to him. 987 00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:35,000 Yes, and the doctor who signed the certificate felt that 988 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:36,720 her refusal to marry... 989 00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:40,560 ..was enough to prove 990 00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:43,600 that she was prepared to commit social suicide, 991 00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:47,080 which was equivalent to actual suicide. 992 00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:51,880 By the early years of the 20th century, 993 00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:56,560 there was a new generation of educated, liberated young women. 994 00:52:56,560 --> 00:53:00,120 Different types of romance seemed possible. 995 00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:03,680 One book in particular explored this idea. 996 00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:05,320 Its author, HG Wells, 997 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:06,840 was already famous 998 00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:09,040 as a writer of science fiction - 999 00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:12,480 now he turned to the future of relationships. 1000 00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:21,000 Ann Veronica is a portrait of a confident, independent, young woman. 1001 00:53:22,240 --> 00:53:24,920 She longs to escape her restrictive, 1002 00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:26,920 suburban surroundings 1003 00:53:26,920 --> 00:53:29,000 and find adventures on her own. 1004 00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:34,120 Along the way, she encounters a number of suitors. 1005 00:53:39,600 --> 00:53:42,160 First up is Mr Manning. 1006 00:53:42,160 --> 00:53:44,080 He's a real manly man, 1007 00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:46,280 look at the manly moustache on him, 1008 00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,120 and he's very chivalrous. 1009 00:53:48,120 --> 00:53:50,560 He says and he does all the right things. 1010 00:53:50,560 --> 00:53:54,960 He's a poet, and he writes Ann Veronica a love letter. 1011 00:53:54,960 --> 00:53:58,080 Then he offers her a sapphire engagement ring... 1012 00:53:58,080 --> 00:53:59,640 Look at that! 1013 00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:01,000 ..but the trouble is, 1014 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:03,480 she just doesn't fancy him. 1015 00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:05,520 In her own words, she chucks him, 1016 00:54:05,520 --> 00:54:08,920 and she says "I'm done with the age of chivalry." 1017 00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:14,320 So, moving on, we have Mr Ramage. 1018 00:54:14,320 --> 00:54:16,160 He's an urbane, married man 1019 00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:17,640 in his fifties, 1020 00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:19,320 he works in the city 1021 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:23,800 and he says that he's in favour of independence for women. 1022 00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:26,880 He lends Ann Veronica £40 1023 00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:29,720 to pay for her university biology course, 1024 00:54:29,720 --> 00:54:31,120 but there's a catch - 1025 00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:35,240 it turns out that he is a villainous philanderer 1026 00:54:35,240 --> 00:54:39,520 and what he wants in return for his £40 is, of course, 1027 00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:41,560 sexual favours. 1028 00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:43,920 Which leaves us with Mr Capes. 1029 00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:47,440 He works in the Biology lab 1030 00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:49,960 where Ann Veronica is studying 1031 00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:51,440 and, on the face of it, 1032 00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:53,080 he's not much, really. 1033 00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:55,440 He's separated from his wife, 1034 00:54:55,440 --> 00:54:58,640 he's been named in somebody else's divorce case 1035 00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:00,920 and he's inconsistent - 1036 00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:02,680 sometimes he's brilliant, 1037 00:55:02,680 --> 00:55:05,840 but at other times he's irritable. 1038 00:55:05,840 --> 00:55:07,640 But none of this matters 1039 00:55:07,640 --> 00:55:12,440 because it turns out that he and Ann Veronica are made for each other 1040 00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:15,440 and she decides that, even though they're not married, 1041 00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:17,640 they're going to go off to Switzerland 1042 00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:19,440 for an unofficial honeymoon. 1043 00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:27,560 A happy ending without a wedding was radical stuff... 1044 00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,320 but the big scandal around Ann Veronica 1045 00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:32,920 was that she was based on a real life woman. 1046 00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:38,200 HG Wells was married with two children 1047 00:55:38,200 --> 00:55:39,840 but, according to him, 1048 00:55:39,840 --> 00:55:43,200 women just wouldn't stop throwing themselves at him. 1049 00:55:44,320 --> 00:55:48,000 Amber Reeves, a brilliant young student at Cambridge, 1050 00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:50,560 was no exception. 1051 00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:53,240 In 1908, HG Wells and Amber Reeves 1052 00:55:53,240 --> 00:55:55,320 started having an affair. 1053 00:55:55,320 --> 00:55:59,000 He was 41, she was only 20. 1054 00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:01,840 Their relationship was deeply intellectual, 1055 00:56:01,840 --> 00:56:05,200 but also energetically sexual. 1056 00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:07,000 On one trip to the countryside, 1057 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:09,360 they persuaded the sexton of a church 1058 00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:11,280 to let them into the belfry, 1059 00:56:11,280 --> 00:56:14,280 which they used for...you know what - 1060 00:56:14,280 --> 00:56:17,400 and again in the woods on the way home. 1061 00:56:17,400 --> 00:56:19,760 HG Wells was cock-a-hoop. 1062 00:56:19,760 --> 00:56:21,040 He later wrote of the 1063 00:56:21,040 --> 00:56:24,720 "unregretted exhilaration and happiness of that summer." 1064 00:56:24,720 --> 00:56:26,080 As well he might, 1065 00:56:26,080 --> 00:56:29,360 with a beautiful and adventurous young girl in his power - 1066 00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:32,120 but how did things work out for Amber? 1067 00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:35,880 Reality for Amber Reeves 1068 00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:37,640 didn't quite match the fiction. 1069 00:56:37,640 --> 00:56:39,480 When her parents found out, 1070 00:56:39,480 --> 00:56:42,920 she demanded that HG made her pregnant, 1071 00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:45,560 and they ran away together to France, 1072 00:56:45,560 --> 00:56:48,640 but in the end, he went back to his wife... 1073 00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:52,320 And Amber, now about to become an unwed mother, 1074 00:56:52,320 --> 00:56:55,640 went home and married the first available man - 1075 00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:57,400 a chivalrous old friend 1076 00:56:57,400 --> 00:56:59,160 approved by her father. 1077 00:57:01,160 --> 00:57:05,640 Though Amber thought she could rewrite the rules of romance, 1078 00:57:05,640 --> 00:57:08,080 the truth was that a respectable girl 1079 00:57:08,080 --> 00:57:11,040 couldn't really get away with bonking in a belfry 1080 00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:13,080 without first walking down the aisle. 1081 00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:23,480 Since the start of Queen Victoria's reign, 1082 00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:26,680 romance had changed immeasurably. 1083 00:57:26,680 --> 00:57:29,280 Women had been pure, meek, 1084 00:57:29,280 --> 00:57:31,440 domesticated little creatures - 1085 00:57:31,440 --> 00:57:35,040 but now many of them were educated, liberated, 1086 00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:37,120 ready to connect with men on equal, 1087 00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:38,960 intellectual terms... 1088 00:57:42,960 --> 00:57:46,840 ..but where were the new men to match this ideal? 1089 00:57:46,840 --> 00:57:48,520 Well, they didn't exist. 1090 00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:50,680 As soon as real life romance 1091 00:57:50,680 --> 00:57:52,760 side-stepped convention, 1092 00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:54,240 there was scandal 1093 00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:56,640 and loss of reputation. 1094 00:57:56,640 --> 00:58:01,480 What was all very well in literature didn't yet translate into real life. 1095 00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:06,080 In 1909, romance still led to the altar. 1096 00:58:08,600 --> 00:58:11,360 Next time, the lid finally comes off 1097 00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:16,840 as romance becomes the dream of every 20th century boy and girl... 1098 00:58:16,840 --> 00:58:21,560 but this is a new, racy form of romantic love. 1099 00:58:21,560 --> 00:58:24,960 For the generations defined by two world wars, 1100 00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:27,760 it really was...anything goes.