The Art Of Death

Reference

Books
Helen Rappaport (2011). A Magnificent Obsession. Oxford: St Martin's Press. 1-30.


Website
Elaine Furst. (2013). 10 Fascinating death facts from the Victorian Era.Available: http://listverse.com/2013/02/07/10-fascinating-death-facts-from-the-victorian-era/. Last accessed 10 Feb 2015.

unknown. (Unknown). The Years Of Mourning. Available: http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/victoria/section5.rhtml. Last accessed 10 Feb 2015.

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The Art Of Death


The deaths in the Victorian era occurred from strange reasons that we would not see today.

The death by the corset is an interesting one because we all know that women killed themselves to achieve the ideal beauty and went to extreme measures but we didn't think they actually killed themselves. In 1844 Jane Goodwin who was twenty two years old was carried to hospital where she later died because her corset was laced too tightly. Other deaths include the man who was suffocated by his own false teeth as he swallowed them by accident. Unfortunately childern were also affected by the deaths. In the Victorian era, death was something everyone would experience, from a child to an adult and a child living past 2 would be considered as lucky, since a lot of newborns would die whilst being born or a few months later. It was so bad that only 2 out of 10 children would live past 1 years of age.
Sine death was so common to in the 18th century people started to plan ways in which dying would be less unpleasant for the families. They preferred a slow death where the families would gather round the dying one and give them a chance to say goodbye.

After the deaths it was the mourning which played an important part and it became even more important after the death of Queen Victorias spouse Albert and the way in which she mourned his death. It was the most difficult time of her life which sent her into depression. Albert died in 1861 after being sick for weeks. This was the biggest heartbreak for Queen Victoria and she had no one to turn to as she wrote to her daughter "How I, who leant on him for all and everything—without whom I did nothing, moved not a finger, arranged not a print or photograph, didn't put on a gown or bonnet if he didn't approve it shall go on, to live, to move, to help myself in difficult moments?".

Mourning was how Queen Victoria death with his death and she did this by wearing all black for the next 40 years of her life. She rarely appeared in public and remained to herself as she couldn't face anyone. Albert's room stayed exactly the same as they were before he died and continued to be maintained as if he were still alive. His sheets would be changed everyday, his hot water would be brought in every morning for his morning shave.
From this period onwards was when mourning and keeping with traditions of deaths became very important in the victorian times. For women their dresses would be all black to show the state of grief but would change colours and fabrics over time getting lighter to show how long it had been since the death of a loved one and considering the fact that most people would have lost at least one if not more, loved one meant that people wore mourning dresses for most of their lives. Men wore black coats and hates with gloves.

When a loved one died there were a lot of things that were done to respect the dead and let them rest in peace. The curtains would be drawn to stop light from coming through and the clocks would be stopped at the time of death. Mirrors were also covered to stop the dead being trapped in the glass. The body of the dead was also watched by family members incase they woke up from the dead which was very important in the Victorian times as they had to make sure that the person was actually dead before burying them and even if they were sure they still would attach bells into the coffin in case of 'awake' where they would be 'saved by the bell'.

 Although things are not kept the same till this day, coming from an Armenian family most of these traditions which the victorians used as i mentioned above are still done to this day in my family. When a loved one days the mourners will wear black for the next 40 days, and leave the lights on for 7 days. The family will sit around the dead for a few days and all of the mirrors will be covered. Its interesting that although in this topic we are looking back into the history I still relate to it.