Violence in the Victorian era

"Wife Beating" was a regular occurrence in the Victorian era.  A lot of people deemed it as socially acceptable and more linked to the lower classes, but "beatings were common through all the classes.  William Montagu's social investigation Round London: Down East and Up West, tells of women in the hospitals, "Sometimes as many as twelve or fourteen women may be seen seated in the receiving room, waiting for their bruised and bleeding faces and bodies to be attended to... In nine cases out of ten the injuries have been inflicted by brutal and perhaps drunken husbands."

The Victorian perception of religion, domestic principles and laws allowed men to justify "wife beating."  Violence throughout the Victorian era was mainly attributed to the idea that the man was the ruler in all worlds.  Religion suggested "that for a woman to be virtuous and serve God, she must follow the lead of her husband."  This gave men the impression that they had a god given right to control their wives, even if this meant the use of physical abuse.  In domestic principles, the husband was the supreme being in the house and it was his duty to protect his wife.  This authority also allowed him to use violence, if necessary, in order to keep her in line.  

A lot of laws in the Victorian period favoured men.  Men had legal power over most of his wife's possessions, including her wages, children and any inheritance.  This left women feeling enslaved to their husbands.  The comparison between the relationships of a wife and husband versus a slave and his master is very common in Victorian literature concerning domestic violence.  The laws of the Victorian era contributed to this relationship because it gave men the legal right to be overwhelming.  The men casually justified it while women accepted it as a way of life.