Prompt 1: In the Victorian era, women had few means for autonomy and self-realization. They could not vote, hold office, or be educated in public schools and universities alongside their male counterparts. Middle-class women had few options for “making a living” outside of marriage. Lower-class women worked as servants if they were lucky or in factories under dangerous working conditions if they were not. Bad working conditions and underemployment drove thousands into prostitution. Discuss the plight of women as exemplified in the works of Elizabeth Gaskell’s “The Nurse’s Story” and Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyer.
