How does Mrs. Joe's tragic end represent the Victorians' abuse of women?

In Victorian England, the role of women was a bit of a paradox. On the one hand, they were seen as “the angel in the house,” a phrase from a poem of the same name by Coventry Patmore published in 1854. In this poem, the woman is presented as the center of the home, around whom both husband and children rotate. The woman is placed on a pedestal and always protected from the unpleasantries of...

In Victorian England, the role of women was a bit of a paradox. On the one hand, they were seen as “the angel in the house,” a phrase from a poem of the same name by Coventry Patmore published in 1854. In this poem, the woman is presented as the center of the home, around whom both husband and children rotate. The woman is placed on a pedestal and always protected from the unpleasantries of life.

In reality, the role of a woman was one in which she was in constant labor, unless she was very wealthy and had servants to do all the hard work. She was viewed as physically and mentally unable to do much thinking, and so was relegated to being a wife and mother. If she failed to marry, she was placed under the “protection” of her nearest male relative.

Women in Victorian England were at the mercy of men and had few rights. While Dickens presents women of varying personalities, they were still subject to abuse by husbands and others with little recourse. Mrs. Joe and Estella are both victims of physical abuse. Mrs. Joe was beaten savagely, eventually dying from the consequences of her injuries. Though Mrs. Joe was unpleasant, Dickens grants her some measure of redemption in the change in her personality as a result of her tragedy. Estella was beaten by her husband, Bentley Drummle, a nemesis of Pip’s. Though this "discipline" might have been more common and acceptable in Victorian England than it is now, it is obvious that Dickens presents all such instances as the work of villains. Like his depiction of children, Dickens reveals women to be victims of the injustice of their time. It was one of many aspects of society that Dickens wished to see reformed.