The Social Class Structure Of Victorian England Essay

All throughout Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s prominent Sherlock Holmes fiction, there seems to be a lot of themes concerning the social class structure of Victorian England. I do not believe that Doyle’s true objective was to depict Holmes as upholding the traditional state of affairs of that time, as class inequality was a very prominent thing. Women were regularly thought of as having less intelligence than males and there was a seething, developing tension building up between the three categorized classes; those being the upper, middle, and lower. Doyle also depicts and writes frequently about a kind of â€Å"criminal class† who seem to be predestined to a life of crime and are often the people of the lower and working classes. This, to many people, might suggest that Doyle believed that the lower class working people were doomed to a life of crime. However, I postulate that it’s much more sophisticated than just that. There happen to be quite a few tongue-i n-cheek comments all throughout the Holmes canon and Doyle was simply using his characters to challenge the issues of social inequality and gender roles, rather than to conclusively solve them. I believe that Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is the embodiment of critique of class and gender roles, criticizing the status quo by introducing multiple villains that don’t mesh with the stereotypical â€Å"criminal class†, by depicting those of the upper class as irrational, silly and mean-spirited; while at same time, Doyle was headlining women inShow MoreRelatedClass Structure Of Victorian England1130 Words   |  5 PagesThe difference in class structures of Victorian England was dependent on the lifestyles and jobs of individuals. The Victorian era of England lasted from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian England hierarchy was divided into three different classes; the upper, middle, and lower class and was reliant of occupational differences. 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