Monday, April 1, 2019

The Acknowledgment of Death: The Victorian Era to Today


The Acknowledgment of Death: The Victorian Era to Today

Perhaps the most fascinating connection between the Victorian Era and the present day that we have discussed in class has been the culture and traditions surrounding death. Unlike many other societal customs we’ve touched upon, death is one thing that everybody has, to some extent, faced. This makes it unique in the fact that almost everyone has witnessed the traditions that follow a death in their own life. The prime example that I found the most interesting was the requirement that a widow must wear black for the 3 years following her husband’s death. This obviously gave way to the tradition of wearing black at a funeral that most of us have taken part in today. For me personally I found this lecture to be the most engaging because of the constant back and forth between our lives and the Victorian Era. Other examples that followed this trend were the funeral procession, and the taking keepsakes off the body by the family for remembrance. After learning about the traditions of the Victorian Era, I assumed the cometary would resemble a modern day one. This was clearly not the case with the Brompton Cemetery. With an overfilled and unorganized casket arrangement, the space exhibits the traits that we’ve come to expect from Victorian era establishments. Features such as the chapel and copper fixtures provide further context from the lecture as well. Overall the cemetery helped further extend the lesson on death in the Victorian Era by allowing us to experience it in person.
Image result for brompton cemetery

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