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.
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