The Rector by Mrs. Oliphant: Victorian Community Values

When we're talking about a woman on her death bed and a man who is there to save her, I find it especially important to pay notice to the Victorian Era's sense of community as expressed in the literature at the time; such as in "The Rector," by Mrs. Oliphant. "Victorians tended to place high value on such qualities as honor, duty, [and] moral seriousness..." (Anthology, 497). I believed this to be true from what I read in the literature we read on the Victorian Era, because I noticed this high sense of moral seriousness when it comes to how we feel about comforting those who are ill and may be on the brink of death. The Rector was in charge of being a serious strong moral support, and the story was all very representative of the era when it comes to community and religion.

I believe that the goodness of man and his relationship with his mother was a likely story in example of what an English Victorian may have witnessed in their time, because this was probably why Mrs. Oliphant wrote about him. He was an honorable man who emphasized that there was a duty for his family to uphold (being a son of a good woman) she was described as the woman who "kept the Fellow of All Souls still a boy at heart." She was also in this story emphasized as a useful tool to explain how her son was very "dutiful" to her. I believe that this was incredibly cool because it gave us the opportunity to experience the sense of being in a Victorian style community member who knows a man of faith at the time.

Religion is so important when it comes to sense of community, and it's always a blessing to be reminded of those good praiseworthy characteristics of a time period when you are learning about the history of Britain and also the values we have to read about in literature. I have always found it a blessing to have read a value within a good rich piece of text. I especially appreciated how "The Rector," was honored as a representative of both the Victorian Era's values and the everlasting presence of consolation during times of harshness in the name of moral support and rectification.

In "The Rector," Mrs. Oliphant portrays her values she had learned during the Victorian era indeed, and it is with great pleasure that I say, she was rewarded for her writing during that era by having it published, and it was nice to have read what it was that her characters were talking about at dinner parties and that was about families and parishes. It was lovely.