In 1861 the Book of Household Management was published by Isabella Beeton. This book was ultimately and precisely used as a cookbook and a guide for the middle-class domestic housewife. This cookbook was both a book full of recipes along with guidelines on how to manage "servants, children, dinner parties, clothing and furnighings" (Zlotnick). This book was perfect for your every day middle-class house wife in the Victorian Era. In regard to its publication, Susan Zlotnick wrote an essay in which she talked about this esteemed book. Zlotnick's discusses many topics regarding the Book of Household Management. Topics mainly orbiting around the idea that this books is a guide for middle-class house wifes who have never managed or needed to manage a household. Zlotnick explains that the "[o]ne subject in particular that produced anxiety for the middle-class Victorian housewife was the management of servants". Zlotnick is hinting at the idea that this book may have caused more stress and anxiety for the middle-class housewife than actually helping. Zlotnick mentions that for many readers who picked up this book, did so because of the mere fact that they have never dealt with or managed servants or a household. They picked it up for guideance on how to accomplish these things, but who know if it was actuall helpful.

After reading Zlotnick article, I suddenly realized that a lot of the texts we read this sememster didn't deal with the theme of the domestic housewife all that well. Jane Erye was ulitmately about finding herself, but did also include a hint of domesticity in the end when she had to take care of Mr. Rochesterbut not they type of domesticity that this book portrays or guides you towards. Tess of the d'Ubervilles was filled with the downfall of Tess and how ultimately she never became a domestic house wife for the man she loved. Even though that was her goal, Tess was never given the chance to become a domestic house wife. I think the only book that clearly displays domesticity of a house wife would be Lady Audley from Lady Audley's Secret. Even though her identity was a complete lie, you have to admit that she was really good at managing a household. The only difference is that she was of a higher social class. This book was aimed towards the "middle-class" housewife, not the higher class. Tess was lower-class so she ultimately wouldn't have read this either. The same goes for Jane. Jane was of a lower-class and just about married into a higher class. All of them would have no particular use of this text. 

I found it interesting how the domestic lifestyle was niether displayed  nor rarely strived for in the texts we read this semster. We know that this was probably the ideal lifestyle in the Vitorian era, so why weren't they striving for it? I also found it interesting that this book was aimed for the middle-class, which probably was the majority of the population, but most of the characters married into a higher status. I wonder why this may be. Did they feel middle-class would not satisfy their needs? Even though this Book of Household Management was published around the same time, it seems it wouldn't have been as helpful to our characters. 

Source: http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=susan-zlotnick-on-the-publi...