Ruskin on Servants

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyse Ruskin's ideas on servants and their relationship to their employers in the context of Victorian society. First, it seems interesting to examine briefly servants in the Victorian era from a historical perspective: concentrating on the peculiarity of nineteenth century servants, of how they lived their lives and their relationships with their masters and mistresses. The so-called ‘servant problem’ will also be discussed. The many servants connected to Ruskin’s life and recalled by him – primarily in Praeterita and Fors Clavigera – will then be considered. Most of the second chapter will be dedicated to personal servants, such as Anne Strachan, John Hobbs, David Downs, Joseph Maria Couttet, George Allen, Frederick Crawley and Peter Baxter and will demonstrate the importance of servants throughout Ruskin’s life. A section will be also dedicated to other servants that Ruskin encountered. The third chapter of the thesis regards Ruskin's distinctive ideas on service, a crucial element in his social thinking. It is only in the second part of his life that Ruskin started to discuss servants in his publications. The reasons which led Ruskin to talk so often about servants from 1860 onwards can be understood only through an initial examination of the journey which transformed him into a social reformer. His main idea can be found in Unto this last where he explained at length his vision of workmen, and thus on servants. In 1865 he felt the need to participate energetically in an exchange of letters to the Daily Telegraph regarding the ‘servant problem’, letters in which Ruskin put forward a distinctive view of this issue. Similarly, in Fors Clavigera some letters seem to propose a perspective on servants quite different from the conventionally accepted one. The last chapter will consider Ruskin’s use of fictional characters to explore further his concept of servants. Firstly, the use of Charles Dickens’ servants will be examined. Secondly, a close comparison between Andrew Fairservice, a character in Walter Scott’s Rob Roy and Richie Moniplies, a character in Scott’s The Fortunes of Nigel will provide an idea of how a servant should behave according to Ruskin. Thirdly, Jeremias Gotthelf’s Ulrich the Farm Servant will be analysed to give a further idea of how the master-servant relationship should be. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to consider Ruskin's views of service and servants from three different perspectives: that of his personal experience, that of his social writings, and that of his analysis of the servants who figure in the novels he most greatly admired.