The Secret of England's Greatness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Secret of England's Greatness - Essay Example The essay "The Secret of England's Greatness" discovers Thomas Jones Barker’s painting The Secret of Englands Greatness. This painting does correspond with the readings of this week. Victorian Britain had a gender and racial class system. Just like the royal and commoner class, the British felt white men were superior to women and people of color. Jews, Africans, and other conquered people fit this label. Although a woman could gain the throne and rule, she had to have advisors. Queen Elizabeth I never married because she would have had to defer to a husband. Queen Victoria was greatly influenced by Prince Albert. It was presumed that a woman could not rule without a man’s influence. Women were delicate and inferior to a man. This did not change for even the Queen of England. Citizens of Victorian Britain would have been proud of Barker’s painting The Secret of England's Greatness. The perceived superiority of the English people is very present in this picture. O ne English woman, even though she was queen, was more superior to the highest African male. This made British citizens proud. Thompson (2012:148) reports â€Å"where colonizers and colonized were seen as members of one imperial family. This family was represented particularly through the figure of a Queen or King in celebrations.† As part of the Queen and King’s family every British citizen was superior to an African chieftain. Natives or minorities in Victorian Britain would have felt apprehensive about Barker’s painting.