"The center of British religious, cultural, and emotional life in the nineteenth century was the family. As industrialization transformed the household from a workspace into its 'opposite,' the home came to be regarded as an almost sacred space, to be shielded from the aggressive competitiveness of the public world of work...Increasingly, the social arrangement perceived as ideal among the better-off social classes consisted of a male breadwinner, employed outside the home, and his female helpmeet, who nurtured the children, managed the servants, and served as a paragon of domestic virtue. One of the key signs of a man's professional success was his wife's 'idleness' within the home...The domestic ideal and the emphasis on the family circle was shaped and promoted within the most privileged sphere of society." (Arnold, LIX)
It was not easy for anyone to move up in society without their past following them. Though they may try, the tight-knit social classes would not allow someone's identity to be forgotten, even if they had earned/inherited money or titles. Should someone advance, their past mistakes and failures were still brought up for generations. Falling in the social ladder allowed for much more gossip.
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