2081-3309 Victorian Courtship – from Ideal to Real. The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine and the Rules of Etiquette Sakowicz Iwona author Instytut Historii Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, ul. Wita Stwosza 55 80-952 Gdańsk Correspondence to: Iwona Sakowicz I.Sakowicz@univ.gda.pl 21 12 2023 Tom 14 (2023) 2023 215 227 Copyright © 2023 2023 <div id="cke_pastebin"> <div id="cke_pastebin"> <div id="cke_pastebin">The Victorian era in Britain was characterized by an emphasis on “respectability” which formed a part of the domesticity ideology that treated the home as a place created for women. Proper, respectable behaviour was a function of belonging to the middle class. A significant number of savoir‑vivre guides published contemporaneously informed the reader not only about receiving guests but also about courtship and marriage. The subject of the article is a close reading of these etiquette guides and the <em>Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine</em> letter section, which frequently addresses issues of courtship and marriage. The analysis of the texts using rigid gender roles as presented in the guides and the comparison of them with the letter section of the magazine shows that young readers expressed their independence and assertiveness in trying to contest these rules.</div> </div> </div>