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1. 1 2016-12-11T19:05:53-05:00 Kyle Brett 425ed005fc457ac8e436783036f285b42b192fb4 Photography Kyle Brett 3 Topic-Specific plain 2016-12-12T13:03:05-05:00 Kyle Brett 425ed005fc457ac8e436783036f285b42b192fb4

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• 1 2016-11-26T15:13:35-05:00 Dying Well and Loved: At the Moment of Death and Mourning 13 Second Section plain 1959 2016-12-13T16:50:06-05:00 Victorians were also rather consumed by the concept of dying well. In a period where the mortality rate stayed rather steady on an upward trend as time progressed, the common Victorian seemed to be concerned with dying well, fighting death, and being surrounded, after the good fight with the hooded specter, by loving friends and family. However, it was not only the common Londoners that engaged in this death-centric myth, but the royal family as well. In the royal mourning of Prince Albert, Victoria establishes the standard ritual of mourning a loved one to the general populace. Here I find myself in-line with critical focus on Victoria’s mourning setting the national standard. Yet, what I want to draw our attention to within the context of this anthology is how, at the moment of death (and before the funeral) the deceased Victorian experiences an intensive form of subjectivity. In this way, before death, the Victorian experience of life in emphasized: surrounding themselves with their family members, slowly drifting into the void of total object-hood during the mourning processes.
  
  
  In the first section, we examine the narratives surrounding the good death and the etiquette that such death-spaces required. We begin with two readings that mark the preoccupation with death as an equalizing force, one that is able to rectify social division (contrary to the first chapter), while also normalizing the common mourning practice surrounding the passing of one who experienced a good death. From there we move on to etiquette guides detailing both a secular and religious approach to regulating and respecting the mourning arts. Finally, we end the first section with physical mementos of death, post-mortem photographs. Here the dead and living are juxtaposed together in still frames, showcasing the Victorian desire to capture the life of the dead through mourning their passing. 
   
  In the second section we focus directly on the death of Prince Albert and Victoria’s rather prolonged mourning period. Here we see two periodical accounts of his death: one from a Royal informer, and another from London's populace that was constantly viewing Victoria's public mourning. Finally, we end with a utopian description of funeral rites that seem to respond to the spectacle of a royal’s death. Here a body is committed to the fire, a brief celebration occurs, and then the mourning ceases to affect the population.
  
  For reading: You can either click any of the sub-sections presented on this page, or start with "Good and Proper Death" and follow the prescribed path to the end of this chapter.