Victorian Femininity (A close reading of Thomas Gray's "Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat")

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…not necessarily gold within. During this time period, women were restricted to usually their homes. They were allowed very few pleasures in life, including a solitary walk anywhere. Although thought of delicate and fragile, they were required to bear multitudes of children and were limited to their own class system. Gray might not have been directing this towards the female sex, but maybe just merely trying to make the audience aware of sexism in general.