Shrouded in Shadows: Victorian Mourning, Macabre and Death Fetish in Tracy Chevalier’s Falling Angels

Abstract

Death is an ornate, ostentatious affair for the Victorians. From the macabre accoutrements associated with mourning practices to the observation of elaborate funeral processions and embellishments within cemeteries, one can discern the profound Victorian obsession with death. This fanatical preoccupation aligns with the notion of ‘fetishism,’ serving as a manifestation of the era’s deep-seated fascination with mortality. Furthermore, the presence of the mourning rituals can be seen as a coping mechanism/response to the growing death rates. Therefore, this paper probes into the attitudes, customs and culture of the Victorian era to elaborate on the wider, national fetish for mourning, death and cemetery culture that followed Queen Victoria’s bereavement of Prince Albert’s demise. The study elaborates on how the processes of memento mori and fetishist rituals provide social stability and acceptance for the Victorians in the face of radical changes. The paper though directed towards a conglomeration of the era in totality, studies in particular, Tracy Chevalier’s Neo-Victorian novel Falling Angels. This study focuses on how the novel portrays the standardised mourning culture upheld by the upper-class Victorians and, in turn, offers insights into the gradual shift towards a new and burgeoning Edwardian age.