Always The Widow

Towards the beginning of the chapter, Visiting, in Cranford Miss Pole refers to Mrs Fitz-Adam as being "bold as a lion . . . a well-to-do widow, dressed in rustling black silk.

The footnotes say that widows were supposed to avoid luxurious shiny material such as silk.

This sparked my interest because this suggests there is an expected dull, sadness about the way the society feels women should appear after their husband is gone. Even in such a such a situation as Mrs Fitz-Adam who had been what sounded like separated from her husband for some time before his death. Don't get me wrong, a widow should be sad, but to say that after their husband has passed they can not where anything to attract attention basically is to say they should furthermore live a lonely, silent, almost deprived life. It seems unfair and almost as a way to make sure the women stay attached and tied to a marriage even after he has passed on, not free to live as they wish if they did wish to live differently.