Victorian Seduction

[ChibiFangirl]

The scenario is a maid and her master have a romantic encounter. He tells her that he wants to take her virginity on the night of his birthday. She willingly agrees but I'm trying to think of a way she can seduce him on that night. How did seduction work during Victorian times?

 

[StillStunned]

Have you ever read any of the Flashman novels? Lots of Victorian seduction.

 

[ChibiFangirl]

Have you ever read any of the Flashman novels? Lots of Victorian seduction.

I have not

 

[Rob_Royale]

Maybe she pulls a Cinderella and walks out in a beautiful gown that her mother had left her. Puts all the other ladies to shame.

 

[triptoceylon]

If you're a literary type, look at how Thomas Hardy explored Victorian seduction in Tess of the D'Urbervilles or Far From the Madding Crowd. If you haven't read either one, I would suggest you take an approach where she seeks the assistance of someone she believes she can trust, like a cook, kitchen maid, or other female estate worker who has the wisdom of experience. She wants the occasion to be both meaningful and pleasing for him, though she knows his aim is to deflower her. She also hopes to make it the kind of occasion where he desires to be with her again. I'm sure you've already thought it through. Best of luck!!

 

[LiverpoolMaster]

The scenario is a maid and her master have a romantic encounter. He tells her that he wants to take her virginity on the night of his birthday. She willingly agrees but I'm trying to think of a way she can seduce him on that night. How did seduction work during Victorian times?

I do believe a flash of nicely turned ankle was the stuff of erotic lusting...

 

[Devinter]

How did seduction work during Victorian times?

Having someone assist you with taking a bath was presumably quite common, as warm water was not readily available from a tap and needed to be supplied from elsewhere, and a sponge baths was likely considered one of the most optimal ways for the rich to stay hygienic and fresh. Could probably work as the setting of a seductive scene, at the very least.

 

[StillStunned]

Having someone assist you with taking a bath was presumably quite common, as warm water was not readily available from a tap and needed to be supplied from elsewhere, and a sponge baths was likely considered one of the most optimal ways for the rich to stay hygienic and fresh. Could probably work as the setting of a seductive scene, at the very least.

At the very least...

I must have dozed, for I was awakened by the sound of a door shutting. The water in my bath was cooling, I noticed, and the sun outside the window was already descending towards the dark hills.

I looked round, and saw who had closed my door. It was the servant from that afternoon, watching me with those large eyes. She had exchanged her threadbare dress for the sturdier garment of a maid. I noticed regretfully that it did not reveal her body in the same way, but it presented a fetching contrast with her pale skin.

Seeing that I was awake and aware of her presence, she spoke. The words came out as if rehearsed. "Master, the Lady sends me to help you." She gestured towards my bed, where I had laid out my evening clothes. Then that saucy smile returned again, and she gestured at the water around my waist.

I glanced down and saw the stimulating effect that the bath and the scented oil had worked. My swollen head was emerging from the water, purple and shiny at the end of my shaft.

Looking up, I grinned at the girl and beckoned her over. Smiling as if we shared a secret, she knelt down by the bath and leaned forward. Taking my cock in her hand, she ran her tongue over it, then suddenly sucked me into her mouth.

Victorian? Check. Bath? Check? Seduction? Perhaps just a little.

 

[Darkrhytm]

Dangerous Liasons (the movie) or the book Les Liasons Dangerouses can be a good guide post.

 

[StillStunned]

Dangerous Liasons (the movie) or the book Les Liasons Dangerouses can be a good guide post.

It's set in the late 18th century France, which was an entirely different time and place. Pre-French Revolution, for a start, a time when the excesses of the ruling classes were so bad that they actually caused revolt. "Victorian" refers to Britain, about a hundred years later, with all the stuffiness and Christian morality of the age.

 

[ElliottEden]

She could buy him an hour at Miss Berkley's - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Berkley Perhaps not your style. My point being that the Victorians were far more kinky and sexually active than popular history gives them credit for.

Let's peel back some layers here. Seduction laws/mores were more for the protection of middle to upper class women; a generally small population group to be sure. The power dynamic between a working class girl and her employer would be vast. He'd probably be either a member of the aristocratic class - who'd be used to 'topping the serving wenches' as well as done to death; or a member of the more middle/professional/business class which would be more interesting IMHO. In any case he'd be a very desirable catch, and probably aware of it.

With that in mind, you've already set the stage. He's made his interest known and she's agreed. But remember, any sort of household with servants has more than one and your heroine is probably the youngest and least senior of the group. Perhaps she's the daughter of parents who are providing household service? Dad is butler/gardener/footman while mom is cook/household and the daughter takes care of menial tasks? Or she's a scullery maid which would be the low end of the pecking order. Her risk would be 1) not just topped and tossed aside but become the wife and, 2) not having the most senior member of staff run her out of the job. Oh and of course not getting knocked up - or getting 'the pox' if your 'hero' has enjoyed the services of a brothel or four...

 

[Carnevil9]

I don't understand how "seduction" fits into this picture. He has already announced his intentions to fuck her. What's left to seduce? All she has to do is show up.

That said, I do think Victorian seduction would make an interesting story. Just don't have it be the guy's idea. Have the maid think it up on her own as a birthday present to her master. Then she has to convince him. Not that most guys need a lot of convincing.

The only Victorian-era literature I've read is Sherlock Holmes (which has no sex at all), and the hints I get from there is that any sort of lack of formality can be seen as quite scandalous. Touching a man on the shoulder, exposing an ankle, revealing anything at all personal (or inquiring about anything personal) can be seen as attempts at seduction.

 

[StillStunned]

The only Victorian-era literature I've read is Sherlock Holmes (which has no sex at all), and the hints I get from there is that any sort of lack of formality can be seen as quite scandalous. Touching a man on the shoulder, exposing an ankle, revealing anything at all personal (or inquiring about anything personal) can be seen as attempts at seduction.

Don't forget that there's a difference between how society was portrayed - or portrayed itself - and how people actually acted. People were people, no matter when they lived. They'd get turned on by the same things we do now, even though they might be circumspect about it. As @ElliottEden notes above, there was a lot of kinky stuff going on in the 19th century.

My approach, and I already used it in my story "The Countesses of Tannensdal" (see the bit I quoted earlier in this thread), would be to just write it as if they were people in modern society. A little more careful about who might see them, perhaps, and lots of layers of clothes to complicate things, but even so people who have the same feelings and reactions as we do now.

 

[BellaBestia]

Watch Mary Reilly with John Malkovich and Julia Roberts for some inspiration. Though it's a horror film it really captures the repressed steaminess of Victorian sexuality and the very unequal power dynamic between the domestic working class and their employers.