This paper argues that Victorian novels did not have adequate middle-class male characters because there was a certain rigid
description of a
gentleman accepted by the society. It explains that the two most important characteristics of gentleman were power and wealth, and anyone who lacked the two was shunned and rejected by the upper classes. It states that it is true that there were, indeed, some genuinely
inadequate characters, but most were labeled inadequate because they lacked the wealth, sophistication, and power that marked the upper classes.