Angel
The image of a nurse as a ministering angel was promoted in the 19th century as a counter to the then image of a nurse as a dissolute drunk, exemplified by Dickens' Sarah Gamp. The model nurse in this image was moral, noble and religious, like a devout nun — chaste and abstemious — rather than an unpleasant witch. Her skills would be practical and her demeanour would be stoic and obedient. Florence Nightingale promoted this image because, at the time, the idea of having female nurses attending the British army fighting the Crimean war was controversial, being thought immoral and revolutionary.
Read more about this topic: Nurse Stereotypes
Famous quotes containing the word angel:
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.”
—Nahum Tate (1652–1715)
“And the angel in the gate, the flowering plum,
Dances like Italy, imagining red.”
—Louis Simpson (b. 1923)
“The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land, you may almost hear the beating of his wings.”
—John Bright (1811–1889)