Contradictions Displayed in the Palace of WestminsterThe carvings and sculptures on the facade of the Palace of Westminster consist of many beautiful aspects of life, such as birds, flowers, and trees. These beauty-related carvings are contrasted with the gargoyles that adorn the top of the walls (Foley 185-186). Gargoyles are ugly, ferocious-looking creatures seen as a representation of evil in the church and society. The stone sculptures on the façade of the Palace of Westminster are indicative of the contradictions between the values, morals and actions of upper-class Victorian citizens. In Victorian society, people's beliefs were generally rigid. They had a low tolerance for crime, good social ethics and believed in sexual repression. Any criminal who was publicly found guilty of a crime was punished harshly and held in contempt (Chesterton 3). Upper-class citizens took pride in looking and acting like royalty. The upper classes often threw parties, dressed in only their best clothes, and spent most of their time with other members of the same class (Wagner 5-8). Although they shared these beliefs publicly, crime, poverty, and prostitution were rampant for most of the era (Gorman 325-326). The upper class focused on impressing other members of the upper class; so much so that the lower classes lived in terrible conditions. They forced children to work, and men often showed little sexual restraint in their private lives. This is represented by one of the major carvings on the Palace of Westminster. The palace is decorated inside and out with carvings of countless people and animals. After the building was destroyed by fire in 1834, a competition was held to design a new palace. Charles Barry would win (Foley, Mark). He was a well known architect in t...... middle of paper ...... outwardly seen as a menial thing to do, it was an important part of the culture of the Victorian age among successful men.Charles Barry he included many engravings in his design of the Palace of Westminster. All of these carvings represent how Victorians often had contradictions between the values ​​displayed outwardly and the actual actions that took place in private life. Things like poverty, child labor and prostitution are represented in carvings across the building. Poverty is represented with small carvings of many people, while child labor is represented by children holding real objects in their hands, and prostitution is represented through the many carvings of lions on the palace. This was a clever and acceptable way for Charles Barry to show some of the difficulties of the time, which would not have been the case if upper-class Victorians had no contradictions between the values ​​they preach and the actions they take..