victorian age

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context

1

Queen Victorias reign (1837-1901)

Longest reign in English history. Period of unprecedented material progress (imperial expansion, political and constitutional development)

Home policy: political and social reforms. Foreign policy: colonialism and imperialism.

Queen Victoria: worked for the peace and prosperity of her country, was able to keep at bay any conflict over constitutional matters, reigned constitutionally avoiding the storm of revolutions, played a more active role, became a mediator among political parties, model for her people: exemplary family life, strictly respectable and decent code of behaviour (Victorianism), beloved especially by the middle class who shared her moral and religious views.

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 2 1832 First Reform Act (democratizing parliamentary representation)

1833 Factory Act; slavery abolished

1834 Poor Law Amendment Act (led to the creation of workhouses)

1838 the Peoples Charter (Chartism working-class movement for

political reform)

1842 Mines Act (prohibited all women and boys under ten from working

underground in coal mines)

1847 Ten Hours Act (ensuring that women and children only worked up

to ten hours in factories!)

1867 Secon Reform Act

1872 Ballot Act

1870 Elementary Education Act

1875 Public Health Act (improving sanitary conditions in towns)

1884 Third Reform Act

1880 1900 Fabian Society (advancing the principles of socialism)

Womens Social and Political Union (Suffragettes)

Britain was a model of industrial success, individual freedom and constitutional

government. Upper and industrial middle-classes believed in a policy of laissez-

faire ie. non-interference with industry or with national economy in order to

promote free trade and free competition (=Liberalism)

When Victorias husband (Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg) died in 1861, she completely refused to be seen in public, which led to severe criticism by the public. It was a dangerous thing to do, as at the time of the expansion of democracy, it threatened the monarchy (many people believed that monarchy would die out). However, Victorias advisers persuaded her to take a more active social role, which she did, and the crucial thing that brough her popularity back was the publication in 1868 of her book Our Life in the Highlans. It was the queens own diary, with drawings, reording her life with Prince Albert at Balmoral, her castle in the Scottish Highlands. It particularly delighted the growing middle class, since it showed a private side of the royal life. The queen referred to Prince Albert simply as Albert, to her children as Bertie and Vicky, and wrote about their servants as if they were members of the family.

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 3

Triumph of industry (steam engine, steamboats, shipbuilding, trains, iron industry) Isambard Kingdom Brunel (18061859) designed the first steamship to cross the Atlantic

(1838) Scientific progress (electricity, telegraph, gas-lighting, stamp and postal system, medicine) Imperialism: territorial expansion, colonies abroad During the Victorian Age the British Empire reached its largest extension: it was called the

Empire where the sun never sets willingness to protect British trade routes and interests against other nations; to gain new

terrotories firm belief in the excellence of English culture and institutions 1839-1842 Opium War against China 1853-1856 Crimean War 1857 Indian Mutiny 1877 Queen Victoria was named Empress of India 1882 occupation of Egypt 1884 invasion of Sudan 1899-1902 Boers War


During the Victorian age most British citizens believed in their right to an empire and thought that imperial expansion would absorb goods, capital and population.

They were also extremely proud of their empire and of spreading their civilisation and culture to every corner of the globe (Jingoism-aggressive patriotism).

Colonial expansion was seen as a mission, this was the white mans burden.

But at the moment of its greatest power Britain also discovered that every conquered area or land had new dangers to be controlled or stopped.

Britain found itself involved in a contradiction between its imperial ambition and its liberal ideas.

This contradiction would lead to the collapse of the British Empire in the 20th century.

At home: urbanization (people moved to towns and cities), overcrowding, poverty (terrible conditions in slums, squalor, disease, bad sanitation, crime, high death rate), terrible working conditions (polluted atmosphere, bad effects on health, especially childrens)


Social and cultural context

Material progress and wealth are results of hard work Appearance is very important Respectability = a mixture of both morality and hypocrisy, severity and conformity to social standards Philanthropy = charitable activity addressed to every kind of poverty Victorian family = a patriarchal unit where the husband was dominant and the wife was the angel in the home Private life was separated from public behaviour Prosperity, material and scientific progress, ethical conformism, moralism, philanthropy VS. Poverty, ugliness,

corruption, money, capitalistic greediness New philosophical trends, religious movements, economic theories and scientific discoveries Evangelicalism (good and moral Christian conduct), Utlitarianism (only what is useful is good),

Evolutionism (natural selection and struggle for survival), Determinism (no human freedom to act, everything is determined by the rules of cause and effect).

Religion: The Church of England splitting into a Broad Church musch influenced by rational ideas, becoming almost deistical, rejecting a great deal of the old ritual of traditional Christianity as well as its doctrine and a High Church which inclines towards Catholicism (the Oxford or Tractarian Movement,John Henry Newman wh joined the Church of Rome).

Politics: The process of democratizing parliamentary representation was accompanied by Catholic Emancipation (1829, allowing members of the Catholic Church to sit in the parliament at Westminster) advocated for in periodicals such as Edinburgh Review and the abolition of slavery in the colonies (1833). Women only got the vote in 1916-17.

The doctrine of Utilitarianism was taught by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) saw that the problem of poverty could only be solved by artificially limiting the birth rate.

New science: challenge to the old Christian faith. Charles Darwins Theory of Evolution states that man had evolved from lower formd of life and had not been created by God (The Origin of Species, 1859)

Another challenge to orthodox belief was materialism (man has no soul). 1867, Marxs Das Kapital based on the materialist interpretation of history. It preached a new conception of

society and of the distribution of wealth.

AGE OF PROGRESS (reforms, industry) AGE OF DOUBT (poverty, injustice, too little certainty about faith or morals) PURITANICAL AGE (easily shocked, subjects like sex are taboo). Family Shakespeare published in 1818, from

which all doubtful lines and words had been cut.

Age of conventional morality. Large families with fathers as godlike figures and submissive mothers (like Miltons Eve). This strict morality and holiness of family life owed a good deal to the example of Queen Victoria herself.


Literature

During the Victorian Age for the first time there was a communion of interests and opinions between writers and

readers, enormous growth of the middle classes who were avid consumers of literature, they borrowed books

from circulating libraries and read various periodicals.

A great deal of Victorian Literature was first published in instalments in the pages of periodicals, which allowed the

writer to feel he was in constant contact with his readers.

CHARACTERISTIC OF VICTORIAN LITERATURE: high moral purpose allied to a Romantic technique (especially

prose). Rich and ornamental language.


The novel: the most popular form of literature and source of entertainment (they were read aloud in families)

Novelists had a moral and social responsibility: to depict society as they see it (realism) and to point out to its vices (criticism) didactic aim

Many women novelists , who published under assumed names (male pseudonyms: George Eliot and the Brontes)

The narrator is omniscient. He provides his comments on the plot and he establishes a rigid

barrier between what is right or wrong; retribution and punishment usually appear in the final

chapter where all the events, adventures, incidents are explained and justified.

Linearity (beginning, middle, end) and long, complicated plots and sub-plots

Urban setting: the city was the most common setting, the main symbol of industrial civilisation

as well the expression of anonymous lives and lost identities


Precise creation of characters and deep analysis of characters inner lives (psychology)

Most popular genre = Bildulgsroman (novel of formation, e.g. The Great Expectations)

Main themes: money, wealth, realistic portrait of society denouncing its injustices and iniquities

Early-Victorian novel: social and humanitarian themes, realism, criticism of social evils but faith

in progress, general optimism. CHARLES DICKENS

Mid-Victorian novel: novel of purpose. Romantic and Gothic elements and psychological

interests. THE BRONTE SISTERS; R.L.STEVENSON

Late-Victorian novel: Naturalistic, European Naturalism. A scientific look at human life,

objectivity of observation, dissatisfaction with Victorian values. THOMAS HARDY, OSCAR

WILDE


Other minor forms of novel developed in this period: Novel of Manners focusing on economic problems of a particular class (THACKEREY) Colonialist Fiction presenting an exaltation of British imperialistic power and the Empires enlightening

mission in the colonies (KIPLING) Nonsense literature / fantasy dealing with fantastic adventures (L. CARROLL) Detective novels represents a dark side of the age of progress and morality and Victorian fascination with

crime Jack the Ripper was a sensation in 1888 (WILKIE COLLINS AND ARTHUR CONNAN DOYLE)

victorian age

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