The Victorian Age (1837-1901)

INDEX

Victorian Age: historical, social and cultural context Charles Dickens The Bronte Sisters Thomas Hardy

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Historical Context
The Victorian age usually covers in literary histories a period of time longer than the actual reign pf Queen Victoria, stretchinf from 1832 (the year of the first Reform Bill) to 1902 (the end of the Boer War). This is a period of expansion and prosperity, of industrial development and unceasing scientific and technological progress. England enjoyed several decades of unequalled walth and power, and a new wave of optimism began to sweep over the country. Queen Victoria When King William IV died, he was succeeded by his niece Victoria, who was only 18. She became soon very popular because of her strong sense of duty and her simplicity. The constitution under Queen Victoria did not differ from the one we know today. Her inexperience facilitated the British two-party system. The reign was politically administered by a series of grat Prime Ministers: Peel and Disraeli among the Tories (Conservatives), Palmerston and Gladstone among the Whigs (Liberals). In 1867 the Liberals proposed the Second Reform Bill, who passed under Conservative Government, which gave the right of vote to the town labourers, but left the agricultural labourers and miners still unfranchised. Only in 1884, with the Third Reform Bill, the electorate was extended to all male workers. Il 1892 the Indipendent Labour Party was founded and became in 1900 the Modern British Labour Party. Industrialisation The process of industrialisation, started in the eighteen century, reached the height. Chartist Movement The Chartist Movement started in 1837 and ended in 1848. It aim was to obtain full democratic participation of the working classes in politics. This group was composed by radicals and workers, who in 1839 presented to Parliament a document called "People's Charter"; in six points it asked for: - universal suffrage - vote by ballot - annual Parliaments - payment of members of Parliament - abolition of the property qualification (that comported a partecipation in Parliament for the working class) - equal electoral districts But the Charter failed and his objectives were taken again by the Reform Bill (1867) and by the Trade Union Act (1875), which finally sanctioned the legality and importance of the Trade Union Movement. Corn Laws The Corn-Laws were reason of discontent in workers and middle-classe people, because they fixed a too hight price for the foreign corn. Infact, these ones were imposed during Napoleonic

Wars to protect British agriculture and never more repealed. In 1846 the Corn Laws are repealed and the consequences were: - the Whigs replaced Tories to power; infact the repeal caused much discontent inside Conservative Party, because it represented a victory of the industrial interests agianst the agricultural ones of the landowners. - reduction of the bread price; - application of new techniques in agricolture; - the discontent reduced and England wasn't upset by 1848 movements. Free trade A policy of free trade was adopted by the Prime Minister Peel, and it was supported bt industrial middle class. Because of the limited foreign competition, there was no need to impose tariffs to protect English manufacturers. These uncontrolled commercial transactions between nations were important for the European economic grown. Ireland In 1845 a famine killed thousands of people because of the failure of the potato crop. This caused also a massive emigration. Moreover Irish Roma Catholics demanded the same political and civil rights as Irish Protestants. The Crimean War From 1854 till 1856 England together with France was engaged in the Crimean War to check Russia's expansion. From Waterloo, for Britain this has been the only international conflict during the century; but this did not touche people at home very much. The British Empire British colonisation of East and West Africa dates back to the 1880 and at the end of the century covered a quarter of the earth's landsurface and a third of its population. - the Boer War: The Boers were the descendants of Dutch farmers who has settled in South Africa. In 1899 their interests clashed with those of the British: the conflict ended two years later with victory for the British In British Parliament there were two different conceptions about colonies' treatment: 1. those who didn't want to give any freedom for the colonies; 2. those who prefered to grant the colonies some degree of indipendence to preserve the Empire. The second one prevailed and colonies began to converting them-selves into self-governing states. England also tried to enlarge Indian territories, but this caused the Indian Mutiny (1856): the consequences were that India passed under British Government and East India Company was abolished. So, in 1877, Queen Victoria became Empress of India.

Social Context
Oxford Movement Great Britain underwent a gradual process of democratization, know as Oxford Movement, composed by a group of Catholics who asked some reforms in favour of the Church of Rome. Evangelicalism It was a religious movement who contributed to the abolition of slavery and to the First Reform Bill. But they had also a puritanic view of life, so they advocated the abolition of some public entertrainments. Urbanisation England passed from an agricultural country to an industrial one. This caused a migration of rural people to the industrial areas in search of jobs. So population in industrial cities as London doubled and more people lived in towns and cities than in the countyside. People in cities lived in intolerable situation, in bad sanitary condition that contributed to the diffusion of typhus and cholera. the Utilitarianism and Liberalism Whigs' government under Gladstone, was influenced by the politcal philosopher John Stuart Mill. He agreed to the basic principle of Utilitarianism (the pursuit of the gratest happiness for the greatest number of people), but he also accepted a balance between individual freedom and state intervention. A series of Parlamentary Acts that contributed to a modernisation in services and institutions. Liberalism was a politic philosophy that defended individual freedoom from any external intervention in industry or commerce, and the free trade. Exploitation of workers Workers lived in extreme poverty and had to work sometimes up to 14 or 16 hours. Also women and children were employed in harmful and at hight risk occupations. There were two nations: one of the poors and the other one of the rich. Victorian society - ARISTOCRACY (landowners); - MIDDLE CLASS - WORKING CLASS This period marked the triumph of the industrial middle classes, with their confidence in progress, their belief in the theory of laissez-faire in economics and utilitarianism in philosophy, their generic philanthropism and sentimentalism, their conventional religious faith and their morality observant of exterior forms and conventions characterised by a prudery that often bordered on the ridiculous. This is what has been called Victorian compromise, that is the utilitarian compromise of a large section of English society that saw industrial development only as a source of prosperity and progress, while it tended to ignore the many social conflicts and problems raised by it.

But not all the Victorians accepted the current optimistic interpretation of the new industrial civilization; indeed, many of them attacked its contradictions. They realised that it left unsolved the problem of the distribution of wealth, a problem that increased social injustice. The values Their values were respectability, good manners, hard work, probity, family, the unquestioned father's authority. "Respectability" was the key word of Victorianism: manners and language became very sober, and word connected with sex was considered a taboo. Queen Victoria proved a very prolific mother (nine children) and encouraged big families. In family the father was more authoritarian than before and the mother was submissive. Women's conditions Middle-class women had to adhere to a strict code: they had to do only respectable jobs, as teaching, writing or doing social activities, learning to play the piano, to dress very formal clothes also in privicy. Victorian House The house represented a status symbol for victorian society: outside it was generally imposing and pretentious, inside overcrowed with ornaments and decorations. Reforms Several bills tried to improve lower classes' conditions: - FACTORY ACTS (they regulated child labour in factories); - TEN HOURS' ACT (which limited the working hours to ten a day for both the sex); - MINES ACT (it regulated employement of children und ten and women); - PUBLIC HEALTH ACT (wich improved health conditions); - EDUCATION ACT (it provited a system of state primary schools); - PARLAMENTARY REFORM (about introduction of the secret ballot); - EMANCIPATION OF ALL RELIGIOUS SECTS (by which Catholics were allowed to enter universities and work in government jobs); - ADOPTION OF THE FAMOUS ENGLISH WEEK (by which Saturday afternoon was devoted to pleasure and entertainment an Sunday deprived of all sorts of amusement). Socialism The revolutionary socialism in Europe didn't involve Britain, because of its politics based on a gradual reform movement. So British Socialism is represented by the Fabian Society (1884), an intellectual's group that based their activity on conferences and pamphleteering. It was founded by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, and it was ispirated by Marx's doctrine and advocated gradual reforms. Philosophical currents - JEREMY BENTHAM: He is the preacher of Utilitarianism. He stated that only what is useful is good, and all has to be directed to create the greatest good for the gratest number of person. - CHARLES DARWIN: In 1859 it was published his book On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. His theory of evolution says that man has a natural origin from apes and that world is regulated by the law of natural selection. So he denied that man is the result of God's creation. 6

- KARL MARX: He based his theories observating British economy. He advocated a new social organisation and an equal distribution of wealth. - ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER: He was a pessimist who believed that God and soul's immortality are human illusions. - AUGUSTE COMPTE: He is the founder of Positivism. - HYPPOLITE TAINE: For him man is the product of three factors, "la race", "le milieu" and "le moment".

Cultural Context
The genres The novel is the most widespread genre in that period and also the most apprecieted by middle-class. Nolvels were often read aloud by a member of the family to all the household. Books' diffusion was favourited by : - circulating libraries; - better ways of communication, which made it easier to bring reading material; - the invention of new printing machinery, which made this material cheaper; - the fact that prose fiction became also a vehicle to ask and to support the ideas. Victorian novelists are divided into "Early Victorians" and "Late Victorians". Early Victorian Novel There is a determinant factor which contributed to modify the structure of the novel: this is the publication in serial instalments. The consequences were: - more reader among the lower classes, because books printed separately costed a lower price (one schilling); - the plot was constructed according to a defined structure; - episodes could be unlimited; - this method originated a "mass literature". Types of novels: - sensation novel: The features were the recourse to the "sensational", mystery, compicated plot, drama. Some of sensation novels' writers are Dickens and Collins. - imaginative romantic novels: as the novels of the Bronte Sisters. - historical novels and romances; - fantastic novels: the ones written by Lewis Caroll. The reading public The Victorian age reader wanted to find realistic aspects and fiction at the same time, to allowed himself to escape from routine life. Stories shouldn't be complicated, it shouldn't have any reference to sex and it had to be in according to Christian morality. The Aesthetic Movement Developed in 1880, it claimed that art should not have any moral, social or political purpose, because this is not necessary to true art and real beauty. This theory was adopted by artists and writers who believed that themselves and their works were non-conformist and dedicated to sexual pleasure

When Victoria died, her son Edward VII ascended the throne. He had a good relationship with neighbouring countries; only in German the king's efforts for peace were not successful, because German emperor wanted to extend German influence over all Europe.

Charles Dickens

LIFE Dickens was born on the South Coast of England in 1812. He was a son of a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. CHILDHOOD: At the age of 12 an event marked him deeply: because of debts, his father was imprisoned in the Marshalsea (the debtors' prison), and Charles was obliged to leave school and to go working in a blacking factory. This experience contributed to identificate himself with poors and oppresseds. EDUCATION: After four months he left the factory and retourned at school. EMPLOYMENTS: - clerk in a lawyers'office; - he learnt shorthand and became a parliamentary reporter; - journalist. TRAVELS: He travelled in America, Switzerland, France and Italy, and he wrote accounts of his journeys. FAMILY: He married the daughter of a colleague, Mary Hogarth, but they separated after 22 years. When he was 46 he felt in love with an 18 years old actress, Ellen Ternan, and set-up an establishment for her. But this fact, for his Victorian mind, was often a source of doubt and depression. INTERESTS: Dickens was also an amateur actor and theatrical producer. SOCIAL COMMITMENT: He commited himself to a variety of social causes, as the rehabilitation of prostitues or the improvement of London sewerage. He died prematurely in June 1870, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

WORKS He wrote: 14 NOVELS: He is the best representative of the Victorian Novel: infact his production is mainly made up of novels, all published in serial form. - Oliver Twist: It is the story of an orphan boy. By this novel, Dickens makes a critic of the workhouse system and denounces the degradation of slum life. - Nicolas Nickleby: It is an adventure novel which represents an attack on the mismanagement of private school. - The Old Curiosity Shop: It is a pathetic story about the ill-treatment of children in the industrial age. - Barnaby Rudge: It is a historical novel set in 18th century. - Martin Chuzzlewit: It was written after Dickens's visit to the United States and it is a satire on American vulgarity. - Dombey and Son: It talks about the decline and fall of a capitalist who loses his money but finds his heart. - David Copperfield: It is an autobiographical novel, based on his painful experiences during the hard work in factory. - Bleak House: This novel is against the law's delays. For this novel he drawed from his experience in the Law Courts. - Hard Times: It is a denunciation of the wrongs of society and the terrible conditions of industrial workers.

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Little Dorrit: Is is mainly set in the Marshalsea prison and represents a denunciation of prisoners' sufferings, because they lived in horrible conditions. A Tale of Two Cities: It takes place in London and Paris during French Revolution. Great Expectations: It is considered his masterpiece; it talks about the dramatic experiences of a young boy during his life. Our Mutual Friends: It represents a protest against the poor laws. The Mystery of Edwin Drood: It's a crime story left unfinished because of his death. short stories: A Christmas Carol: It is a ghost story set in Christmas time.

two periodicals: - Household Words; - All the Year Round.

FEATURES AND THEMES

Dickens had a natural sense of humour, remarkable in character drawing, in dialogue and in whole episode. His greatest comic novel is The Pickwick Papers: each episode is pure humour, he put characters in funny situations. His characters are endowed with common sense and with a certain philosophy of life. PATHOS: Often humour is mingled with pathos: this makes the reader smiling through the tears. CHARACTERS: Dickens's characters are not heroes and heroines. He drew most of them from reality. PORTRAYAT OF ENGLISH LIFE: In Dickens's works sets are always richly detailed, because of the personal observation of the author. He particulary observated the parts of Londons where the poors lived, and he described the British homelife, the school system, the domestic life, the middle-class people, with every detail of manners, appearance and dress. CHRISTMAS: In many of his novels we find the recreation of the merry atmosphere, with all the traditional feature (music, dancing, the holly, the turkey, the ghost stories).

VALUES Dickens's novels are defined as social or humanitarian novels, because he used the fiction to denounce the injustices if Victorian society. But he didn't suggest any specific means of reform, because he never questioned the basic values of his time. For him the happiness consisted in hard work, romantic love and family life.

LIMITATION AND MERITS Negative aspects: - stories are often too full of unlikely events; - main characters are often superficially portrayed;

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there is an excessive sentimentalism; comic scenes are often exaggerated, so as to became grotesque; too melodramatic tragic scenes.

Positive aspect: - his powerful imagination has contributed to create a large number of situations; - a large variety of characters, expecially the minor ones; - the style is fluent and effective; - his occasional use of symbolism is striking; - he created vivid and memorable pictures.

REASONS FOR POPULARITY Charles Dickens is the most representative writer of the Victorian Novel. His typical victorian profile and his genius as a story-teller, made him appreciated by millions of people all over the world.

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The Bronte Sisters

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LIFE Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte were daughters of the Reverend Patrick Bronte, an Irishman who lived in Haworth, a village on the Yorkshire. He was a very intelligent man, but also an eccentric, and he used to spend much of his time studying. So his children were often left to themselves.

Emily Bronte
She spent all her life at Haworth and died of consumption in 1848. Emily had a very closed character and didn't have many social contacts. She wrote only one novel, which is her masterpiece: Wuthering Heights, published in 1847. It is more original than the ones written by her sisters, because there are not any autobiographical elements. critical essay The work didn't obtain an immediat succes, because it was considerated too violent and immoral, with any moral purpose.

the characters 1. Heathcliff He is the central hero. He seems to have a devil nature. He is a mysterious figure, a solitary and bad-tempered man. 2. Catherine Her personality is characterised by contrasting elements.

the plot The structure of the plot is very different from the standars of the 19th century's novels: - the narration doesn't follow a chronological order, infact the book opens with the end of the story. Emily used very often memories and flashbacks. - the plot involves two generations: 1. the first is centred around Heathcliff and Catherine, which is the most romantic and imaginative part; 2. the second one, centred around Cathy and Hareton, who live a more natural and mature love. - use of two narrators: Nelly (who represents a world which has disappeared), and Mr Lockwood (a city man who represents the world which doesn't belong to the novel and the changes happened in the second generation).

the language It is very strong, sometime violent, and full of images that appeal to the reader's imagination.

the theme It is the power of human emotion and the destructive force of love and revenge. Love between the two heros is a creative and a destructive impulse at the same time.

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romantic aspects They are the love theme, the nature, the dark and daemonic hero, defined as Byronic hero (Emily probably was ispired by her brother Branwell).

realist aspects They are in the description of the setting, in the conflict between two social classes, the complexity of the characters.

gothicism It is represented by dreams, belief in ghost, superstitions, supernatural presences.

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Thomas Hardy

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LIFE FAMILY He was born in 1940 in Dorset. He grew up as a solitary boy and inclined to meditation. His father trasmitted the interest for architecture and the love for music, ballad and folk to his son; while his mother influenced his love for reading, for the classics and for literature in general. MARRIAGE Emma Gifford (1874): she had a very different character from him. She died 1912. Florence Dugdale (1912): she was a more congenial wife for him. She was a writer of children's books and became his biographer after his death. Both marriage were childless. PERIODS 1. first literary period (1871-1897): he wrote 15 novels; at first the predominant element was irony, then tragic element became more insistent. 2. second period (1897-1909): he stopped writing novels; he wrote a verse drama on the Napoleonic Wars, "The Dynasts". 3. third period (1909-1928 his death): he was devoted to poetry.

WORKS Hard's literary production can be divited into 3 periods: 1. Novels of Character and Environment; They are also know as Wessex Novels. In Britain Wessex was one of the 7 kingdoms, which covers the southwestern part of the country. Hardy exhumed the old name of his country, that became the imaginary setting of his works. Wessex represents an unifying element and a link between past and present. The most famous novel is "Tess of the D'Urbervilles".
THE PLOT

1. Tess is a 16 years old girl, daughter of a poor Wessex peddlar; she finds out that she is the descendant of an ancient family, the D'Ubervilles. When their horse dies, she goes for help to Alec D'Uberville, who seduces her; Alec represents the rich whom the law will not punish for seducing a peasant girl. They have a child, who dies after few months. 2. Some years later, while Tess was working in a farm, she falls in love with Angel Clare and thet married; Angel represents the well-meaning young man of progressive views, who is still attached to sexual prejudice and hypocrisy. 3. When Tess confesses her past to Angel, he abandons her and goes to Brazil. 4. As Alec returns, Tess becomes his mistress.

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5. Angel understands the depth of Tess' love, because he realises that true love is not related to social and moral code. So Angel returns and Tess murders Alec. 6. Angel and Tess spend together only few happy days, than she is arrested. The arrest takes place at Stonehenge.
FEATURES

Tess is presented as a pure woman, also if she has broke the moral conventions of the time. the conclusion is tragic and melodramatic, and semms to be anticipated by premonitory incidents. Stonehenge has a symbolic meaning: it was the place where sacrifices were made in prehistoric times. Tess, who slepps on a stone, is like a victim on the sacrificial stone, while the policemen are like the priests attached to the sacrifice. This means that human justice punishes her for a crime that she has done for a series of unfortunated circumstances. the author has a pessimistic outlook on life: he doesn't believe in a loving God, because men are subjected to endless sufferings.

2. Romances and Fantasies; 3. Novels of ingenuity.

FEATURES NATURE Hardy is one of the gratest writers about rural life in English. The presence of nature is an essential part of the story: at first nature is friendly, than turns into a hostile power. LOVE Love often ends in disillusion and is destroyed by marriage, or society, or by Fate. PESSIMISM He thinks that universe is indifferent to man, who is tormented by a malicious force. FATALISM AND DETERMINISM In his works man is often victim of an obscure fate, because of a predestination to failure and to unhappiness. CHARACTERS Hardy is interested to suffering people. TECHNIQUE As an architect he knows how to give unity to his novels, and he is "cinematic" because of his abilty in descriptions of objects and scenes.

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