The Victorian era

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

learning goals

I know the basics about the cultural and historical context of the Victorian Age.

I can recognise the influence of this context in literary works from this period.

The Victorian Age 

1830-1900

The Victorian era

The Victorian Age 

• Started around 1830 ended in early 20th century
• Named after Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901)
• Britain: great economic and political power
• "The empire on which the sun never set"

General introduction

• Enormous changes occured in political and social life in England
• The scientific and technical innovations of the Industrial Revolution, the emergence of modern nationalism, and the European colonization of much of Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East changed most of Europe
  
• Far-reaching new ideas created the greatest outpouring of literary works the world has ever seen

Queen Victoria (1819-1901)  Reign: 1837-1901

• She had the longest reign in British history after Queen Elizabeth II.
  
• Became queen at the age of 18;
  
• Queen Victoria restored people’s faith in the monarchy again after a series of horrible leaders
  
• 1840-Victoria married a German prince, Albert, who became Prince-consort
  
• After he died in 1861, she sank into a deep depression and wore black every day for the rest of her life
  

Young Victoria

Elderly Victoria

The British Empire

where the sun never sets

• England grew to become the greatest nation on earth
  
• Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and India
  
• England built a very large navy and merchant fleet (for trade and colonization)
  
• "the white man's burden" 

Industrial growth

Downsides of the uprise of industry

• population increase 
• Search for employment
  
• Child Labour & Child crime
• Housing shortage
  
• Slum housing
  
• Poor sanitary conditions
  
• Destitution
  
• Homeless children
  
• Workhouses
  

The Great Exhibition

How do we see this context in literature?

What do you need to read?

Victorian literature - the novel

• The age of the novel
• Growing audience for "true stories"
• Greater wealth (rise of the middle classes)
• Better education (rise in literacy)
• Instalment system (novels published in serial form)

Why was the novel succesful?

• Intended for the middle class 
  
• Flexible
• Escapism
• Realistic
• Solutions to complex issues

Characteristics

• daily life
  
• moral purpose
• idealism/ideal life
• pessimism
• visually descriptive
• dramatic monologue
• takes inspiration from renaissance

Bildungsroman

A Bildungsroman is a literary term describing a formative novel about a protagonist’s psychological and moral growth from their youth into adulthood. Bildungsroman novels are generally written in the first-person and often feature the name of the protagonist directly in the title, such as Emma, Jane Eyre, and David Copperfield.

The Bildungsroman literary genre originated in Germany. The German word “bildung” means education” and the German word “roman” means “novel.” Thus, “Bildungsroman” translates to “a novel of education” or “a novel of formation.”

Gothic novel

The adjective gothic describes something that is characterized by mystery, horror, and gloom — especially in literature. Gothic literature combines the genres of romance and horror. Some famous writers of Gothic fiction include Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe.

Types of jobs for poor women

servants

nannies

governesses

prostitutes

Position of women in Victorian Times

*Poor women had to work

*Bad living conditions

* no rights to vote, husband was the boss

Difference between the classes:

*Rich women were supposed to be "the Angel of the House"

*Well-furnished houses & enough food, servants

* no rights to vote, husband decided on everything

Women's rights

Emancipation: women's rights

in GB called Sufragettes: rights & votes for women 

1918 :allowed to vote if 30 years old

1928: vote at 21 years old

Rights to vote for women & lower classes

Male pseudonymns

• No prejudice
• Freedom of anonimity
• To encourage male readership

"‘We did not like to declare ourselves women, because we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice." Charlotte Brontë

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens: Many of his novels were published in serial form, called instalments. His comic and sentimental descriptions of the lives of people in diverse occupations and social classes made Dickens the most popular Victorian novelist. 

Charles Dickens and realism

The realistic novel was born in the 19th century, and is characterized by social content, such as the description of the struggle of the bourgeoisie against the aristocratic society, or the description of the world of the poor and unfortunate.

London was the setting of most of his novels; he knew and described it in realistic details.

At first, Dickens created middle class characters, though often satirised. He gradually developed a more radical social view, although he was not a revolutionary thinker.  

What themes are addressed in Dickens' novels?

To what purpose did Dickens use entertainment in his novels?

In which novel did Dickens write about the blackening factory?

1. Oliver Twist
2. David Copperfield
3. A Christmas carol
4. The Pickwick papers

How did Dickens make readers feel compassionate about the characters?

1. He made the characters question the readers' own judgement about social misstandings
2. The characters in his books were always very poor
3. He wrote articles in a newspaper about it
4. He made sure that we liked them

What other aspect did Dickens address in his novels to keep people on board with his vision of social reform

1. He bluntly wrote down the horrids of Victorian England
2. He suggested people would come in hell if the did not care
3. He paid a lot of attention to the sweet comfort of life
4. He blamed rich people for not looking at poor people