The Victorian Age

1832-1900

Introductory Notes
British Literature
 Quotes from the Times…
• ―Youth is a blunder; manhood a
struggle; old age a regret‖
Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby Tennyson

• ―’Tis better to have loved and

lost/ Than never to have loved at
all‖ Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ―In
Memoriam, A.H.H.‖
• A man’s reach should exceed
his grasp,/ Or what’s a heaven Browning
for?‖ Robert Browning, ―Andrea
del Santo‖
General Info About the Time
• Enormous changes occurred in
political and social life in England and
the rest of the world
• 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
production the world has ever seen
 Queen Victoria (1819-1901)
Reign: 1837-1901
• She had the longest reign in British
history
• Became queen at the age of 18; she
was graceful and self-assured. She
also had a gift for drawing and
painting
• Throughout her reign, she maintained
a sense of dignity and decorum that
restored the average person’s high
opinion of the monarchy after a series
of horrible, ineffective leaders
• 1840-Victoria married a German
prince, Albert, who became not king,
but Prince-consort
• After he died in 1861, she sank into a
deep depression and wore black
every day for the rest of her life
The Growth of the British Empire
• 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 Growth of the British Empire
(continued)
• Imported raw materials such as cotton and silk
and exported finished goods to countries around
the world
• By the mid-1800s, England was the largest
exporter and importer of goods in the world. It
was the primary manufacturer of goods and the
wealthiest country in the world
• Because of England’s success, they felt it was
their duty to bring English values, laws, customs,
and religion to the ―savage‖ races around the
world
 The British Empire
• Many Between 1853 and
1880, large scale
immigration to British
colonies
• In 1857, Parliament took
over the government of
India and Queen Victoria
became empress of India.
• Many British people saw
the expansion of empire
as a moral responsibility.
• Missionaries spread
Christianity in India, Asia,
and Africa.
The Industrial Revolution

• Factory systems emerged

• The shift in the English economy moved
away from agriculture and toward the
production of manufactured goods
• Great Exhibition of 1851-Prince Albert-
housed in the Crystal Palace (made of
glass and iron) exhibited hydraulic
presses, locomotives, machine tools,
power looms, power reapers, and
steamboat engines
The Crystal •Palace
Erected to display the
exhibits of modern
industry and science at
the 1851 Great Exhibition
• One of the first buildings
constructed according to
modern architectural
principles
• The building symbolized
the triumphs of Victorian
industry
 The Early Victorian Period
1830-1848
• In 1830, the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway opened,
the first public railway line in
the world.
• By 1850, railway lines
connected England’s major
cities
• By 1900 , England had 15,195
lines of railroad and an
underground rail system
beneath London.
• The train transformed
England’s landscape,
supported the growth of
commerce, and shrank the
distance between cities.
 The Time of Troubles
1830’s and 1840’s
• Unemployment
• Poverty
• Rioting
• Slums in large cities
• Working conditions
for women and
children were terrible
Working Conditions for Women
– Bad working
conditions and
underemployment
drove thousands of
women into
prostitution.
– The only occupation at
which an unmarried
middle-class woman
could earn a living and
maintain some claim
to gentility was that of
a governess.
 Social and Political Reform
• 1832-First Reform Act-extended the vote
to most middle-class men
• 1833-Britain abolished slavery/Factory
Act-regulated child labor in factories
• 1834-Poor Law-Amendment applied a
system of workhouses for poor people
• 1871-Trade Union Act-made it legal for
laborers to organize to protect their rights
 Religious Movement in Victorian
England
• Evangelical Movement: emphasized a
Protestant faith in personal salvation
through Christ. This movement swept
through England. Led to the creation of
the Salvation Army and YMCA.
• Oxford Movement (Tractarians): sought to
bring the official English Anglican Church
closer in rituals and beliefs to Roman
Catholicism
 Other Thoughts…
• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)-
philosopher who created two ideas
• Utilitarianism: the object of moral
action was to bring about the greatest
good for the greatest amount of people
• Liberalism: governments had the right to
restrict the actions of individuals only
when those actions harmed others, and
that society should use its collective
resources to provide for the basic
welfare of others. Also encouraged equal
rights for women
 Other Thoughts..
• Charles Lyell (1797-1875):
• Showed that geological features
on Earth had developed
continuously and slowly over
Lyell

immense periods of time

• Charles Darwin (1809-1882):
Introduced the survival of the
fittest theory
Darwin
 Other Thoughts…
• Herbert Spencer (1820-1903): Applied
Darwinism to human society: as in nature,
survival properly belongs to the fittest, those
most able to survive. Social Darwinism was
used by many Victorians to justify social
inequalities based on race, social or economic
class, or gender
• Adam Smith- 18th century economist, held
that the best government economic policy was
to leave the market alone—to follow a laissez
faire or “let it be” policy of little or no gov’t
intervention
 The 1890’s
• Breakdown of Victorian
values
• Mood of melancholy
• The beginning of the
modern movement in
literature
• Aubrey Beardsley’s
drawings
 The Role of Women
• The Woman Question
• Changing conditions of women’s
work created by the Industrial
Revolution
• The Factory Acts (1802-78) –
regulations of the conditions of
labor in mines and factories
• The Custody Act (1839) – gave a
mother the right to petition the
court for access to her minor
children and custody of children
under seven and later sixteen.
• The Divorce and Matrimonial
Causes Act – established a civil
divorce court
• Married Women’s Property Acts
 Educational Opportunities for
Women
• First women’s college
established in 1848 in
London.
• By the end of
Victoria’s reign,
women could take
degrees at twelve
university colleges.
Victorian Women and the Home
• Victorian society was
preoccupied with the very
nature of women.
• Protected and enshrined
within the home, her role
was to create a place of
peace where man could
take refuge from the
difficulties of modern life.
Literacy, Publication, and Reading
• By the end of the century,
literacy was almost universal.
• Compulsory national education
required to the age of ten.
• Due to technological
advances, an explosion of
things to read, including
newspapers, periodicals, and
books.
• Growth of the periodical
• Novels and short fiction were
published iin serial form.
• The reading public expected
literature to illuminate social
problems.
 Victorian Literature
• Four types of writing were
popular during the Victorian
Era:
• Realist
• Naturalist
• The Novel
• Poetry
 Realism
• The attempt to produce in art and literature
an accurate portrayal of reality
• Realistic, detailed descriptions of everyday
life, and of its darker aspects, appealed to
many readers disillusioned by the
―progress‖ going on around them.
• Themes in Realist writing included
families, religion, and social reform
 Naturalism

• Based on the philosophical theory that

actions and events are the results not of
human intentions, but of largely
uncontrollable external forces
• Authors chose subjects and themes
common to the lower and middle classes
• Attentive to details, striving for accuracy
and authenticity in their descriptions
 The Victorian Novel
• The novel was the dominant form
in Victorian literature.
• Victorian novels seek to represent
a large and comprehensive social
world, with a variety of classes.
• Victorian novels are realistic.
• Major theme is the place of the
individual in society, the aspiration
of the hero or heroine for love or
social position.
• The protagonist’s search for
fulfillment is emblematic of the
human condition.
• For the first time, women were
major writers: the Brontes.
Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot.
• The Victorian novel was a
principal form of entertainment.
 The Novel
• Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
• Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
• Charles Dickens: Many of his Emily Bronte
novels were published in serial
form. His comic and sentimental
descriptions of the lives of people
in diverse occupations and social
classes made Dickens the most
popular Victorian novelist. A Charlotte Bronte
Christmas Carol, Great
Expectations, David Copperfield

Charles Dickens
 Victorian Poetry
• Victorian poetry developed in the
context of the novel. Poets sought new
ways of telling stories in verse
• All of the Victorian poets show the
strong influence of the Romantics, but
they cannot sustain the confidence the
Romantics felt in the power of the
imagination.
• Victorian poets often rewrite Romantic
poems with a sense of belatedness.
• Dramatic monologue – the idea of
creating a lyric poem in the voice of a
speaker ironically distinct from the
poet is the great achievement of
Victorian poetry.
• Victorian poetry is pictorial; poets use
detail to construct visual images that
represent the emotion or situation the
poem concerns.
• Conflict t between private poetic self
and public social role.
 Poetry
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892): Most
popular Victorian poet. He wrote narrative
poems
• Robert Browning (1812-1889): raised the
dramatic monologue to new heights—
making it a vehicle for deep psychological
probing and character study
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861):
with Robert, one of literature’s greatest
love affairs. Wrote love sonnets valued for
their lyric beauty
• 1848: Women begin attending University of London
• 1850: Life Insurance introduced
• 1851: Gold discovered
• 1860: Florence Nightingale founds school for nurses
• 1876: Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone
• 1877: Thomas Alva Edison patents the phonograph
• 1886: Wimbledon opens
• 1888: Jack the Ripper stalks London’s East End
• 1901: Queen Victoria dies
Images of the Victorian Period