TheVictorianEra

An Age of Change…An Age of Contrast…

A Background to Victorian LiteratureAda Villalba, Mariana Fiorito

Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire for 64 years (1837-1901)

The “civilizing mission of the Anglo-Saxon race” ruled the expansion of British control…

… raw materials from the colonies…… finished products to the colonies…

from confidence and optimism leading to prosperity…

… to uncertainty and doubt regarding Britain’s place

in the world…

An age when…

… the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point in history, greatly affecting the social, economic and cultural conditions of people’s lives…

… idyllic rural England lost its charm to industrialized urban England…

… Romanticism became the voice of revolution at the beginning of the 19th century and the voice of the establishment at the end of it… (*)

the cradle of the working classes…

the triumph of the bourgeoisie…

… Positivism measured everything and denied intuition…

… Utilitarianism proclaimed that what is useful is good…

… Victorians believed in the perfection of their evolved, representative government…

… workers lived and worked under appalling and

dangerous conditions…

… Unionism was born…

… children were employed in factories and mines…… but then children began to read and write…

… education was based on facts and classrooms were

grim places…

… schools provided for the industrial model…

… many women became part of the workforce…

… a woman was the “angel of the house”, and a prisoner…

… feminist ideas began to spread and the Suffragettes began to fight for women’s rights…

… Victorian morality imposed restraint and worshipped family life...

… yet hid widespread adultery and prostitution…

… the Great Exhibition made Britain’s superiority clear to the world …and Britain sought to provide the world with the hope of a better future thanks to technology…

… Victorian explorers and missionaries went to Africa to create new ways of

seeing the world… through British eyes…

… Victorians experienced a great deal of religious doubt…

the arrival of the Evangelicals and the Salvation Army…

… the aristocratic High Church Movement was challenged by

… Science and Religion clashed as Darwin raised controversy by challenging the religious view of the evolution of man…

defied art conventions and shook the Victorian art world…

… the rebellious Pre-Raphaelites

… the extremely ornate and cluttered Victorian decoration gave way to the

Arts & Crafts Movement

and aimed at reviving the traditional, simpler, craft skills…

… entertainment for the poor included boxing, gambling,

dog races and fairs…

… and entertainment for the wealthy included fox hunting, cricket, theatre going, dance

halls and the circus...

The Victorian Era left no aspect of life untouched…

… How did Victorian writers

reflect that changing, complex,

paradoxical age?

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end

Ada & Marian