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CHARLOTTE BRONTE She was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman of Irish origin, she had 2 sisters and 1 brother she spent most of her life in isolation in a remote part of Yorkshire she did not receive a formal education, she was mainly self-educated reading from her father’s library or drawing inspiration from the public library or from periodicals she had been able to get a job, she taught at the primary school she used a pen-name to publish her novel Jane Eyre in 1847 she also wrote Shirley in 1849 and “Villette” in 1853 she married Reverend Arthur Nicholls in 1854 she died in 1855 probably of an illness due to pregnancy JANE EYRE (1847) is an education novel the reader follows the main character’s “coming of age” (raggiungimento maggiore età) as Jane passes from the innocence of childhood through the maturity of adulthood Jane undergoes the trial of education according to Victorian standards so must struggle for self-control as she moves through different places of residence on the residence of Ferndean Manor she is fully educated PLOT: Jane is living with the Reed Family in their home at Gateshead Hall. Jane has been excluded from the group so she tried to educate herself by reading Bewick’s History of British Birds but she is held back from her attempty the abuse of John Reed punishes her and throws the heavy book at her. Jane is blamed for the incident and is locked up in the red room. Jane is sent away to Lowood Institution, a boarding school for orphaned girls and she receive a school education contained by the strict discipline. She masters the Lowood curriculum with tenacity and hard work and later takes up employment as a governess at Thornfield Hall. PUNISHMENT – Chapter 7 Jane is sent away by Mrs Reed to Lowood Institution, a boarding school for orphaned girls. There she receives a scholastic education but is very much contained by the strict discipline and lifestyle as well as th harshness of certain prominent figures, such as Miss Scatcherd and Mr Brocklehurst, the institution's mar benefactor The scene takes place in a college, Jane is accused of having broken her slate. She is punished standing on a stole with a sign. At first she is paralyzed. Mr Brocklehurst warns the pupils to avoid her and the teachers to keep an eye on her. He thinks that Jane is a layer EDUCATION no differences between female and male Strict education, children are afraid by the teachers teachers use punishments and umiliations LATE VICTORIAN AGE (1861-1901) After Albert’s death Victoria withdrew from society and went into mourning for 10 years During this time in politics there where 2 main political parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberal party was led by William Gladstone and the Conservative one by Benjamin Disraeli. Between 1868 and 1880 Disraeli and Gladstone alternated as Prime Minister and both passed social and political reforms. They approved for the foreign policy the free trade and liberalism and that time was one of the greatest expansion of British Empire Disraeli’s government brought in social reforms to improve conditions in the expanding towns: - 1875 Artisans’ and Labourers’ Dwellings Act for the clearing of the slums and housing for the poor - - 1875 Public Health Act for sanitation and running water - 1878 Factory Act to limits working hours per week Gladstone’s home policy: - 1870 Education Act to introduce board schools in the poorer areas of the town and the elementary education became compulsory in 1880 - 1871 Trade Union Act to legalise trade unions - 1872 Ballot Act to introduce the secret ballot at elections - 1884 Third Reform Act to extend vote to all male householders including miners, mill-workers and farm labourers THE BRITISH EMPIRE it is an area of 4 million square miles and more than 400 million people. It includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South America and South Africa Important dates: - 1875 Disraeli bought more shares in the Suez Canal Company to protect the trade route to India - 1877 Queen Victoria became Empress of India - 1880-1902 the Boer Wars in South Africa between the British and Dutch settlers over the occupation of the Transvaal area - 1901 Death of Queen Victoria THE LATE VICTORIAN NOVEL THE LATE VICTORIAN NOVELISTS They openly criticised the ‘Victorian compromise’. They refused the optimistic view of man and the idea of progress They were made the mirror of society by a new sort of realism influenced by Social Darwinism. They focused on the growing crisis both in the moral and religious fields during the second half of the 19 th century. THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (1886) PLOT: Mr Utterson, a respectable London lawyer, is a friend of the brilliant scientist Dr Henry Jekyll. The scientist has created a potion able to release his evil side, Mr Hyde. These two beings are in perpetual struggle. Hyde achieves domination over Jekyll. In the end Jekyll’s suicide is the final and only choice  The novel has many features of the crime fiction genre: - the detective Mr Utterson follows clues and draws hypotheses to solve the mystery of the story; - the mysterious relationship between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is referred to as ‘a strange case’; - Utterson becomes involved in the case because he wants to help a friend, who he believes is connected in some way to Mr Hyde; - the novel is built around his inquiry  SETTING - Victorian London in the 1870s. - The town had a double nature → the respectable West End vs the appalling East End slums. - Jekyll’s house has two facades: the front, used by the doctor, is attractive, part of a square of handsome houses; the rear side, used by Mr Hyde, is part of a sinister block of buildings. - Most of the scenes take place at night  MAIN THEME - The duality of human nature → every human being is composed of two contrasting sides, good and evil. - Jekyll has led a virtuous life (good): his face is handsome; his hands are white; his body is large and harmonious. - Hyde is pure hate and evil (evil): his face is pale; his hands are dark and hairy; his body is dwarfish and deformed  STYLE - Multi-narrative structure and four narrators: Utterson → the story is told in the 3rd person from his point of view. He plays the role of a detective. Enfield → a distant relative of Utterson’s. He tells Utterson a terrible story about a man trampling a child. Dr Lanyon → a friend and colleague of Jekyll’s. He tells of his experiencing Jekyll’s transformation. Dr Jekyll → his narrative and final confession take up the last chapter - The language is simple and clear. - Use of puns: ‘If he be Mr Hyde, […] I shall be Mr Seek.’ THE STORY OF THE DOOR – Chapter 1 (dr jekyll and me Hyde) The third-person narrator closely follows the movements of Mr Utterson and introduces the protagonist, the monster Hyde 1^part: Mr Utterson and Mr Hyde are walking in London. There’s a description of mr. Utterson 2^part: Descriptions of events: Mr Utterson remember an event between a child and a monster AESTHETICISM  Developed in universities and intellectual circles in the last decades of 19 th century  It began in France with Thèophile Gautier  Reflected the sense of frustration and uncertainty of the artist, his reaction against the materialism and the restrictive moral code of the bourgeoisie and his need to re-define the role of art  French artists escaped into aesthetic isolation, defined by Gautier “Art for Art’s Sake”  The bohémien embodied his protest against the monotony and vulgarity of bourgeois life, leading an unconventional existence, pursuing sensation and excess, and cultivating art and beauty.  The origins of the English Aesthetic Movement can be traced back to the Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), who was a remarkable example of an artist dedicated wholly to his art. WALTER PATER AND THE AESTHETIC MOVEMENT Walter Pater (1839-94) is regarded as the theorist of the Aesthetic Movement in England. He rejected religious faith and said that art was the only means to stop time, the only certainty. He thought life should be lived in the spirit of art, namely 'as a work of art, filling each passing moment with intense experience, feeling all kinds of sensations. The task of the artist was to feel sensations, to be attentive to the "attractive', the 'gracious'. So the artist was seen as the transcriber 'not of the world, not of mere fact, but of his sense of it. The main implication of this new aesthetic position was that art had no reference to life, and therefore it had nothing to do with morality and did not need to be didactic. Pater's works had a deep influence on the poets and writers of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, who was, in his twenties, an exemplary Aesthete. OSCAR WILDE Born in Dublin in 1854. He was sent to Oxford, where he gained a first class degree in classics and distinguished himself for his eccentricity. He became a disciple of Walter Pater, accepting the theory of “Art for Art’s sake” He left Oxford and settled in London after graduating He became a fashionable dandy for his extraordinary wit and extravagant way of dressing. As a tribute to his dandified Aestheticism, women wore lilies and many young men wore lilies in the buttonholes of their coats. On his return to Europe in 1883, he married Constance Lloyd, who bore him two children, but he soon became tired of his marriage He was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London and one of the greatest celebrities of his days. In In 1891 he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned (where he wrote De Profundis) for two years after been convicted of ‘gross indecency’ for homosexual acts with Lord Alfred Douglas After Wilde was released from prison, he lived in France under a pseudonym, as an outcast in poverty. He died of meningitis in Paris in 1900. Works: - Poetry: Poems (1891), The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898). - Fairy tales: The Happy Prince and other Tales (1888), The House of Pomegranates (1891). • Novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). - Plays (dramas) : Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of no Importance (1893), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) - Tragedy: Salomé (1893) both the novel and the tragedy damaged the writer's reputation: the former was considered immoral, and the latter was prevented from appearing on the London stage due to its presumed obscenity Oscar Wilde adopted the aesthetical ideal: he affirmed ‘my life is like a work of art’, His aestheticism clashed with the didacticism of Victorian novels. Wilde’s AESTHETICISM: - The artist: the creator of beautiful things - Art: used only to celebrate beauty and the sensorial pleasures - Virtue and Vice: employed by the artist as raw material in his art THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY 1890 → first appeared in a magazine. 1891 → revised and extended. •It reflects Oscar Wilde’s personality. •It was considered immoral by the Victorian public. PLOT: The novel is set in London at the end of the 19th century. The protagonist is Dorian Gray, a young man. Dorian's beauty fascinates a painter, Basil Hard, who decides to paint portrait. The portrait satisfies the young man's desires including that of eternal youth; the signs of age, experience and vice appear on the portrait. Dorian lives only for pleasure, making use of everybody and even letting people die because of his insensitivity. When the painter sees the corrupted image of the portrait (he discovers Dorian’s secret), Dorian kills him. Later, Dorian wants to free himself of the portrait, witness to his spiritual corruption, and stabs it, but in doing so he mysteriously kills himself. In the very moment of his death, the picture returns to its original purity, and Dorian's face becomes “withered, wrinkled, and loathsome”  NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE unobtrusive third-person narrator. The perspective adopted is internal, since Dorian's apparition is in the second chapter The settings are described with words appealing to the senses. The characters reveal themselves through what they say or what other people say of them, a technique which is typical of drama. DORIAN’S DEATH – Chapter XX