Appunti sulla tarda età vittoriana, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Appunti sulla tarda età vittoriana e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE DAWN OF THE VICTORIAN AGE QUEEN VICTORIA Victoria became queen at the age of eighteen in 1837. She ruled for almost 64 years. Her sense of duty made her the ideal head of a constitutional monarchy. She provided her country with stability. VICTORIA AND ALBERT Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha married in 1840. They had nine children and their family life provided a model of respectability. In 1857 Victoria gave Albert the title of Prince Consort, in recognition of his importance to the country. Albert supported reform but in December 1861 he died suddenly at the age of 42. In memory of her beloved husband she had the Albert Memorial (1876) built in London AN AGE OF REFORMS WORKHOUSES Workhouses were places where, often in return for board and lodging, employment was provided for the poor; the orphans; the physically and mentally sick; the disabled; the elderly; unmarried mothers. The government, in the fear of encouraging laziness, made sure that people feared the workhouse and would do anything to keep out of it. Workhouses were designed to separate groups: families were split up; people in the same family could meet during meals or in the chapel but they were not allowed to speak to each other; all meals were taken in silence; the official diets were so meager that they were described as a slow process of starvation CHARTISM In 1838 a group of working-class radicals drew up a People’s Charter demanding:  universal male suffrage  equal electoral districts  voting by secret ballot  pay for Members of Parliament  annual elections of Parliament The Chartist movement failed, although their influence was later felt in the Second Reform Act in 1867. THE IRISH POTATO FAMINE Causes Rise in population in 1845. Dependence on potato crops. Destruction of crops because of bad weather and unknown plant disease. What was done? 1846: Prime Minister Peel abolished the Corn Laws, which imposed tariffs on imported corn, keeping the price of bread high. Results 1 million died of disease and starvation. 2 million emigrated by 1851. Decline of Irish language. New Catholic landlords. Hatred for Britain. THE GREAT EXHIBITION Housed at the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, 1851 What? It showed the increasing power of the middle classes. Why? It was built so other countries could show off their scientific and technological developments. Who? Everyone from all over the British Empire gathered there to see the pride of the nations. Inside there were many exhibits from several countries, including China, America, Canada and many more. On each industrial country’s exhibit they showcased their biggest designs, fabrics and their latest creations to show that their home nation was better than any other. FOREIGN POLICY In the 19th century England was involved in: two opium wars, indian mutiny, crimean war England gained access to five Chinese ports and the control of Hong Kong after the Second Opium War. British rule acquired greater responsibility after the Indian Mutiny. Florence Nightingale led a team of 38 nurses at Scutari base hospital during the Crimean War. Once back to England, she formed an institution for the development of the nursing profession. THE VICTORIAN COMPROMISE The Victorians were great moralisers: they supported personal duty, hard work, decorum, respectability, chastity. Respectability: a mixture of morality and hypocrisy. The unpleasant aspects of society – dissolution, poverty, social unrest – were hidden under outward respectability. ‘Victorian’, synonymous with prude, stood for extreme repression; even furniture legs had to be concealed under heavy cloth not to be ‘suggestive’. The powerful middle-class was obsessed with gentility and decorum (strict ideas about authority). Victorian private lives dominated by an authoritarian father. Women were subject to male authority; they were expected to marry and make home a ‘refuge’ for their husbands. Single women with a child were marginalised as ‘fallen’ women. EARLY VICTORIAN THINKERS Evangelicalism: -Strict code of behaviour. -Dedication to humanitarian causes and social reform. -Base of Victorian emphasis upon moral conduct. Utilitarianism: -Neglected human and cultural values. -Any problem could be overcome by reason. - Usefulness, happiness, avoidance of pain. Empiricism: -Legislation should try to help men develop their natural talents. -Progress came from mental energy. -Supported popular education, trade union organisation, extension of representation to all citizens, and the emancipation of women. Darwin and the theory of evolution: -All living creatures have developed their forms through a slow process of change. -Favourable physical conditions determine the survival of a species, unfavourable ones its extinction. -Man evolved from a monkey. -Darwin’s theory discarded the version of creation given by the Bible. The Oxford Movement: -A reaction to the challenges of science. -Revival of religion. THE LATE VICTORIANS Victoria sank into depression after her husband died, aged 42, in 1861. For the rest of her reign, she wore black. Until the late 1860s, she rarely appeared in public. THE LIBERAL PARTY The Liberal Party included:  the former Whig aristocracy;  some radicals;  Liberal Anglicans;  provincial manufacturers and businessmen;  middle class. They all looked for reforms THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY The Conservative Party included:  the former Tories;  landowners;  nobles. They did not want major changes. DISRAELI AND GLADSTONE Between 1868 and 1880, Disraeli and Gladstone alternated as Prime Minister. THE BRITISH EMPIRE During the reign of Queen Victoria, Great Britain ruled over a wide and powerful empire. An area of 4 million square miles and more than 400 million people. VICTORIAN URBAN SOCIETY Victorian cities had gas lighting and rubbish collection; several public buildings, such as town halls, railway stations, libraries and museums, music halls, boarding schools and hospitals, police stations and prisons. Victorians often revived previous styles. Classical forms were preferred for civic and public buildings, like government offices, town halls. Gothic ones for ecclesiastical and domestic constructions. After 1855 the Gothic revival prevailed over the classical faction. THE ROLE OF WOMEN Changing conditions of women’s work created by the Industrial Revolution. The Infant Custody Bill (1839) gave a mother the right to petition the court for access to her under-age children and custody of children under seven and later sixteen. The Marriage and Divorce Act established the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial causes. The 1882 Married Women’s Property Act gave married women the right to own and manage their own property. SOCIAL DARWINISM In 1871 Herbert Spencer coined the phrase Social Darwinism. Individuals compete naturally. The incompetent lose and the strong win: survival of the fittest. LATE VICTORIAN THINKERS  In 1867 Karl Max’s expressed his theories in the treatise Das Kapital, based upon research done in England. He protested against the harm caused by industrialism in man’s life and in the environment.  British socialist, non-Marxist most influential group was the Fabian Society founded in 1884. It favoured gradual, peaceful approach to social reforms.  George Bernard Shaw was one of its early members. The Victorians believed that the ‘races’ of the world were divided by physical and intellectual differences; some were destined to be led by others; it was an obligation imposed by God on the British to spread their superior way of life, their institutions, law and politics on native peoples. This attitude came to be known as Jingoism. THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN A poem written in 1899 to celebrate the American conquest of the Philippines. He believed in the ‘burden’ of the British, who, as the elected race, had to carry civilisation all over the world and establish their government based on honour and dignity. It made him the bard of the British Empire. THE VICTORIAN NOVEL There was a communion of interests and opinions between the writers and their readers. The Victorians were avid consumers of literature. They borrowed books from circulating libraries and read various periodicals. The Victorian reading public established the novel as the dominant literary form of the age; the most distinctive and lasting literary achievement of Victorian literature. Publication of a novel in monthly instalments on the pages of periodicals, even the poor could purchase them. VICTORIAN NOVELIST  described society as they saw it;  expressed different kinds of emotion, love, humour, fear, except those sentiments which could offend current morals;  were aware of the evils of their society, such as the terrible conditions of manual workers and the exploitation of children. Their criticism, however, was much less radical than that of contemporary European writers;  didacticism was one of the main features of Victorian novels, because novelists also conceived of literature as a vehicle to correct the vices and weaknesses of the age.  concentrated on the creation of characters and achieved deeper analysis of the characters’ inner lives;  presented retribution and punishment in the final chapter, where the whole texture of events, adventures, incidents had to be explained and justified. CHARACTERISTICS The voice of the omniscient narrator provided a comment on the plot and erected a rigid barrier between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, light and darkness. Introduce deux-ex-machina to solve difficult plots and situations. The setting chosen by most Victorian novelists was the town, which was the main symbol of industrial civilisation as well as the expression of anonymous lives and lost identities. Realistic characters readers could easily identify with. THEMES The most important themes developed were  differences and the dramatic contrast between the lower and middle classes, between the rich and the poor: Utilitarian philosophy and damage caused by the factory system;  children and their exploitation: orphans working in a workhouse, cruelty in boarding schools;  education;  women and their exploitation;  middle-class family life.