ENGLISH LITERATURE 2: esame maturita', Appunti di Inglese

Scarica ENGLISH LITERATURE 2: esame maturita' e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! LITERATURE 2 QUEEN VICTORIA’S REIGN » The longest reign in the history of England * She was loved for her exemplary way of life and her strict code of behaviour, especially by middle classes who shared her moral and religious values * First years of reign characterised by: material progress, imperial expansion, political development and social reforms (ten hours act) * two main political parties: LIBERALS and CONSERVATIVES who alternated in government * Chartism was a working class movement, called for social reforms and the expansion to vote to all men adults. Movement slowly died * In foreign policy England was ready to protect its trading routs * 1851 GREAT EXHIBITION (All goods, from all over the empire, were exhibited) BUILDING OF RAILWAYS * The creation of the first steam locomotives helped made England the most powerful nation in the world. * The technology that made it possible was the invention of steam-power * At the beginning used to transport goods, then used by workers and travellers (to go to the see) * Was expensive, then with the RAILWAY ACT which obliged every company to establish the price of one daily ticket at no more than one penny a mile, permitted to afford it. VICTORIAN TOWN * Middle of 19th century, England become a nation of town due to the industrial development * Find solutions for problems was the centre of V political + Problems such as: overcrowded urban environment, diseases (cancer, tuberculosis, cholera) , crime, terrible working condition, pollution * Solutions such as: house poor cities, clean up the town, medical organisation (hospital) , other services (water, gas lighting), public houses, shops, prison, school, town hall and police stations. VICTORIAN LONDON * Much of the London we can see nowadays dates back to V.age, thanks to the more availability of Money * Domestic and public buildings: Royal Albert Hall (used for classic concert) Piccadilly Circus (small square surrounded by shops) Key Gardens (green house and big garden) St Pancras Station (clock tower) and The House of Parliament VICTORIAN COMPROMISE * Victorian age was a complex and contradictory era: progress and stability but also characterised by poverty and injustice * The change brought by Industrial Revolution was rapid: towns and cities grew at an incredible, thousands of people moved to the cities for work. * The values of the Church, family and home were fundamental. The family was based around the authoritarian father, with the mother in a submissive role (stay at home ed educated children). Women without an husband was seen as emarginated and “fallen women” * Philanthropy and charity were important, for fallen women, drunk man and poor people without a work * Sexuality was repressed, denunciation of nudity in art THE BRITISH EMPIRE * In contact with various cultures * One of the most important colonies was India which was called British Place (full of materials) * Occupated also Austria, New Zeland, part of China, Suez Canal and Egypt * “white man’s burden” thought that was imposed by God on British * Britain developed its imperial expansion thanks to the domination of the sea CHARLES DARWIN * English scientist dedicated to research. * Theory of “natural selection”: he rejected the version of creation given by the Bible; he shows that the strongest survived and the weakest is defeated. * Theory of “evolution”: all living creatures in existence have taken their forms through a slow process of change and adaptation in a struggle for survival, from animals e Many people believe he was the man who discovered that we come from monkey VICTORIAN NOVEL * For the first time there were a communion interest between writers and readers e Novel became the most popular form of literature, most of that written by women but using male pseudonym * Novelists had a moral and social responsibility * Books were borrowed and circulating libraries and periodicals The protagonist is visited by the ghost of his business partner who died 7 Christmas before, he wants to avoid the miserable condition of the friend and predicts him that 3 spirits will haunted him. The ghost oh past, present and future. From this point started a transformation of the man, who decided to spend Christmas day in company of his nephew, who he early rejected. SCROOGE'S CHRISTMAS * Passage from Christmas Carol * Introduces the main character, his negative attitude and his refusal of all human CHARLOTTE BRONTE * Irish women, mainly self-educated e Spend most of her life in isolation JANE EYRE e Education novel, represent the passage from innocent childhood of the protagonist to the adult age. e Jane represents an heroine, she's not particularly attracted, she is plain, clever an simple * Plot: Started when she is living with the Reed family, she doesn't participates at the moment with the mother and other “brother” because she is excluded and isolated. She educated herself reading books. The only one who loves her is her uncle, who dies prematurely. The aunt therefore brings her to an hard school, where all girls without parents are hosted, received an education. At the end she take up an employment as a governess at Thomfield house. PUNISHMENT * Passage from Jane Eyre * Plot: Jane is sent away from Reed house and brought to an Institution for orphan girls, received strict discipline LCARE FOR MYSELE * Plot: Jane discovered that Berta Mason still lived there. Rochester has been trying to convince her to stay with him despite the fact that he is still legally married to Bertha Mason. Rochester is the first person who has ever truly loved her. Yet she knows that staying with him would mean compromising herself, because she would be Rochester's mistress rather than his wife. She would lose her self-respect. Jane decided to leave. She dreamt that Mr. Rochester was calling her name, so she decided to returned to the house, where discovered that Berta distorted then house with fire. Jane and Rochester became closer and started a new life; they get married, had child and Jane realised her dream. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON * Childhood characterised by a poor health, during adolescence he travelled a lot (Germany, France and ITALY) e Srange attitude and let his hair grew long * His stories are characterised by a sense of suspense, with supernatural elements. THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE e Symbolic relationship between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde -investigation of human mind * Classic psychological novel (good-evil)- impossible to separate bad from good * Considered scandalous for the contemporaries * Plot: The protagonist is a men divided into 2 distinct characters= a respectable man called “Jekyll” and an evil genius “Hyde”. e When Hyde discovered that was hide, he wanted to dominate. The individual has only 2 choices: may choose a life of crime or Jekyll must eliminate Hyde killing himself. At the end jekyIl suicide. Man's salvation is based on the elimination of one part of his nature, if he lives in a civilised society. THE STORY OF THE DOOR * Passage from The Strange Case of dr Jekyll and mr Hyde * 3 person narrator for most of the story e Main team of the novel: duel nature of human consciousness * Plot: Mr. Utterson is a well-respected London lawyer, even boring man. Utterson has a close friendship, Mr. Enfield, a respectable London gentleman. The two seem to have little in common, and when they take their weekly walk together they often go for quite a distance without saying anything to one another. As the story begins, Utterson and Enfield are taking their regular Sunday walk. They come upon a strange building (without doors and windows), which seems out of place in the neighborhood, and Enfield relates a story in connection with it. Enfield was walking in the same neighborhood late one night, when he saw a little girl running and she crashed into a man who was coming from the opposite direction. He stopped the man before he could get away, and then brought him back to the girl, around whom an angry crowd had gathered. The man is described as a terrible monster by everybody. THE AESTHETIC MOVEMENT » Developed in last decades of 19th century, France with Gautier, England Walter Pater (demoralising message, famous among young people) * Escape into a aesthetic isolation, sense of frustration, reaction against materialism and moral code, protest against monotony and vulgarity, NEED TO RE-DEFINE THE ROLE OF ART. + Dedicated to art and beauty » The origin can be traced back to Pre Raphaelite: rejected academic and classical taste, interested in purity of 13/14th Italian century art - naturalistic details- e Task of poets: not to portrait issues of society, but to express sensations and emotions experienced. » Attention to the self + French Bohemien: embodies the protest against vulgarity and monotony + English Dandy: abbreviation of the name Andrew, the song make fun of American soldiers, someone who cared little for fashion and dressed carelessly = They both rebelled against the bourgeois model, but dandies were generally richer. OSCAR WILDE e Bor in Dublin 1854 » Distinguished himself for his eccentricity, became a fashionable dandy, extravagant way of dressing » Brilliant artist and talent poet + Was accuse of homosexual practises and obliged to hard labour. * After the prison, he lived in France in poverty. » “I have nothing to declare, just I'm a genius” PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY + The preface is the manifesto of Aesthetic m. » Narrative technique: 3 peers, narrator , settings are vividly described with words, characters reveal themselves through what the say -typical of DRAMA- + Theme of beauty: timeless beauty, a man who sells his soul to the devil son that all his desires might be satisfied. The soul is the picture, record the time, corruption and horror, the dark side of Dorian’s personality. Dorian symbol of immoral and bad conscience of Victorian middle-class. e Moral of novel: every excess must be punished and from reality nobody can escape. + ART is the only dimension that last forever