L'età vittoriana, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica L'età vittoriana e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! L’ETÀ VITTORIANA Introduction to the Victorian Age Queen Victoria became queen at 18 years old, in 1837, and was the perfect incarnation of the period’s values. She was faithful, responsible and moral, and guided her empire to became the biggest in the world. But there was also the necessity to evolve and control the big new changing of her time, for example railway, the telegraph, the electricity and also big political changing ( there was the conflict between socialists and liberalists). Yes, that was a grate innovation and expansion era, but there were also negative features, for example the poverty of low classes and miserable condition of workers. That was a very contradictory age; the British Empire was the biggest that history had ever seen, but at the same time people lived in very bad conditions and worked to survive. The intention of people not to give importance to that bad side of the society, was called the “Victorian Compromise”. Queen Victoria’s reign Cities: in the victorian era cities became much larger, for example London, the biggest city in the world, arrived at 6 millions people, followed by Manchester and Birmingham. Their growth was conditioned by the important industrialization of big cities, and the impoverishment of land workers, that had to move in cities to find work. Their conditions were at the human limit, and they were usual to live not in central areas. Machines and transportation: machines were the symbol of industrialization, work and victorian innovation. Transport sped up movements, such as with trains or boats, that were the symbol of Grate Britain domination on sees, military and economically. The great exhibition: in 1851 the British rich middle class was exhaled by the building erected for the exhibition, the Crystal Palace, a building made with iron and glass, that showed to six millions people the evolution of the English technology. Social conflicts: the victorian era was characterized by the dualism of technological improvement (also in the medical way), and deep poverty, which characterized workers. Politically there was the dualism of liberalist (followed and incurred by middle classes), and socialist movements (that wanted to help workers). In that period also started to circular feminist ideas, that didn’t accepted the position of women as the angel in the house. In low classes, where there was a widespread poverty, people had to work for 14-16 hours every day (children too); they had to live in houses with bad or even without good hygienic conditions. That situation also improved the growth of crime and prostitution, that became a way to earn without being exploited. In 1838 was born the Chartist Momevemt, which name came from the People’s Charter, which requested the abolition of to became a parliamentarian, the universal suffrage for mans with more than 21 years, a salary for Parliament members and annual general elections. That movement disbanded 10 years later after that his requests hadn’t been accepted (1848). In that period also started to being organized manifestations of workers, that were organized in Trade Unions and in 1893 became the Independent Labour Party. In 1870 Parliament forced the Education act, a reform that guaranteed free elementary school and compulsory until the age of 10. In that period the government was concentrated in the colonial expansion, that arrived in Africa (one of the most difficult place to go in; for example here started the Boer war, which caused thousands of dead), Australia, New Zealand, Canada, China (winning the Opium wars), Hong Kong and of course India. An important conquest had been also the control of the Suez Canal. The voices of social upheaval Before the victorian era books were very expensive, and only people from middle and high classes could buy them. In that period authors like Charles Dickens started publishing small parts of his stories in newspapers (instalments), permitting people from low classes to read them, and sometimes were also published economical format books that could be read by everyone. Reading books means being educated and have a critical point of view, that in a period like the Industrial revolution was very important. The big variability of readers can’t permit to descrive the novel genre as a signal one, but we should consider all his parts, that were dedicated to different groups of people, different social levels and different stories. In that period the novel became the way to analyze and critic reality, but at the same time the way for workers to escape form their real hard life for a few hours, entering in a new world. The most important novel genres are: The social novel: his aim was to condemn bad workers conditions in the industrial society, referring in particular to children and woman, that had to work for more than 10 hours a day. The most important social authors were: Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, William Thackeray and the Brontë sisters. The fantastic novel: his aim was to let workers ran out of their hard life for a few hours, permitting them to get into a new fantastic world. In that period a fantastic novel structure that became famous and appreciated was the Gothic novel, which said that everyone of us had an evil side, and maybe that’s not the strong one, but it makes us take unconventional decisions. It was a preview of psychoanalysis Russian novel. The most important fantastic authors were: Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Robert Louis Stevenson (The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), Oscar Wilde ( The Picture of Dorian Gray), Bram Stoker (Dracula) and Lewis Carrol (Alice in Wonderland). Gender and the novel: in the victorian era people considered home as the natural place of woman, that had to take care of children, cook and clean, being the Angel of the house. In their novels used to talk about their condition in the society using their life experiences to earn the sexual emancipation. This novels were more psychological, intimate and moral. The biggest female actors had been the Brontë sisters. The imperialist novel: that novel’s aim was to celebrate the greatness of the British empire, trying to say that white civilized people had to civilize colonies (for example in India), that couldn’t had been good reigned alone. The most important imperialist writer had been Rudyard Kipling. Victorian poetry Victorian poetry themes weren’t very different by romantic ones, and were the faith, the sentimentalism, the inward gaze, and the sense of death. In that period a very used poetic form was the dramatic monologue, a poem delivered by a single speaker who speaks to a silent listener or audience using a colloquial language. The name “dramatic” doesn’t come from what the poem says, but for the atmosphere created in the scene. The most important poets of the time had been: Tennyson (the most recognized), Rossetti, Arnold and Browning. Aestheticism and Decadentism The description of Basil's study is full of sensitive elements, typical of aestheticism. The Introduction of the characters through the dialogues is preferred over a physical description for its own sake.