L'età vittoriana in Inghilterra, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica L'età vittoriana in Inghilterra e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE HISTORICAL CONTEST Age of big contradictions/contrasts → everything depended on your role in society: If you belong to the upper or middle classes it was an age of optimism. “ “ “ “ “ lower/working classes the situation was radically different. → very long period of time and it also had differences. QUEEN VICTORIA → she ruled the country for the longest period of time Husband: prince Albert (German) → arranged marriage but happy, they had 9 children They set manners, moral and style => They represented the ideal happy family of the time, a model to be followed. During the industrial revolution: England was called “the workshop of the world” → demand for products, they had a colonial market, they had a lot of raw materials (due to the colonies). Coal → to produce energy. 1851: for the first time the urban population outnumbered the rural one. => the country was moving from an agricultural country to an industrial one. Great urban poverty and social injustice mainly regarding the working class. A lot of reforms: - vote and the right to vote was progressively extended (men didn’t get the universal suffrage straight ahead but there were a number of reforms). _ 1842: extended the right to vote to the middle class _ 1867: workers of the town were given the right to vote only male people _ 1884: agricultural workers Movements of women (the suffragettes) fight for women rights also violently. 1870: Education act → made elementary education compulsory Starting from 1833: A lot of factory acts aimed at improving the working conditions in particular a specific category (women and children). They reduce the number of working hours and they increase the salaries. → child labour and women labour were a serious problem at that time. The economy was based on principles: free trade → Adam Smith (philosopher and economist) Main fight of that time: to abolish the corn laws → repealed (cancelled) in 1846 The landowners lost some of their powers ROTTEN BOROUGHS: England was divided in boroughs for the vote = the borough that could elect even if the population was little, so the vote was not based upon the number of the population. => the landowners who lived in the countryside in boroughs that had less population than the boroughs in the city, could elect members in the parliament and so they could have a political representation in the parliament. Political parties → conservatives (ex-Tories): Disraeli (nowadays: Boris Jonson is the prime minister) → liberal party (an evolution of the Whigs): Gladstone (nowadays there is not anymore) From the Trade unions there were also founded a new political party: independent labour party (first: 1892, second: 1900) = one of the most important party nowadays in England Trade unions (=sindacati) = association that were born to defend the right of the workers Transport: Railway boom → the British railway system was built; the country was covered with railways (not made of wood). The steam locomotive, telegraph, the underground railway. The first tube station was very old → opened in 1863 The “PENNY BLACK”/ penny postal system was born = a stamp that cost one penny A lot of urban problems: - hygiene → there were no sewage systems: the waters entered directly into the river Thames => they built more than 2100 kilometers of pipes and tunnels to take the sewage outside of the city The quality of the air: a lot of smog → they mainly used coal (it is very polluting). Their buildings were black. “BOBBY” = policeman: was created the metropolitan police to contrast the crime that was spread → “BOB” = robber 1851: the great exhibition (the first expo) was held → organized by prince Albert in Hyde park, where they built a crystal palace. It showed a lot of different goods, coming from all over the world but most of them came from Britain or from the British colonies. => it was a way to show how important Britain was. → It was a great success and the money they earned were invested to build a lot of museums. Working class= emerging class, it was growing at that time 1918 → in england women got the right to vote. After world war 2 → in Italy CORN LAWS = laws introduced to help landowners, to protect their interests. So, they introduced a tax upon the corn which was imported. Of course, it was against the low social classes because the landowners can control the price of corn and so the price of bread (= an essential food at that time). Morality and science Charles Darwin → published revolutionary work for the time on the origin of species. This essay was very important because it conveyed an idea: “we belong to the same family as animals”. Furthermore, he was saying that the species have evolved so, humans have not been created by God and this was shaping the basis of religious belief. Religion was the fundamental pillar in the British society of the time but this work represented a real change for religion. The weep ones (parish) and only the fittest one can survive = somehow if you are poor and weak you don’t need to be helped because it’s the normal situation of life. => great debate at that time about reforms, if the state should support the poor or not. They didn’t want to take into consideration the influence that the environment had on the development of a person. AGE OF OPTIMISM - Jeremy Bentham (philosopher) → he created the philosophy of utilitarianism: the main idea: what is useful is good => it inspired a number of reforms but at the same time he only focused on the pragmatic useful side of life (totally disregarded emotions and creativity) → what Dickens criticised. IMPERIALISM: Victorian Britain wanted to expand its empire more and more → to show its superiority “the white man's burden” → comes from a poem by Rudyard Kipling A lot of wars: - 2 opium wars, with China → to control the routes towards Asia - Crimean war, with Russia → to control the Russia’s advance towards Constantinople (Istambul) - Boer wars in south Africa → there were a lot of diamond and gold  “The sun never set in the British empire” The imperial/economic interest India was considered “the jewel in the crown” → the most important colony of the time, queen Victoria was crowned empress of India in 1876 India became independent → second half of the 20th century (1947) → a very prolific and successful writer Always on the side of the oppressed He strongly believed in ethical, and political potential of his literature Commited artist → he always tries to leave a reader with a lesson - Unhappy childhood → his father was imprisoned for debt, and also most of his family went to prison with him. Dickens was put to work in a factory, then he went to school in London => reflected it in his novels - Reporter of parliamentary debates (=> he knew the politic of the time) and a reporter for a newspaper - He was married, he had a huge family (10 children). Then he left his wife for his mistress (an actress), with whom he lived until the end of his life - He travelled throughout the USA → where he was involved with the antislavery movement => He campaigned against slavery Works: novels of social criticism - Sketches by ‘Boz’ (his pen name) = a collection of articles and tales describing London’s people and scene. - Novels: Oliver Twist (first novel), David Copperfield, Little Dorrit → big theme: childhood Bleak House, Hard times, Great expectations → the conditions of the poor and the working class. Christmas Carol → they were not published in volumes (full books), but in separate episodes / installments → he was interest in selling his works, he was offered to publish them only in installments and he needed to earn money Methodism= a religious movement At that time being poor was considered a crime and poor people were even imprisoned → Charles’ dickens father was imprisoned The British controlled the Suez Canal → way to reach India faster Boers= they had european origins, they were Dutch. Some of his characters’ names are become part of English vocabulary (Fagin= thief – Dodger= criminal, thief) Every single feature in his clothes convey the idea of how this man was The description of the movements and the tone of Mr Gradgrind. He is very inflexible, dictatorial. Words from the geometric world (square, line, base, plain, surface) => a very rigid character of the man Irony: (lines 19-23) he has too many facts inside his mind and his mind is too small to contain all them so, he has knobs all over his head 3- The speaker stopped speaking and the children in the room went back nearing Irony: the children’s minds are “little vessels” (= containers) filled with “imperial gallons” (= facts) “THE DEFINITION OF A HORSE” Mr Gradgrind is in a classroom with his students. He is teaching the importance of facts and he calls a girl “girl number twenty”. → Sissy Jupe, a poor girl whose father works in the horse business. The teacher says her that Cecilia is her real name because he dislikes the feeling of affection that is normally attached to nicknames → he thinks fathers should never show affection for their children not to spoilt them. He askes her what her father does and she responds that he is a housebreaker so he asks her the definition of a horse → she probably knows much more about horses but she doesn’t have precise scientific data, also because she was scared, so he calls Bitzer, another student. Bitzer provides a precise and scientific definition of a horse so Mr Gradgrind teaches the girl how she should find such thing. => Object lesson but this lesson is carried out without an object, nothing similar to a house. While an object lesson should start from an object itself and from what the students know about his object throw their personal experience. Mr Gradgrind → like a dictator, he scared his students, he stands for rationality Sissy is frightened by the teacher Bitzer is a student with no rationality and his learning is active Difference with physical appearance: Bitzer is pail and Sissy has dark hair knowledge is necessary “COKETOWN” → negative description of the town (industrialised, alienated) Third- person narrator - omniscient Very detailed description of the town (the building and their colour, the smell, the colour of the river that is polluted, the movement of the machines in the factories). Similes and metaphors → create an alien and savage contest The inhabitants had a dull life, every day is the same that the previous one All the buildings are the same, you can’t understand which is the jail and which is the infirmary. Also, the inscriptions are the same, the same character and the same colour. Everywhere you could see facts (= a very material reality), but also in immaterial context you could see facts (like in the relationships between master and man, lying-in hospital and cemetery). Religion: present in the town (18 churches belong to different religious persuasion, they have their own chapel; they look the same as the houses “pious warehouse”) → they are built in the same way as other buildings (red brick), they are interchangeable. One exception: The New Church School: Mr Choakumchild (a teacher) (to choak=to suffocate) => developing children’s personality suffocated them. Words of the economic semantic field: purchasable, saleable, market => is talking about utilitarianism: what it could not be expressed in numbers not exist. => everything in the town is purchasable or saleable “Amen” → all of this is considered at that time as a sort of religious truth He’s asking if things go well in this town. NO. Who belong to the 18 religious’ persuasion? not the labouring/working class He describes the street in a Sunday morning and what the members of the working class do on a Sunday morning (= the time when people usually go to church). They didn’t go to church, they simply stay where they were (in their neighbourhoods), looking at the people going to church. (not going to church= not a member of the human race). To solve this problem the other classes went to the house of commons ad ask for an act, for a new legislation that could make compulsory for the working class to go to church. The problem of alcoholism and drugs: the teetotal society provide numbers => these people used to get drunk. The data for drugs is provided by chemistry They went to places considered immoral => a negative description of the working class. Mr Gradgrind and Mr Bounderby were walking in the town, two gentlemen (belong to upper social classes), eminently practical, who could provide further elements to characterize the working class. → these elements come from their own personal experience. (this class is restless, bad, ungrateful, they never knew what they wanted, never happy and it’s difficult to manage these people) => very negative portrait of this social class → linked with their diet: irony because they lived mainly on bread, they had no protein. => is the perspective of the middle and the upper social class. The idea we have of poverty at that time: didactic aim → the description of this class is effective if the reader understand irony so at that time it was not so clear. - had 2 sisters (writers as well → published their novel under pen names, woman at that time were still consider less important than men) - Charlotte’s novel is the one that immediately reached successful while the others novel by her sisters didn’t reach success immediately - No formal education, taught at home - in her novel we can see some aspect that reflect her own life (she went to a boarding school, she fell in love with a married man) JANE EYRE → subtitle: an autobiography = very modern and realistic (mirror the condition of women at that time) novel Bildungsroman= we see the development of the protagonist, it mainly focuses on her desire to be independent and respected as a human being Jane’s upbringing: she was an orphan and so she lived with her aunts but she was never accepted by her aunt, because she had a strong personality since her childhood, so she felt like an outcast. Private governess/educator in Thornfield Hall → there she struggled between reason and passion Jane is different from the Victorian heroin → she is not presented as very beautiful from the physical point of view, she is really fascinating but from the spiritual point of view (character/soul) => not the stereotype Victorian woman. + is narrated from the beginning to the end from the point of view of a woman => a revolution Sex is present but it’s not really evident Mr Rochester = Byronic hero (typical romantic hero), arrogant BUT sensitive and intelligent, a seducer and highly educated man Mainly focused on the gender gap Every place has an outdoor (= where she can express her desire and be independent) and an indoor (confinement) Gothic aspect: BERTHA MASON, original name Antoinette → mister Rochester’s first wife - lives in the attic and jane doesn’t know she is there but she feels a presence observing her and she sometimes hears noises from the attic. - born in the west indie (Jamaica) => probably a colour woman - after the marriage she left Jamaica and moved to england with her husband - she feels treat by an oppressive society and she loses her identity => she became mad → for this she is confined in the attic at Thornfield Hall → there’s a woman who takes care of her but nobody knows about her existence - has always been concealed/hidden, somehow, she is denied an existence - becomes known when she sets fire to the building → her way to be taken into consideration as a human being=> she set fire more times to different places in the house (to curtains=> she had a problem with woven fabrics → weaving at that time was a typical female activity => she is trying to destroyed activities that marginalized her as a woman), also jane’s possessions BUT she is not acting against Jane, she’s acting with Jane, against marriage as an institution (marriage was the cause of her losing her identity, of her being marginalized). When the fire is described it’s said that you could see her silhouette on the top of the building → iconic act: destroying Rochester’s property and his money (patriarchal society) - she commits suicide by splashing her brain and her blood on the ground of the house → a sort of attack against the house and its owner. - LANGUAGE: she could not speak → she spoke a different language that Rochester could not understand => she uses signs (fire). Mr. Rochester= man who cannot understand diversity (= being a woman) violent vane in his nature, he loses his sight trying to save Bertha => controversial man - Her brother publicly declared Rochester was already married - she can be seen as the double of Jane → Jane is confined in the house and she wants to go beyond/ to overcome the limit of the house, she wants to be an independent woman → Berta is literally confined in the attic => not mad but treat BERTHA and JANE have the same role in the novel → they want to highlight the marginalization of women in Victorian england, giving voice to figure that are silent. BERTHA JANE Considered herself insane. Insane because she cannot control her passion for Rochester. Shows her emotions/passions through her rage (fire=climax of her rage). She tries to repress her feelings as a Victorian woman She growls as an animal Sometimes reacts as a madcap (Rochester calls her as a “wild savage creature”) “WOMEN FEEL JUST AS MEN FEEL” She has just arrived in Thornfield Hall to work as a governess Mrs Fairfax = the housekeeper, a kind and patient woman => good relationship with Jane Adele = Mr. Rochester’s illegitimate child, Jane’s own pupil → the girl she was there for, to take care of → spoilt and sometimes rebel, obedient and teachable, no talent => good relationship between the two Conventions: - noble children are depicted as angel, kind, pure by the parents → Jane simply says how Adele is - society expect women not to want more, just to stay in the house, cook, take care of the house BUT they are the same as men, they want to be independent. She goes to the attic and she looks towards the city, she wants to know more people → beyond the limits of the building itself “JANE AND ROCHESTER” → when Jane and Rochester are discussing after the marriage was cancelled, after she knows he was already married. She had to take a decision: to stay there as a mistress or to leave => she’s straggling between passion - reason She is valuating why she should leave and why she should stay → mainly evaluates the reasons to stay She thought about the consequences of her decision upon Rochester. She focuses on herself → who cares about her social status? She is alone, an orphan so she is convinced that nobody would care about her actions. She wants to respect herself, law and principals are necessary although her passion She doesn’t want to compromise, lose her dignity as a human being => she decides to leave despite her love. She feels this decision as even more necessary just because she is alone. The reaction of Mr Rochester: he understands her decision only by looking at her. He gets furious and so grasps her physically => she feels very week (because he is a man), she can’t resist him physically but she is sure that she can contrast him with her mind/soul. He talks to himself (monologue): he could bend her because he’s stronger than her but he is fully aware that he can’t crush her mentally (= he knows that he can stop her physically but he would never be able to get her soul/essence) => He wants the essence, not only the “cage” (body). Dialog: she says she is going to leave and he tries to convince her to stay (first he tries with physical violence, Idea of SEPARATE BUT EQUAL Against laws that support racial segregation in the southern states 1860s-present: Ku Klux Klan (KKK) = Racist organization run by white supremacists, they tried to go against African American in every way they could. = Violent movement. → White hoods and a burning cross. Wherever they attacked they leave a burning cross. “BLACK LIVES MATTER” / “ALL LIVES MATTER” Trayvon Martin (2012) 17 years old, a policeman shot him The police man was not charged to murder → Self-defending, not guilty Obama (first African American president) tried to approve some laws, more investigations, limits guns People considered these measures too little Trump → the situation became worst White supremacism → Capitol Hill was attached by a lot of people of supremacist group - “My best work of art is my life” - He wrote only 1 novel → “the picture of Dorian Gray” - He wrote many stories for children → “The Selfish Giant” - He wrote many plays = highly appreciated for their wit - He was also a famous speaker → He gave speeches regarding Aestheticism => He was give the fame of “leader of Aestheticism” - 1884 = he married Constance Lloyd = they had two children BUT he started a homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas “Bosie”, → was put in jail → When he was released society rejected him and his wife left him and took his two children away “THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY” → two editions: - 2nd edition: has more chapters and presents a Preface (because he received a lot of criticism) → He didn’t want to say that his novel had a moral, he just wanted to explain the reasons behind his novel and why he had written the novel He wrote it to contrast the accusation of immorality → the character lives a life of pleasure (abused of drugs and alcohol) without ethical values, he didn’t care about his crimes. He presents Art as something with NO MORAL VALUES → when you analyse a book, a novel you just have to check if it is well or badly written, not judged the content = Art for Art’s sake + Beauty for beauty’s sake CHARACTERS  Dorian Gray: At the beginning he is pure and handsome then he becomes obsessed with maintaining his beauty and youth He makes a pact that allows him to sell his soul → A sort of “pact with the devil” (= A reference to the novel “Faust” by Goethe) At the end he does a good action (at least that is what he thinks), so he goes to see if his good deed is visible on the painting BUT when he realises that there are no changes on it, he stabs the portrait => He stabs himself and the picture returns young and beautiful + Dorian turns old and ugly (IMMORTALITY OF ART)  Lord Wotton: a hedonist (= devoted to pleasure and the search for beauty), influences Dorian with his ideas  Basil Hallward: Dorian’s friend and the painter of the portrait When he sees the corrupted portrait, he is disgusted and so Dorian kills him → No one suspects of his death = everyone thinks he has just disappeared (The dead body is not found) THEMES  The IMMORTALITY of ART vs the FUGACITY of HUMAN BEAUTY  ART and MORAL IMPLICATIONS → a theme already treated by John Keats BUT there is a difference: Keats = believes beauty has a moral value → Art and material beauty can lead to spiritual beauty Oscar Wilde = believes that art and beauty have no moral implications → you can’t use art to elevate your spirit  Morality = the novel was highly criticised because it was seen as immoral → but it has a moral message  The DOUBLE → Represented by Dorian and the painting → Dorian has a double life → there are many references to mirrors and reflections  Decadentism = a movement that did not follow moral values but went against them  Aestheticism = Oscar Wilde is the main English artist of this movement → In Italy: D’Annunzio with his novel “Il Piacere” → There are some similarities between its main character and Dorian Gray PREFACE = “the manifesto of english Aestheticism” → we can find its basis Long list of statements, aphorisms, epigrams where he focuses on different aspects. Who is the artist? Who are critics? What is art? what is beauty? - The only aim for an artist is to create beauty - What really matter is not the artist, hidden behind his own work, but the result, the creation - The artists do not have to prove anything, they have no ethical sympathies, so art was never didactic, there are no ethical implications, no moral values. An artist can take and express everything. (→ he wrote these lines because he has to defend his own novel) - Thought and language are artists’ instruments And vice and virtue are only his material - You can only judge how this content is expressed, how the artist used his instrument (in this case words) - He is not interested in communicating anything to others → isolated in society - He only creates to please himself - Artistic process= Aesthetic experience for the artist and it creates pleasures Criticism is a sort of autobiography: a personal interpretation, if you see corruption and immorality in something beautiful it’s not the object that is immoral but the critic, the spectator that is immoral and that can see immorality in art - Why his novel caused such a diversity of opinion? Because it’s something new, complex and vital - A reaction to the utilitarianism, that was on the basis of Victorian life, he was on the opposite side → all art is useless - A reference to Caliban (“the tempest” Shakespeare): the Victorian didn’t want to see themselves in a glass, he is criticising the Victorians who can see their real conditions “THE PAINTER’S STUDIO” Characters: Basil Hallward (the painter), Lord Henry Wotton (he makes Dorian aware of his beauty) 1- description of the painter’s studio 2- dialogue between the characters Lord Wotton says to the painter to exhibit the painting but Basil didn’t want others can see his painting because it is too personal (it could reveal his passion for Dorian) Lord Wotton says that Basil can’t be compared with Dorian because Dorian has beauty while Basil has intelligence and they can be put together in his view → Beauty is a shallow while intelligence shows what someone thinks ruing the beauty of the face. Lord Wotton exposes his ideas of beauty and intellect → Aestheticism: importance to appearance, art, beauty is a value in itself, no didactic aim, no moral/ intellectual implications An artist believed he didn’t need to communicate anything to others, only focused on their work and the production of pleasure and beauty. => The isolation of the artist “DORIAN’S DEATH” → the final part of the novel He is thinking his life over, he is making an assessment of his own life 1- It’s night, he’s coming back home and heard two people saying <<it’s Dorian Gray>>. But this time he is not satisfied to hear his name, in the past it was used to be pleased when recognised. He had recently been visiting a little and remote village where nobody knew him => a new pleasure He remembered what he said to the girl he lured. → She believed everything he said He has presented himself as a poor man, not as an aristocrat He liked this poor girl because she knew nothing about his real nature but she had everything (purity) he had lost 2- He reached home, and on the sofa, he thought about his life Comparison between the purity of his boyhood and the corruption that characterised him now as an adult He had enjoyed being corrupted He asks himself if it’s possible to change, to go back? 3- He thinks of a moment of pride and passion when he had decided to give up his soul and to be young and beautiful forever while the portrait should have the effects of his crimes → a monstrous moment He is fully aware that his all life has been tempted by that moment He wishes he had been punished → the only way to purified his soul He was never been punished → nobody knew that he was guilty 4- He is thinking about his own beauty, that had changed history, and his crimes He thought about a mad letter → he hated his own beauty and broke the mirror 1- he sees himself as beautiful and young; 2- is a gift of lord Wotton, responsible of his corruption MIRROR= the reflection of his double identity 5- He thinks about a several people who have died due to his actions (directly or indirectly) Basil Hallward → was killed by Dorian in a moment of anger He doesn’t really care about them but about the fact that his own soul is dead = focused upon himself He justified these people death (Basil had insulted him for the degradation of the painting) 6- Hetty Merton= Country girl, <<one innocent thing that he had speared>> = one good action, he had not corrupted this girl. For him she represents purity and good He thinks this little step could be enough to make all the corruption away from the painting He had already begun a new life and thought that all the signs of his passed life were disappeared from the portrait 7- He goes upstairs (in the attic) to look if the portrait had changed and opens the door He checks and he is horrified because there was not any change The painting was full of blood so he thinks there is a sign and that he should have confessed his crimes But no one would believe him because there is any evidence of his crimes He calls his deed a sin in front of God BUT for him is not a sin Hetty Merton → his behaviour as a further act of vanity, curiosity, hypocrisy → for this the painting has not change => No real redemption, just a new experiment → For this the blood seemed even more and brighter Cynical attitude towards crimes he had commited → immoral novel 8- He has to destroy the painting in order to be free The painting represents his conscience that have been haunting him throughout his life. He takes the knife he had used to kill Basil and stabs the painting There was a cry and a crash → Two man in the street heard it and called the police Police enters, his two servants are crying They went upstairs, recognise the beauty of their master in the portrait A wrinkled, old, ugly man that was lying on the floor → They recognised him from his ring While the painting had been restored to the original state A hedonistic life devoted only to pleasures led to self-destruction (moral message) of the character. His life has been a contradiction, he believed at the end there was a possibility of redemption