La società vittoriana e i suoi movimenti culturali, Tesine di Maturità di Inglese

Scarica La società vittoriana e i suoi movimenti culturali e più Tesine di Maturità in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Queen Victoria became queen when she was only 18, in 1837, and she rule for almost 64 years. In 1840 she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They had 9 children and their family provided a model of respectability. In 1857, Prince Albert gained the title of Prince Consort, in recognition of his importance to the country. The 1830s is called “the age of reform” because of the several reform of that period:  First Reform Act (1832): People of industrial towns, like Birmingham and Manchester, could vote  Factory Act (1833): ha prevented children (9-13) from being employed more than 48 hours a week and teenagers (13-18) from working more than 72 hours a week  Poor Law Amendment Act (1834): creation of workhouses (institutions where the poor received board and lodging in return for work)  The idea behind the workhouses was the awereness of such a dreadful life would inspire the poor to try to improve their own conditions. Most of them where ruled by the Church.  Second Reform Act (1867): inspired from the Chartist movement, enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales  Ballot Act (1872): introduced the secret ballot The Irish Potato Famine was an event caused by bad weather and an unknown plant disease from America. Ireland experienced a terrible famine, during which lots of people died and many emigrated to America. This event forced the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, to abolish the Corn Laws, which imposed tariffs on imported corn. In the mid-years of the 19th century, England experienced a second wave of industrialisation. In 1851 a Great Exhibition, organised by Prince Albert, showed the world Britain’s industrial and economic power. The Exhibition was housed at the Crystal Palace, a huge structure of glass and steel designed by Sir Joseph Paxton and erected in Hyde Park. Money was invested in setting up several museums, including th Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Also the London Underground was built. England was involved in the two Opium wars against China. In 1857, the Indian Mutiny spread against Britain. Britain also supported the italian independence from the Austrians and the Turkish Empire during the Crimean War. Victorian compromise The “Victorian compromise” refers to the contradictions which characterised the Victorian Age. In fact, that age was an age of progess but also characterised by poverty and injustice. Evangelicalism encouraged public and political action and created a lot of charities. The idea of “respectability” was the idea at the base of society, in fact good manners andhygiene became really important. Respectability was a mixture of morality and hypocrisy, since the unpleasant aspects of society were hidden under outward respectability. Women controlled the family budget and brought up the children, but single women with a child were considered “fallen women” and sexuality was repressed. Evangelicalism John Wesley and his brother were the founders of Methodism, the mouvement that inspired the Evangelicalism which believed in:  The literal truth of the bible  Obedience to a strict code of morality which opposed many forms of entertainment  Dedication to humanitarian causes and social reform Utilitarianism Utilitarianism was based on Jeremy Bentham’s principles but the origin of this movement is Epicurus, in fact, according to Utilitarianism, an action is morally right if it has consequences that lead happiness. This movement suited the interests of the middle class and contributed to the Victorian conviction that any problem could be overcome through reason. The utilitarian indifference to values was attacked by many intellectuals as Dickens and John Stuart Mill, who created his belief:  Happiness is a state of the mind and the spirit  Legislation should have a more positive function in trying to help men develop their natural talents and personalities  A society can be defined as good if the free interplay of human character creates the greatest variety  Progress comes from mental energy  New reforms Darwin’s theory Charles Darwin developed his theory, according to which:  All creatures have developed their forms through a slow process of change and adaptation in a struggle for survival  Favourable physical conditions determine the survival of a spieces  Man and Monkeys have a common ancestor Darwin’s theory discarded the version of creation given by the bible. The American Civil War It was a war between the northern abolitionists, who were against the slavery, and the Southern states, poorer and based on slavery and plantations. The Republican Party was against the slavery and the candidate Abraham Lincoln won the elections, while 11 southern states formed the Confederate States of America, under the presidency of Jefferson Davis. The Civil war broke out in 1861 and it ended in 1865. Slavery was abolished in the 13th Amendment. There wasn’t equality between black and white people, but the slaves were free. The ku klux klan was a movement animated by racism, in fact they terrorised the blacks. The economy of the south collapsed, while the northern states experienced the industrialisation. At the same time the americans explored the west, discovering gold in california and resulted in the “gold rush” The Homestad Act (1862) granted free soil to the first occupants. This migration had 2 consequences:  The disappearence of the frontiers  Extermination of buffaloes, with the consequent starvation of the american indians.  Literary of nonsense  Edward Lear and Lewis Carrol Women started writing novels under a male pseudonym beacuse creativity was masculine. American Renaissance New England, where the influence of Puritanism was still very strong, became the center of amarican cultural life. Literature became a reaction against the puritan doctrine. Ralph Waldo Emerson led the Trascendental Club, which was influenced by english romanticism, german idealism, political liberalism and estern mysticism.  All reality was seen as a single unity (melting pot)  Contact with nature was the best means to reach truth and awareness of the unity of all things  nature was a source of beauty  The over-soul was the spiritual principle linking everything together  Man was the emanation of the over-soul The late Victorian novel It mirrored a society linked to a growing crisis in the moral and religious fields. Darwin influenced the structure and the organisation of the realistic novel, which started to follow an evolutionist pattern. Coincedences were exploited to solve the intricacies of the plot.  George Elliot: he focused on the psychological and moral complexity of human beings.  Thomas Hardy: he presented strong individuals. His characters are defined by their native regions and painfully alienated by them The most famous example of psychological novel is The strange case of dr. Jekyll and mr hyde by robert louis stevenson, based on the duality in every indivual, that was also present in victorian society: aristocracy was superficially kind and refinated, but hid dark secrets. The white man’s burden is a famous poem, where the author legitimised the belief that the task of the white man was to carry civilisation and progress to the savages. Aestheticism and Decadence The aesthetic movement developed in the universities and intellectual circles in the last decades of the 19th century. It began in France with Théophile Gautier and 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 redefine the role of art. Artists escaped into aestethic isolation; into what Gautier defined Art for Art’s Sake. The bohemien embodied his protest against the monotony and vulgarity of bourgeois life, leading an unconventional existence, pursuing sensation and excess, and cultivating art and beauty. This doctrine was imported into England by james McNeill Whistelr, an american painter who worked in England, but the roots of the english aesthetic movement can be traced back to the romantic poet john keats, dante rossetti and john ruskin. Walter Pater is the main theorist of english aestheticism (“studies in the history of the renaissance” and “marius the epicurean”). He rejected religious faith and said that art was the only means to halt the passage of time. 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. Pater influenced author as oscar wilde and the group of artists that met in the rhymer’s club and contributed to the yellow book: a periodical that reflected decadent taste in its sensational subjects. Features of Aesthetic works:  Excessive attention to the self  Hedonistic and sensuous attitude  Perversity in subject matter  Disenchantment with contemporary society  Evocative use of language Victorian Drama