Scarica L'era Vittoriana e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE VICTORIAN AGE The Victorian era was the years between 1837 and 1901 when Queen Victoria was the reigning monarch of Great Britain. Her 63 years and 7 reign made her the longest reigning monarch in history until that record was beaten by Queen Elizabeth II. It was an era of great change brought on, in part, by advancements in science and technology. It was, however, also a dark time for those of lesser means. Queen Victoria, herself, had influence on the world around her, in part, because of her questioning of religion and politics. Her husband, Prince Albert, was one of her chief advisors and helped her carve out a role for the monarch in the British government. The Victoria era was an era of transition from a rural, agricultural society to a more urban, industrial one. The industrial revolution brought about many changes. One of these was the mechanization of farm work leading people to move away from rural environments into the cities. This brought those of means into the same cities as those of lesser means, making the contrast of lifestyles much more evident. The railroad was another development that changed society as the wealthy could travel much more easily to the seaside for holidays and leisure. Another change that occurred was the steam printing press. This printing press allowed publishers to produce many copies of their works in a short amount of time at a lower the price and allowed many more people to have access to books. The Victorian era saw the birth of the Romantic Movement. Romanticism was a movement that valued the individual, emotion, subject, and the natural world over reason and intellect. It strongly prized the emotional experience and sometimes dealt with the supernatural. Romanticism got its name from its appreciation of the Medieval romance which usually focused on heroes. In fact, the hero is often a central figure in Romantic art. The Romantics originated as a response to classicism and the Enlightenment which often focused on rationalism and knowing through deduction. This was often at the expense of the portrayal and valuation of emotional experience. Romanticism stood in contrast to the formality of the classicists. Romantics were concerned with the human pursuit of knowledge and power. Realism became popular at the beginning of the Victorian era. Realism focused on presenting reality in as accurate a way as possible. It appealed to many in the middle class who now had access to more works of art thanks to the advent of the printing press. Realism consisted of multiple shifts including shifts from solitude to society nature to industry concepts to issues spiritualism to pragmatism optimism to agnosticism lyricism to criticism organicism to compromise The Victorian age took its name from Queen Victoria. The Victorian era was the age of progress, stability and great social reforms but at the same time was characterized by poverty, injustice and social unrest. The Victorians were great moralisers. They promoted a code of values based on personal duty, hard work, respectability and charity. These values were of equal application to all strata of society, but were given their essential Victorian form by the upper or middle classes The idea of respectability distinguished the middle from the lower class. Respectability was a mixture of morality, hypocrisy and conformity to social standards. It meant : The possession of good manners; The ownership of a comfortable house with servants and a carriage ; Regular attendance at church; • Charitable activity. Philanthropy was a wide phenomenon that absorbed the energies of thousands of Victorians. Bourgeois ideals also dominated Victorian family life: • The family was a patriarchal unit; The man represented the authority; The women had the key role regarding the education of children and the managing of the house. The category of "fallen women '', adulteresses or unmarried mothers or prostitutes, was condemned and marginalized. Sexuality was generally repressed and prudery in its most extreme manifestations led to the denunciation of nudity in art and the rejection of words with sexual connotation from everyday vocabulary. PATRIOTISM Civil pride and national fervor were frequent among the British. Patriotism was deeply influenced by ideas of racial superiority. The British had the conviction that the races of the world were divided by physical and intellectual differences, that some were destined to be led by others. The concept of "the white man's burden" was exalted by the colonial writers, like Kipling, and the expansion of the empire was regarded as a mission EVANGELICALISM The religious movement known as Evangelism, spired by Wesley the founder of Methodism, exerted an important influence on the Victorian code of values. The Evangelicals indeed believed in: ● Obedience to a strict code of morality; ● Dedication to humanitarian causes and social reform. UTILITARIANISM The 19th-century social thinking was influenced also by the philosophical movement of utilitarianism, based on Bentham's principles. Utilitarianism contributed to the Victorian conviction that any problem could be overcome through reason. The key-words of this philosophy were: usefulness, happiness and avoidance of pain. EMPIRICISM Utilitarian indifference to human and cultural values was attacked by many intellectuals including Charles Dickens and John Stuart Mill, a major figure of empiricism. He thought: legislation could help men develop their natural talents and personalities;
