Scarica TEST IN INGLESE SULL'EPOCA VITTORIANA E L'IMPERO BRITANNICO e più Esercizi in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! ENGLISH TEST Cameriina Answer these questions about the Victorian society and the British Empire. 1) Why does the quote from Charles Dickens, reported below, explain well all the aspects of the Victorian age? (3p) It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair 2) When did the British Empire begin to form? (2p) 3) What is the East India Company? (3p) 4) Why do we say that the consumer society was born in this era? (2p) Examples of complete answers. 1) The Victorian age is a period of time described by the reign of Queen Victoria, that started in 1827 and finished in 1901. The quote made by Charles Dickens well describes it, because there were two different realities, one characterized by hope and wealth and the other by oppression and poverty. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” because of the consequences caused by the industrial revolution. This age witnessed some innovations that had a great impact to peoples’ lives, for example gas, lighting, tubes and pipes to transport sewage outside the city, the first Metropolitan railway, the telegraph and the postal service. On the other hand, the industrial revolution caused the growth of the London population, and in 1900 there were 6 million people in the city. The health conditions were terrible, and the poverty caused a growth of crime, such as prostitution, robbery, pickpocketing and also murder. “the season of light” and “the season of darkness” can be explained by the colonies situation of the time. Queen Victoria’s possessions were the largest ever seen in Britain, and English economy was strictly related to it. The wealth imported from the territories of the Empire created a collective growth in financial opportunities, and helped to solve partially the problem of the industrial revolution. The situation was very different in the conquered colonies were the British command was very strict, and the war for new territories caused a lot of deaths. Some example can be the Crimean war, the Opium war, the Indian Mutiny… “spring of hope” and “the winter of despair” can be related to the spreading of two different feelings: the optimism and the Social Darwinism. The first one is the belief that every problem would have been solved by the science and the technological innovations. The second one is the application of the Charles Darwin theory of “natural selection” to society, that caused a pessimistic view of the humanity. In fact poverty and racism were considered natural and inevitable, because of the law of the “survival of the fittest”. To conclude, as Dickens said, this age witness an impressive and rapid development, but at the same time it didn’t solve the problems of the country, but it made them even worse. 2) The British Empire began to form in 1282 with the Conquest of Wales. Edward “the longshanks” was the first Norman king that considered himself as English and he strongly believed the English superiority over every other culture. The conquest of Wales followed the rule of the four Cs: conquest, colonization, commerce and civilization. Conquest is the military introduction in the land. The war started because the Welsh prince refused to give his loyalty to Edward, and the English king decided to conquest the country. Colonization is the transportation of British people in the foreign land, and it was made by a specific policy of the king. Edward, in fact, sent a group of British people in Wales to claim the territory and impose English culture. They built the “boroughs”, cities with high walls and only for them. Commerce is the desire of profits, and the imposition of trade taxes. English people, in fact, imposed a tax for Welsh merchants to enter in the boroughs and trade their goods. Civilization is the final blending of the two cultures,
