The Victorian Age (appunti di 5° superiore Linguistico), Appunti di Inglese

Scarica The Victorian Age (appunti di 5° superiore Linguistico) e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE VICTORIAN AGE (1837-1901) The Victoria age is named after Queen Victoria, who inherited the throne after her uncle died, since he didn’t have any legitimate sons. Victoria was England’s new hope but she was young (only 18 years old) and inexperienced, so at the beginning she relied on: - The first minister Lord Melbourne, who influenced Victoria at the beginning of her reign. - Her mother, who with Conroy, created the Kensington system-> was aimed to make Victoria dependent on Conroy and her mother, because of this Victoria was always accompanied by either one of the two, was isolated from other children (in fact every person who’d meet Victoria had to be allowed) and every action she made was controlled. Unlikely most rulers, Queen Victoria married a man she truly loved, Alexander of Saxe-Coburg- Gotha. She gave to him the title of Prince Consort, and he always was very supporting even though he knew he had less power that his wife. The Victorian age is known for: 1. POLITICAL STABILITY-> to favour this, Victoria reigned constitutionally, which means that she never sided or privileged any political party (in parliament). 2. PROPAGANDA also known as SOFT POWER through statues+art ex. Trafalgar square, National portrait gallery->TOPIC: Queen Victoria and Alexander of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dressed as Anglo-Saxons, meaning: both English+Germany people descend from the same tribe-> Albert wasn’t an enemy or different from other. 3. REFORMS-> were fundamental to avoid armed rebellions, that were happening in the rest of Europe. Reforms regard: ●Welfare ●Education ●Civil rights ●Finance-economy ❥THE POOR LAW 1834-> workhouses were built in order to give shelter and food to those who were extremely poor or orphans. Was inspired by Puritans: improve your social status by working hard-> to be accepted by society you have to be a self-made man. This didn’t resolve the problem but aggravated it: the place was corrupted and became a place of illegal business where children were sold and abused. ❥REPEAL OF THE CORN LAW-> abolition on tariffs on export+import and a reduction of the cost of corn-> 1845: THE HUNGRY FORTIES, a devastating famine in Ireland, where people died of starvation. ❥THE FACTORY ACT 1833-> prevented children from being employed more than 48 hours a week and that no person under the age of 18 could work more than 69 hours a week. 1847 the working hours were limited at 10 for all workers. ❥THE MINES ACT 1842-> banned women and children under 10 to work in mines. In 1862 the working hours were reduced. ❥EDUCATION ACT 1870->it was mandatory that all children between the age of 5 and 13 must receive an education. ❥TRADE UNION ACT 1871-> trade unions were no longer illegal. ❥CHARTISM-> a radical movement that fought and obtained the right to vote for men: - 1832: for upper classes. - 1867: for workers. - 1882: for all men. The GREAT EXHIBITION-> the British empire extension reached his highest.  Increasing power of the middle class, who became richer thank to factories and the acquisition of raw and new materials, obtained through wars. -> THE BOER WAR (1899- 1902) between the English empire, the independent Boer states and the Orange free states. In order to discover diamonds and gold in the Boer states. England ended up winning and gained supremacy over the two republics.  Expansion of industry and trade by founding new colonies in Africa, India (in 1877 they destructed some primitive industries, taking economic control over that territory) and China -> THE OPIUM WAR (1840) England wanted the control over the tea trade and could not stand China for being independent from a commercial point of view. For this reason, England muggles opium, which caused social and economic problems. War broke out and England won Hong Kong (great English cultural footprint) and Shanghai.  Scientific and technological development due to the industry revolution.  The return of gothic style, after 1855 gothic revival, which represented stability, museums were also made free. The VICTORIAN COMPROMISE->double face society: ➲ “Victorian” means prude and stood for severe repression, even furniture legs had to be covered because they were seen as suggestive. ➲ The middle class was obsessed with gentility and decorum-> a Victorian private life is dominated by an authoritarian father. ➲ Bad topics: prostitution, alcoholism, people starving, were hidden through propaganda/journalism. At the same time, London was full of brothels and there was a high rate of alcoholism, topic like sex and nudity were a taboo. Also, ideological and interracial wars were justified with propaganda: “the white men’s burden”, a poem dealing with the duty to civilize Indian and African natives. In this poem and in the Victorian society as well, they justified violence, slavery, torture, exploitation etc. in the name of their duty to civilize people -> this led to the birth of racism and white supremacy.↳ in order to maintain stability and respect (from the puritans’ virtues) there was the idea of pretending not to see. UTILITARIANISM-> a materialistic philosophy, according to which men have to seek pleasure in a materialistic way. This philosophy is more spread in Nordic countries (still today), where people aim to learn to do, than in the south, where people aim to know (comes from Christianity). ☆ John Ruskin: he wrote the degradation and division of labour, (ugliness of industrialization) a text in which the dehumanization of workers in factories is attacked and explained. In the text it says that workers do not enjoy their work and that they endure it for money, an extrinsic gratification, since the work has caused them to lose hope and to not feel human anymore. He then goes on by saying that it is not the work that is divided but the men, on one side there are nobles and on the other, there are poor people. It is made clear that even though this distinction has always existed it is now more prominent that ever, because then the wall was created by laws and privilege, while now there is a humanity difference which creates the dehumanizing mechanisation and the repressive standardisation. In the conclusion it is written that men have a possibility to change this by making every class work together for an equal world. Propose the beauty of art-> full of ethic, teaching, art-=outcome of nature->society=outcome of art ☆ John Stuart-> was parented with a utilitarianism philosophy and he used to preach a spiritual philosophy, according to which “happiness is a state of mind”. He was a social critic, like Darwin, Dickens and Marx and pointed his fingers at Victorian problems and especially at education. - Darwin : changed the society in a scientific way: trough the theory of evolution (1859), according to which every species has gone through a change, thanks to their ability to fit the environment. This evolution completely overthrew the theory that human kind was created by God. In order to stop being criticised for this Darwin said that evolution is a God’s miracle. - Dickens : utilize his novels to criticize the Victorian society.