Victorian Era: Prosperity & Social Issues in 19th Century Britain - Prof. Vescovi, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Victorian Era: Prosperity & Social Issues in 19th Century Britain - Prof. Vescovi e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! VICTORIAN AGE INTRODUCTION -It is the historical, political, literary and cultural Age of Queen Victoria, who reigned in the second half of the 19th century (1837-1901). Victoria | was very young when she became a queen. She is Britain's longest reigning monarch. The Victorian Age was a long period, and it has been divided into three stages: 1. Early Victorian (1830-48) 2. High Victorian (1848-1870) 3. Late Victorian (1870-1901) The Victorian Age was a contradictory era, which saw on the one hand prosperity, on the other poverty and social problems. Partly, it was a time of richness. Money came from exploitation of the working class and from oversea (all’estero) colonies. As a result, this became a period of great compromise between middle-class morality and corruption, widespread Industrialisation and nostalgic desire to return to nature. In this Age of dividing self, people lived a duality between what their life should be like and what their life really was. They had a double personality, a public self and private self. Impossibility to plan the social ladder. AIl that we consider philosophically and spiritually modern was born in that period. THE SOCIETY At the beginning of the 19°" century the upper class was built upon (dietro) the old aristocracy. The middle class was slowly gaining more and more power. The working class remained excluded from the political process and grew hostile towards the upper class. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT At the epoch, England was to become the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world as a result of the First and Second industrial revolutions. The First industrial revolution developed in North England at the end of the 18" century. It changed the production: machines replaced manufactories. The Second industrial revolution was breaking out. It had a universal dimension, and it was characterized by imports and exports. Documentary (highly suggested but not compulsory): INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION SPINNING MILLS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssi6ZXrp2_s There wasn't electricity and machines were operated by a big axle near the ceiling. Chains changed the axles. Axles were powered either by water or steam. People worked 14h a day in factories. The latter were unhealthy places which caused lung problems. London: was a central site for the empire, which gave a lot of job offers. It was also a big port (harbour = structure). The first Expo took place in 1851 in London. All the products of the industrial revolution were exposed at Crystal Palace in the Hyde Park (it was later moved to South London). They represented Britain's power. This event brought to London thousands of people from all over the world. Victorian Age was also the era of “railway revolution” (1830: opening of the first railway line): the railways broke down the barriers between town and country, making both more accessible. Many more people travelled for pleasure (in the past: only the rich). SOCIAL CHANGE Asa result of the Enclosure Acts and of the Corn Laws people migrated from the countryside to the towns. Such an intensive movement of people had dramatic social consequences: towns were became associated with illness. drink and prostitution, housing was scarce, sanitation did not exist and working conditions were extreme. Industrial activity meant exploitations of workers, in particular of children, who were illiterate, could easily move in mines’ corridors and were also able to manage machines in cotton mills. Everybody worked in the family and labours weren't provided with enough money. 1 -The New Poor Law, passed in 1834, which significantly modified the system of poor relief. The New Poor Law altered the system from one which was administered haphazardly (a caso) at a local parish level to a highly centralised system which encouraged the large-scale development of workhouses* by poor law unions. The Poor law was indeed approved with a condition called “The workhouse test”. It stated that anyone who wanted to get poor relief must enter a workhouse (if you are so poor to adapt yourself to live in a workhouse, then, this means that you need that. If you're not ready to go to a workhouse, it means that you're not poor enough). The latter was an institution similar to a prison where members of families were separated. They weren't free, they had to work all day. They ate unsavoury meals, they couldn't talk with other people or get out of the house. They were constrained to stay there because they had no other places where they could sleep and be fed. The act was criticized by Dickens and other intellectuals. It was based on the cynical middle-class idea that poor people were lazy. they were to be blamed for their condition and they could become rich if they wanted to. The government distinguished between: ° Deserving poor: people who became poor for reasons beyond themselves (health problems) and deserved help. ° Non deserving poor: people who didn't work enough although they were able. In “Oliver Twist”, Dickens analyses the condition of workhouses. THE POLITICAL PARTIES OF THE PERIOD AND INTELLECTUALS In the course of the century, Consciousness was gradually raised thanks to some intellectuals becoming engaged. The doctrines of Marx and Engels drew attention to the injustices and inequalities in the society. Aristocracy had plenty of time to read novels, which began to make people aware. The Victorian era was dominated by two main political parties: 1. The Whigs = the Liberal party 2. The Tories = the Conservative party WORKERS’ RIGHTS AND CHARTISM Some economic reforms were approved: 1. Reduction in the working hours (for children, women and men). 2. Reduction of children's labours. 3.Education compulsory (primary schools) >> Everybody learnt to read and write. Children learnt to read the Bible at the “Sacral Sundays Schools” ?? “The working class demanded also the right to vote. The First Reform Bill (1832) gave the vote to property owners (the definition of the boroughs was redefined).The workers organised themselves into a movement to demand the vote for all men. This movement became known as Chartism* because of the petitions, or charters, which they presented to the government. They were considered out of law. They only thing that they obtained was the abolition of the tax on corn imports (free trade). They collaborated to decrease the price of bread. The First Reform Bill was followed by the Second Reform Bill (1867) that enfranchised (diede il diritto di voto) part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first time. It took effect in stages over the next two years, culminating in full enactment on 1 January 1869. The Third Reform Bill (1884) gave the right to vote to all male workers - labourers, farmers and miners . The right to vote in general elections would not be granted until 1928. *In “North and South”, Dickens writes about an echo of the chartists movement and he criticises the mistreatment of the poor as well as the policy of the English government towards them. BRITISH COLONIALISM In the 19° century, Britain was ruling over 25% of the earth, bigger than any nation today (China+ Russia = similar). The Victorian Age saw the British colonial expansion in Africa (Egypt, the Sudan and South Africa - difficult to control because of hostility from Afrikaaners >> Boer Wars). Australia was initially colonised, 2