L'Età Vittoriana: Contrasto e Compromesso, Dispense di Inglese

Scarica L'Età Vittoriana: Contrasto e Compromesso e più Dispense in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE VICTORIAN AGE Contrast and Compromise Queen Victoria was the incarnation of the values of her times and the emblem of tradition and middle-class conventions: respectability and honour, faithfulness and responsibility, morality and paternalism. The preservation of tradition had to live alongside cultural, scientific and technological changes. Innovations, inventions, new ideas and philosophies transformed society and people’s lives. The Victorian age was characterised by paradoxes and uncertainties: alongside colonial expansion and the rising wealth of the upper and middle classes, this age witnessed great poverty, disease, and exploitation of the working classes. The “Victorian compromise” was a tendency to deny and hide such troublesome and unpleasant aspects of progress through a display of respectability and optimism. Queen Victoria’s reign Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901. It was one of the most intense and complex periods of British history, an age of profound economic, social and cultural changes. Industrial and economic development Growth of cities During the 19th century, London became the world's largest city, but also Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham were big. The main reasons included rapid industrial growth and, at the same time, an impoverishment of the masses in the countryside that led people to move in search of work. The urban landscape was transformed with the construction of factories where the workers lived in conditions of poverty, disease and degradation. The central areas represented the middle classes and there were banks, grand buildings, gardens, efficient services and utmost respectably. Machines and transportation Machines were the symbol of industry and economic development. They changed working practices in the factories and on the land and influenced the spread of knowledge (in printing and increasing the number of printer works). The train was an important machine that struck the imagination of the Victorian era. Ships were also particularly significant for Britain because they were the symbol of the domination of the seas. The Great Exhibition The Great Universal Exhibition of 1851 was organised in London and exalted the optimism and the success of the British middle classes. The Crystal Palace, an enormous, awe-inspiring building of iron and glass, was erected in Hyde Park. The Exhibition represented the global triumph of British science, technology and industry. Social conflicts The country’s increase in wealth clashed with the deep poverty of the working masses. Faith in science had to cohabit with moralism and the idea of “social respectability”. The triumph of liberalism was paralleled by the birth of the first socialist movements and the development of feminist ideas. Industrial middle class The middle class was the protagonist of industrial development and in 1846, they won a victory with the abolition of the Corn Laws, which imposed heavy taxation. The British banks came to play a decisive role since the industrial middle class required large amounts of funds. The colonies were important because they represented the Britains’ global power. The working class The other side of industrial development was the widespread poverty. Work shifts were extremely long and hard and children were exploited on a regular basis. Working-class housing was unhealthy and diseases easily spread, thanks also to a poor diet. The British ruling class offered paternalistic philanthropy in the belief that it was necessary to intervene in order to improve the lives of the less fortunate, but it became clear that those problems could not be changed by the granting of small concessions. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Alessandrina Victoria was the only daughter of Prince Edwars, Duke of Kent, and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was born on the night of May 24, 1819. On August 26 in present-day Bavaria, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, her cousin and future husband, was born. Young Victoria became psychologically dependent on her mother after the death of her father and Prince Albert’s childhood was marked by the constant conflict of his parents. The two cousins didn’t meet until 1836. Victoria and Albert were married in 1840 and their love was characterised by intense physical attraction as well as by a shared passion for the arts. When Albert died in 1861, the Queen mourned him by wearing black for the rest of her life. The role of women “Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management” by Isabella Beeton was the perfect manual for the Victorian woman. In the second half of the 19th century the first battles for women’s rights were fought. The marriage laws were partially changed and opportunities for women in the medical and nursing professions also increased. The suffragette movement was born and in 1897 the National Union of Women’s Suffrage was founded with the aim of demanding the right to vote for women. The Chartist movement The Chartist movement was formed in 1838. His main document, the People’s Charter, requested the abolition of property rights, universal suffrage, a secret ballot, a salary for Members of Parliament and annual general elections. The movement disbanded in 1848. In 1867 and 1884 two laws were approved which granted the vote to the working and labouring classes. The working class found representation through the Trade Unions and the socialist movement, which in 1893 culminated in the Independent Labour Party. In 1870 Parliament passed the Education act. In 1880, with the introduction of free schooling, it became compulsory to attend until the age of 10. Women obtain greater rights, but not the right to vote. Change in the party system The great traditional parties changed. The Tories, supported by the great landowners, became the Conservatives Party and the Whigs became the Liberal Party, supported by the rising middle classes. All the governments had to face the Irish question, characterised by a growing demand for self-rule. Moreover, Ireland had been stuck by famine, which had led to the emigration to America. The Fenian movement used terrorism in support of its demands for indipendence. Colonial expansion Britain increased its dominos in Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It furthered its commercial penetration of China, winning the two Opium Wars, and obtaining the colony of Hong Kong. Queen Victoria became Empress of India in 1877. Victorian theatre During the Victorian era, the theatre became immensely popular, thanks also to Queen Victoria’s own passion for it. Demographic growth in towns and cities led to the opening of numerous theatres, encouraged by the Theatre Licensing Act in 1843. What theatres offered was increasingly diversified with new genres and titles. The theatre thus became a form of mass entertainment. Popular with the lower classes were the music hall, which began to appear at this time, and where it was possible to see dancers, jugglers, popular and opera singers. The middle classes became fascinated with melodrama with its stereotyped, easily-identifiable characters, such as the untainted hero, the “baddie”, the maiden bride, the village idiot. Vices and virtues were unapologetically represented and it was easy for the audience to identify with the characters while watching a play with simple and comforting morals. Overall, British theatre was conservative and considered the father of modern realistic drama, its criticism of middle-class hypocrisy and conventions was moderate. Towards the end of the century, two cases in particular brought change: George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) and Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). They used the theatre to debate and criticise institutions, prejudices and conventions. American literature The United States was undergoing a period of great change. Writers attempting to narrate the difficulties in the face of the processes of industrialisation and modernisation. One of the greatest philosophical influences was transcendentalism by Ralph Waldo Emerson. American prose Man’s relations with nature find his greatest literary expression in Moby Dick by Hermann Melville. Realism and aspects specific to the new nation were fundamental to novels such as The scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Uncle Tom’s cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The journalist and writer Mark Twain wrote The adventures of Tom Sawyer and The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Another contributor to American Literature was Henry James, whose novels deal with Americans’ relationship with European culture. American poetry The greatest poets of the times were Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. New words New words for a new world During the Victorian period new words were introduced, in accordance with the many new aspects of the changing word, for example trade union and personality. In order to denote new inventions words such as locomotive, photograph, phonograph, telegraph and telephone were introduced. The “Great Stink” In 1858 Londoners walked on the banks of the Thames with handkerchiefs pressed up to their faces, Parliament was suspended and a number of public buildings were closed. The cause was the “Great Stink”: the river had become an open sewer and people were allowed to pour all waste into the Thames. In addition, cesspits periodically spilled over into the streets. In the following years a system of modern sewers was built and new jobs such as toshers, mudlarks and ratcatchers were created. Charles Dickens Biography Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was born in a lower-middle class family who was often in financial difficulty and in 1824 his father was sent to prison for debt. At the age of 12 he was forced to work in a boot-blacking factory and at the age of 15 he had to interrupt his studies again to earn a living. He worked as an office boy, as a reporter and as a journalist. His literary career started in 1836 when he published The Pickwick Papers. Themes and style Most novels by Charles Dickens end with good prevailing over evil and have a didactic aim. This is why some critics have labelled Dickens as moralistic and sentimental. He was also praised for being an acute observer of the world he lived in. At the beginning of his career, he focused on the vices and virtues of the middle and upper classes. His works offered a high degree of suspense, he used an ironic tone while criticising social injustice and inequality. Nicholas Nickleyby and Oliver Twist can be considered the earliest examples of Charles Dickens’ novels of formation, also known as “coming-of-age novels”, that always finish with a happy ending. No exception to this optimistic vein is David Copperfield. Dickens wrote more sombre works which condemn Victorian society, like Bleak House, Little Dorrit and Great Expectations. His descriptions of settings and characters are detailed and realistic. The liveliness of his dialogues is inimitable. Dickens’ characters are unique and memorable, with significant names too. Physical descriptions are used to emphasise the main features of the characters. Oliver Twist Plot Oliver Twist is an orphan who grows up in a workhouse after his mother died in childbirth. One day he asks for more food, and Mr Bumble reports him to the board that decides to expel him. He was sold to Mr Sowerberry, who is kind to Oliver, but his wife and another apprentice led him to run away. He falls into the hands of a man called Fagin but he is rescued by Mr Brownlow, an honest man. Fagin sends Sikes and Nancy to kidnap the boy and make him take part in a burglary, where he is shot. He finds Mr Brownlow who finally adopts him and discovers that the boy is the son of a wealthy man who had an affair with Oliver’s mother. Characters Oliver Twist is the emblem of good and innocence, while Fagin is the emblem of evil: he exploits orphans and poor children by turning them into thieves and is described as the perfect villain. His accomplices are Nancy, a prostitute, and Sikes, his lover. Mr Bumble is on the side of evil too. Mr Browlow is a well-educated man, who proves to be courageous and loyal. He is the emblem of true respectability and is the perfect mentor and guide for Oliver. Themes Oliver Twist revolves around the misadventures of little Oliver. The novel is an attack on the hypocrisies of the Victorian Age and its many injustices. The author shows how miserable the children’s lives were in the workhouses. Dickens shows that crime was deeply rooted in London. However, he also shows that there is some hope: Oliver is finally adopted by Mr Brownlow, an honest and generous middle class man. By demonstrating how different life can be according to the circumstances the author deals with the theme of destiny. Style The story is told by a third-person, omniscient narrator who takes on Oliver Twist’s perspective. There are parts of the novel with a first-person narrator who is still an external narrator who summarises the main events and expresses his opinion. There is a great variety of styles and tones and the descriptions are detailed and long. Hard times Plot The novel “Hard Times” (1854) is set in a fictional town, Coketown, one of the “mushroom towns” which multiplied during the Industrial Revolution, a cold and depressing place. Thomas Gradgring is a strict headmaster with two children, Louisa and Tom, who teaches to believe only in facts and figures. Cecilia Jupe (called Sissy) is a sensitive girl whom Gradgrind decides to adopt. Gradgrind encourages Louisa to marry Bounderby, a wealthy factory owner, and she accepts so that Bounderby will offer her brother a job. However, Louisa felt unhappy and separated from him. Meanwhile, Tom robs his employer to pay off his debt and when is found guilty he has to leave town. Sissy Jupe takes care of Mr and Mrs Gradgrind and is the only character who leads a happy life. Themes Charles Dickens criticises the way Victorian education espoused the materialistic principles of Utilitarianism. He also mocks the tendency to rely on statistics and to believe that the value of an action is determined by its utility. Readings Oliver is taken to the workhouse (pag. 281 pdf), Oliver Twist The passage, taken from the second chapter of the novel, describes the moment when Mr Buble, the parish officer, comes to the house for orphans run by the cruel Mrs Mann, where Oliver has been brought up. Mr Bumble has to take the child back to the workhouse. Please, sir, I want some more (pag. 283), Oliver Twist Oliver Twist and the other boys lead a miserable life in a workhouse. The most serious problem they have to face is hunger since they are offered only one bowl of gruel each. Since they also work all day, they are starving and hold a council to decide who will ask the master for some more food. After drawing lots, the task falls upon Oliver. At supper, the other boys wink at him to make him understand that he has to comply with his duty. When he asks for more, the master feels shocked and calls Mr Bumble, who takes Oliver away. The board decide to sell the boy for £5 to anyone who may be looking for an apprentice. The picture of Dorian Gray Plot The novel is set in London at the end of the nineteenth-century and revolves around the figures of Dorian Gray, the painter Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian Gray is a beautiful young man who wishes that his portrait, painted by Basil, could bear the signs of decay instead of himself. His wish comes true and he progressively abandons himself to the pursuit of pleasure, while his portrait shows the signs of his corrupt nature. After abandoning the actress Sibyl Vane, he hides the portrait in an attic room. When Basin visits him and is shown the painting, the man urges him to repent but is killed. Dorian, tormented by fear and guilt, tries to destroy his portrait, which has become monstrous. As he pierces the canvas, he stabs himself, and dies, while the portrait is restored to its original beauty. Style The novel is told by an unobtrusive, third-person narrator. Place and descriptions are composed of detailed and carefully selected phrases, with great attention to nuances of wording. Themes The Preface of Picture of Dorian Gray is the manifesto of the aesthetic movement because it portrays the cult of beauty. Yet a terrible moral is indeed present in the work: the novel demonstrates that all actions have consequences and all excesses are eventually punished. The Importance of Being Earnest Thanks to its verbal brilliance and satirical bite, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People gave new life to Comedy of Manners (or errors). The surreal light it cast on people’s behavior anticipated twentieth-century absurdist theater. Plot Act I The protagonist is Jake Worthing, who is guardian to Cecily Cardew. Jake invents a fictitious brother named Ernest who lived scandalously in London. Jack takes on the identity of Ernest and falls in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, whose mother forbids their engagement when she discovers Jack had been abandoned at a railway station. Act II Algernon also decides to pose as Ernest to know more about Cecily, and the two fall in love. Jack announces that Ernest has died but when he finds out about Algernon he pretends to have been misinformed. Gwendolen and Cecily think that they are engaged to the same man but finally Jack and Algernon confess that Ernest doesn’t exist. Act III Lady Bracknell consents to the marriage between Algernon and Cecily but Jack forbids it unless Lady Bracknell consents to his and Gwnedolen’s. Cecily’s governess confesses that 28 years ago she left Lady Bracknell’s sister’s baby at the station: Jack is in fact Lady Bracknell’s nephew and his real name was Ernest. Themes and style The Importance of Being Earnest is a perfect fusion of form, content and language. The typical ingredients of Victorian melodrama become objects of parody thanks to the use of paradoxes. The dandy introduces a moral texture to the comedy. Actions are only a pretext for elegant, but often nonsensical, dialogues that quit the playwright’s ironical ends. The subtitale itself reveals the superficiality of the English upper classes. Playing on the title’s pun, the play shows that being “Ernest” does not mean being “earnest” at all. Readings I have put too much of myself into it (pag. 323), The Picture of Dorian Gray The extract is the opening of the novel. It describes Basil Hallward’s studio and introduces the characters of the painter and his friend Lord Henry Wotton. The Picture of Dorian Gray opens in the London studio of Basil Hallward, an artist. With him, reclining and smoking a cigarette, is Lord Henry Wotton. Basil is finishing painting a portrait of "a young man of extraordinary personal beauty." Lord Henry praises the portrait as the best work that Basil has done and insists that it must be shown at a suitable gallery. To Lord Henry's surprise, Basil states that he will not show it anywhere: "I have put too much of myself in it." There is something in that name (pag. 327), The Importance of Being Earnest In the extract, Jack nervously declares his love for Gwendolen and is surprised to discover that she shares his feelings chiefly because she is obsessed by what she thinks is his real name. The name Ernest, she claims, inspires “absolute” confidence, thrills and produces “vibrations”. Far from being as passive and ineffectual as one would expect from a young 19 th-century girl, Gwendolen appears the dominant character who pulls the strings of the marriage proposal and cynically insists on outer manifestations of love. In this way, Wilde satirizes Victorian assumptions about roles and social conventions as well as the pompous superficiality of the English upper class. Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in Salem in a Puritan family. In 1842 he married Sophia Peabody who put him in touch with figures of American transcendentalism and he obtained a job as surveyor in the Custom House. In 1850 he finished The Scarlet letter. When Democrat Franklin Pierce became president he was appointed American consul to Britain. Themes and style Puritanism Hawthorne’s work has bonds with the Puritan heritage. Because of his interest in early colonial America he set many of his stories in 17th century Puritan society, questioning aspects such as the close tie between religious dogma and political authority. Good and evil Hawthorne points out that the boundary between good and evil is not clear-cut. He analyzed the concept of sin, the sense of guilt, the effects of punishment and the sinner’s ability to reach deeper understanding of humankind: he recognised that there is evil in everyone. Style In Hawthorne’s prose are recurrent visual descriptions, formal dialogue, psychological analysis and third-person narrators. Symbolism is another distinctive trait of his fiction. The Scarlet letter Plot Hester Prynne, guilty of adultery, has been condemned to wear the letter “A” for “Adulteress” on her bosom and to stand on the scaffold with her illegitimate daughter Pearl in her arms. Her secret lover is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth is her husband: he is determined to take revenge. Hester Prynne goes to live in a small cottage outside the town and earns the respect of Boston thanks to her hard work. In the meantime, Chillingworth takes care of Dimmesdale, tormented by guilt. Hester and Dimmesdale meet again seven years later and Dimmesdale decides to confess his sin on the town scaffold, where he falls dead. Themes Sin and evil Hester and Dimmesdale’s adultery was considered a threat to the community’s purity. The novel complicates the concept of sin and evil: evil is to be found in the city magistrates too. Hester and Dimmesdale acquire a better understanding of human weakness and strength. Individual vs society Hester is passionate and brave and the scarlet letter finally becomes a symbol of identity and independence. Through his final confession, Dimmesdale acquires his true self again. Town vs forest Boston and the woods take on a symbolic meaning. The town is ruled by social and religious laws, while the forest represents the deepest emotion that cannot be subdued by the rules of Puritan Boston. The wilderness is both unsettling and liberating. Hester’s cottage is located on the outskirts of Boston, at the edge of the forest, far enough from it to allow her to lead an independent life. Style and structure The third-person omniscient narrator tells that the novel is based on a real manuscript. The Scarlet Letter is a highly symbolical novel: the extensive use of symbols turns the love story into the tale of a conflict between two individuals and socio-religious forces. Readings Hester, I have not forgotten (pag. 348), The Scarlet Letter After seven year of separation, Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest, far from the judging eyes of the Boston community. She reveals the true identity of Roger Chillingworth, aware of the fact that her secrecy has contributed to the Reverend’s misery.