Victorian Age, Aestheticism, Stevenson e Wilde, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Victorian Age, Aestheticism, Stevenson e Wilde e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE VICTORIAN AGE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW: There are a lot of events that characterized this period. The first one is the end of optimism that was caused by the growing costs of maintaining the Empire and the defending of its military and economic pre- eminence led to a trade depression that affected the working classes, the traditional political parties that no longer satisfied the electorate. The socialism was one of the proposed remedies based on the philosophy of Karl Marx about theories of a new distribution of wealth, also important was the Fabian Society that sought gradual reforms and helped to organise the Labour Representation Committee which later became the Labour Party. Another important aspect was the social Darwinism that is a pessimistic view of human existence encouraged by the application of Darwin’s theory of the natural selection to the society and affirmed that life of humans in society was a struggle for existence ruled by the survival of the fittest. This theory served to justify capitalism and conservatism because it affirmed that inequality and poverty were natural. Another one was the Victorian Compromise because there was a punical and moral code to respect but in this period, there was a dark side about prostitution, use of drugs and grambling. The last one is about the feminist question because in the 2 ½ of 19th century women began to emerge as a political force and the first feminists began to fight for a better education for the middle-class women and for the vote. LITERARY POINT OF VIEW: The Victorian Age literary production was pervaded by 2 mains trends: the Victorian compromise when the authors entertained and instructed their readers by books and they made a critic of the time they lived. This trend characterized by man’s belief in the progress of the science and also by combining the realistic representation of the problems of society with an adventurous tone and moral aim; the Anti-Victorian reaction when people belonging to this phase criticised the value of the era and exposed all of its contradiction. This trend was influenced by Charles Darwin and his evolution of many theories, the realistic writers were influenced by positivism and they tended to see all the worst aspect of life that time. In the first phase of Victorian literature the writers used prose to make a realistic portrait of the society, a lot of their works were set in London and in them were represented all the contradictions of the Industrial Revolution and the consequences of the expansion of towns. The writers of this 1st part were less critical because they wanted to use their literature to instruct their readers, this attitude is also known as Victorian Compromise. The literary genres were the fiction, the poetry, the drama and magazines, newspapers and periodicals. We can divide this period into two parts: The Early Victorian Age and the Late Victorian Age. The Early V.A was about the presence of progress, so Positivism, the triumph of industry and technology, also about values like good manners, prudery, utilitarianism, respectability and materialism, important was also the Victorian Compromise. The Late V.A is about a pessimistic view and the denounce of smt, so Realism that is the description of the external reality and the internal one, also it’s focused on bad aspects of that time (= child labour, social inequalitism, defective instruction, abuses in education). SOCIAL POINT VIEW: Important were 3 social classes: the aristocracy, the middle class and the working class where the living conditions were the overcrowding, the spread of crime because of the phenomenon of urbanisation, but the working class was affected the most. The gap between rich and poor was big, so B.Disraeli called that condition ‘’the two nations’’, The conditions of w.c were denunciated in literature. In 1884 was the birth of Fabian Society that took its name from Quintus Fabius Maximus, the roman general nicknamed cunctator, which means one who delays things because of Fabian believed in gradual reforms instead of violent revolutions. The middle class was the most powerful social group that developed together with the industrialisation and the technological progress and the main characteristics are: the fact that they thought to be the creators of progress, the optimism due to the belief of being the predestined of Calvinist origin, they justified imperialism and British civilising mission in the world, the patriarchal family, the language that educated standard accent of London (=the Queen’s English) and the houses that had a lot of decoration like furniture and ornaments. About the education, at the beginning of 19th century, only men went to school and women were not expected to work, but at the end of the century there were also schools for women. In 1870 important was the education act that gave the right of primary education and with there was more production of books and literary (= more library and writers). The literary techniques were refined but also bad one a repetition of clichés and exaggerated sense of suspense. ARTISTIC POINT OF VIEW: The point of reference was the Royal Academy (1768) but a new artistic group opposed to this traditionalism and they were inspired by Raphael and supported by Ruskin, their name was the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848). Important in this period was the development of the architecture and the dominant style was the Neo-Gothic where flowers and plants were fashionable THE CONDITION OF WOMEN: A common job in England during the Victorian Age was the governess that was a mix between babysitter and teacher, but then also seamstresses because they hard worked, their her employer in the social class, manners was different from their employer in wealth Governesses that were underpaid servants. On the one hand, governesses were servants and on the other hand they were above the social class of the other servants because they could feel at ease neither with their employer nor with other servants, but they felt very lonely and isolated. Sometimes they were treated badly by the children they looked after so there was the presence of psychological cruelty, in fact a lot of governesses became poor and mentally ill. There were some institutions that improved the lives of governesses like The Governesses’ Benevolent Association (1841) and the Queen’s College in London (education and qualification for female teachers. The philosophy of Enlightenment had stated that women were equal to men but, they were discriminated because of the consideration to be inferior to men. At the beginning of the century only men could go to school or college, the primary education was considered unnecessary for women. Women could only read novels, learn embroidering, sing, play the piano, get married and have children. The best qualities that a woman could have were unselfishness, softheartedness and submissiveness. During the mid-century things began to change because women started to become important for their society. The two important steps taken in the Victorian Age are the opening of new schools for women and the authorization to own property after they got married. By the end of the century things had changed for the creation of schools and colleges for women too, and they acquired the right to enter various professions formerly reserved to men. THE AESTHETICISM In literature the peak of the Anti-Victorian trend in literature is represented by Aestheticism, an artistic movement that spread all over Europe in the second half of the 19th century. This movement was based on the principle that it is impossible to know the truth and to live virtuously. The man cannot aspire to understand reality completely, he can only manage to understand a part of it, the natural consequence of this reasoning is the resort to the care of form. Life is meaningless and the only way to combat this is to live hedonistically, devoting oneself to pleasure. This movement took inspiration from Théophile Gautier’s slogan “L’Art pour l’Art” that indicates the theory art shouldn’t have any moral basis or purpose, it shouldn’t transmit any moral teaching because art exists for the sake of beauty and does not serve any moral or didactic purpose. The founder of the movement was Walter Pater, an essayist and a humanist that excused immorality, because it was beautiful, or it formed art. The artist had to be free to express himself without being forced to respect specific rules and he had to care first of form and technique, the beauty was a basic factor in art. a series of crimes but escapes with a second dose of the portion that transforms him into the respectable doctor. This story ends with the suicide of Mr Hyde and the final letter addressed to lawyer Utterson which reveals the mystery of the double identity of Dr Jekyll. Dr Jekyll appears to be the embodiment of the respectable Victorian gentleman because he’s reserved, formal; physically he’s handsome and agreeable man. Hyde is the embodiment of the uncivilised part of humanity; he is small, pale and extremely ugly. The character’s duality can be interpreted as a critique of Victorian morals. The dual relationship seems to be a direct reference to the literary theory of doppelganger, that means ‘’look alike’’, refers to the protagonist’s alter ego (=a person whose personality is different from your own but who shows or acts as another side of your personality). These two characters are perceived as two discrete entities but belongs to the same individual and embody two opposite sides of it. Their relationship is mutually dependent and very ambiguous because Jekyll disapproves of Hyde’s mischiefs, he is deeply attracted by his dark side. The story is told from different perspectives: the first is Mr Utterson that he is suspicious about Mr Hyde; the second one is Dr Lanyon, a friend of Dr Jekyll. The story contains certain aspects of the Gothic tradition and the author offers an accurate analysis of man’s psychological and moral nature. He combines Gothic elements with elements of detective fiction. The setting of the story is London and most of the actions occur at night and when there’s fog that are symbols of obscurity. Dr Jekyll’s house represents the duality of his owner, the passageway leading to Jekyll’s laboratory marks the presence of two worlds: the world of respectability and world of evil. TEXTS: At this point all the mysteries of the novel unravel, as we encounter a second account of the same events that have been unfolding throughout the novel. Only this time, instead of seeing them from the point of view of Utterson, we see them from the point of view of Jekyll—and, by extension, that of Hyde. This shift in point of view makes a great difference indeed. All the events that seemed puzzling or inexplicable before are suddenly explained: Jekyll’s confession makes clear the will that left everything to Hyde; it tells of the events leading up to the brutal murder of Carew; it clarifies the mystery of the similarity between Jekyll’s and Hyde’s handwritings; it -elucidates why Jekyll seemed to improve dramatically after Carew’s murder, and why he abruptly went into a decline and was forced into seclusion. We know, finally, the details behind Hyde’s midnight visit to Lanyon and Jekyll’s bizarre disappearance from the window while talking to Enfield and Utterson; so, too, is Jekyll’s final -disappearance explained. It is as if there have been two parallel narratives throughout the novel, and we have, until now, been given access only to one. With Jekyll’s confession, however, everything falls into place. Jekyll’s meditations on the dual nature of man, which prompt his forays into the experiments that bring forth Hyde, point to the novel’s central question about the nature of the relationship between the good and evil portions of the human soul. As the embodiment of the dark side of man, Hyde is driven by passion and heedless of moral constraints. Yet it is important to note that while Hyde exists as distilled evil, Jekyll remains a mixture of good and evil. Jekyll repeatedly claims that his goal was to liberate his light half from his darker impulses, yet the opposite seems to happen. His dark side is given flesh, while his better half is not. Moreover, his dark side grows ever stronger as the novel continues, until the old, half-good and half-evil Jekyll ceases to exist. Hyde is smaller than Jekyll, and younger, which leads Jekyll to surmise that his evil part is smaller and less developed than his good part. Yet Hyde’s physical strength might suggest the opposite—that the evil side possesses a superior power and vigor. Jekyll’s initial delight whenever he becomes Hyde seems to support this viewpoint, as does the fact that, no matter how appalling the crimes Hyde commits, Jekyll never feels guilty enough to refrain from making the transformation again as soon as he feels the urge. “Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde,” Jekyll writes, “but the situation was apart from ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty.” But such statements seem little more than an absurd attempt at self-justification. For it is Jekyll who brings Hyde into being, clearly knowing that he embodies pure evil. Jekyll therefore bears responsibility for Hyde’s actions. Indeed, his willingness to convince himself otherwise suggests, again, that the darker half of the man has the upper hand, even when he is Jekyll and not Hyde. With these pieces of evidence, Stevenson suggests the immensity of humanity’s dark impulses, which conscience can barely hold in check. In the end, then, although he portrays Utterson and Enfield as somewhat absurd in their denial of evil, Stevenson also may sympathize with their determination to repress their dark sides completely. Evil may be so strong that such strategies offer the only possibility for order and morality in society. The alternative—actively exploring the darkness—leads one into the trap that closes permanently on the hapless Jekyll, whose conscientious, civilized self proves no match for the violence unleashed in the person of Hyde. Interestingly, even in this confessional chapter, certain details of the story’s horrors remain obscure. Jekyll refuses to give any description of his youthful sins, and he does not actually elaborate on any of the “depravity”— except the murder of Carew—in which Hyde engages. As with other silences in the book, this absence of explanation may point to the clash between rational articulation and the irrationality of profound evil. Perhaps these deeds are so depraved that they defy all attempts at true explanation, or perhaps Stevenson fears that to describe them explicitly would be to destroy their eerie power. But in this chapter in particular, the silence may also indicate not a failure of words but, as in other instances, a refusal to use them. Earlier in the novel, reserved and decorous men such as Enfield and Utterson, wanting to deny the darker elements of humanity, make such a refusal. Here, however, one can hardly ascribe the silences to a character’s denial of evil, since the letter that constitutes this chapter comes from Jekyll himself. The absence of description may owe not to any repression within the novel itself but to the repressive tendencies of the world in which Stevenson wrote. Rigid Victorian norms would not have allowed him to elaborate upon Jekyll's and Hyde's crimes if they were tremendously gruesome; Stevenson thus discusses them in a vague (and thus acceptable) mannter. YIN YANG winter summer north south female male disorder order MR HYDE (YIN) DR JEKYLL (YANG) depravation respectability immorality morality Irrational/instinctive/impulsive rational, highly reputed disorder order  They reflected the primitive reality of men (dualism)  Ambition = divides two aspects of his life into goodness and badness  Similarity with ‘’The Picture of Dorian Gray’’, both committed suicide at the end The Dandy beaver top hat: cappello a cilindro di pelle di castoro L'archetipo classico dell'eleganza maschile ha come simbolo George "Beau" Brummell, il britannico che (si dice) inventò il completo a tre pezzi alla fine del XVIII secolo, nonostante l'ispirazione venisse dall'Italia. cravat: foulard GLOSSARY The word 'dandy' was first used in the late 18th century to refer to a man that pays great attention to dress and fashion. A true dandy likes to wear impeccable, ostentatious3 clothes and prides himself4 not only on his ap pearance buton his with grace and casual manner. Dandyism is more than a style of dress, it is a code of honour and behav iours, ruled by very specific precepts. Its main motto is: "Control yourself and you'll rule the world". ever was George Bryan "Beau" Brummell. Born in London in 1778, he is considered by some to be the most important fig ure in British fashion history: the man who invented the suit21, comprised of full-length22 trousers with a matching 23 jacket, a necktie 24 and polished boots 25 Left to right from opposite page: the US actor John Barrymore plays the lead in the 1924 silent film Beau Brummel; a satirical drawing from 1772 shows macaroni dressing helped by servants; Beau Brummell. Below: Marlene Dietrich in 1933. tailcoat: frac waistcoat: gilet walking stick: bastone DAILY BATHS In one way or another, all dandies derive from Beau Brummell. Unlike the maca ronis, however, Brummell did not wear a wig or make-up. His style was neat26 and simple, although it is said that it took him up to 27 five hours to dress each day. Brummell was obsessed with cleanliness and took daily baths at a time when the custom 28 was only just becoming pop ular in 19th-century Europe. V GLOSSARY 27 up to: fino a 28 custom: abitudine 29 to apply: applicare 30 fashionable: alla moda 1 late: alla fine del 2 to pay attention: prestare attenzione 3 ostentatious: vistosi 4 to pride oneself: essere orgoglioso 5 wit: arguzia 6 behaviour: comportamento 7 to rule: dominare 8 around: intorno a 9 grand: grandioso 10 to deepen: approfondire 11 upper-class: classe alta 12 worldly: navigato, di mondo 13 slim: magro 14 high-waisted: a vita