Victorian Age e Charles Dickens, Dispense di Inglese

Scarica Victorian Age e Charles Dickens e più Dispense in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! THE EARLY YEARS OF QUEEN VICTORIA’S REIGN Queen Victoria • She managed to avoid the storm of revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848; • She ruled for almost 64 years, from 1837 to 1901; • Furthermore, she had a great sense of duty; • Lastly, she gave stability to her country. What about her reign? During the Victorian age there were many social reforms, political developments and material advances, especially scientific and technological. During this period there was a strong demand for social reform and, for this reason, the Great Reform Act of 1832 had extended the vote to almost all male members of the middle class. The political-social movement of Chartism proposed the People's Charter which called for social reforms, including the extension of the right to vote to all adult males, not just those belonging to the middle class. During the Victorian age, there were two political parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberals campaigned to abolish high corn prices, while the Conservatives aimed for a major expansion of trade and colonial possessions. What about the colonial situation? In the colonies, several wars were going on: • Most important were the two Opium Wars against China to get access to five Chinese ports and the control of Hong Kong; • Another tragic event was the Indian Mutiny, which pitted Indian commanders against British commanders. CITY LIFE IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN Two sides of the same coin • During the Victorian age only half of the English population lived in cities; • The rich live in nice houses, while the poor lived in slums, places where there was a high rate of disease and crime; • The polluted environments and waters in which the poor were forced to live, lead to epidemics of cholera and typhus; • During Queen Victoria's reign, the poor found relief only in workhouses; • Furthermore, modern hospitals were built and professional organizations were founded to regulate medical education and research; • Finally some services are introduced, such as: running water, gas, street lighting and paved roads. Slums Slums are overcrowded district of extreme poverty, degradation, crime and violence in which the lower classes lived during the Victorian age. Workhouses The Workhouses were institutions where homeless children, orphans and abandoned children, the unemployed and disabled and unmarried mothers live in exchange for their work. These places were terrible and people had to work hard because during the Victorian age, among the upper classes, was widespread the motto of reducing the "laziness" of the poor. After all, with the advent of the Poor Law system, Victorian workhouses became prison systems that held the most vulnerable people in society. THE VICTORIAN FRAME OF MIND Contradictions of Victorian age The Victorian era is full of contradictions, for example: the comfortable life of the upper classes against the exploited and miserable working class, who lived in workhouses and where children were used to clean chimneys and women were employed in factories . All these contradictions were unified in the so-called Victorian compromise. Contradictions of the Era The Victorian age was an age of great achievement, deep faith and progress but, at the same time, it was an age of destruction, religious collapse and ruthless profiteering. For example: • On the one hand there was the great wealth from industrialization, on the other the brutal factory conditions; • The middle class and urban life were developing a lot, while in the slums there was a condition of extreme poverty; • Great Britain was, at the same time, an Empire and a Tyrant, that had many colonies; • During the Victorian age there was both prudence and decorum, but also corruption and sin; • Finally, there was a renewal of great faith, but there was also a loss of faith. Moralism The Victorians were great moralizers. Indeed, they promoted a code of values that had the objective of reflecting the world as they wanted it to be, not as it really was. This code of values was, of course, shared by all members of the upper and middle classes and not by the poor workers. For example, one of the most important values was: THE NEED TO WORK HARD. The Victorian values • It was very important to be distinguished from members of the lower class; • Be in possession of good manners; • Have a comfortable house with servants working there; • Carry out charitable activities and philanthropy, that is an attitude of benevolence that has the objective of achieving the well-being of others; • The importance of the patriarchal family: the husband was the authority, while the mother took care of the children's education; • The importance of female chastity: in fact, unmarried mothers were considered wicked. The Victorian novel • The Victorian novel was the most popular form of literature and was also considered a form of entertainment; • In the Victorian novel there was a communion of interests between writers and readers; • The writer had a moral responsibility towards the reader: in fact, in his novels he had to describe society and reflect the world. • Furthermore, the writer wants to make the reader aware of social injustices; • In Victorian novels, the narrator is omniscient and, in coherence with the strict Victorian code of values, he has built a barrier between right and wrong. • Victorian novels have the city as their main setting. Their storylines are long and complicated, and the characters are realistic because the writers wanted readers to identify with them. • The most important Victorian writers are Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters. The Bronte sisters also used gothic elements in their novels.