The victorian age

The Victorian Age

Main Points

01

The Victorian Age

06

Oscar Wilde

02

Social context

07

War poets

08

James Joyce

03

Charles Dickens

09

Virginia Woolf

04

The Bronthë sisters

10

George Orwell

05

Robert Stevenson

The Victorian age

In 1837 Queen Victoria started reigning Britain, her reign lasted 63 years.

The age was very important for reforms and progress, Queen Victoria married out of love, she was happily married and she had 9 kids (her family became a symbol).

Here is a painting of Queen Victoria and her family.

An age of reform

The 1830's had seen the beggining of what was to be called an 'age of reforms'

Technological progress

Workhouses

Chartism

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Social Context

The Victorian era is accopagnied by a lot of contradictions, often refered at as The Victorian Compromise. Religion played a very important role in people's lives and The Victorians believed in God but also in progres and science.

Respectability was a mixture of morality and hypocrisy since the unpleasant aspects of society were hidden. The woman was physically weaker but morally superior and the men's duty was to protect her. Sexuality was repressed both its public and private forms, it led to the denunciation of nudity in art.

Early Victorian thinkers

Evangelicalism influenced Victorian emphasis upon moral moral conduct as the test of the good Christian. According to Utilitarianism an action morally right leads to happiness, this kind of thinking was mostly followed by the middle class and it convinced its followers that any problem could be overcome through reason.

There were many scientifc challenges, Charles Darwin theory was ridiculed.

The late Victorians

During the Victorian era, England was a victim of rising social inequality. Society was divided into classes.The women were those of the upper classes had to stay at home as maids, while those of the lower classes were workers and often worked in harsh conditions. Their rights were limited, but towards the end of the period feminist movements began to emerge.

Literally context

Literally context is an essential tool for understanding and interpreting the historical, social, cultural and political factors that shaped a text, we can unlock its full meaning and appreciate its enduring significance.

Novel

Poetry

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“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”

-Oscar Wilde

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, England. During his childhood, the family faced financial difficulties. At the age of 15, he worked as a clerk in a law firm and then began writing articles for a magazine. His most famous works include Oliver Twist (1837), David Copperfield (1850) and Great Hopes (1861). Dickens was a critic of poverty and social injustice and used his works to raise public awareness while trying not to alienate the upper classes. He then died in 1870.

“Never close your lips to those whom you have already opened your heart.”

The Brontë sisters

Charlotte (1816-55), Emily (1818-48) and Anne (1820-49)

The Brontë sisters spent most of their life in isolation in a remote part of Yorkshire, apart from brief periods at school they were mainly self educated. In 1846 they published a volume of poetry, 'Poem by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell'; like many female writers they used pseudonyms. Charlotte (Currer) published Jane Eyre, Emily (Ellis) Wuthering Weights and Anne (Acton) Agnes Grey. They died later on, Emily in 1848, Anne in 1849 and Charlotte in 1854.

Robert Louis Stevenson

“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.”

Life

Work

“Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.”

“It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.”

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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was many things. He tried on identities almost like costumes – by turns a celebrity playwright and poet and a well-dressed aesthete and dandy, whose beautifully turned but provocative witticisms made him the toast of late-Victorian London. Last, and certainly not least, Wilde was an homosexual man in the UK during a period when it was both illegal and dangerous to be so – something that has made him an icon for campaigners ever since.

Plays

Novel

Life

The importance of being Earnest

The picture of Dorian Gray

Dublin, 1854Paris, 1900

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The war poets

'Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori'

When the First World War, many young men were sent to war. For the soldiers life in the trenches was hell, in 1916 the sense of pride and exhilaration was replaced by doubt and disillusionment

Almost from the beginning, common soldiers improvised verses, In fact there was a group of poets who volunteered and they managed to represent modern warfare in a realistic and unconventional way, those poets became known as the 'War Poets'.

James Joyce

Life

Ulysses

Dubliners

1937

Dublin, 1882Zurich, 1942

1914

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Virginia Woolf

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Virginia Woolf was a highly influential English novelist, essayist, and critic, and a key figure in the modernist movement of the 20th century. Born Adeline Virginia Stephen in London, she grew up in an intellectual and literary household, benefiting from her father's extensive library despite a largely informal education. Her life was marked by periods of mental illness, likely bipolar disorder, which profoundly influenced her work and ultimately led to her death by suicide in 1941.

In 1912, she married Leonard Woolf, and together they founded the Hogarth Press in 1917, which published many of her own works and those of other modernist writers. Woolf is celebrated for her innovative use of language and narrative techniques, particularly stream of consciousness, which allowed her to delve into the inner lives and subjective experiences of her characters.

George Orwell

George Orwell , born Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist, essayist, and critic, renowned for his sharp social commentary and his fierce opposition to totalitarianism. Orwell's early life and experiences heavily influenced his writing. However, he often felt the sting of class distinctions. After Eton, he joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, an experience that led to his disillusionment with imperialism and provided material for his first novel, Burmese Days . This period solidified his left-wing political convictions, leading him to identify as a democratic socialist. He further explored the hardships of the working class in The Road to Wigan Pier . A pivotal experience in his life was fighting on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, recounted in Homage to Catalonia .

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Characters and Style

Dickens was known for his vivid characters and caricatures. His novels often depicted members of the poorer classes in society, exaggerating their behaviour to attract readers' interest. He was known for his desire to positively influence readers, trying to educate the higher social classes on the problems of the poor without alienating them. His style was characterized by the use of an effective language, rich in graphic and ironic descriptions.

The importance of being Earnest

The protagonists of the play are Jack and his friend Algernon. They have a double life. Jack lives in the country, but when he goes to London he has known as Earnest, to protect his reputation. He has a girl under his responsibility, Cecily, who thinks that Earnest is Jack's brother. In London, Jack as Earnest, falls in love with Gwendolen, but her mother doesn't want the marriage because Jack's origins are unknow. Algernon as invented an imaginary friend, Bunbury. In London he falls in love with Cecily, Jack's ward. But the thinks that Algernon is Jack's brother Ernest. At the end we discover that Jack and Algernon are brothers, and Jack's name is Ernest. Finally Gwendolen can marry Jack and Cecily marries Algernon.

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”

Wilde makes fun of the institution of marriage, although the play ends happily it leaves the audience under the impression that marriage and values are tied together in destructive ways.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

"The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde "of 1886 explores themes of duality and the contrast between good and evil. The novel has a complex narrative structure with many storytellers including Dr Jekyll, who represents the inner struggle with the dark side of human nature. The struggle between Dr Jekyll, his respectable version, and the evil alter ego, Mr Hyde, highlighting the division between the outward appearance and the hidden side of each individual.

“Jekyll had more than a father's interest; Hyde had more than a son's indifference.”

Oscar Wilde was born in 1854. After attending Trinity college he was sent to Oxford where he became Walter Pater discipline accepting the theory of 'Art for Art's sake'. He then moved to London where he soon became a celebrity because of his unusual style called 'dandy'. In 1883 he married Costance Lloyd whom bore him two children.

In the 1890s he produced a series of plays with his masterpiece being 'The importance of being Earnest (1895) but he had a quick downfal in 1891 where his homosexual relationship with the young poet Lord Alfred Douglas 'Bosie' was discovered and he was sent to hard labours for two years. He then died in 1900 in Paris, brooke and lonely .

"You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes or their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear."

Chartism

In 1838 a group of working-class that demanded equal elettoral districts, universal male suffrage and abolition of property qualifications for membership

No one in power was ready for such thing and the Chartist Movement Failed.

They were later seen in 1867 in the Second Reform Act including most of the male working class in England

The picture of Dorian Gray

The novel is set in London at the end of 90th century. The protagonist is Dorian Gray, a young man whose beauty fascinates a painter, Basil Hallward that later on gets corrupted by Lord Henry Wotton. Later Basil gets killed after finding out that Dorian's soul is trapped in the painting and that leads to other insensitive acts. In the end Dorian Gray kills himself after all the actions he did catch up to him.

Dorian Gray represents the ideal of youth, beauty and innocence.Lord Henry Wotton is a cunning intellectual that influnces Dorian. Basil Hallward is an intellectual that falls in love with Dorian's beauty. His death represents of how a good artist can be destroyed in a sacrifice for art,

“Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”

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Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland and was the only child of respectable middle-class parents. His father, Thomas, belonged to a family of engineers who had built most of the deep-sea lighthouses around the coast of Scotland. Seeking an adventure to inspire his writing, Stevenson embarked on a canoe trip from Antwerp, Belgium, to northern France with his friend, Walter Simpson.In August 1880 the Stevensons returned to England. Stevenson and his wife had wintered in the South of France and lived in England from 1880-1887, a period of time marked by Stevenson’s poor health and literary achievements.

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

Workhouses

The idea behind workhouses was to create awareness for poors to try doing better.

Workhouses were mainly run by the Church, whom promoted study and absinence from alcohol.

Most of the people that worked there were abandoned orphans.

They were separated from their families and were forced to do a lot of hard jobs.

Life in workhouses was rough, they had to wear uniforms and were forced to follow a certain diet.

Jane Eyre

Jane is a penniless orphan that after years of abuse ends up in Lowood school. When she grows up she becomes a teacher there but she soon starts working at Thornfield Hall where she falls in love with Mr Rochester, after an attempted wedding she fleed after finding out that Rochester was already married to Bertha Mason. She meets St John Rivers at Moor House but after a while she goes back to Thornfield Hall to find out that it had been destroyed by fire and Mr Rochester was left heavily injured from the accident.

The book is set in the early 19th century and it's set in five different locations, each have their own meaning. Each section of the novel represents a new phase in Jane's experience and develompent. Jane Eyre is a Bildungroman novel, a novel of growing up. The emotional use of language conveys the author's concern with the nature of human relationships.

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During Victoria's reign, poetry became more concerned with social reality, this led to on one hand the creation of the myth of the greatness of England

to the creation of poetry more inclined towards anti-myth.

The poet was seen as a 'prophet' or a 'Phylosopher'.

Optimism believed that the benefits of the progres could be altered without altering nature.

The Victorian Novel

These novels depict everyday life with a strong realism, talking about topics such as poverty and inequality. They present moral themes, with protagonists who grow personally. The novels deal with issues such as industrialization, social class and gender roles, offering a critique of Victorian society. There were various types of novels:The novel of manners (like pride and prejudice), The humanitarian novel (Most of Dicken's work were considered as such), the novel of formation(Like Jane Eyre) and the Literary nonsense (such as Alice in Wonderland).

Social Darwinism Social Darwinism is an idea born in the 19th century that applies Darwin’s theory of evolution to human societies. According to this view, the "stronger" would have the right to prevail over the "weaker".

Technological progress

In the 19th century was a remarkably fertile period for the expansion for technology.

In 1851, There was an exhibition showed at the Crystal Palace, England was showing of their later technologies and riches.

People became very fond of exhibitions so money was spended on Museum. People were now even able to travel more and the middle classes could now live in the suburbs instead.

The museum entrance fee was actually free.

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist is a novel describing the difficult economic and social conditions of Victorian England. The protagonist, an orphan, lives in a working house and lives several misadventures with criminals. After several attempts of theft, Oliver is welcomed by a loving family and it turns out that he is of noble origin. The novel explores themes of poverty, social injustice and struggle for survival.

Rupert Brooke

Rupert Brooke was born in 1887 and was educated at Rugby School, he was a good student and athlete and became popular for his looks. He joined the conflict at the beginning but saw a little combat but died early in 1915

Brooke's reputation as a War poet related to five sonets which advanced the idea that war is clean and claensing.

WILFRED OWEN

He was born in 1893 and worked as a english teacher in France, 1915 he decided to enlist. After meeting Siegfried Sassoon who encouraged him to keep writing. Later on he died in 1918.

He wrote about the war in brutal honesty and without leaving out any detils.

Ulysses

James Joyce's Ulysses follows the everyday life of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus on June 16, 1904, in Dublin. The novel mirrors the events and structure of Homer's The Odyssey, with Bloom, Dedalus, and Molly Bloom representing Odysseus, Telemachus, and Penelope, respectively. The narrative unfolds through various streams of consciousness, exploring the mundane details and inner thoughts of the characters. Parallel to The Odyssey: Ulysses uses the mythical method to parallel the events of Homer's The Odyssey, but with a focus on the modern, everyday lives of its charachters, Leopold Bloom (Odysseus), Stephen Dedalus (Telemachus), and Molly Bloom (Penelope) are the main characters, each reflecting a different aspect of the epic hero's journey. The novel employs stream-of-consciousness, exploring the characters' thoughts and feelings, making it a unique and challenging reading experience.

“A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.”

James Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic, widely regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He received a Jesuit education, first at Clongowes Wood College and later at Belvedere College and University College Dublin, where he focused on modern languages. In 1904, he met Nora Barnacle, who would become his lifelong partner and later his wife, and they embarked on a self-imposed exile from Ireland, living mostly in Trieste , Zurich , and Paris

“Life is too short to read a bad book.”

Dubliners

Dubliners, a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, offers a poignant and realistic portrayal of life in Dublin, Ireland, in the early 20th century. The stories delve into the lives of ordinary people, focusing on their struggles, aspirations, and the mundane aspects of their daily existence. Through the use of literary techniques like stream-of-consciousness, plain language, and the concept of "epiphany," Joyce explores a range of themes, including interpersonal relationships, religious tension, and the pervasive sense of paralysis that he believed characterized Dublin life. The collection is known for its naturalistic approach and its insightful depiction of the human condition.

“There's no friends like the old friends.”

Mrs Dalloway

The novel’s narration is third-person omniscient, but it changes its focus throughout. The narrative begins and ends with Clarissa as it details a day in her life. Clarissa is a seemingly disillusioned socialite whose mood fluctuates: at some moments she seems delighted, at others she seems depressed. Her overall affect suggests suppressed symptoms of depression. Mrs. Dalloway begins with Clarissa’s preparatory errand to buy flowers. Unexpected events occur—a car emits an explosive noise and a plane writes in the sky—and incite different reactions in different people. Soon after she returns home, her former lover Peter arrives. The two converse, and it becomes clear that they still have strong feelings for each other. In a moment of shared vulnerability, Peter asks Clarissa if she is happy.

Perspectives switch, and the narrator inhabits Septimus Warren Smith, a World War I veteran suffering from shell shock . He is waiting with his wife, Lucrezia, to see a psychiatrist named Sir William Bradshaw. Clarissa acknowledges that she respects the gulf between herself and Richard, as it gives both of them freedom and independence while also relieving them of paying attention to certain aspects of life. The novel’s perspective shifts back to Septimus, who has been told that he is to be taken to a psychiatric hospital. Clarissa, though at first annoyed that Mrs. Bradshaw would discuss such a topic at a party, is soon ruminating on Septimus’s situation. In a small room, by herself, she identifies with how overwhelmed Septimus must have felt.