Transcript Victorian Period (1832

Victorian Period
(1832-1898)
• Increasing rise in literacy rates
• Establishment of the middle class as the
dominant ruling class
• Formation of a mass market press helped to
establish the novel as the middle class' primary
artistic form in this period
• Emphasis on domestic values of the period
(approximately 1832-1898).
• Novels underscore such middle-class values as
domesticity, duty, responsibility, work, and
conservative social reform
Middle Class Home in Victorian
England
• Victorian architecture
(particularly the
central location of the
hearth/fireplace and
the separation of
rooms by hallways)
helped to establish
spaces where private
identity and
domesticity could be
established.
Victorian women – “Angels”
• A primary figure of the
period was the "Angel
in the House," the
perfect self-sacrificing
and self-disciplining
domestic housewife.
The Victorian Era was named for
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
• Her reign represented a
long period of prosperity
for the British people.
• Profits gained from the
overseas British Empire,
as well as from industrial
improvements at home,
allowed an educated
middle class to develop.
Victorian Literature
• The 19th century saw the
novel become the leading
form of literature in
English.
• The works by Victorian
writers like Jane Austen
(Pride and Prejudice)
closely-observed social
circumstances through
satire. (satire is an
author’s way of holding
up a mirror to society to
show the injustice that
occurs).
Charles Dickens
• Dickens pen-name was
"Boz.“ He was the most
popular English novelist
of the Victorian era, and
one of the most popular
of all time.
• He created some of
literature's most
memorable characters
through the plot line of
social reform.
• Dickens’ popularity is
evidenced by the fact that
his novels and short
stories have never gone
out of print.
• Much of his work first
appeared in periodicals
and magazines in
serialized form, (the
Victorian Era’s “Grey’s
Anatomy”).
A Christmas Carol came from Dickens’ childhood
memories and his sympathies with the poor during
the 1830’s and 1840’s.
First publication, 1843
• Dickens wrote in the
wake of British
government changes to
the welfare system known
as the Poor Laws
• The Poor Laws
established workhouses
and debtor’s prisons
where welfare applicants
were forced to "work" on
treadmills.
Tudor Law!
•
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in
England and were developed out of late medieval and Tudor laws.
•
The history of the Poor Law in England is divided between two statutes, the
Old Poor Law passed during the reign of Elizabeth I (Tudor Law, 15581601) and the New Poor Law, passed in 1834 and was carried out during
the reign of Queen Victoria.
•
The New Poor Laws replaced the church lead services to the poor and was
replaced by government control and workhouses.
•
The Poor Law system was not formally abolished until the 1948 National
Assistance Act, and parts of the law remained on the statute book until
1967.
Victorian Workhouse, Southwell,
Nottinghamshire, England
Workhouses contained
treadmills (treadwheels)
which were used for
raising water, lifting
cranes, and harvesting
grain.
British citizens sent to
debtors’ prison would
regularly walk an average
of 17,000 feet every day.
The original treadmill started in
Workhouses
• In 1824, Dickens‘ father,
John Dickens, was
arrested for unpaid debt
and imprisoned in the
Marshalsea.
• The family moved into the
prison but twelve-yearold Charles was forced to
take lodgings nearby,
pawn his collection of
books, leave school, and
accept employment in a
shoe polish factory.
• As a boy, Dickens
had a deep sense of
class and intellectual
superiority and was
uncomfortable in the
presence of the other
factory workers who
referred to him as "the
young gentleman".
Dickens observed the live
of the people in the poorest
areas of London and
witnessed the social
injustices they suffered.
The devastating impact of the
period wounded Dickens
psychologically, and it colored
and haunted his work.
Dickens purpose in writing A Christmas Carol was to
convince people to recognize the poverty of those
displaced during the Industrial Revolution.
A Christmas Carol was Dickens’ call-toaction. He was an advocate for the poor.
• “[It] cried piteously at
being unable to assist a
wretched woman with an
infant, whom it saw below
upon a doorstep. The
misery with them all was,
clearly, that they sought
to interfere, for good, in
human matters and had
lost the power forever.”
Historical Impact
• Since its first publication, A Christmas Carol has had a
profound effect upon its audience.
• A prominent businessman attended a reading on Christmas
Eve in Boston in 1867, and he was so moved he closed his
factory on Christmas Day and sent every employee a turkey.
• A prominent phrase from the tale, “Merry Christmas,” gained
wider usage following the appearance of the story.
• The name 'Scrooge' has entered the English vocabulary as a
synonym for a miser.
• The phrase “Bah! Humbug!” has become a response to
anything a listener thinks overly sentimental or ludicrous.