THE VICTORIAN AGE 1837 1901 THE NOVEL THE

THE VICTORIAN AGE (1837 -1901) THE NOVEL: THE DOMINANT LITTERARY FORM DURING THE 1800 PUBLICATIONS OF NOVELS IN MONTHLY INTSTALLMENTS: POOR PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO BUY AND READ THEM TOO MAKING THEM THE CENTRE OF DISCUSSION ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER (NOVELS BECOME AN OBJECT OF MASS CONSUMPTION LIKE TV SERIALS TODAY)

THE NOVELISTS - THEY BELONG TO MIDDLE CLASS AND LOWER MIDDLE CLASS - INTRODUCE THE VALUES OF THE MIDDLE CLASS - INTRODUCE MIDDLE CLASS CHARACTERS

THEMES • -THE SOCIAL REALITY • - PROBLEMS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLASSES • - DESIRE TO RISE AND FEAR OF FALLING DOWN THE SOCIAL LADDER • - EXPLOITATION OF LABOUR (RESULT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION) • - CORRUPTION • - INADEQUACY OF THE SOCIAL SERVICES • - DESCRIPTION OF MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY LIFE

NARRATIVE TECNIQUE • FROM THE REALISM OF THE 18 TH CENTURY : PATHOS AND THE GROTESQUE (CHARACTERS AND EMOTIONS ARE DESCRIBED WITH EXAGERATED TONES) • PATHOS: MANIFESTATION OF HUMANITARIANISM AND PHILANTHROPY (SENSE OF GUILT AND FEARS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS) • GROTESQUE: DESCRIBE THE UNDERWORLD (POORS) USING HOUMOR AND STRATEGIES OF DISCOURSE AS WORLD OF SIN, VICE AND DAMNATION

CARACHTERS • THE VILLAINS ARE OVER VILLAINUS CARICATURES OF EVIL • THE VIRTUOUS ARE EXAGERATEDLY INNOCENT AND OFTEN DEFENSLESS VICITMS • CHILDREN ARE USED TO ACHIVE THE SENSE OF PATHOS

READER’S POSITION • THE CARICATURE WORK EFFECT: - RICH PEOPLE DON’T RECOGNIZE THEMSELVES IN THE VILLAINS THANKS TO FILTER OF CARICATURE - MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE, LIVING IN DAILY FEAR OF POVERTY, FIND A FILTER THANKS TO CARICATURE, PATHETIC AND THE GROTESQUE • PATHOS EFFECT: THE READERS FEEL MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE CARACTERS THEY READ ABOUT BUT ALSO A PARTIAL IDENTIFICATION WITH THE PATHETICA SUBJECT • GROTESQUE EFFECT: AT THE SAME TIME THE HOUMOR IMPLIES REFUSAL TO IDENTIFY HIMSELF (EXPECIALLY IF THE CARACTERS ARE WOMEN, CHILDREN, ANIMALS AND PAMPERS)

MESSAGES and EFFECTS • COMMUNICATE THE SENSE OF FEAR AND GUILT OF THE MIDDLE CLASS, THE CONTRADDICTION OF THE BOURGEOISIE, THE NECESSITY TO SOLVE THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS DUE TO THE INDUSTRIALIZATION • IMPACT ON LEGISLATORS, OPINION FORMERS AND VOTERS

OLIVER TWIST STORYLINE: Oliver and his companions are hungry and he had been chosen to ask the master more food. Everyone is stupefied. CHARACTERIZATION: through actions and words. SETTING: dinning hall of the workhouse NARRATIVE TECNIQUE: third person omniscient narrator, pathos, grotesque. THEMES: children, poverty, relation with a master

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY STORYLINE: it’s Nicholas’s first day of work in a school. Mr Squeers shows him his teaching method. CHARACTERIZATION: through actions, words and thoughts. SETTING: a school for boys in the Yorkshire. NARRATIVE TECNIQUE: third person omniscient narrator, pathos, grotesque THEMES: children, poverty, teaching methods

HARD TIMES STORYLINE: Mr Bounderby is described. He is proud to be a self-made man, he is rich now. He speaks with Mrs Gradgrind. CHARACTERIZATION: through the narrator’s description and Bounderby’s words. SETTING: Cooktown. NARRATIVE TECNIQUE: third person omniscient narrator, grotesque. THEMES: poverty, industrialization.