THE VICTORIAN NOVEL HISTORICAL BACKGROUND INDUSTRIALISATION URBANISATION People

THE VICTORIAN NOVEL

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND INDUSTRIALISATION URBANISATION People moved from the countryside to the industrial areas IMPROVEMENT OF ways of communication (roads, canals, railways) technology textile industries THE EFFECT OF INDUSTRIALISATION WERE NEGATIVE FOR THE POORER CLASSES Men, women and children worked in factories up to 14 or 16 hours a day but factory owners paid very low wages

aristocracy (large landowners) SOCIAL CLASSES middle class (bankers, financiers and merchants ) working class (factory workers and rural labourers) MAIN THEME IN VICTORIAN FICTION OTHER IMPORTANT THEMES struggle for growth of democracy towns relationship between classes desire to rise and fear of falling down the social ladder PURITAN ETHIC “parabola dei talenti”: people should use their qualities and talents to improve in the social ladder exploitation of labourers PURITANISM BASIC DOCTRINES IN VICTORIAN NOVELS UTILITARIANISM DARWINISM doctrine according to which actions are right if they are useful for the benefit of society theory of the evolution of species by natural selection advanced by Charles Darwin (religious crisis)

OLIVER TWIST TITLE STORY-LINE the reader expects the story to be about some adventures in the life of Oliver twist, who probably is the main character Oliver Twist is a young boy, an orphan, who ran away from the workhouse he lived in to escape from starvation and exploitation. He moved to London where he knew the villainous Fagin, who taught him and to other boys how to pick pockets. The book describes some of his adventures and it closes with a happy ending. In particular the extract deals with the require of the protagonist, Oliver Twist, for having more meal after dinner CHARACTERS THE MASTER AND THE SERVANT OLIVER TWIST AND HIS COMPANIONS SETTING: dining hall of the workhouse where he lived before running away The first element which characterizes Oliver Twist and his companions is their hungry, addirittura a boy was afraid “he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him”. The description of their hungry is emphasized by sad images, alliteration ( for example “suffered. . . slow starvation”, “voracious wild”) and the image of the cannibal boy. The master is characterized through categories of: physical apparence and reactions. The narrator focus the attention on his great body mass (stationed), his authoritarian attitude; the narrator also underlines the juxtaposition between him and the children (fat - small) and between him and the servants (“pauper assistants”) to communicate the idea of his superior position.

Third person omniscient and intrusive narrator. He reveals characters' thoughts and filters description with connotative devices, as a consequence the reader is not totally free. NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE PATHOS AND GROTESQUE a quality that evokes pity or sadness TECHNICAL DEVICES a very ugly or comically distorted figure, creature or image ANTITHESIS HYPERBOLIC USE OF THE LANGUAGE ANAPHORA AND REPETITION OF THE SAME WORD ORDER OR STRUCTURE (in order to criticize and ridicule some aspects) both convey to the reader a feeling of superiority and provide also a partial identification with the subjects because the characters are exaggerated and as a consequence the reader cannot totally identify himself with them the READING PUBLIC were the middle class and the lower middle class They could identify themselves in the story (moreover thanks to the Education Act which make education compulsory, people were no longer analphabetic )

MR BOUNDERBY extract from Hard Times’s fourth chapter, written by C. Dickens Mr Bounderby is a rich banker who married the daughter of a rich, retired merchant (Thomas Gradgrind) The title recalls the idea of a period of particular difficulties; as a matter of fact the novel attacks industrialisation and its ills CHARACTERIZATION 5. self made man 1. particular feature 3. social status 2. personality He was not Mrs Grundy, a character from Thomas Morton’s play Speed to the Plough; the personification of the tyranny of conventional propriety 4. physical description big, loud man, stare and metallic laugh, made out of a coarse material, great puffed head and forehead, swelled veins, strained skin he was always proclaiming, his old ignorance and his old poverty Very important value during the Victorian Age. The figure of the self-made man was the model for the Middle class.

Second character: Mr Gradgrind physical description CHARACTERIZATION little, thin, white, of surpassing feebleness, mental and bodily NARRATIVE TECNIQUE great physical difference between the two characters; Mr Bounderby’s superiority and Mr Grandgrind’s subdued position are highlighted third person omniscient and intrusive narrator language devices (used in order to underline some important aspects) technique of telling repetitions use of the technique of showing (dialogue) attention to the iconological aspect same expressions or words, its function is to focus the attention on particular elements hyperbolic use of the language

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY extract from Nicholas Nickleby, written by C. Dickens Nicholas has been employed as a teacher by Mrs squeers who runs Dotheboys Hall TITLE: the reader expects the story to be about life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby who probably is the main character Nicholas is a young gentleman from the country, comes to London hoping to get help from his father's brother Ralph. CHARACTERIZATION Mrs Squeers : His characterization is also made up by the way he teached: he is shown as a ridiculous figure when he sat himself up as a teacher who did not know the correct spelling of words and had a very weak knowledge of Latin. Children : Children's characterization is built on pathos and concerns their attitude in the classroom.

NARRATIVE TECNIQUE Language device The third person omniscient intrusive narrator emphasizes the children's poverty and miserable condition by describing how they behave he use of the exaggeration, used by the novelist to describe Mr. Squeers and his educational method, is used to ridicule Mr. Squeers’ arrogance and sense of superiority. T The use of showing and telling the use of simile and metaphor: like diluted pincushions and the metaphor a minute wedge convey the idea of very poor and disgusting meal. attention to the iconological aspect