VICTORIAN AGE Historical context Social context Literary context

VICTORIAN AGE Historical context Social context Literary context

Historical Context The VICTORIAN AGE (1832 -1901) was a period of dramatic change that brought England to its highest point of development as a world power was a complex era: progress, wealth, order, stability vs poverty, injustice, social unrest

Historical Context Queen Victoria’s reign (1837 -1901) l l Longest reign in English history Period of unprecedented material progress imperial expansion political and constitutional development HOME POLICY: Political and Social Reforms FOREIGN POLICY: colonialism + imperialism

Queen Victoria - worked for the peace and prosperity of her country - was able to keep at bay any conflict over constitutional matters - reigned constitutionally avoiding the storm of revolutions - played a more active role - became a mediator above political parties

Queen Victoria - model for her people: exemplary family life, strictly respectable and decent code of behaviour (Victorianism) - beloved especially by the middle class who shared her moral and religious views

Historical Context - Home policy POLITICAL and SOCIAL REFORMS 1832 – First Reform Act 1842 – Mines’ Act 1833 – Factory Act 1847 – Ten Hours’ Act 1834 – Poor Law Amendment Act 1867 – Secon Reform Act 1838 – the People’s Charter (Chartism)

Historical Context - Home policy POLITICAL and SOCIAL REFORMS 1872 – Ballot Act 1884 – Third Reform Act 1870 – Elementary Education Act 1880 -1900 – Fabian Society 1875 – Public Health Act Women’s Social and Political Union (Suffragettes)

Historical Context – Home Policy Britain was a model of industrial success, individual freedom and constitutional government Upper and industrial middle-classes believed in a policy of “laissez-faire” ie. non-interference with industry or with national economy in order to promote free trade and free competition (=Liberalism)

Historical Context – Home Policy Ø triumph of industry (steam engine, steamboats, shipbuilding, trains, iron industry) eg. 1851 GREAT EXHIBITION at Crystal Palace in Hyde Park Ø scientific progress (electricity, telegraph, gas-lighting, stamp+postal system, medicine) eg. first railway

Historical Context – Home Policy but also Ø a time of troubles unemployment, poverty, (slums, workhouses) appalling working and living conditions bad sanitation social unrest, rioting, violence

Historical Context – Foreign Policy THE BRITISH EMPIRE Imperialism = territorial expansion, colonies abroad During the Victorian Age the British Empire reached its largest extension: it was called “the Empire where the sun never sets”

Historical Context – Foreign Policy THE BRITISH EMPIRE British Imperial power was sustained by: • willingness to protect British trade routes and interests against other nations; to gain new territories • firm belief in the excellence of English culture and institutions • nationalistic spirit, excessive patriotism influenced by ideas of racial superiority

Historical Context – Foreign Policy 1839 -1842 Opium War against China 1853 -1856 Crimean War 1857 Indian Mutiny 1877 Queen Victoria was named “Empress of India” 1882 occupation of Egypt 1884 invasion of Sudan 1899 -1902 Boers’ War

Historical Context – Foreign Policy During the Victorian age most British citizens believed in their right to an empire and thought that imperial expansion would absorb excess goods, capital and population they were also extremely proud of their empire and of spreading their civilisation and culture to every corner of the globe (Jingoism = aggressive patriotism) colonial expansion was seen as a mission

Historical Context – Foreign Policy this was “the white man’s burden” ▼ ie. the distinctly, moral responsibility of the British to colonize the world and educate its people

Historical Context – Foreign Policy But at the moment of its greatest power Britain also discovered that every conquered area or land had new dangers to be controlled or stopped The British became aware of the immense human, economic and political costs of running an empire Britain found itself involved in a contradiction between its imperial ambition and its liberal ideas This contradiction would lead to the collapse of the British Empire in the 20 th century.

Socio-cultural Context Urbanization Britain became a nation of town dwellers Extraordinary industrial development Overcrowding

Socio-cultural Context Poverty – appalling living conditions in slums + workhouses squalor, disease, bad sanitation, crime, high death rate Terrible working conditions polluted atmosphere, lack of food and hygiene, disatrous effects on health especially on children

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN COMPROMISE a set code of moral values that explained the general tendency to be excessively puritanical and to avoid taking definite positions

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN COMPROMISE a rigid code of values that reflected the world that the Victorians wanted it to be, a world based on:

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN COMPROMISE l Duty + hard work Material progress + wealth emerge from hard work l Appearance was very important (formal clothes)

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN COMPROMISE l Respectability = a mixture of both morality and hypocrisy, severity and conformity to social standards (good manners, regular church attendance, charitable activity, comfortable house) middle classes ≠ lower classes l Philanthropy = charitable activity addressed to every kind of poverty, involving many people especially women

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN COMPROMISE l Victorian family = a patriarchal unit where the husband was dominant, authoritarian and the wife was submissive and fruitful, the angel in the home l but «the fallen woman» … l Patriotism l Private life was separated from public behaviour

Socio-cultural Context It was a particular situation which saw two opposing aspects of life: on one side PROSPERITY and MATERIAL SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS, ETHICAL CONFORMISM, MORALISM and PHILANTHROPY which opposed on the other side POVERTY, UGLINESS, CORRUPTION, MONEY and CAPITALISTIC GREEDINESS

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN FRAME OF MIND contained a lot of contradictions caused among other things by the influence of new philosophical trends (Utilitarianism, Determinism), religious movements (Evangelicalism), economic theories and scientific discoveries (biology, geology, Darwin) of the period:

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN FRAME OF MIND Evangelicalism = good moral Christian conduct Utilitarianism = only what is useful is good, any problem could be overcome through reason

Socio-cultural Context VICTORIAN FRAME OF MIND Evolutionism = theory of evolution of species governed by natural selection and struggle for survival Determinism = theory which denies human freedom of action, everything is strictly governed by cause and effect