Introduction_to_the_Victorian___Age.ppt

Introduction to the Victorian Age,I. Historical Background,1. Queen Victoria Victoria became Queen at the age of 18 in 1837 when her uncle, King William IV, passed away. She ruled Britain 63 years,Young Victoria,Queen Victoria,Queen Victoria in Old Age,2. A Period of Growth, Development and Reform Urbanization Industrialization Reform Bill England became the workshop of the world.,19th Century England,3. Conflicts Between Capital and Labor The new Poor Law of 1834 brought along with it the workhouse system which made thousands of poor free toilers for nothing but a rats den and never-adequate cheap food for a bare sustenance. The Corn Law (1815) made bread too expensive for the poor.,The severe depression, widespread unemployment, and the intensified exploitation of man, woman and child labor brought great miseries to the poor people. Life in early Victorian mines and factories was poor, nasty, and brutish. Conditions under which women and children toiled in mines and factories were unimaginably brutal. Even a 5-year-old dragged heavy tubs of coal through low-ceilinged mine passages for 13-16 hours a day.,By 1836, the working class movement known as Chartism had risen, and in 1837, the London Workmens Association put forward its six-point demand in the Peoples Charter, in which they were demanding the right to vote and to be voted, and to have better working and living conditions. Thousands upon thousands of people had signed the charter, but for three times it was rejected by the Parliament.,Chartism,4. Changes in Ideology Science and technology developed very fast. New inventions and discoveries in geology, astronomy, biology and anthropology drastically changed peoples life. German philosophers such as Ludwig Feuerbach and Comte exerted great influences over British ideological field. Darwins Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871) shook the theoretical basis of the conventional religious faith.,On the other hand, against the powerful, dogmatic, conventional Orthodox religion of John Newman (Oxford Movement) there came a strong anti-religious or irreligious trend of Utilitarianism among most of the progressive philosophers, scientists and writers. Utilitarianism held a special appeal to the middle-class industrialists, whose greed drove them to exploit workers to the utmost and brought greater suffering and poverty to the working mass.,Darwin: Origin of Species,5. The Problem of Women In 1837 when Queen Victoria came to the throne, married women had no property rights, not even in the proceeds of their own earnings. They had no rights to custody of their own children and were excluded from universities and professions.,In this period, sexual inequality in politics, economic life, education and social positions still prevailed; women were still regarded as second-class citizens. Man for the field and woman for the hearth; Man for the sword and for the needle she; Man with the head and woman with the heart; Man to command and woman to obey.,The explosive growth of industry, especially the textile industry, brought hundreds of thousands of women into factory jobs. In factories, women were employed as cheap labor and were forced to do very heavy and hard jobs for about half the usual pay. The unbearable working conditions and unemployment drove thousands of women into prostitution.,Factory work presented an increasing challenge to the conventional ideas of women and opened up new and wide spheres for women. Women now were able to walk out of the home, to share part of the responsibility of men and help support the family, and, at the same time, were entering into social services. A feminist movement started, fighting for womens equality and freedom, and for their educational and employment opportunities.,Working Women,II. Victorian Literature,1. Novel The English novel came of age suddenly, swiftly, and dramatically. Realism, which presented a detailed portrait of life in nineteenth-century England. The Victorian novelists were primarily concerned with people in society and with their relation to other people. The function of a novelist was also extended from mere description and moralization to social criticism.,All the evils of the existing institutions government, law, church, education and penal systems, with their injustice and corruption and the wretchedness inflicted by themand the society itself with its corrupted, vain and evil members were mercilessly exposed and criticized by them. Novels were published in installments in weekly magazines. This style of presentation often affected the content of the work, as popular novels were stretched out to prolong their success and unpopular ones were altered in attempts to win the public affection.,The major Victorian novelists are: Charles Dickens William Makepeace Thackeray Charlotte Bront Emily Bront George Eliot Thomas Hardy,2. Non-fiction Prose Famous historians, critics, scientists and essayists abounded. Thomas Macaulay represents in th。