Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context

1
Queen Victorias reign (1837-1901)
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 and
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 among political parties, 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.

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 2

1832 First Reform Act (democratizing parliamentary representation)
1833 Factory Act; slavery abolished
1834 Poor Law Amendment Act (led to the creation of workhouses)
1838 the Peoples Charter (Chartism working-class movement for
political reform)
1842 Mines Act (prohibited all women and boys under ten from working
underground in coal mines)
1847 Ten Hours Act (ensuring that women and children only worked up
to ten hours in factories!)
1867 Secon Reform Act
1872 Ballot Act
1870 Elementary Education Act
1875 Public Health Act (improving sanitary conditions in towns)
1884 Third Reform Act
1880 1900 Fabian Society (advancing the principles of socialism)
Womens Social and Political Union (Suffragettes)
Britain was a model of industrial success, individual freedom and constitutional
government. Upper and industrial middle-classes believed in a policy of laissezfaire ie. non-interference with industry or with national economy in order to
promote free trade and free competition (=Liberalism)

 When Victorias husband (Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg) died in 1861, she

completely refused to be seen in public, which led to severe criticism by the
public. It was a dangerous thing to do, as at the time of the expansion of
democracy, it threatened the monarchy (many people believed that
monarchy would die out). However, Victorias advisers persuaded her to
take a more active social role, which she did, and the crucial thing that
brough her popularity back was the publication in 1868 of her book Our Life
in the Highlans. It was the queens own diary, with drawings, reording her life
with Prince Albert at Balmoral, her castle in the Scottish Highlands. It
particularly delighted the growing middle class, since it showed a private
side of the royal life. The queen referred to Prince Albert simply as Albert,
to her children as Bertie and Vicky, and wrote about their servants as if
they were members of the family.

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 3

Triumph of industry (steam engine, steamboats, shipbuilding, trains, iron industry)

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (18061859) designed the first steamship to cross the Atlantic
(1838)
Scientific progress (electricity, telegraph, gas-lighting, stamp and postal system, medicine)
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
willingness to protect British trade routes and interests against other nations; to gain new
terrotories
firm belief in the excellence of English culture and institutions
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

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 4

During the Victorian age most British citizens believed in their right to an empire and thought that
imperial expansion would absorb 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, this was the white mans burden.
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.
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 20th century.
At home: urbanization (people moved to towns and cities), overcrowding, poverty (terrible conditions in
slums, squalor, disease, bad sanitation, crime, high death rate), terrible working conditions (polluted
atmosphere, bad effects on health, especially childrens)

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 5

Social and cultural context

Material progress and wealth are results of hard work

Appearance is very important
Respectability = a mixture of both morality and hypocrisy, severity and conformity to social standards
Philanthropy = charitable activity addressed to every kind of poverty
Victorian family = a patriarchal unit where the husband was dominant and the wife was the angel in the home
Private life was separated from public behaviour
Prosperity, material and scientific progress, ethical conformism, moralism, philanthropy VS. Poverty, ugliness,
corruption, money, capitalistic greediness
New philosophical trends, religious movements, economic theories and scientific discoveries
Evangelicalism (good and moral Christian conduct), Utlitarianism (only what is useful is good),
Evolutionism (natural selection and struggle for survival), Determinism (no human freedom to act,
everything is determined by the rules of cause and effect).
Religion: The Church of England splitting into a Broad Church musch influenced by rational ideas,
becoming almost deistical, rejecting a great deal of the old ritual of traditional Christianity as well as its doctrine
and a High Church which inclines towards Catholicism (the Oxford or Tractarian Movement,John Henry
Newman wh joined the Church of Rome).

Politics: The process of democratizing parliamentary representation was accompanied by Catholic

Emancipation (1829, allowing members of the Catholic Church to sit in the parliament at Westminster)
advocated for in periodicals such as Edinburgh Review and the abolition of slavery in the colonies (1833).
Women only got the vote in 1916-17.
The doctrine of Utilitarianism was taught by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). It is the greatest happiness of
the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.
Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) saw that the problem of poverty could only be solved by artificially
limiting the birth rate.
New science: challenge to the old Christian faith. Charles Darwins Theory of Evolution states that man had
evolved from lower formd of life and had not been created by God (The Origin of Species, 1859)
Another challenge to orthodox belief was materialism (man has no soul).
1867, Marxs Das Kapital based on the materialist interpretation of history. It preached a new conception of
society and of the distribution of wealth.
AGE OF PROGRESS (reforms, industry)
AGE OF DOUBT (poverty, injustice, too little certainty about faith or morals)
PURITANICAL AGE (easily shocked, subjects like sex are taboo). Family Shakespeare published in 1818, from
which all doubtful lines and words had been cut.
Age of conventional morality. Large families with fathers as godlike figures and submissive mothers (like
Miltons Eve). This strict morality and holiness of family life owed a good deal to the example of Queen Victoria
herself.

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 6

Literature
During the Victorian Age for the first time there was a communion of interests and opinions between writers and
readers, enormous growth of the middle classes who were avid consumers of literature, they borrowed books
from circulating libraries and read various periodicals.
A great deal of Victorian Literature was first published in instalments in the pages of periodicals, which allowed the
writer to feel he was in constant contact with his readers.
CHARACTERISTIC OF VICTORIAN LITERATURE: high moral purpose allied to a Romantic technique (especially
prose). Rich and ornamental language.

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 7

The novel: the most popular form of literature and source of entertainment (they were read aloud
in families)
Novelists had a moral and social responsibility: to depict society as they see it (realism) and to
point out to its vices (criticism) didactic aim

Many women novelists , who published under assumed names (male pseudonyms: George Eliot and
the Brontes)
The narrator is omniscient. He provides his comments on the plot and he establishes a rigid
barrier between what is right or wrong; retribution and punishment usually appear in the final
chapter where all the events, adventures, incidents are explained and justified.
Linearity (beginning, middle, end) and long, complicated plots and sub-plots
Urban setting: the city was the most common setting, the main symbol of industrial civilisation
as well the expression of anonymous lives and lost identities

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 8

Precise creation of characters and deep analysis of characters inner lives (psychology)
Most popular genre = Bildulgsroman (novel of formation, e.g. The Great Expectations)
Main themes: money, wealth, realistic portrait of society denouncing its injustices and iniquities
Early-Victorian novel: social and humanitarian themes, realism, criticism of social evils but faith
in progress, general optimism. CHARLES DICKENS
Mid-Victorian novel: novel of purpose. Romantic and Gothic elements and psychological
interests. THE BRONTE SISTERS; R.L.STEVENSON
Late-Victorian novel: Naturalistic, European Naturalism. A scientific look at human life,
objectivity of observation, dissatisfaction with Victorian values. THOMAS HARDY, OSCAR
WILDE

Victorian Age Historical, social and literary context 9

Other minor forms of novel developed in this period:
Novel of Manners
focusing on economic problems of a particular class (THACKEREY)
Colonialist Fiction
presenting an exaltation of British imperialistic power and the Empires enlightening
mission in the colonies (KIPLING)
Nonsense literature / fantasy
dealing with fantastic adventures (L. CARROLL)
Detective novels
represents a dark side of the age of progress and morality and Victorian fascination with
crime Jack the Ripper was a sensation in 1888 (WILKIE COLLINS AND
ARTHUR CONNAN DOYLE)