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Name:-Nirali dungrani

SEM:-02

Roll no:-24

Year:-2017-2019

Enrollment no:-2069108420180012

Paper:-6(Victorian literature)

Assignment topic:- history of the Victorian age

Email id:-dungraninirali@gmail.com

Submitted:-S.B.Gardi Department of English

Introduction:-

Ø Victorian literature is literature written in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, or roughly from 1837 -1901. It is largely characterized by the struggle of working people and the triumph of right over wrong.

Ø Elizabeth Age has unique identity the same way Victorian age has. This age is the age of doubts, disputes, realism and romance, materialism and spiritualism, peace and unrest, religion and science.It is marked with material advancement, mechanical progress, democratic deal, education, expansion, pessimism, scientific advancement, patriotism etc. The age is also known as the age of prose especially novel.

Ø The period was marked by many important social and historical changes that altered the nation in many ways. The population nearly doubled, the British Empire expanded exponentially and technological and industrial progress helped Britain become the most powerful country in the world.

Ø During this period England changed from a rural, agricultural country to an urban, industrialized one. This involved massive dislocation and radically altered the nature of society. It took many years for both government and people to adjust to the new conditions.

Key themes and developments:-

Over the period there were changes and developments in every sphere of life. Key themes included the following.

The Industrial Revolution

This was made up of technological, scientific and industrial innovations (e.g. mass production, steam engines, railways, sewing machines, gas and electric light, the telegraph, cars) that led to an enormous expansion of production, particularly through the factory system. There were huge social costs: the dehumanisation of work, child labour, pollution, and the growth of cities where poverty, filth and disease flourished. Child labour and poverty were also a feature of rural life, where farm work involved long hours, very low pay and exposure to all weathers.

Population growth and migration

Between 1801 and 1871 alone the population of the UK doubled. Migration in both directions was a feature of Victorian life. Many Britons left the UK for America or the colonies in search of a better life. The Irish poor formed a large number of these migrants, especially after the Irish potato famine: the Irish moved in large numbers to England and Scotland, as well as abroad. Within the UK as a whole, people moved from the countryside into the new industrial cities to find work. Migrants from across the world also settled in Britain, notably Jews from Europe and Russia.

Social reforms

As a result of early campaigns by people such as Michael Sadler and the Earl of Shaftesbury, and reports by parliamentary commissions, legislation protecting child and adult workers began to be enacted. Important reforms included legislation on child labor, safety in mines and factories, public health and education (by 1876 education was compulsory for all children up to the age of 10). There was also prison reform and the establishment of the police.

The rise of the middle classes

Society was hierarchical, yet there was much social and geographical mobility. Self-made entrepreneurs used their new wealth to rise in society, building large houses, educating their children and employing domestic servants (by the 1880s 1.25 million people were employed in domestic service - more than in any other work category). (For more on the urban middle classes and their servants see urban spaces)

The growth of democracy

The franchise was gradually extended to the working classes, until by the end of the period there was universal suffrage for men. The fight for votes for women was in full swing, but it was not until 1930 that women achieved the same voting rights as men.

An age of Prose and Novel:-

The Victorian age was essentially the age of prose and novel W.J.Long in his book history of English literature says Though the age produced many poets nevertheless this is emphatically an age of prose and novel.

The novels were looking like the bright stars in the sky of England during the Victorian era.

The great novelists like :- Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, William Thackeray, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Anne Bronte filled the sky of the Victorian era with their novels.

Why was the Victorian era so important?

Ø For the most part, nineteenth century families were large and patriarchal. They encouraged hard work, respectability, social deference and religious conformity. While this view of nineteenth century life was valid, it was frequently challenged by contemporaries. Women were often portrayed as either Madonnas or whores, yet increasing educational and employment opportunities gave many a role outside the family.

Ø The progress of scientific thought led to significant changes in medicine during the nineteenth century, with increased specialisation and developments in surgery and hospital building. There were notable medical breakthroughs in anaesthetics - famously publicised by Queen Victoria taking chloroform for the birth of her son in 1853 - and in antiseptics, pioneered by Joseph Lister (1827-1912). The public's faith in institutions was evident not only in the growth of hospitals but was also seen in the erection of specialised workhouses and asylums for the most vulnerable members of society.

Important Novelist and theirs Novels:-

Ø Charles Dickens:-

1) Oliver Twist 2) The tale of two cities

Ø Robert louis Stevenson

1) Treasure Isaland 2) Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde

Ø Victor Hugo

1) Les Miserabel

Ø Thomas Hardy

1) Jude the Obscure

Ø George Eliot

1) Middle March

Ø Alexander Dumas

1) The Three Musketeers

2) The Count of Monte Cristo

Victorian Paintings

The Art and Culture:-

Ø Victorian age is referred as an age of realism, in art and literature. By the end of the century, despite of many disturbing developments, the emergence of abstract art and arrival of modernisation in the artistic scene is felt. Victorian art is well known for its distinctive style.

Ø Victorian era, J. M. W. Turner was the most significant living British artist. He had gained popularity by exhibiting a series of well-regarded landscape watercolours in late eighteenth century and exhibited his first oil painting in 1796. He remained loyal, faithful and dependable for the Royal Academy of arts throughout his life and was elected full Royal Academician at the age of 27 in 1802. However, he resigned from the post of professor in 1837 and met John Ruskin in 1840. By 1840 Turner was being turned out of fashion because the young artists were preparing to enter the romantic period with a touch to modern age.

Mejor events of Victorian age

Ø A huge growth in population.

Ø Improvements in Technology.

Ø Changing world view.

Ø Poor conditions for the working class.

Ø First modern Olympic games.

England during Victorian age:-

The Victorian Era was a period in Great Britain’s history where the country as a whole moved ever more forward into the country we know today. Named after the ruling Queen of that period, Alexandrian Victoria, and lasting from 1837 (the year she was crowned Queen) to 1901 (the year she died), her reign at 63 years and 7 months made her not only the longest living monarch by far, but also the longest living queen in human history.

Her legacy and her name became synonymous to the many positive events that took place at the time – artists, writers and poets flourished, many social, religious and political movements started, border expansion and political reforms. It was at that point that many people considered that era as the “Second Rennaisance Age”.

Life during the Victorian Era was also met with positive change – fertility rates soared while mortality rates decreased. Indeed, it was a time where the population exploded into the 30-million mark. And for the first time in Britain’s history, no major epidemic occurred, thanks to the improvement of health and environmental standards, and the discoveries and advancements made in nutrition and medicine also helped in increasing the average lifespan.

Victorian era culture also saw its share of events that would be known all the way to modern times. From Charles Darwin’s publication of “On The Origin of Species”, which paved the way for the creation of evolutionary biology, to the publication of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.

Conclusion:-

Queen Victoria marked Great Britain history by her personnality and the way she reigned over the country. She was loved by her people and when she died in 1901, British citizens sacred for the future of the country, because she remained on the Head of the country for many years. She had a long reign, precisely of 63 years and 7 months and she let to her people the image of a strong woman.During her reign, Great Britain knew glory and power.

Victorian period was the most fertile and creative period for English novel. It spread the popularity of novel to every corner of the society. We can classify that Victorian age gifted some leading poets as well as representatives of novel who possess unique position in the History of English Literature. It is commented that Dickens’s ‘Pickwick Papers’ was at a time on the second highest position in selling after the Bible. On the whole the period looked forwards rather than backwards. Therefore the Victorian period has its own place in the world of Literature.

Victorian era is linked to the period of prosperity for Great Britain.