Victorian Literature 1837-1857: Victorian Era Period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was the time of the world’s first Industrial Revolution, political reform, and social change. This era also saw a demise of rural life as cities rapidly grew and expanded, long and regimented factory hours.
Characteristics: twentieth-century: Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870): Charles Dickens was a writer and social critic who created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius.
Dickens’ Literary Style: The novels written by Dickens were
published in monthly or weekly installments. His writing style is marked
by satire and his marked show of caricature His priority was to relay a
message, but as a writer, he was also interested in creating beautiful
prose. His writing style was heavily detailed. He used exaggeration in
description to imply character traits.
Oliver Twist: Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress is
Charles Dickens's second novel, and was published as a serial from 1837
to 1839. The novel was the first of the author’s works to realistically
depict the impoverished London underworld and to illustrate his belief
that poverty leads to crime.
Oliver Twist-Summary:
The story centers on the orphan Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and
sold into an apprenticeship with an undertaker. After escaping, Oliver
travels to London, where he meets the "Artful Dodger,” a member of a
gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin.
Dickens began writing Oliver Twist after the adoption of the Poor Law
of 1834, which halted government payments to the able-bodied poor unless
they entered workhouses. Thus, Oliver Twist became a vehicle for social
criticism aimed directly at the problem of poverty in 19th-century
London. Oliver Twist was very popular when it was first published,
partially because of its scandalous subject matter It depicted crime and
murder without holding back. It is an extreme criticism of Victorian
society's treatment of the poor.
Dickens and Society:
Dickens strongly criticized poverty and the unequal conditions closely
connected with the social stratification of Victorian society. At a time
when Great Britain was the world's major economic and political power,
Dickens highlighted the life of people from the lower social classes –
the working class and the underclass. He did not approve of the
Victorian class system as he believed that all people were equal and
that the stratification of society was unfair. Through his works,
Dickens campaigned on different aspects of class inequality and
injustices that the poor suffered, such as workhouses or child
labor.
Charlotte Bronte (21 April 1816 - 31 March 1855):
English novelist noted for Jane Eyre (1847), a strong narrative of a
woman in conflict with her natural desires and social condition. The
novel gave new truthfulness to Victorian fiction.
Jane Eyre:
Widely considered a classic, it gave new truthfulness to the Victorian
novel with its realistic portrayal of the inner life of a woman, noting
her struggles with her natural desires and social condition. Charlotte
Bronte’s most beloved novel describes the passionate love between the
courageous orphan Jane Eyre and the brilliant, brooding, and domineering
Rochester. The loneliness and cruelty of Jane’s childhood strengthen her
natural independence and spirit, which prove invaluable when she takes a
position as a governess at Thorn field Hall. But after she falls in love
with her sardonic employer, her discovery of his terrible secret forces
her to make a heart-wrenching choice.
How Jane Eyre Reflects The Victorian Era: Charlotte Bronte’s most
beloved novel describes the passionate love between the courageous
orphan Jane Eyre and the brilliant, brooding, and domineering Rochester.
The loneliness and cruelty of Jane’s childhood strengthen her natural
independence and spirit, which prove invaluable when she takes a
position as a governess at Thorn field Hall. But after she falls in love
with her sardonic employer, her discovery of his terrible secret forces
her to make a heart-wrenching choice.
Emily Bronte (30 July 1818 - 19 December 1848):
Emily Bronte was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her
only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English
literature. She also published a book of poetry with her sisters
Charlotte and Anne titled Poems by Currier, Ellis, and Acton Bell with
her own poems finding regard as a poetic genius.
Emily Bronte Best known for her novel Wuthering Heights (1847), Emily
Bronte also wrote over 200 poems which her sister Charlotte Bronte
thought had a peculiar music – wild, melancholy, and elevating.’ The
style of Wuthering Heights is poetic and lyrical. Many critics have
noted that Bronte's use of romantic imagery and emotional dialogue in
the novel evokes her previous work as a poet. The passionate feelings
and dark events reveal the characters ' emotional intensity and are
unusual in a Victorian novel.
Victorian Era:
Social Norms
Women had to be taken care of by men, first by their fathers and then
once married by their husbands. A man was expected to be the head of the
family, and his rules were to be respected as such. A woman in an upper
or middle-class family was expected to stay at home and host dinner
parties, calling on friends or visiting her dressmaker. It was a norm
that a man and a woman could only be married if they were from the same
social class, this was to keep their family's wealth and reputation
intact. Add a little for a man and woman from different classes to be
wed, was seen as unacceptable and therefore treated as such, in most
cases this meant that the lovers would be disowned if they’d choose to
defy their families will bit of body.
References
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oliver-Twist-novel-byDickens#ref34033
- https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/victorianera-timeline
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era