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The Victorian Period: the age of paradox

The Victorian Period: the age of paradox. 1837-1901 Queen Victoria’s Reign. Age of Prosperity. British Empire gained profits abroad Colonization of Africa, India for trade Industrial Revolution produced affordable goods Middle class developed Education increased Social mores revitalized

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The Victorian Period: the age of paradox

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  1. The Victorian Period: the age of paradox 1837-1901 Queen Victoria’s Reign

  2. Age of Prosperity • British Empire gained profits abroad • Colonization of Africa, India for trade • Industrial Revolution produced affordable goods • Middle class developed • Education increased • Social mores revitalized • Period of peace, known as the Pax Britannica • Population doubled; move to the cities • Advances in science, medicine, engineering

  3. Introduction of the factory

  4. Age of Buried Suffering • Industrial Rev. caused working class to suffer (child labor and sweat shops) • Colonization caused foreign conflict; xenophobia and racism • Clash of ideals with French Revolution • Social mores oppressed women and “Others” (monstrosities) • Population increase meant more poor and sick • Fear of scientific discoveries and medicinal advancements • Religious strife and moral bias • Life of excess=immoral vs. pragmaticism and asceticism=moral (unreal expectations=failure)

  5. Victorian Identity: (upper class) Women • Change in arranged marriage created some stress • Career was “Angel of the House”: wife, mother, daughter • Should be artistically trained, talented, charming, pure, demure, humble, beautiful, classically educated, dutiful, weak, helpless, emotional to compete with other women • Sexism: “hysteria” comes from the root “hyst,” or uterus (Freud) • 1887 the Married Woman's Property Act • Until 1887, women could not own property, even if inherited • If/when separated from husband, she forfeited property and had no rights to her children; she would be ostracized

  6. The Victorian Woman

  7. Victorian Identity: Sexuality • Prudery and repression of animalistic desires • Freud (id, ego, superego) • Marriage and purity • Courtship; dowries; double standards, love vs. class • Euphemisms • “limb” for “leg”; “expecting” for “pregnant” • Rampant prostitution

  8. Victorian Identity: Poor • Poor Law (Social Welfare): 1832 • Dangerous/difficult working conditions • Workhouses and Unions • “Living wage” (min wage) = 30 shillings a week • Anti-Poor Law Movement • Orphans and Orphanages • Debtor’s prisons • Prostitution • Education • Introduction of “ragged schools” (free schools)

  9. Medicine and Science • Hypnosis: 1841 • Ether: 1846 • Anesthetized surgery: 1840s • Plaster casts: 1852 • Cocaine: 1856 • Darwin’s “Origin of Species”: 1869 • Freud and psychoanalysis: 1880s

  10. Industrialism and Innovation • Steam Locomotive:1802 • Daguerreotype Photography: 1824 • Telegraph: 1838 • Electric lights used in public: 1846 • Sewing Machine: 1851 • Refrigeration: 1859 • Motion Pictures: 1890

  11. Victorian Art and Aesthetics • Literature/poetry consider impractical “lies” • Victorian industrialist was pragmatic and efficient • The search for objective beauty: “perfect form” • Realism: “truth to nature” • Photography, representationalism, portraits • Rebellious Pre-Raphaelites: art for art’s sake

  12. Victorian Religious Conflict • Evangelicals (middle class “ethos”) vs. objective, scientific thought • Happiness earned through hard work and self-denial • Conformity • Darwin crisis

  13. Darwinism and Society • Survival of the fittest • Originate from ape? Animalistic nature? • Social Darwinism=work harder? • 1872 Origin of Species • 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case… • 1891 Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

  14. Literature Timeline • 1813 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice • 1818 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein • 1843 Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol • 1847 Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights • 1865 Lewis CarrolI, Alice in Wonderland • 1883 Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island • 1891 Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray; Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes • 1895 Oscar Wilde, The Importance… • 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case… • 1897 Bram Stoker, Dracula • 1902 Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

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