Victorian Period

Victorian Period 1832 - 1901

Riot and ReformsHistory of the Times • “The Hungry Forties” • In 1837 England entered a severe depression. 1.5 million people were unemployed by 1842. • Reform Bill of 1832 • This bill gave the right to vote to more landowning men.

Riot and ReformsHistory of the Times • Child Labor • Children worked 12-hour days. • Children were injured and over-worked. • Irish potato famine (1845-1849) • 1 million people died; 2 million people emigrated.

Riot and ReformsHistory of the Times • Due to political rallies, many reforms took place. • Parliament repealed the tax that forced bread prices up. • The Second Reform Act gave the vote to most working-class men. • Factory acts limited child labor by reducing work day to 10 hours.

Riot and ReformsLiterature of the Times • Charles Dickens • He is the most important figure in Victorian literature. • His novels attacked the excesses of Victorian affluence and the neglect and exploitation of decent people (children).

Progress Brings ProsperityHistory of the Times • The Industrial Revolution improved life. • Created new roads, new towns, new goods, and new wealth • Created new jobs for tens of thousands of people • A new spirit of optimism developed. • People believed reason and courage could overcome the problems of the 1840s.

Progress Brings ProsperityHistory of the Times • Britain was stable and peaceful and expanded its empire (from India and Ireland to China and Africa). • Education improved. • Education became free and mandatory • 1880 – schooling became mandatory • 1891 – schooling became free • 1870 – Britain passed a law establishing state-supported schools

Progress Brings ProsperityLiterature of the Times • Thomas Babington Macaulay • He was the spokesman for Victorian progress and optimism. • Beliefs – • History, technology, free enterprise, and God were all working in harmony toward the betterment of the human race. • He admired cleanliness and order – London streets should be free of garbage, drained, paved, lighted at night, and patrolled by a sober police force.

Decorum and DoubtHistory of the Times • Victorians thought of themselves progressing morally and intellectually • The middle-class was obsessed with gentilityand decorum. • Sex, birth, and death were softened. • All were made sentimental. • In real life, people were arrested for distributing information about STDs, and adulterous and seduced women were scorned and expelled from polite society

Decorum and DoubtHistory of the Times • Women were subject to male authority • Middle-class women were expected to marry and make their homes a refuge for their husbands. • Unmarried women had few options. • Working-class women could find jobs as servants. • Middle-class women could be governesses or teachers.

Decorum and DoubtHistory of the Times • The excesses, cruelties, and hypocrisy of these repressions were apparent, but these codes and barriers were slow to be changed because the ideology of decorum was tied to the idea of progress. • Victorian writers asked whether material comfort fully satisfied human needs and wishes. • They questioned the cost of exploiting the earth and human beings. • They protested and mocked Victorian codes of decorum and authority.

Decorum and DoubtLiterature of the Times • Skepticism became pervasive in the works of later Victorian writers. These late-Victorian writers, such as Thomas Hardy and A.E. Housman, tell of lovers and friends betrayed by unfaithfulness, war, and other troubles that we humans add to the natural trials of mortal life. • Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” gave voice to the doubts and anxieties of the late Victorian Period.

Victorian Period