2. 1837 when Queen Victoria was
crowned at the age of nineteen
to when she died in 1901.
3. Charles Dickens,
Thomas Hardy,
Joseph Conrad,
The Bronte sisters,
William Thackeray
George Eliot
4. Alfred Lord Tennyson,
Elizabeth Barrett
Browning,
Christina Rossetti,
Robert Browning
Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
5. Death,
Religion,
Disease,
Love,
Society,
Social Class,
Reputation,
Ruin,
Marriage,
Ghosts,
Supernatural,
Roles of men and
women.
6. The Victorian Era was hugely dominated by powerful
themes in the rise of the novel; the way books were written
and published were very much in accordance to society at
the time. In fact, many of the themes written of were a
normal part of society which the writers were either using
as a tool to make us question its morality or to highlight the
social inequality as a point for effective and often tragic
storytelling. Charles Dickens remains to this day the most
widely read author of the Victorian Era, but many classics
have risen from other influential authors of the time,
novels treasured still to this very day such as ‘Wuthering
Heights’, ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ and ‘Vanity Fair’.
7. The Bronte sisters had to publicise their
novels under a series of pseudonyms:
Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. This
highlights how society was still very
much split into the typically traditional
male and female roles, something which
was touched on in their literature, a good
example of this would be Charlotte
Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’ which is very much
dictated by the power of men over
women in various situations such as
inheritance and in the workplace.
8. Victorian Literature was not just
influenced by society, however; it was
also influenced heavily by other
literature and the political standpoints
at the time. Charles Dickens included
references to politics within his writings
and was also a great rival with William
Thackeray. Shakespeare continued to be
an influence to many writers in the
Victorian period, his romantic air and
talents for entwining this with nature
inspired many novelists of the time.
