English literature history

1. Victorian Era (1832 -
1900)

3. Victorian England :Historical and Social
Background
• The Victorian age began in 1837 when the eighteenth year old
Victoria succeeded her uncle, William IV and became the queen of
England. Victoria’s life and reign were long , she died in 1901
when she was eighty two. During this period, England became the
world’s wealthiest nation and, through the creation and expansion
of the British Empire, its dominant colonial power. Standing as it
does between the Romantic era and the twentieth century, the
Victorian Age has a special relevance for us today.
• Victorian England was an age of anxiety and flux. Social, political
and religious institutions were challenged. Man’s relationship with
church, class and government came under a new scrutiny.

4. • The Oxford movement (A movement of high church members
which led to revival of Anglo Catholic Church), Reform Bills,
Utilitarianism (a moral theory believing that “The Useful is Good,
and the action is right which provides the happiness of the
majority of people), the impact of science and above all the
Industrial Revolution made new intellectual and emotional
demands upon Victorians. In theory, the Industrial Revolution was
a magnificent success, but it led to unbelievable social problems.
• Victorian period was a period of revaluation of old values either,
poets and novelists began to attack the middle class narrow
morality, complacency, materialism and moral tyranny.

5. • It was in Victorian period that men of letters began to respond
vigorously to social problems. They played a more meaningful and
responsible social and critical role than before. Dickens, Tennyson,
Arnold and many others were great social critics.

7. The Three Phases of Victorian Age
• The Victorian age was a period of extensive social and political
development. In order to clarify the main events of this period it is
convenient to divide the Victorian Age in to three phases: early, middle
and late.
• The early period (1832 -1848) – Although Queen Elizabeth came to
throne in1837, the early Victorian period begins in 1832 when the
Parliament passed the First Reform Bill which gave power to middle class
by extending the vote to all men owning property worth ten pounds or
more in annual rent. The reform Bill reduced the power of upper class
and “the rotten boroughs "which had more seats in parliament for their
underpopulated rural areas than the populous urban areas.

8. • Despite these improvements, the early years of Victorian reign continued
to be a time of considerable hardship, injustice and unrest. The working
class and the lower middle class still did not have the right to vote. The
Chartists, the first great organized working class movement of industrial
era, drew up “People’s Charter” demanding further extension of the
right to vote, the use of secret ballot and other additional democratic
reforms.
• 2.The middle Period (1848-1870) –During these two decades England
reached the height of its wealth and productivity as an industrial nation.
London which had a population of two million when Victoria became
queen turned into a world center for banking, insurance and shipping.

9. • Michael Faraday’s development of electromagnetic machinery amazed
the world and promised ever greater prosperity for the future.
The most eloquent spokesman for Victorian progress and optimism was
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800 -1859). He was a Whig politician
and a historian who held office in British Secretary of War. He based his
optimism on the conviction that history, technology, free enterprise and
God were all working in harmony toward a betterment of human beings.
• The Middle period also witnessed complicated infighting between Whigs
and Tories or the Liberals and Conservatives as they were coming to be
called. Whigs represented the interests of newly wealthy middle class

10. • And were in favor of gradual economic reform as long as it did not
conflict with economic growth and expansion. The Tory, the part of
traditional English values, Monarchy , benevolent class system and the
Church of England had moved past the reactionary phase of the early
decades of the century in to a more modern and enlighten position. Both
parties knew that the demands of the working classes could be satisfied
and further social reforms were necessary. During 1840and 1850 both
parties urged the Parliament to pass a series of Factory Acts which
restricted Child Labor and limited hours of employment. Later, when
Benjamin Disraeli, the conservative politician became the prime
minister, the Second Reform Bill was passed which extended voting right
to all members of working class except the agriculture laborers.

11. • 3.The late Period (1870-1901) – During this period Disraeli
himself became the great spokesman for English imperialism.
English rule extended to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India
South Africa and many other parts of the world. Queen Victoria
was made the Empress of India in 1876. The English boast that
“The Sun never sets on British Empire” was literally true.
• Victorians more than ever were enjoying the comfort of
prosperity. London was a gay and fashionable city; new rows of
fanciful late Victorian houses were built in suburbs to suit the
taste of aristocracy.

12. • Beneath this surface of progress, comfort and satisfaction, however,
there were signs of new transition on Victorian life. The sudden
emergence of Bismarck's Germany after the defeat of France in 1871,
with its great military and industrial power began to pose a threat on
England. The recovery of United States after the Civil war provided a
new completion not only in industry but also agriculture.
• Another great threat was the growth of labor unions as a political and
economic force. The labor party represented a variety of shades of
socialism. Some labor leaders were the disciples of Tory socialism of
John Ruskin and shared the idealistic conviction that the middle class
economic and political systems were irresponsible and immoral.

13. • Other labor leaders were influenced by the revolutionary theories
of Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels after the publishing of
Communist Manifesto of 1847 and Marx’s Capital (1867,
1885,1895). The first English author who was influenced by Marxist
theories was William Morris who shares Marx’s conviction that
utopia could be achieved only after the working class had, by
revolution, taken the control of government and industry.