TWO DIFFERENT SIDES OF THE SAME COIN: VICTORIAN AGE - 1837-1901 - 1837: Victoria became queen - She married her cousin Albert and had nine children - She embodied 19’ century middleclass feminity and domesticity - A national symbol of motherhood and respectability An age of prosperity and optimism - England had become the “Workshop of the world” - Great technological and scientific progress - Trade and industry flourished - International exhibition of 1851 in Hyde park: symbol of progress and of the British spirit of enterprise
Transcript
TWO DIFFERENT SIDES OF THESAME COIN: VICTORIAN AGE
- 1837-1901
- 1837: Victoria became queen
- She married her cousin Albert and had nine children
- She embodied 19’ century middleclass feminity and domesticity
- A national symbol of motherhood and respectability
An age of prosperity and optimism- England had become the “Workshop of the world”
- Great technological and scientific progress
- Trade and industry flourished
- International exhibition of 1851 in Hyde park: symbol of progress and of the British spirit of enterprise
- An expanding empire: the “White man’s Burden”
VICTORIAN AGE: complex period of lights andshades-Victorian novel anticipates the modern novel
-Atmosphere: dark, mysterious (gothic elements)
- Characters: more complex. It’s presented also the psychological aspect.
LIFE BECOME EASIER THANKS TO THEIMPROVEMENT IN EVERYDAY LIFE:
Birth of electricity
There was more and better clothing
The development of industry
The increase of foodand forniture
THE GREAT EXHIBITIONEnglish celebrated his progress with this international exhibition in which it was built the Crystal Palace. It is a construction of iron and glass was built to
display tecnica and industrial product from all over the world.
An age of doubts and social unrest
-Growing democracy: 1832 the first reform bill (a great part of the male middle class)
-The chartist movement (1836)
-The second reform bill: 1867 (no miners and agricultural workers
-The third reform bill: 1887
-The education act in 1880
-Rebellion of the colonies against British rule. Queen Victoria had the title of “empress of India”
-New political parties
-The Boer war: to get the control of areas rich of gold and diamonds in Africa
-The Irish question
-1859: Origin of Species by Darwin
The cultural backgroundUtilitarianism
-“The greatest happiness to the greatest number”
-What it outside the logic of economic action is useless
-Men could be happy if they had material security
-Celebration of pragmatism
-No interference in the market. “Laissez faire”
Utilitarianism-Celebration on Pragmatism
-“Laissez Faire”
Utilitarianism, a social philosophy developed by Jeremy Bentham, was an important shaping force of Victorian
culture.Bentham’s utilitarianism philosophy was founded on two
principles:
-Terms like “conscience”, “morality”, “love”, “right” and“wrong”, were “vague generalities”.
-The value of life can be calculated according to the achieved pleasure, avoiding pain.
Utilitarianism also encouraged a reductiverationalistic and materialistic view of man. Utilitarians believed that men could be rendered happy by having material security and avoiding physical pain
-Morality and work ethics: if you work hard God will reward you
-Religion and morality: emphasis on Christian actions
-Abolition of the slave trade on British empire in 1837
-Hypocrisy towards
-Women
-Social progress: “not all that glitters is gold”
RELIGION AND SOCIETY
IN
VICTORIAN AGE
CONTRAST BETWEENRELIGION AND SCIENCE
Charles Darwin published the “Origin the species” and undermined the creation view that man had been created by God, as described in the book of Genesis. According to his theory man had evolved from lower of life
THE LITERARY BACKGROUND
-Prose: the victorian novel
-The main literary genre
-The novel in monthly instalments and published in periodicals
-The novel: Entertainment and education
-Realism: ordinary life as subject
-Fantasy novel. Alice in wonderland
-Romantic love novels: Emily and Charlotte Bronte
THE VICTORIAN NOVELProse: the greatest literary achievement of the age The spread of scientific knowledge: realistic and analytical novelThe spread of democracy: social and humanitarian novel The spirit of moral unrest: inquisitive and critical novels
early Victorian novel-novels of social criticism
-Less radical than contemporay European writers
-Vehicle to correct the vices and weaknesses of the age
-Didacticism: omniscient obtrusive narrators
THE PAST IN THE PRESENTThe 1800 left signs of change and iconic a mark in the present.
-THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER: after thedestruction of the old palace of Westminster by fire, the new one was built with the world famous Elizabeth Tower, Big Ben. The new building follows the neo-gothic style which is used a lot in the Victorian era.
-BRUNEL: his feats of engineering changed the face of Britain. He built railways, bridges and tunnel under the river Thames, the 1st under a navigabile river. Later, used far underground system, it’s referred to as the birth place of the tube.
The Great Western Railway Terminus, at Paddington, London (1874)
-FLORENCE NIGHTGALE: her notes on nursing, which she puts into practice there, remain the base of modern nursing theory and techniques. Her contributions include stablishing standards for hospital management, making nursing a respected occupation for women, establishing nursing education and recognizing that nutrono is important to health.she is also called ‘The Lady with the Lamb’. She is rich and she wants to help people as a missioner infact her family is against her as they are wealthy. She also wants to get rid of all her possessions.
-ST PATRICK’S DAY IN THE US ANDTHE FAMINE MEMORIAL IN
DUBLIN: after years of mismanagement of Ireland’s economy by Britain, a terrible
famine began in 1845 (in Ireland) due to a failure of the potato crop, the food source that they depended on for sustenance. It
caused the death of million of people. To escape death, people started to emigrate (United States). Now a lot of Americans claim Irish heritage and celebrate their
roots once a year in big celebrations on St Patrick’s Day.
-THE CRYSTAL PALACE: The palace was a cast-iran and plate-glass structure originally built in Hyde Park to host the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was designed in the period called Victorian age. This palace was destroyed by fire. So it no longer exists but it remains in London History. In this period, they want to show their power and richness
THE MECHANICAL AGE:This period saw huge advances in transport and communications, engineering and industrial processes.There was a sense of optimism about the future and faith in the new industrialised countries. So, this period is called Mechanical Age.
REFORM AND SOCIAL LEGISLATION: The earlyyears of the Victorian Age were referred to as “a time of troubles” due to: laissez-faire economics (no control from ambientes) -leave rich managers make
business who don’t care about workers rights (no control from
state)
-high unemployment, poverty and terrible living and working conditions of the lower class-The main requests for reform were stated in charter written by the chartists, members of the London working Men’s Association “here is the slave, there the master” wealth of some, poverty of most-They ask the right of vote for every man (21 years old)-Equal constituencies
SCIENCE AND THE FAITH: CHARLESDARWIN: Darwin denays the fact that God created humain being (is the result of evolution).His book is the result of evolution “On the Origin of Species” is a challenge. It’s shooking for religious people but it’s wrongly applied, because people, like in the totalitarian system, exploited this theory to justify their ideas.
GREAT BRITAIN: Britain is known as “the world’s workshop” for the industrial revolution and as “the world’s banker” for its economic and commercial power. Victorian believe Britain has the mission of civilizing all the countries they can. They think they’re the best.
