Victorian Era 1841-1880

1. Victorian Era1841-1880

2. Political Movements • 1841 - Sir Robert Peel forms a Conservative government. • 1846 - Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel resigns after the Corn Laws are repealed. • 1848 - Public Health Act aims to reduce death rates. • 1854 - Britain and France declare war on Russia and the Crimean War begins. • 1870 - New law introduces secular school boards. • 1870 - Women obtain limited rights to retain their property after marriage. • 1880 - Education becomes compulsory for children under ten.

3. Literary Themes • The Victorian Compromise was a combination of the positive and negative aspects of the Victorian Age: The expansion, great technology, communication and colonial empire (Middle Class). Poverty, injustices, starvation, slums (working class). • Novels of the Victorian era are generally based on very strong concepts of morality. In a society where modern industries were emerging rapidly, many literary works sought to bring out the grim reality of a landless working class and the precarious condition of a declining gentry. 

4. Famous Authors • Anthony Trollope and Thomas Hardy who presented a sombre picture of daily life and struggle against hardship. • Oscar Wilde combined satire and morality. • George Elliot or Mary Ann Evans who adopted a male pseudonym to distance herself from the light-hearted romances with which women writers of the time were associated. • Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre which narrates the growth of a young woman. The tales are purpose firmly grounded in a sense of high morality. • Charles Dickens proved to be highly adept in portraying the actual condition of the society. He used humour and satire for the purpose. • http://victorian-era.org/famous-writers-of-the-victorian-era.html

5. Women • Industrial Revolution attributed to the change in the status of women. According to the traditional family pattern, the women were supposed to look after the household chores and take care of children while the men would earn money. There was a strong presence of male dominance in the society. Women were to obey what men told them to do. • · The revolution gave women an opportunity to work and earn money, thus changing the old beliefs. Working women not only shared the burden of earning money but it also gave them a sense of security. Their lives were no longer restricted to the house and children. The segregation of large families into nuclear ones also added to the change in the women’s lives. • · Women provided a flexible, cheap and adaptive workforce for factories and sweatshops, and had feminine skills associated with some of the most rapidly expanding consumer goods industries at the forefront of industrialisation such as textiles, pottery, clothing and victualling.

6. Social Class Upper • · The Victorian Upper Class consisted of the Aristocrats, Nobles, Dukes, other wealthy families working in the Victorian courts. The Upper Class was in a powerful position giving them authority, better living conditions, and other facilities. • · Upper Class was by inheritance a Royal Class. Many Aristocrats did not work as for centuries together their families had been gathering enough money for each generation to live a luxurious life. However, there were a number of aristocrats who managed large industries like mining or shipping, etc. • · In terms of education also those belonging to the rich families got the best tutors to provide education. The fact that they represented the royal class gave these people an advantage at everything. They could buy expensive clothes imported from Europe, or afford other riches of life that was beyond the scope of others.

7. Social Class Middle • · Middle-class people also owned and managed vast business empires. The middle-class population at the very start of the Victorian era was limited to a few. • · The Industrial Revolution in the mid-century of the era brought about drastic changes in the standard of living of the Victorian Middle-Class people. These revolutions opened the doors for more job opportunities and earn a decent living. This, in turn, had a positive impact on the education of children.

8. Social Class Working • · The lowest among the social hierarchy were the working class. This class remained aloof to the political progress of the country and was hostile to the other two classes. This working class was further categorised as the skilled workers and the unskilled workers. Due to the revolution, the industrial workers got jobs thus improving their living conditions. However, the unskilled workers who were placed below the skilled one remained unemployed and were vulnerable to the exploitation. • · The working class was the worst affected class in the Victorian times. Lack of money resulted in a negligible food supply. For some working families, the living conditions were so pathetic that they required their children to work in order to bring home some extra income to survive. • · The death of their father meant that there is no income to the family and they eventually were forced to live on streets or some public housing. There were some families which would reside in a single room just to have a shelter over their head. The conditions were so brutal for the working class that at times children were forced to work away from their parents.

9. Key Historical Moments • Irish potato famine,1845 and ending in 1852, changed the social and political landscape of Ireland • Communist manifesto written, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848,  led to a sense of worker solidarity. • Great exhibition in Crystal Palace, 1st World’s Fair-type exhibition in 1851 and represented the advances and attitudes of the Victorian era. • Crimean War until 1853-1856, modern nursing came about, highest honour, the Victoria Cross, was first awarded during the war and gave rise to nationalist military attitude. • Bessemer invents the furnace 1855 • Big Ben cast in 1856

10. Men • Men possessed the capacity for reason, action, aggression, independence, and self-interest. • Men dominated all decision-making in political, legal and economic affairs. • · Men possessed all kinds of freedom. The man was naturally the head of the family and the guardian of family members. He was the protector and the lord. He was strong, brave and hard-working. • · Men from all parts of the country were expected to provide for their families. Most men were farmers, field hands and skilled craftsmen. Trading, trapping, fishing, metalworking and selling merchandise were other common 19th century occupations for men.