Introduction
The Victorian Period, identified as the period between 1832 to 1901, was named after the reigning monarch at the time, Queen Victoria of England. The Victorian period saw many changes and innovations which shaped the modern world. During this era, Britain was transformed from a predominantly rural, agricultural society into an urban, industrial one.
The 19th century is considered by some to be the Golden Age of English Literature, especially for British novels. It was in the Victorian era that the novel became the leading literary genre in English. English writing from this era reflects the major transformations in most aspects of English life, from scientific, economic, and technological advances to changes in class structures and the role of religion in society.
Background Of Victorian Period
In the Victorian Period, the family was a central unit in Victorian society. The roles of each member of the family were clearly defined. As a result of this, women were strictly confined to domestic duties. They were expected to be austere, delicate, and deferent to their husbands, fathers, and brothers. They could not inherit property.
Education and literacy progressed a great deal during the Victorian Age. Since the printing technology was firmly established and easy to replicate, the number of publications was on the rise. Serialised publications became immensely popular as large groups of people, including the newly emerged middle class, subscribed to periodicals.
Science and medicine advanced significantly during the Victorian Period.
Characteristics/ Features of the Victorian Age and Literature or Victorian Novels
During this period there was progress in the field of science and arts. But this age was equally marked by its social unrest. A unique set of characteristics marked this literary era, reflecting the social, political, and cultural changes of the time.
Characteristics of Victorian Novels and Age
• Realism
• Morality and Didacticism
• Social Critique
• Industrialization and Its Discontents
• Psychological Character Development
• The Woman Question
• Narrative Experimentation
• The Supernatural and Gothic
Realism
Victorian literature often shows real people and real-life situations. Writers like Charles Dickens did not shy away from the grim parts of city life and the struggles of people experiencing poverty.
The stories reflected the enormous gap between the wealthy and the people with low incomes and the often harsh realities of living in an industrial society. The characters were complex, and their problems were those that ordinary people faced.
It made the stories relatable. The focus was on making everything seem as true to life as possible, from the dialogue to the settings. This realism helped to highlight the social issues of the time, pushing readers to see the need for change.
Morality and Didacticism
Victorian novels are often aimed at teaching readers right from wrong. The stories were like lessons on how to live a good life. The writers of that time believed books could make people better.
They filled their stories with clear morals to guide readers towards good behaviour. For example, Charles Dickens’s novel A Christmas Carol shows the character Ebenezer Scrooge undergoing a transformation from a miserly, selfish man to a generous and compassionate one.
The story highlights a moral lesson about the importance of kindness, empathy, and generosity, especially during the Christmas season. This teaching side of writing was significant back then.
Social Critique
Victorian literature often used stories to point out what was wrong with society. Authors like Thomas Hardy and Elizabeth Gaskell wrote about how unfair life was for people experiencing poverty, how children had to work, and how the class system stopped people from moving up in the world.
These books opened people’s eyes to the problems around them and made them think about change. The writers were not afraid to show the ugly side of their world, and they hoped their books would make people want to fix these issues.
This way, literature was not just for reading pleasure but also a mirror showing society its flaws, hoping to push for a better future for everyone. The following writers were doing this.
Charles Dickens: His novels, including “Oliver Twist” and “Hard Times,” highlight social injustices and the plight of people experiencing poverty in the Industrial Age.
Charlotte Brontë: Her novel “Jane Eyre” addresses the constraints on women and class inequalities, offering insights into the status of governesses and the limited autonomy of women.
George Eliot: Through works like “Middlemarch,” she explores issues such as the role of women in society and the need for social reform.
Elizabeth Gaskell: Her novels, like “North and South,” examine the class divide and the impact of industrialization on workers and their communities.
Thomas Hardy: In novels such as “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” Hardy critiques societal norms and the injustices faced by individuals, particularly women, in rural England.
Industrialization and Its Discontents
Victorian literature often reflected on the significant changes brought by industrialization. Factories sprang up, cities swelled, and life sped up. This new world made some people rich, but others suffered in poor working conditions and crowded slums.
Writers like Charles Dickens in “Hard Times” showed how this progress could harm people and the environment.
Psychological Character Development
Victorian novels often took readers deep into the minds of their characters. These characters grow and change throughout the story, making them feel like real people.
A character might start selfish and learn to be kind, or might be timid and become brave. Writers like Charlotte Brontë in “Jane Eyre” showed how a lonely girl becomes a strong woman.
George Eliot, in “Middlemarch,” traced the inner lives of a whole town, showing how people’s hopes and mistakes shape their lives.
These stories did not just tell what happened on the outside; they also explored what was going on inside people’s heads. This way, readers understand the characters’ thoughts and feelings, making the stories more meaningful.
The Woman’s Question
In Victorian times, writers started to question the role of women in society. They asked if women should have the same rights as men, like voting, owning property, or getting an education.
Novels from this time often show women trying to find their place in a world that limits them. For example, in “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, fights for her right to marry for love, not just money.
Narrative Experimentation
Victorian writers were creative with how they told stories. They did not just go from start to finish. They mixed things up. Some used letters or diary entries to build the tale, like Bram Stoker in “Dracula.”
The Supernatural and Gothic
Victorian novels often mixed in spooky, mysterious elements. This style is called Gothic. It includes old, dark houses, ghosts, and strange happenings.
Books like “Dracula” by Bram Stoker had vampires and castles, which were creepy and exciting. These stories used the supernatural to explore human fears and the unknown.
Gothic tales were not just about frightening readers; they also made them think about life, death, and what it means to be human. They were popular because they were thrilling, but they made people consider big questions through their chilling adventures.
Victorian Poetry
Victorian Poetry just like the different branches of Victorian Literature, is found to be dominated by the social thought of the age. The victorian Period produced many great poets, whose poetry influenced the entire English Literature. These include Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, and Alfred Tennyson.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an immensely talented poet who rivalled the poet Alfred Tennyson for Poet Laureate. She was introduced to many great poets in her lifetime, including Wordsworth and Coleridge. She was a staunch opposer of slavery, and she also aligned with the feminist beliefs of Mary Wollstonecraft. Elizabeth Barrett Browning later influenced many poets and writers, including Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe. Some of her most famous poems include:
• ‘The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point’ (1850).
• ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways (1850).
• Aurora Leigh (1857), a novel written in blank verse.
Robert Browning
The husband of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, wrote poems often featuring the dramatic monologue, giving them a conversation-like feel. He often exchanged poems with his wife, which were full of passion and affection for her. Some of Robert Browning’s popular poems include:
• ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ (1842).
• ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ (1836).
• ‘The Laboratory’ (1844).
• ‘Love Among Ruins’ (1855).
Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson was a Poet Laureate from 1850 to 1892. He produced numerous poems during his lifetime, and one of his most famous poems is ‘Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington’ (1852). Some of Tennyson’s famous poetry includes:
• ‘Break Break Break’ (1842).
• ‘Godiva’ (1847).
• ‘Crossing the Bar’ (1889).
• ‘Tithonus’ (1859).
Novelists of the Victorian Period
The increase in literacy during the Victorian Period meant that the popularity of literature produced during this period was heightened. The Victorian Period also gave us the most widely read and beloved fictional detective of all time – Sherlock Holmes. While in the preceding Romantic period, poetry had been the dominant genre, it was the novel that was most important in the Victorian period
Charles Dicken
Charles Dickens is the most famous Victorian novelist. He is still one of the most popular and read authors of that time period.His first novel, The Pickwick Papers (1836), written when he was twenty-five, was an overnight success, and all his subsequent works sold extremely well. His most important works include Oliver Twist (1837-1838), Dombey and Son (1846-1848), Bleak House (1852-1853), Great Expectations (1860–1861), Little Dorrit (1855-1857), and Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865) The Old Curiosity Shop.
William Thackeray
William Thackeray was Dickens’ great rival in the first half of Queen Victoria’s reign. With a similar style but a slightly more detached, acerbic and barbed satirical view of his characters, he also tended to depict a more middle-class society than Dickens did. He is best known for his novel Vanity Fair (1848), subtitled A Novel without a Hero, which is an example of a form popular in Victorian literature: a historical novel in which recent history is depicted.
Bronte Sisters
Anne, Charlotte and Emily Brontë produced notable works of the period, although these were not immediately appreciated by Victorian critics. Wuthering Heights (1847), Emily’s only work, is an example of Gothic Romanticism from a woman’s point of view, which examines class, myth, and gender. Jane Eyre (1847), by her sister Charlotte, is another major nineteenth-century novel that has gothic themes. Anne’s second novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), written in realistic rather than romantic style, is mainly considered to be the first sustained feminist novel.
George Eliot
George Eliot is one of the most eminent novelists of the Victorian Age. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), published The Mill on the Floss in 1860, and 1872 her most famous work Middlemarch. Like the Brontës she published under a masculine pseudonym. She wrote 7 great novels in her literary career. Among her collection of novels Adam Bede, Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Romala, and Silas Marner are world-famous.
Thomas Hardy
In the later decades of the Victorian era, Thomas Hardy was the most important novelist. His works include Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895). Other significant novelists of this era were Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865), Anthony Trollope (1815–1882), George Meredith (1828-1909), and George Gissing (1857-1903).
Conclusion
Due to the progress of science and art, the Victorian age is also known as the modern period of progress and unrest. During this period, writers depicted the life of an individual and its connection to Victorian society. It was an era of material development with ideals of peace. This age was portrayed as a completely idealistic life. It was an idealistic age where great ideas like truth, justice, and brotherhood were emphasized by poets, essayists, and novelists of the time.
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