The Victorian Age• 1832: 1st Reform Bill; Sir Walter Scott dies• 1837: Victoria Becomes Queen• 1847: Communist Manifesto• 1850: Tennyson succeeds Wordsworth as

poet laureate• 1851: Great Exhibition• 1859: Origin of the Species• 1867: 2nd Reform Bill• 1901: Death of Victoria

Rise of London• Great urbanization • London replaces Paris as dominant city of

the world

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John Henry Henshall, The Public Bar

William Powell Frith, The Railway Station (1862)

William May Egley, Omnibus Life in London(1859)

Augustus Leopold Egg, Travelling Companions (1862)

Picadilly Circus 1893

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Trafalgar Square

Rising Industrialization

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Sir Luke Fildes, Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward

(1874)

Eyre Crowe, The Dinner Hour, Wigan (1874)

Tremendous Colonial Empire• Colonial Office, Whitewall

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England’s Empire

Jubilee Clock Tower, Malaysia, 1897

Mutiny Memorial

Rise of Nationalist Sentiment

National Gallery, Trafalgar Square

Natural History Museum

Great National Accomplishments

Royal Albert Hall

Lyceum Theatre

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The National Past

The Oxford MuseumImage borrowed from: http://65.107.211.206/art/architecture/arch4.html

A Modern Nation

The United Service 1828

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Victoria Embankment

Bank of England 1844

Triumphant Reign of VictoriaVictoria Memorial 1911

Albert Memorial

1832 Reform Bill• Widened the vote• Abolished rotten boroughs• Redistributed parliamentary

representation

John Robertson Reid,A Country Cricket Match(1878)

1830s-40s: Time of Troubles

Sir Hubert von Herkomer, Hard Times (1885)• Hungry 40s

Chartists• 1838: People’s Charter—parliamentary

petition• First sustained, inclusive working-class

movement in modern English history• Universal manhood suffrage• Secret ballot• Payment for members of Parliament• Abolition of the property qualification for

members• Equal electoral districts• Annual elections

Corn Laws • England had maintained high tariffs on

grain imports to protect domestic agriculture

• Abolished high tariffs on grain imports• 1845: Crop failures• Potato blight

Rise of Benthamite Utilitarianism

• Greatest pleasure to the greatest number• Workhouse theory• Philosophy of political economy that

inspired the Industrial Revolution• Influenced by Malthus and Priestley• Importance of Jeremy Bentham and

James Mill• Basis for hedonistic philosophy• Carlyle, Ruskin, John Stuart Mill, and

others would criticize

Age of Improvement—1848-1870

• Growth of Empire• Rise of prisons• Great Exhibition• National confidence Frank Holl, Newgate (1878)

The Great Exhibition (1851)• Designed to showcase England’s

accomplishments• Emphasized the scientific and artistic

developments of the 19c• Demonstrated England’s vast global

empire and influence• Revealed the tremendous optimism and

hope of the Victorian Age

The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace

The Factory Acts (1802-78)• Increased regulation on labor in mines

and factories• Reduction to 16-hour day

Prominent Emigration

Harry Nelson O’Neil,Eastward Ho! (1857)

“White Man’s Burden”• John Frederick Lewis, The Mid-day Meal, Cairo (1875)

Biblical High Criticism• Scientifically re-examined facts and

figures of the BibleDavid Roberts, Rome from the Convent of San Onofrio (1861)

Darwin’s Origin of the Species (1859)

• Monumental attack on the social authority of religion

• Served as more of a confirmation of already-held beliefs

• Led to prominent debates amongst scientists

• Forerunner of Thomas Huxley’s work on science

John Tyndall

• Age of the earth• Strong influence on Tennyson’s In

Memoriam (1850)• Challenged biblical accounts about the

origin and history of the earth• Forced Victorian society to re-think who

created the earth and how• Suggests that creation was neither

complete nor perfect

Victorian Decay (1870-1901)• England as technological consumer

culture• Decline in national optimism• Imperial aims questioned• New challenge of artist• Rise of aestheticism• Irish question

Erskine Nicol, An Irish Emigrant arriving in Liverpool (1871)

Aesthetic Movement of 1890s• Late-century movement that aimed to

celebrate for its own sake• Great influence of William Pater, John

Ruskin, and French symbolist poets (e.g. Charloes Baudelaire)

• Oscar Wilde, Lionel Johnson, Aubrey Beardsley

• Response to the earnestness of Victorian art and society

Role of Women• Women did not share in reform• Became integral to Victorian society• Angel in the house model• Rise of domesticity• Few employment opportunities

Richard Redgrave, The Governess

Social Reform for Women• Custody Act of 1839• Divorce and Matrimonial Act of 1857• Married Women’s Property Acts • Increased pressure for women’s

education options

Women’s Role in Literature• Governess novel• Angel in the house• Fallen Woman• Exalted conception of home• Increased “social” importance of woman

Emily Mary Osborn, Nameless andFaceless (1857)

Literacy and Publishing• Continued increase in literacy• Better printing technology• Growth of the periodical• More communities of readers• Difficult relationship between writer and

public readerships

Novel as Dominant Form• Realism• Social realism/social problems• Material conditions• Class structures• Tensions of heroine • Novel’s affinity with women and

domesticity• Sensationalist novel

Victorian Poetry• Always seems inferior when compared to

Romanticism• Develop new ways to tell stories—e.g.

dramatic monologue• Do not share Romantics’ confidence in

the imagination• Emphasis on visual imagery and sound• Seek to present psychology in new way• Poetry of mood and character

Victorian Non-Fiction Prose• Extended function of didactic prose writer• Investigation of important social issues

– Education– Labor and Utilitarianism– Science– Religion– Empire– Art and Literature– Women– Crime and Prison

• Lack of Drama until 1890s

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)• Great teacher of

the age• American following

—Emerson• Prominent crisis of

faith—recorded in Sartor Resartus

• Highly personal and psychological prose style

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Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)• Criticizes soulless

world• Vitalism—sees

great energy of world as presence of godhead

• Critic of laissez-faire and Benthamite Utilitarianism

• Conservative/pseudo-fascist desire for hero-worship

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Past and Present (1843)• Call for heroic leadership• Need to replace a “do-nothing

Aristocracy”• 1110: serious time• 1111: Mammon

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Past and Present (1843)• 1112: Gurth—14c peasant was happy• Liberty has led to starvation• 1115: leadership must come from within• 1116: hope of awakening a British man• Addresses captains of Industry re:

England’s fate• 1117: need for love• 1118: awake ye noble workers• Work requires organization