Module One

Course Outcome 1

Identify and explain the literary, cultural, historical, and socio- political context that garnered literary production of the Victorian Age, including the key literary works.

1.1: The Victorian Age - Victorian Compromise- Changes in social life - Industrial Revolution- Utilitarianism- Spread of science and technology– Marx, Darwin, J.S. Mill, Freud - India and the Empire.

1.2: Victorian poetry - Arnold, Browning and Tennyson, Elizabeth Barret Browning - The Victorian novel - Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. 

1.3: Pre-Raphaelites – Women writers- Elizabeth Barret Browning, C.G. Rossetti, Bronte sisters Criticism and the essay – Ruskin and Carlyle- Oscar Wilde and the aestheticians.

Victorian Age

The Victorian age in literature is roughly from 1830 to 1890. It coincided with the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). 

 The Victorian period was the age of industrialisation, empire, and reform. Industrialisation led to mass migration from rural areas to London. As the population of London increased, slums emerged in and around London. Industrialisation also led to pollution because of factories. Chartist agitations, led by the working class in factory towns, sparked fears of a revolution in England (as in France). There were a lot of debates over morality, poverty, education, industrialisation, and reforms. Most novels of this period focused on the individual and family. 

• Slavery and child labour were abolished in 1833. 

• Factory Act of 1833 for the welfare of the workers.

• Poor Law of 1834 for the poor and unemployed.

• Expansion of slums.

• Rise of powerful trade unions.

• Numerous wars (Afghan campaigns, 1857 Indian Independence War)

• Circulating libraries, newspapers, and cheap novels led to a rise in literacy. 

• Industrial Novels 

Victorian Compromise

Victorian compromise refers to the tension between the traditional values of Britain and the realities of industrial progress. The middle class preached morality, hard work, chastity, and sexual restraint, but poverty, child labour and sex trade were also prevalent during this period. This period saw morality and hypocrisy, wealth and poverty, science and religion. Morals, beliefs and values of the Victorians were not reflected in the reality of the society around them.