THE XIX CENTURY(19TH)

The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837
until her death on the 22nd of January 1901.
The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the
overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed an educated
middle class to develop. Some scholars extend the beginning of the periodas defined by a
variety of sensibilities and political games that have come to be associated with the Victorians
back five years to the passage of the Reform Act 1832. The era was preceded by the Georgian
period and succeeded by the Edwardian period. The latter half of the Victorian era roughly
coincided with the first portion of the Belle poque era of continental Europe and the Gilded Age
of the United States. The era is often characterized as a long period of peace, known as the Pax
Britannica, and economic, colonial, and industrial consolidation, temporarily disrupted by the
Crimean War, although Britain was at war every year during this time. Towards the end of the
century, the policies of New Imperialism led to increasing colonial conflicts and eventually the
Anglo-Zanzibar War and the Boer War. Domestically, the agenda was increasingly liberal with a
number of shifts in the direction of gradual political reform and the widening of the voting
franchise. The population of England had almost doubled in 1901. Irelands population decreased
rapidly, in 1901.At the same time, around 15 million emigrants left the United Kingdom in the
Victorian era and settled mostly in the United States, Canada, and Australia.During the early part
of the era, the House of Commons was headed by the two parties, the Whigs and the Tories. From
the late 1850s onwards, the Whigs became the Liberals; the Tories became the Conservatives.
These parties were led by many prominent statesmen including Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel,
Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, William Ewart Gladstone, Benjamin Disraeli, and Lord Salisbury.
The unsolved problems relating to Irish Home Rule played a great part in politics in the later
Victorian era, particularly in view of Gladstone's determination to achieve a political settlement.
Indeed these issues would eventually lead to the Easter Rising of 1916 and the subsequent domino
effect that would play a large part in the fall of the empire.The reign of Victoria is the longest in
British history; it has been exceeded because Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne to 2017.
HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL EVENTS
8 May 1838 People's Charter advocates social and political reform
The People's Charter advocated democratic reform on the basis of six points: one man, one vote;
equal electoral districts; payment of members of parliament; elections by secret ballot; removal of
property qualifications for MPs; and parliaments elected every year. 'Chartism' gained substantial
support among working people during the next decade and presented three national petitions to
parliament in 1839, 1842 and 1849. It was the most significant radical pressure group of the 19th
century.
1 August 1838 Slavery is abolished in the British empire
In 1834, slaves in the British empire started a period of 'apprenticeship', during which they were
obliged to work without pay for their former owners. Abolitionists campaigned against the system
and in the Caribbean there were widespread protests. When the apprenticeship period ended in
1838, over 700,000 slaves were freed in the British Caribbean. Plantation owners received about
20 million in government compensation for the loss of their slaves. The former slaves received
nothing.
17 September 1838 London-Birmingham line opens and the railway boom starts
London-Birmingham was the first railway line into the capital city, with passengers disembarking
in the newly-designed Euston station. The line precipitated the first of the great railway booms..
June 1840 Vaccination for the poor is introduced
Parliament enabled local poor law authorities to provide vaccination at the expense of ratepayers.
Battles over the ethical and practical issues involved lasted for the remainder of Victoria's reign.
Some authorities were reluctant to pay, even after infant vaccination was made compulsory in
1853. Further tightening of the regulations in 1867 and 1873 saw a number of anti-vaccination
campaigns. In 1898, parents were allowed a certificate of exemption for their children on grounds
of conscience.
August 1841 Sir Robert Peel forms a Conservative government The Whig government under
Viscount Melbourne faced increasing financial and public order difficulties, and Sir Robert Peel
forced a general election after defeating the Whigs on a no-confidence motion in the House of
Commons. The Conservatives won a Commons majority of more than 70. This was the first
election in modern times when one political party with a parliamentary majority was defeated by
another which gained a workable majority of its own.
June 1842 Income tax is introduced for the first time during peacetime
Income tax was levied for the first time during peace by Sir Robert Peel's Conservative
government at a rate of 7d (three pence) in the pound. The tax threshold was an income of 150
per year, thus exempting virtually all the working classes. The tax was not extended to famine-torn
Ireland until 1853. Direct taxation was unpopular in Victorian Britain. Many 19th-century finance
ministers toyed with the idea of abolishing income tax, but it proved too convenient and too
lucrative to lose.
18 May 1843 Church of Scotland splits over separation of church and state
More than 450 ministers of the Church of Scotland walked out of the church's general assembly in
Edinburgh to form the new Free Church of Scotland. Sometimes known as 'the disruption', the
split concerned the relationship between church and state in Scotland. Those leaving the church,
led by the evangelical Thomas Chalmers, believed that a religious organisation should have a
clearly religious head and should reject lay patronage.
September 1845 Irish potato famine begins In September 1845, the potato crop which had
previously provided approximately 60% of the nation's food needs, began to rot all over Ireland.
The potato blight struck again the following year. What began as a natural catastrophe was
exacerbated by the actions and inactions of the British government. It is estimated that about a
million people died during the four-year famine, and that between 1845 and 1855 another million
emigrated, most to Britain and North America.
30 June 1846 Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel resigns after the Corn Laws are repealed
Sir Robert Peel's famous reforming Conservative government came to an end shortly after
legislation to repeal the Corn Laws was passed. This measure removed protective duties which had
helped to keep the price of bread high. He championed it despite opposition from most of his own
party, and the motion was carried by Whig votes. Peel never took office again and was
remembered as the prime minister who gave the working classes cheaper bread.
July 1848 Public Health Act aims to reduce death rates Following pressure from the
administrator Edwin Chadwick and the findings of the Health of Towns Commission, parliament
passed legislation to improve urban conditions and reduce death rates. Local boards of health were
established in places where the population's death rate exceeded 23 per 1,000. The act was seen as
an unwelcome intrusion by central government and proved very unpopular. The central Board of
Health was wound up in 1858.
1 May 1851 The Great Exhibition opens at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London
This event was the brainchild of Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, and was designed to provide a
showcase for the world's most advanced inventions, manufactures and works of art. It was housed
in the massive 19-acre Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton. The event attracted almost six
million visitors during the five summer months it was open. Many ordinary people travelled to
London for the first time on cheap-rate excursion trains.
28 March 1854 Britain and France declare war on Russia and the Crimean War begins
The Crimean War was fought between the Russians and an alliance of the British, French and
Turks who feared Russian expansion in the Balkans. Notable battles included those at Sebasol,
Balaclava (which saw the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade) and Inkerman. Russia was forced
to sue for peace, and the war was ended by the Treaty of Paris in March 1856. British troops
casualties were as much from poor equipment and medical care as from fighting the Russians.
10 May 1857 Members of the Bengal army mutiny in India
Following a series of insensitive British demands, members of the Bengal army mutinied in
Meerut and marched towards Delhi, which they took two days later. It was re-taken in September.
Lucknow was twice besieged before being finally relieved in November. British authority was not
fully restored until July 1858 and the events of the mutiny were characterised by great brutality on
both sides. The mutiny led to the end of East India Company rule in India and its replacement by
direct British rule.
24 November 1859 Charles Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' is published
Charles Darwin's masterwork, which argued that all species evolved on the basis of natural
selection, resulted from more than 20 years' research following a five-year journey around Cape
Horn in HMS 'Beagle'. The book created an immediate stir, since Darwin's theory appeared to
contradict the bible's creation story and call into question ideas of divine providence. Despite the
influence of Darwin's work, very few Victorian scientists took up an atheistic position as a result of
reading it.
13 February 1862 Education funding becomes linked to pupils' results
Since 1833, the state had funded education for the poor in schools run by churches. Expenditure
increased rapidly, especially after the first education inspectors were appointed in 1839 and a
pupil-teacher scheme of training was implemented from 1847. By the early 1860s, an economy-
minded Liberal government wanted the state to get value for money. Grant payments were linked
to pupils' success in basic tests in reading, writing and arithmetic. The system was dubbed
'payment by results'.
15 August 1867 Second Reform Act doubles the electorate
This Reform Act was passed by a minority Conservative government led by Frederick, Earl of
Derby. Its orchestrator was Benjamin Disraeli, who permitted larger extensions to the franchise
than the Liberals would have countenanced. It virtually doubled the electorate, enabling one-third
of adult males in Britain and one-sixth in Ireland to vote in parliamentary elections. In a few urban
constituencies, working men were an electoral majority. A separate act for Scotland was passed in
1868.
9 December 1868 William Gladstone becomes prime minister for the first time
William Gladstone headed a Liberal government after defeating Benjamin Disraeli's Conservative
government in a general election. Gladstone's ministry survived until 1874 and is credited with
passing many reforms, especially relating to administration, the army and public health. Gladstone
was to form three further administrations, resigning as prime minister for the last time in March
1894.
26 July 1869 William Gladstone disestablishes the Church of Ireland
The established Church of Ireland was Anglican, although only about 3% of the Irish population
belonged to it - the vast majority being Roman Catholic. William Gladstone's legislation put
church property into the hands of commissioners, who could use it for 'social schemes', including
poverty relief and the expansion of higher education. Irish bishops no longer sat in the House of
Lords. The act was designed to reduce tensions and increasing lawlessness in Ireland.
17 November 1869 Suez Canal opens, linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea
Britain had opposed the building of the Suez Canal by an international company, but changed its
position in 1875 when Benjamin Disraeli's Conservative government bought 40% of the Canal
Company's shares. The canal then became of vital strategic interest, particularly as a route to India
and the Far East, and was protected by British troops from 1883.
9 August 1870 Women obtain limited rights to retain their property after marriage
This act changed the previous legal situation, in which all property automatically transferred to the
control of a husband on marriage. It granted some limited separate protection to a married
woman's property and also permitted women to retain up to 200 of their own wages or earnings.
Similar changes did not take effect in Scotland until 1877.
18 July 1872 Voting by secret ballot is introduced
William Gladstone's Liberal government introduced voting by secret ballot five years after the
Second Reform Act had substantially increased the size of the electorate. This realised one of the
key points of the reforming 'Chartist' petition of 1838. Voting in secret was not uncontroversial.
The proposal was fiercely contested by the House of Lords, which considered it 'cowardly' and
'unmanly'. It was first employed at a by-election in Pontefract in August of the same year.
1 May 1876 Victoria is declared empress of India
India came under direct British government control in 1858, when the remaining authority of the
East India Company was dissolved. The Conservative prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli,
suggested to the queen that she should be proclaimed empress. His motive seems mainly to have
been flattery. Despite objections from the Liberal opposition, who were not consulted, the title was
endorsed and Victoria used it officially from 1877.
13 July 1878 Congress of Berlin aims to settle European problems
Britain, represented by Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Robert Cecil, Marquis
of Salisbury, signed a European treaty which attempted to settle problems between states in the
Balkans and, in particular, to reduce perceived threats to European stability from Russian
expansion. Cyprus was leased to Britain from Turkey, strengthening its position in the
Mediterranean. Disraeli declared that he had brought back 'peace with honour'.
2 August 1880 Education becomes compulsory for children under ten
Although Forster's act of 1870 had greatly expanded education opportunities, and an act passed in
Benjamin Disraeli's government of 1876 had set up school attendance committees, significant gaps
remained. AJ Mundella introduced a bill on behalf of William Gladstone's Liberal government
which made school attendance compulsory from ages five to 10.
1 January 1883 Married women obtain the right to acquire their own property
The 1870 Married Women's Property Act had been widely criticised for failing to provide
sufficient safeguards for married women. A further act provided something approaching equality
for women since it allowed women to acquire and retain any property deemed separate from that
of their husband's. They also received the same legal protection as husbands if they needed to
defend their right to property.
December 1884 Third Reform Act ss short of creating a male democracy
The third Reform Act created a uniform franchise qualification based on the Reform Acts of 1867
and 1868. As a consequence roughly two-thirds of adult males in England and Wales, three-fifths
in Scotland and half in Ireland were entitled to vote in parliamentary elections. Large numbers of
adult males, such as servants, most members of the armed forces and children living in their
parents' houses remained disenfranchised. This act, therefore, stopped some way short of creating
a male democracy.
October 1897 Women's suffrage campaign gains momentum The first organised activity in
support of votes for women dates from the 1860s, but pressure grew rapidly in the late 1880s. A
turning point was the merger of the National Central Society for Women's Suffrage and the Central
Committee for Women's Suffrage into the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies. The
NUWSS co-ordinated a range of regional activities. Its president, Millicent Fawcett, opposed
violence and promoted her organisation as law-abiding and above party politics.
10 October 1899 Second Boer War begins in South Africa
After the First Boer War in 1880-1881, the Boers (farmers of European descent) of the Transvaal
forced the British government to recognise their independence. But the Boers refused to recognise
the rights of the British (many prospecting for gold) in the Transvaal, leading to the Second Boer
War. Although the Boers had initial military successes, the war ended in May 1902 with a Boer
surrender. It was costly and unpopular war and Britain received much international criticism for its
use of concentration camps.
22 January 1901 Victoria dies and is succeeded by Edward VII
Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight at the age of 81. As queen-empress she had
ruled over almost a quarter of the world's population. Although wilful and narrow-minded in some
respects, she established firm precedents for a hard-working 'constitutional monarch', operating as
a head of state above the fray of party politics. Her death, coming so soon after the end of the 19th
century, was truly the end of an era.

CULTURE: Gothic Revival architecture became increasingly significant in the period, leading to
the Battle of the Styles between Gothic and Classical ideals. It constructed a narrative of cultural
continuity, set in opposition to the violent disjunctions of Revolutionary France, a comparison
common to the period, as expressed in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Charles
Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. The middle of the 19th century saw The Great Exhibition of 1851,
the first World's Fair, and showcased the greatest innovations of the century. At its centre was the
Crystal Palace, a modular glass and iron structure - the first of its kind. It was condemned by
Ruskin as the very model of mechanical dehumanisation in design, but later came to be presented
as the prototype of Modern architecture. The emergence of photography, which was showcased at
the Great Exhibition, resulted in significant changes in Victorian art with Queen Victoria being the
first British Monarch to be photographed. John Everett Millais was influenced by photography
(notably in his portrait of Ruskin) as were other Pre-Raphaelite artists. It later became associated
with the Impressionistic and Social Realist techniques that would dominate the later years of the
period 1857
ENTERTAINMENT: Popular forms of entertainment varied by social class. Victorian Britain,
like the periods before it,was interested in theatre and the arts, and music, drama, and opera were
widely attended. There were, however, other forms of entertainment. Gambling at cards in
establishments popularly called casinos was wildly popular during the period: so much so that
evangelical and reform movements specifically targeted such establishments in their efforts to stop
gambling, drinking, and prostitution. Natural history becomes increasingly an "amateur" activity.
Particularly in Britain and the United States, this grew into specialist hobbies such as the study of
birds, butterflies, seashells (malacology/conchology), beetles and wildflowers. Amateur collectors
and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building the large natural history
collections of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many people used the train services to
visit the seaside, helped by the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 which created a number of fixed
holidays which all sectors of society could enjoy. Large numbers travelling to quiet fishing villages
such as Worthing, Brighton, Morecambe and Scarborough began turning them into major tourist
centres, and people like Thomas Cook saw tourism and even overseas travel as viable businesses.
TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING An important development during the Victorian era was
the improvement of communication links. Stage coaches, canals, steam ships and most notably the
railways all allowed goods, raw materials and people to be moved about, rapidly facilitating trade
and industry. Trains became another important factor ordering society, with "railway time" being
the standard by which clocks were set throughout Britain. Steam ships such as the SS Great Britain
and SS Great Western made international travel more common but also advanced trade, so that in
Britain it was not just the luxury goods of earlier times that were imported into the country but
essentials such as corn from the America and meat from Australia. One more important innovation
in communications was the Penny Black, the first postage stamp, which standardized postage to a
flat price regardless of distance sent. Even later communication methods such as cinema,
telegraph, telephones, cars and aircraft, would have an impact.
Similar sanitation reforms, prompted by the Public Health Acts 1848 and 1869, were made in the
crowded, dirty streets of the existing cities, and soap was the main product shown in the relatively
new phenomenon of advertising. A great engineering feat in the Victorian Era was the sewage
system in London. It was designed by Joseph Bazalgette in 1858. He proposed to build 82 mi (132
km) of sewer system linked with over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of street sewers. Many problems were
encountered but the sewers were completed. After this, Bazalgette designed the Thames
Embankment which housed sewers, water pipes and the London Underground. During the same
period London's water supply network was expanded and improved, and a gas network for
lightingand heating was introduced in the 1880s. The Victorians were impressed by science and
progress, and felt that they could improve society in the same way as they were improving
technology. The model town of Saltaire was founded, along with others, as a planned environment
with good sanitation and many civic, educational and recreational facilities, although it lacked a
pub, which was regarded as a focus of dissent. During the Victorian era, science grew into the
discipline it is today. In addition to the increasing professionalism of university science, many
Victorian gentlemen devoted their time to the study of natural history. This study of natural history
was most powerfully advanced by Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution first published in
his book On the Origin of Species in 1859. Although initially developed in the early years of the
19th century, gas lighting became widespread during the Victorian era in industry, homes, public
buildings and the streets. The invention of the incandescent gas mantle in the 1890s greatly
improved light output and ensured its survival as late as the 1960s. Hundreds of gasworks were
constructed in cities and towns across the country. In 1882, incandescent electric lights were
introduced to London streets, although it took many years before they were installed everywhere.
POVERTY 19th century Britain saw a huge population increase accompanied by rapid
urbanization stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. The large numbers of skilled and unskilled
people looking for work kept wages down to barely subsistence level. Available housing was
scarce and expensive, resulting in overcrowding. These problems were magnified in London,
where the population grew at record rates. Large houses were turned into flats and tenements, and
as landlords failed to maintain these dwellings slum housing developed. Kellow Chesney
described the situation as follows: "Hideous slums, some of them acres wide, some no more than
crannies of obscure misery, make up a substantial part of the metropolis... In big, once handsome
houses, thirty or more people of all ages may inhabit a single room." (The Victorian Underworld
CHILD LABOUR The Victorian era became notorious for the employment of young children in
factories and mines and as chimney sweeps.[19] Child labour, often brought about by economic
hardship, played an important role in the Industrial Revolution from its outset: Charles Dickens,
for example, worked at the age of 12 in a blacking factory, with his family in a debtors' prison. In
1840 only about 20 percent of the children in London had any schooling. By 1860 about half of
the children between 5 and 15 were in school (including Sunday school). The children of the poor
were expected to help towards the family budget, often working long hours in dangerous jobs for
low wages. Agile boys were employed by the chimney sweeps; small children were employed to
scramble under machinery to retrieve cotton bobbins; and children were also employed to work in
coal mines, crawling through tunnels too narrow and low for adults. Children also worked as
errand boys, crossing sweepers, or shoe blacks, or selling matches, flowers, and other cheap goods.
[17] Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades, such as building, or as
domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London in the mid 18th century).
Working hours were long: builders might work 64 hours a week in summer and 52 in winter, while
domestic servants worked 80 hour weeks. Many young people worked as prostitutes (the majority
of prostitutes in London were between 15 and 22 years of age). Children as young as three were
put to work. In coal mines children began work at the age of 5 and generally died before the age of
25. Many children (and adults) worked 16 hour days. As early as 1802 and 1819, Factory Acts
were passed to limit the working hours of workhouse children in factories and cotton mills to 12
hours per day. These acts were largely ineffective and after radical agitation, by for example the
"Short Time Committees" in 1831, a Royal Commission recommended in 1833 that children aged
1118 should work a maximum of 12 hours per day, children aged 911 a maximum of eight
hours, and children under the age of nine should no longer be permitted to work. This act,
however, only applied to the textile industry, and further agitation led to another act in 1847
limiting both adults and children to 10 hour working days.
PROSTITUTION Beginning in the late 1840s, major news organizations, clergymen, and single
women became increasingly concerned about prostitution, which came to be known as "The Great
Social Evil". These women came to be referred to as "superfluous women" or "redundant women",
and many essays were published discussing what, precisely, ought to be done with them. The
theme of prostitution and the "fallen woman" (an umbrella term used to describe any women who
had sexual intercourse out of wedlock) became a staple feature of mid-Victorian literature and
politics. When Parliament passed the first of the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1864 (which
allowed the local constabulary to force any woman suspected of venereal disease to submit to its
inspection), Josephine Butler's crusade to repeal the CD Acts yoked the anti-prostitution cause
with the emergent feminist movement. Butler attacked the long-established double standard of
sexual morality. This emphasis on female purity was allied to the stress on the homemaking role of
women who helped to create a space free from the pollution and corruption of the city. In this
respect, the prostitute came to have symbolic significance as the embodiment of the violation of
that divide. The double standard remained in force. Divorce legislation introduced in 1857 allowed
for a man to divorce his wife for adultery, but a woman could only divorce if adultery were
accompanied by cruelty. The anonymity of the city led to a large increase in prostitution and
unsanctioned sexual relationships. Dickens and other writers associated prostitution with the
mechanisation and industrialization of modern life, portraying prostitutes as human commodities
consumed and thrown away like refuse when they were used up. Moral reform movements
attempted to close down brothels, something that has sometimes been argued to have been a factor
in the concentration of street-prostitution in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, by the 1880s.
The Victorian compromise
Queen Victoria became an example of life, a symbol, a myth infact the middle classes developed
her same moral and religion opinion. The Victorian are great moralist, infact they believed in same
values for example respectability, family, work, sex etc. and proposed a strict code of values
summarized in the Victorian Compromise, this compromise consist in an agreement between
religion and science because the moralisers said that human and cultural values can be overcame
with raison (the majority part of them believed still in materialism). For example Charles Darwins
on the origin of species said that the man is a result of human process that fights to survive. So
he didnt consider the creation given by the Bible because it is weakest, he said.
The Victorian novel
All this economic, politic and social situation influenced the literature. The aspect more utilised
was the novel that become a mirror of society infact the novelist spoke in own novel about this
progress and changes of society. At first time it was a communion of interest between writers and
readers because they have the same values: optimism, conformism, philanthropy. The novel
became the most popular form because it consumed more books because in this period even the
middle classes started to read. An other reason of success of novel was that the writers were in
contact with his public because they maintain the interest of the story at high levels because he was
omniscient. The setting is the city because it was the symbol of the industrial civilisation. The most
important novelists were above all women for example Emily Bronte and George Eliot.
The novelists were divided into three groups: the Early-Victorians (Charles Dickens) that have
social and humanitarians themes; the Mid-Victorians (Emily Bronte) that have above all
influenced by Romantic period; the late-Victorians (Oscar Wilde) that are influenced by
Naturalism.
Oscar Wilde is one of the most prominent playwrights of the Victorian era. Wildes easy wit
insured an immediate success for the brilliant series of dramas that he wrote in the early nineties.
In early 1892 Lady Windermere's Fan appeared at the St James' Theatre and was at once popular.
The same year Wilde also wrote Salome. It was followed the next year by A Woman of No
Importance. An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, both filled with wit and
brilliant paradoxes, appeared in 1895. They were the last things that Oscar Wilde was to write,
before he developed meningitis, and suffered his untimely death.(Oscar Wilde 951). Other plays
include Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880), The Duchess of Padua (1883), A Florentine Tragedy (La
Sainte Courtisane 1893). Wilde's work has inspired many other fellow writers. His work has been
translated into many languages, and has been on the stage over and over again.
Other important writers include John Millington Synge, whose plays include Riders to the Sea and
The Playboy of the Western World (1907). (John Millington Synge 985). George Bernard Shaw
was another famous playwright of the Victorian era. He wrote more than sixty plays. His plays
were mostly about social problems such as education, religion, marriage, and class privileges.
Arms and the Man and You Can Never Tell are his famous plays. Dion Boucicault was another
famous playwright of the Victorian era. His famous plays include The Colleen Bawn, and The
Shaughraun.
Nearly all the writers mentioned above have tried to introduce laughter in their work. Comedies in
Victorian era were mostly a combination of high and low comedy. The plots were usually full of
coincidences, mistiming and mistaken identities. Characters were usually puppets of fate. They are
unable to wed, and are too poor, or too rich. The characters also suffer from loss of identity due to
some accident. They are also sometimes twins, who are separated, or are oblivious to their double.
Humor mostly consists of dirty or vulgar jokes, dirty gestures, and sex. The extremes of humor
range from exaggeration to understatement. The physical actions on the stage included slapstick,
pratfalls, loud noises, physical mishaps, collisions. There is one problem after and another. One of
the most famous comedies of the Victorian era was The Importance of Being Earnest. It is
probably one of the most played comedies with the same absurd situations. It is a social satire. It
shows a world where no character has the slightest responsibility or can be counted to say or do
the usual thing
The Victorian era was a period of great political change, social and economic change. The Empire
recovered from the loss of the American colonies and entered a period of rapid expansion. This
expansion, combined with increasing industrialisation and mechanisation, led to a prolonged
period of economic growth. The Reform Act 1832 was the beginning of a process that would
eventually lead to universal suffrage.
The major Victorian poets were John Clare, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, Matthew Arnold and Gerard Manley Hopkins, though Hopkins was not
published until 1918.
Tennyson was, to some degree, the Spenser of the new age and his Idylls of the Kings can be read
as a Victorian version of The Faerie Queen, that is as a poem that sets out to provide a mythic
foundation to the idea of empire.
The Brownings spent much of their time out of England and explored European models and matter
in much of their poetry. Robert Browning's great innovation was the dramatic monologue, which
he used to its full extent in his long novel in verse, The Ring and the Book. Elizabeth Barrett
Browning is perhaps best remembered for Sonnets from the Portuguese but her long poem Aurora
Leigh is one of the classics of 19th century feminist literature.
Matthew Arnold was much influenced by Wordsworth, though his poem Dover Beach is often
considered a precursor of the modernist revolution. Hopkins wrote in relative obscurity and his
work was not published until after his death. His unusual style (involving what he called "sprung
rhythm" and heavy reliance on rhyme and alliteration) had a considerable influence on many of the
poets of the 1940
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a mid-19th century arts movement dedicated to the reform
of what they considered the sloppy Mannerist painting of the day. Although primarily concerned
with the visual arts, two members, the brother and sister Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina
Rossetti, were also poets of some ability. Their poetry shares many of the concerns of the painters;
an interest in Medieval models, an almost obsessive attention to visual detail and an occasional
tendency to lapse into whimsy.
Dante Rossetti worked with, and had some influence on, the leading arts and crafts painter and
poet William Morris. Morris shared the Pre-Raphaelite interest in the poetry of the European
Middle Ages, to the point of producing some illuminated manuscript volumes of his work.
1890s: fin-de-sicle
Towards the end of the century, English poets began to take an interest in French symbolism and
Victorian poetry entered a decadent fin-de-siecle phase. Two groups of poets emerged, the Yellow
Book poets who adhered to the tenets of Aestheticism, including Algernon Charles Swinburne,
Oscar Wilde and Arthur Symons and the Rhymers' Club group that included Ernest Dowson,
Lionel Johnson and William Butler Yeat
Comic verse abounded in the Victorian era. Magazines such as Punch and Fun magazine teemed
with humorous invention[14]and were aimed at a well-educated readership.The most famous
collection of Victorian comic verse is the Bab Ballads.