Y


Y


‡ The Victorian era began
when Victoria ascended the
throne in 1837 after the
death of her uncle, King
William
‡ William did not have any
legitimate children (all of his
offspring were illegitimate),
so Victoria was his closest
living relative and
consequently, she inherited
the throne
Y


‡ Victoria married Albert, her
true love. When he died in
1861, Victoria mourned him
for the rest of her life
‡ She reigned from 1837 until
her death in 1901
‡ Victoria had nine children, all
of whom married into royalty
(Victoria¶s granddaughter,
Alexandra, was the last
tsarina of Russia)
Y


‡ The period in time saw great
imperialistic expansion into
Australia, New Zealand,
Cyprus and the occupation of
Egypt (Suez Canal)
‡ This was a result of companies
such as the East India
Company, and through the aid
of inventions, such as the
steamship and the locomotive
‡ Britain is an island kingdom,
so Britons were always on the
lookout for places where the
raw materials they needed
could be exploited
Y






‡ Victorians had many influences that differed
from the Romantics or Renaissance poets before
them
‡ The Victorians were experiencing drastic shifts
in culture, technology, distribution of wealth and
a shifting political scene
‡ There were new ideas such as feminism, unions,
Marxism that changed the way people thought
about ideas
Y

 

‡ Major thinkers of the Victorian
Age include Charles Darwin,
Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud
‡ These people changed the
landscape of education, of
politics, of science, and of
psychology forever
‡ Victorians were experiencing
great flux in their patterns of
thinking




‡ Victorians experienced an upswing in religiosity

2 Not everyone was involved in this revival: Darwin
challenged the veracity of the first chapters of
Genesis
‡ This renewal created a moral code by which the
Victorians lived
2 Strict adherence to morality is sometimes called
³Victorian´ behaviour




‡ During this period, there was a change in views

of Protestantism, similar to that of the rise of
Puritanism
‡ This new branch was called Evangelicals
Ł They believe in the total depravity of humans
Ł They focus on an ³inner life´ ± on the spiritual
aspects of life, particularly missionary work
Ł Evangelicals were responsible for social reform
during this time (abolition of slavery)
 



‡ England remained a Protestant country, though there began

to be pockets of religious revolution
‡ The restrictions on Catholics were severe: Catholics could not
sit in Parliament, hold titles etc
‡ In 1829, the þ




allowed Catholics to
sit in Parliament, though they still could not hold a title
‡ Many nobles and clergy viewed the act as a major blow to not
only the Protestant church, but to the authority of the
monarchy
Ł Clergy believed that now that Catholics were in Parliament, they
could have say over the future of the Protestant church
Ł Henry VIII established the right of the monarchy over the clergy
and this was now being disputed as Catholic belief holds the
Pope in Rome is the highest power on earth, not the monarch



‡ Also considered ³The Second
Renaissance´
‡ Contributing factors included
the popularization of the
³magic lantern shows´
‡ Famous playwrights of the
time included Oscar Wilde and
George Bernard Shaw
‡ Theatre was often
melodramatic (overly
dramatic)



‡ Art galleries were becoming increasingly popular
as the middle class gained more wealth
‡ The art of the time was decadent (Pre-
Raphaelites), evoking images of literature and
chivalry
‡ There were also scenes of industrialization and
new technologies in contrast with nature
John William Waterhouse

Dante Rossetti

Sir John Everett Millais




‡ Novels were becoming more
popular (Charles Dickens),
with themes around propriety
‡ Detective stories by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan
Poe were popular as well
‡ Many novels written by
females were written under a
pseudonym in order to get
published (Acton Bell, Currer
Bell, and Ellis Bell, George
Eliot)



‡ Victorian poets were
dominated by a few names:
Ł Alfred, Lord Tennyson
(considered the King of
Victorian poetry, he was Poet
Laureate for Queen Victoria)
Ł Robert Browning
Ł Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Ł Gerard Manley Hopkins
Ł Christina Rossetti
 
 

‡ Conditions were dangerous (safety equipment had
not been invented yet) and causalities were
frequent and deadly
‡ Children and women were the most exploited
because of their non-status as people in the eyes of
the government
‡ Children were often given the task of fixing the
machines because of their small hands
‡ The Factory Act of 1847 restricted women and
children to 10 ½ hour work days


‡ 1852 ± an act passes through ‡ 1870 ± _

 

British Parliament indicating 



allowed women
that a man may not force his to keep any money they earned
wife to live with him and to inherit property
‡ 1857 ± _

 
 þ  ‡ The Victorian era is also

(legally separated wife
given right to keep what she
earns; man may divorce wife
for adultery, whereas wife
must prove adultery
known for its enfranchisement
of the population: men over 21
and women over 30 were
allowed to vote when the



passed in 1918
aggravated by cruelty or (before only gentry could vote)
desertion).