The Victorian Age 1832-1900
Historical Context 1832-1900 England => world’s wealthiest nation, most influential colonial power Large scale attempts to solve the problems of the industrial and democratic revolutions of Romantic Age First Reform Bill of 1832 => rise of middle class in English politics Progress, Prosperity, Problems (and Reform)
The Crystal Palace, 1851.
Victorian Attitudes Earnestness, Self-Satisfaction, Anxiety Middle Class progressivism / conservatism Evangelicalism John Wesley Puritanical moral code, Sabbatarians Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham Progressive- reason and science “future shock”- psychological distress due to rapid social or technological change
New Ideas and Intellectual Controversy 1830: Sir Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology 1859: Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species 1867: Karl Marx’s Das Kapital
Ophelia, John Everett Millais, 1852.
The Lady of Shalott, John William Waterhouse, 1888