The Victorian Period 1832 - 1901 The material in this presentation was taken from the following: Gray, Donald. “The Victorian Period”. Elements of Language: Sixth Course. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2000.

I. Peace and Economic Growth: Britannica Rules This was a relatively peaceful and prosperous time for Great Britain. 1. Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1815, and England was not involved in another major European War until World War I began in 1914. 2. Due to the continuation of British conquests, Queen Victoria was queen-empress of more than two hundred million people living outside Great Britain.

I. Peace and Economic Growth: Britannica Rules B. The Industrial Revolution expands, gradually resulting in more political power, while the aristocracy and monarch were left in place.

The Idea of Progress: “An Acre in Middlesex” According to historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, history meant progress, and progress meant material improvement that could be seen or touched. Macaulay sought to bring cleanliness and order to Victorian England. 1. According to Macaulay, streets should be “free of garbage, drained and paved, lighted at night and patrolled by a sober police force.”

II. The Idea of Progress: “An Acre in Middlesex” 2. Macaulay wanted to organize the city so that respectable neighborhoods were not situated next to hovels. 3. He also wanted houses numbered and a population literate enough to read signs.

III. The Hungry Forties Victoria came to the throne during the first year of a depression. 1. One and a half million unemployed workers and families were on government assistance. 2. Government commissions investigated child labor. a. It was discovered that children were mangled when they fell asleep at machines after working 12-hour days. b. Young girls and boys hauled coal and were only able to see the sun on Sundays.

The potato blight in Ireland caused a famine. III. The Hungry Forties The potato blight in Ireland caused a famine. 1. One million people died as a result. 2. Twenty-five percent of the population (two million people) emigrated, some to English cities.

IV. The Movement for Reform: Food, Factories, and Optimism A. Most middle-class Victorians believed that things were better than in the past. 1. Steady improvement in the material condition of people in all social classes. 2. The price of food dropped, largely because of trade with other countries. 3. The diet improved – meat, fruit, and margarine were plentiful. 4. Factories and railroads made postage, newspapers, clothing, etc. cheap.

IV. The Movement for Reform: Food, Factories, and Optimism B. Political reforms in the Victorian Age 1. In 1832, the First Reform Bill extended the vote to all men who owned property worth 10 pounds or more in yearly rent. 2. The Second Reform Act (1867) gave the right to vote to most working-class men, except for agricultural workers. 3. The struggle of Victorian women for suffrage leads to the right to vote in 1918.

C. Additional Reforms 1. The Factory Acts limited child labor and reduced the working day for all to ten hours. 2. State-supported schools were established in 1870, although they are not free until 1891. D. By 1900, ninety percent of the population was literate (could write their own name).

V. Decorum and Authority A. Many Victorians thought of themselves as progressing morally and intellectually, as well as materially. 1. The term “Victorianism” used as a synonym for prudery. 2. Censorship by editors and publishers was undertaken to remove objectionable material. 3. People were arrested for distributing information about sexually-transmitted diseases. 4. Seduced or adulterous women (but not their male partners) were regarded as “fallen” and were pushed to the margins of respectability.

V. Decorum and Authority Victorians uneasy about giving strong authority to a central government. The male was the undisputed authority in the home. Women were expected to marry and make their homes a comfortable refuge for their husbands. Women who were unmarried had few opportunities and were referred to as “redundant”

Intellectual Progress: The March of the Mind A. Charles Darwin and other biologists theorized about the evolution of species. B. Scientific reformers believed that problems with society and the world could be solved by science, government, and other human institutions.

VII. Questions and Doubts Victorian writers often asked whether material comfort could fully satisfy human needs and wishes. 1. Questioned the cost of exploiting the earth and human beings. 2. Argued that materialist ideas of reality overlooked the spirit or soul that made life beautiful. B. Literature sought to reassure readers that the universe made sense.

VII. Questions and Doubts Charles Dickens was the most popular author of the Victorian Period 1. Rose from poverty to become wealthy and famous. 2. Early novels had endings that supported the idea that things usually work out well for decent people. 3. Later novels, however, demonstrated that even those who were materially wealthy were often just as desperate and unhappy as those who were poor.

VIII. From Trust to Skepticism and Denial Many writers believed that the purpose of a poet was to make readers aware of the connection between earth and heaven, body and soul, material and ideal. Many younger poets, however, found it difficult to believe in higher power. By the end of the century, skepticism was pervasive in the works of Thomas Hardy, A.E. Housman, and others.

The Victorian Period ended with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901.