1. THE VICTORIAN ERA
Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 to She was actually only 18 years old when she was crowned queen and her reign was the longest in the history of England and also very prosperous, it is also called the 'Victorian Age.'
She fell in love with her German cousin, Prince Albert and they were married on 10 February Between 1841 and 1857 Queen Victoria had nine children - four sons, five daughters. Prince Albert died suddenly of typhoid in His widow was overcome with grief and wrote in her diary, "My life as a happy person is ended!" She wore black for the rest of her life. For a long time she refused to appear in public, which made her very unpopular.  Queen Victoria died aged 80 on 22 January 1901.
While the period might be named after the queen, the power of the monarch actually declined in favor of a constitutional monarchy, which means that the powers of the monarch are restricted by a constitution. 

2. IMPERIALISM
During Victoria's rule, the British expanded their COLONIAL EMPIRE to places such as Africa, the Middle-East, Asia, and India. ..

3. The British Empire  was the largest empire ever, consisting of over 25% of the world's population and area. It included India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, several islands in the West Indies and various colonies on the African coast. In 1750 the population of Britain was 4 million. By 1851 it was 21 million. By 1900, Queen Victoria reigned over 410 million people.

4. British imperialism was “good”
The prevailing attitude in Britain was that expansion of British control around the globe was good for everyone.
One, England had an obligation to enlighten and civilize the 'less fortunate savages' of the world .
Second, they (as a chosen people) had a destiny to fulfill -- they were 'destined' to rule the world. 
Finally, they needed money, resources, labor, and new markets for expanding industry in England. (Does it sound familiar to you nowadays with a different country?)
This caused some lasting effects that we still see today:
The English language was used by local people. (+)
Trade also increased between Europe and these countries. (+)
Poor treatment of the colonized also led to long- lasting feelings of resentment(-)

5. Industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution ( ) The era known as the Industrial Revolution was a period of fundamental changes in agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and social structure. Beginning in England, this period was a true “revolution,” for it thoroughly destroyed the old manner of doing things. An economy based on manual labor and skilled artisans was replaced by one dominated by industry, machinery, and mass production.
Development of industrial towns.
overcrowding
poor housing
Child labour
Poor hygene
Horrible working conditions

6. Terrible working conditions
They had to work from 6 a.m to 8 p.m (14 hours)
If late for work, they were commonly beaten severely. They could also be fine if late.
Pollution coming up from the factories and mills polluted cities and affected health and the quality of life.
Women earned about half what men earned.
Children got little or no pay at all. They also worked 12 or 14 hours and had many accidents.
The Factory Act 1833 improved these conditions a bit, limiting the amount of hours and the ages to work.

7. Social classes (wages and incomes)
Working class - men and women who performed physical labor, paid daily or weekly wages
Middle class - men performed mental or "clean" work, paid monthly or annually
Upper class - did not work, income came from inherited land and investments
Typical Incomes (annual)
Aristocrats £30,000  Merchants, bankers £10,000  Middle-class (doctors, lawyers, clerks) £ Lower middle-class (head teachers, journalists, shopkeepers, etc.) £ Skilled workers (carpenters,,etc.) £ Sailors and domestic staff £ Laborers, soldiers £25 

8. Education (men and women)
Education in nineteenth-century England was not equal - not between the sexes, and not between the classes. Gentlemen would be educated at home by a governess or tutor until they were old enough to attend Eton, or other famous and selected colleges. After that, they would attend Oxford or Cambridge.
A lady's education was taken, almost entirely, at home. There were boarding schools, but no University, and the studies were very different. She learned French, drawing, dancing, music, and how to be a lady and a wife.
At the start of the 19th century very few children went to school. Most poor children worked. If they went to school, their families lost the money they earned.
From 1833 factory owners were supposed to provide at least 2 hours education every day for child-workers, but not many children actually got lessons.
By 1880, the law said that all children aged 5 to 10 must go to primary school, so every child would receive at least a basic education

9. Victorian morality
The triumph of the classic MIDDLE CLASS virtues . It was the Middle Class (not the ARISTOCRACY) who set the principles and style for the whole society in the mid- nineteen century.
Victorian morality: a very strict morality based on
the importance of sexual restraint,
low tolerance of crime
a strict social code of conduct 
control of nature(that means control of all instincts and feelings)
This morality will be very present in literature, sometimes to be followed, sometimes to be criticised.

10. Women and men (not equal)
When a woman married, she had no independent legal status. She had no right to any money (earned, inherited, etc.), she could not make a will or buy property, she had no claim to her children. If the husband died, he could name the mother as the guardian, but he did not have to do so.
In the working class, premarital sex was generally winked at, as long as the couple got married .In 1800, about a third of working-class brides were pregnant on their wedding day.
For middle- and upper-class men, premarital sex would have been with servants and prostitutes, since "nice girls" didn't go beyond the small kiss or squeeze of the hand.
There were about 80,000 "gay" women (prostitutes) and "fancy men" (pimps) in London in the mid-nineteenth century. They congregated around Covent Garden and in the theatre district.
For most of the nineteenth century, homosexuality was punishable by death. However, the last execution on the grounds of "homosexuality" took place in 1830.

11. Science and progress
The Victorian Era was a time of enormous scientific progress and ideas.
 Darwin  published 'The Theory of Evolution'.
The Great Exhibition took place at Crystal Palace in London in 1851, exhibiting technical and industrial advances of the age.
Furthermore, by the end of the century a radical new economic theory was developed by Karl Marx. (The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital)
During this period Thomas Edison developed the first electric light bulb and phonograph, and improved numerous inventions such as the telegraph and telephone.
Medicine progressed a lot at the time.

13. NOVELISTS Emily Brontë Charlotte Brontë Rudyard Kipling FAMOUS
Charles Dickens
Emily Brontë
R L Stevenson
Oliver Twist
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
The Jungle Book
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

14. VICTORIAN LITERATURE Main characteristics
Literature of this age tends to come closer to daily life which reflects its practical problems and interests. It becomes a powerful instrument for human progress.
Moral Purpose: The Victorian literature convey their moral message to instruct the world.
It is often considered as an age of doubt and pessimism. The influence of science is felt here. The man in relation to the universe with the idea of evolution.
Though the age is characterized as practical and materialistic, most of the writers exalt a purely ideal life. It is an idealistic age where the great ideals like truth, justice, love, brotherhood are emphasized by poets, essayists and novelists of the age.

15. Main Genres The Victorian Novel was the dominant genre. 1. NOVELS
were mostly serialized (in magazines and newspapers) and this allowed for an author to alter the shape of his narrative based on public response.
In the later years of the era, authors started to position themselves in opposition to this broad reading public and serialization gave way to three-volume editions.
Novels became the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class. So most of the protagonists belonged to middle class and the plots reflected middle class stories. They were realistic portrays of common people.

16. novels
STYLE
Omniscient narrator (acts as a moral guide and anylises the psychology of the character)
The hero or heroine tries to find his or her place in society.
Very realistic
Long and complicated plots, full of characters.
Retribution or punishment in the final chapter.

17. essays 2. NONFICTION ESSAYS
The increased popularity of periodicals also allowed NONFICTION ESSAY to become a widespread and popular literary genre. 
Works such as Darwin's On the Origin of Species and
Ruskin's Stones of Venice sold as well as Dickens did.
(English art critic of the Victorian Era)

18. poetry
3. POETRY.
The narrative poetry (very long poems) and the dramatic monologue dominated the era.
Victorian poets were heirs to the ROMANTICS (Byron, Blake…) but much more realistic and influenced by the new society.
Most famous ones
Alfred Tennyson
“In Memoriam”
Robert Browning
“My Last Duchess”
“Goblin market”

19. theatre
4. THE THEATRE
A flourishing and popular institution throughout the period, was transformed in the 1890s by the comic masterpieces of George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde.  Very different from each other, both were very critical to Victorian hypocrisy.

20. Emily Brontë
The hero and heroine are bound together by destructive passions they cannot control.
There’s no place for them in civilised society and they both die as outsiders.

21. Charlotte Brontë
The author portrays the refusal of a spirited and intelligent woman To accept her appointed place in society.
The heroine eventually marries fullfilling her female
destiny as the good wife.
Jane Eyre is the story of a young, orphaned girl (shockingly, she’s named Jane Eyre) who lives with her aunt and cousins, the Reeds, at Gateshead Hall. Like all 19th century orphans, her situation pretty much sucks. Mrs. Reed hates Jane and allows her son John to torment the girl. Even the servants are constantly reminding Jane that she’s poor and worthless. At the tender age of ten, Jane rises up against this treatment and tells them all exactly what she thinks of them. (We wish we could’ve been there to hear it!) She’s punished by being locked in "the red-room," the bedroom where her uncle died, and she has a hysterical fit when she thinks his ghost is appearing. After this, nobody knows what to do with her, so they send her away to a religious boarding school for orphans – Lowood Institute.

22. Charles Dickens Most of his novels are set in London.
The best portayer of urban society at the
Time.
Very critical with the greed and hypocrisy
of the rich and their indifference to the
Problems of the poor.
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Oliver Twist

23. Oscar Wilde
“We should treat all trivial things very seriously and all the serious things of life with sincere and studied triviality”
Brilliant comedy of manners.
Examination of moral principles. Wilde was satirizing the
hypocrisy and artificiality of Victorian society.
Themes: marriage,lineage, duty, love, money.
Characters : lie to get out of social and familiar duties.
Upper classes care about being respectable
so much that they do a lot of lying about it.

24. Wuthering Heights
Chapter 9 (“I am Heathcliff!”)
'I think that's the worst motive you've given yet for being the wife of young Linton.'
'It is not,' retorted she; 'it is the best! The others were the satisfaction of my whims: and for Edgar's sake, too, to satisfy him. This is for the sake of one who comprehends in his person my feelings to Edgar and myself. I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it.—My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk of our separation again: it is impracticable; and—'

25. Wuthering heights Chapter 14 (“If he loved with all the powers…”)
'You suppose she has nearly forgotten me?' he said. 'Oh, Nelly! you know she has not! You know as well as I do, that for every thought she spends on Linton she spends a thousand on me! At a most miserable period of my life, I had a notion of the kind: it haunted me on my return to the neighbourhood last summer; but only her own assurance could make me admit the horrible idea again. And then, Linton would be nothing, nor Hindley, nor all the dreams that ever I dreamt. Two words would comprehend my future–death and hell: existence, after losing her, would be hell. Yet I was a fool to fancy for a moment that she valued Edgar Linton's attachment more than mine. If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a day. And Catherine has a heart as deep as I have: the sea could be as readily contained in that horse-trough as her whole affection be monopolised by him. Tush! He is scarcely a degree dearer to her than her dog, or her horse. It is not in him to be loved like me: how can she love in him what he has not?'

26. Christina Rossetti REMEMBER
Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you plann'd: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad. 
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1862)

27. Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea
Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me. O well for the fisherman's boy, That he shouts with his sister at play! O well for the sailor lad, That he sings in his boat on the bay! And the stately ships go on To their haven under the hill; But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand, And the sound of a voice that is still! Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me.

28. Alfred Tennyson BREAK, BREAK, BREAK
Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me.
O well for the fisherman's boy, That he shouts with his sister at play! O well for the sailor lad, That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on To their haven under the hill; But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand, And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break, At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me.

29. The Lady of Shalott (by A. Lord Tennyson)
Part I On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And through the field the road runs by To many-towered Camelot;  And up and down the people go, Gazing where the lilies blow Round an island there below, The island of Shalott. Willows whiten, aspens quiver,  Little breezes dusk and shiver Through the wave that runs for ever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot. Four grey walls, and four grey towers,  Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott. By the margin, willow-veiled, Slide the heavy barges trailed  By slow horses; and unhailed The shallop flitteth silken-sailed Skimming down to Camelot: But who hath seen her wave her hand? Or at the casement seen her stand?  Or is she known in all the land, The Lady of Shalott? Only reapers, reaping early In among the bearded barley, Hear a song that echoes cheerly  From the river winding clearly, Down to towered Camelot: And by the moon the reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy, Listening, whispers "'Tis the fairy  Lady of Shalott."
Part II There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay  To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott.  And moving through a mirror clear That hangs before her all the year, Shadows of the world appear. There she sees the highway near Winding down to Camelot:  There the river eddy whirls, And there the surly village-churls, And the red cloaks of market girls, Pass onward from Shalott. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,  An abbot on an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad, Or long-haired page in crimson clad, Goes by to towered Camelot; And sometimes through the mirror blue  The knights come riding two and two: She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott. But in her web she still delights To weave the mirror's magic sights,  For often through the silent nights A funeral, with plumes and lights And music, went to Camelot: Or when the moon was overhead, Came two young lovers lately wed;  "I am half sick of shadows," said The Lady of Shalott.

30. The Lady of Shalott (by A. Lord Tennyson)
Part III
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves, He rode between the barley-sheaves, The sun came dazzling through the leaves, And flamed upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot. A red-cross knight for ever kneeled To a lady in his shield, That sparkled on the yellow field,  Beside remote Shalott. The gemmy bridle glittered free, Like to some branch of stars we see Hung in the golden Galaxy. The bridle bells rang merrily  As he rode down to Camelot: And from his blazoned baldric slung A mighty silver bugle hung, And as he rode his armour rung, Beside remote Shalott.  All in the blue unclouded weather Thick-jewelled shone the saddle-leather, The helmet and the helmet-feather Burned like one burning flame together, As he rode down to Camelot.  As often through the purple night, Below the starry clusters bright, Some bearded meteor, trailing light, Moves over still Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glowed;  On burnished hooves his war-horse trode; From underneath his helmet flowed His coal-black curls as on he rode, As he rode down to Camelot. From the bank and from the river  He flashed into the crystal mirror, "Tirra lirra," by the river Sang Sir Lancelot. She left the web, she left the loom, She made three paces through the room,  She saw the water-lily bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume, She looked down to Camelot. Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror cracked from side to side;  "The curse is come upon me," cried The Lady of Shalott.

31. The Lady of Shalott (by A. Lord Tennyson)
Heard a carol, mournful, holy,  Chanted loudly, chanted lowly, Till her blood was frozen slowly, And her eyes were darkened wholly, Turned to towered Camelot. For ere she reached upon the tide  The first house by the water-side, Singing in her song she died, The Lady of Shalott. Under tower and balcony, By garden-wall and gallery,  A gleaming shape she floated by, Dead-pale between the houses high, Silent into Camelot. Out upon the wharfs they came, Knight and burgher, lord and dame,  And round the prow they read her name, The Lady of Shalott. Who is this? and what is here? And in the lighted palace near Died the sound of royal cheer;  And they crossed themselves for fear, All the knights at Camelot: But Lancelot mused a little space; He said, "She has a lovely face; God in his mercy lend her grace,  The Lady of Shalott."
Part IV In the stormy east-wind straining, The pale yellow woods were waning, The broad stream in his banks complaining,  Heavily the low sky raining Over towered Camelot; Down she came and found a boat Beneath a willow left afloat, And round about the prow she wrote  The Lady of Shalott. And down the river's dim expanse, Like some bold seër in a trance Seeing all his own mischance-- With a glassy countenance  Did she look to Camelot. And at the closing of the day She loosed the chain, and down she lay; The broad stream bore her far away, The Lady of Shalott.  Lying, robed in snowy white That loosely flew to left and right-- The leaves upon her falling light-- Through the noises of the night She floated down to Camelot:  And as the boat-head wound along The willowy hills and fields among, They heard her singing her last song, The Lady of Shalott.

32. The Lady of Shalott (by A. Lord Tennyson)
Part 1:There’s a description of a field by a river. There's a road running through the field that apparently leads to Camelot, the legendary castle of King Arthur. From the road you can see an island in the middle of the river called the Island of Shalott. On that island there is a little castle, which is the home of the mysterious Lady of Shalott. People pass by the island all the time, on boats and barges and on foot, but they never see the Lady. Occasionally, people working in the fields around the island will hear her singing an eerie song.
Part 4: Knowing that it's game over, the Lady finds a boat by the side of the river and writes her name on it. After looking at Camelot for a while she lies down in the boat and lets it slip downstream. She drifts down the river, singing her final song, and dies before she gets to Camelot. The people of Camelot come out to see the body of the Lady and her boat, and are afraid. Lancelot also trots out, decides that she's pretty, and says a little prayer for her.

33. The Lady of Shalott (by A. Lord Tennyson)
Part 3: Now the big event: One day the studly Sir Lancelot rides by the island, covered in jewels and shining armor. Most of this chunk of the poem is spent describing Lancelot. When his image appears in the mirror, the Lady is so completely captivated that she breaks the rule and looks out her window on the real world. When she does this and catches a glimpse of Lancelot and Camelot, the magic mirror cracks, and she knows she's in trouble.
Part 2: Now we actually move inside the castle on the island, and Tennyson describes the Lady herself. First we learn that she spends her days weaving a magic web, and that she has been cursed, forbidden to look outside. So instead she watches the world go by in a magic mirror. She sees shadows of the men and women who pass on the road, and she weaves the things she sees into her web. We also learn that she is "half sick" of this life of watching and weaving.