1. THE DOMINANT AND WIDELY-READ LITERARY FORM OF THE
THE VICTORIAN NOVEL
THE DOMINANT AND WIDELY-READ LITERARY FORM OF THE
19° CENTURY
Elisa Vinicio 5^B

2. Years of development
The Victorian Age is marked by the reign of Queen Victoria , which covered the nineteenth century.
Important social changes happened during the Victorian Age:
Industrial Revolution
Growth of towns
Revolution in the class
system

3. Themes
The Victorian novel treats about social changes which happened at the time like:
Clash between the middle class and the working class;
People’s desire to rise up and the fear of falling down the social ladder;
Exploitation of children;
Inadequacy in the
social services;
Education system.

4. Elements which arouse the readers’ attention
The reading public was appealed by the Victorian novel because of: -The realism of setting: suitable to create debates in the readers’ mind -Every-day situations: readers identify with what they read

5. Main characteristics
Third person intrusive omniscient narrator: the writer was considered an authority
Subliminal use of the language: writers were compelled to criticize in an undirected way
Exaggeration of the tones, characters and emotions

6. Victorian writers: C. Dickens and W. M. Thackeray
Charles Dickens -Use of the grotesque, caricature and pathos to create a tragic comical effect -Use of sense impressions William Makepeace Thackeray -Digressions used to teach to the reader -The pathetic is combined with caricature and satire

7. The Victorian novels Hard Times by Dickens Oliver Twist by Dickens
Setting: the novel is set in “Coketown”.
Imagine of the town creates thanks the use of sense impressions: sight: “a town of unnatural red and black”
smell: “ill-smelling dye”
hearing: “rattling and trembling”
Oliver Twist by Dickens
Setting: the story is set in a workhouse.
Themes: exploitation of children. Use of the grotesque to criticize social evils the narrator creates a gap between the real situation and the language used to describe it.

8. Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens
Use of rhetorical features: irony Nickleby is not able to
express his thoughts, he
has to conform to
convention.
Vanity Fair by Thackeray
Use of high register of language: theatrical language used to make a parody
Intrusive and omniscient narrator: he acts as a filter and creates a dialogue with the reader

9. The Anti-Victorian reaction: Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy focuses the attention on human behaviour
He criticized the contemporary institutions like marriage and Christianity in a directly way, which was not approved by the Victorian public
Creation of realistic and detailed situations