1. The Victorian Era
M. Boudreau
IB English A: L & L

2. The Victorian Era Queen Victoria
Great Britain – The World’s Greatest Empire
Economy, Class and Industry
Societal Values
Literary Movements
Oscar Wilde

3. 1. Queen Victoria
Ruler of a Gilded Age

4. The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them.
—Queen Victoria, 1850 

5. Early Victorian Period
1830’s - A “Decade of New Beginnings”
1837: Victoria is shown as a fairytale, teenaged queen
Radiated youthful enthusiasm to match the decade’s early years

6. Mid-Victorian Period 1850’s – “The Matron-Monarch”
Now married to Prince Albert
Settled into a stable, productive domestic image
Royal family symbolizes the productivity boom of 1850’s industry
Culminates in the Great Exhibition of 1851

7. Late Victorian Period 1870’s - “The Widow of Windsor”
Reclusive after Albert’s early death in 1861
Projected a world-weary gloominess
Her aging was reflected in Britain’s own sense of maturation as an Empire

8. By the end of Victoria’s reign (1901), she came to embody:
Empire
Stability & Continuity
Duty, Family, & Propriety
Stern conservatism

9. The World’s Greatest Empire
2. Rule Britannia
The World’s Greatest Empire

11. The British Empire A Society of firsts (1800 to 1899):
population goes from 8.3 to 30.6 million
Great Britain becomes the richest country on earth
First urban society in history
First industrial society in history
London’s population grows from 1 million in 1801 to 6.5 million by the end of the Victorian Era
By 1890, 500 million people on the earth were under British rule (roughly ¼ of the world’s population)

12. 3. The Age of Industry
A Tale of Two Cities

13. Period of Industrialization
Land owning aristocracy loses power
The insecure, “ever expanding” urban middle class gains power
Businessmen
Professionals
Bourgeoisie
Formal Education
Millions of rural workers are forced into poverty in cities

14. The Upper classes
Generally defined as aristocrats whose income is based solely upon inheritance and property values.
Forms exclusive societies / clubs dedicated to pleasure, art and insight.

15. The Middle classes Men who perform mental or "clean" work.
Generally paid monthly or annually.
Work could take the form of doctors, lawyers and clerks.
The Middle classes expanded rapidly in towns and cities and contributed to burgeoning consumerism and technological developments.

16. The Lower classes
Men and women who performed labour-intensive and menial tasks.
Social class created by the Industrial Revolution.
Paid daily or weekly wages.
Lives were impacted by disease and lack of sanitary conditions.

17. Typical Annual Incomes (1856)
Upper class
Aristocrats £30,000 Merchants, bankers £10,000
Middle-class
Doctors, Lawyers, Clerks £ Teachers, journalists, shopkeepers £ Skilled workers £75-100
Lower-class Sailors and domestic staff £40-75 Laborers, soldiers £25

18. Social Issues The rapid developments created:
Enormous prosperity but also unthinkable poverty
Humane reforms but also flagrant exploitation
Immense ambitions but also devastating doubts
In sum, it was an age of great achievement, deep faith, indisputable progress but also an era of destruction, religious collapse, malicious profiteering.

19. Other social consequences
Extension of voting rights
Rise of trade unions
Changing roles for women
Development of socialism
Separation of church and state
Questioning of tradition

20. 4. Societal Values
Pride and Earnestness

21. What is a Victorian?
The adjective "Victorian" was first used in 1851 to celebrate the nation's mounting pride in its institutions and commercial success.
This historical/literary period is defined by the duration of a monarch’s rule, rather than any one unifying idea.

22. Victorian Values Victorian social conduct is governed by: Strict rules
Formal manners
Rigidly defined gender roles
Relations hampered by sexual prudery
Intense obsession with a public appearance of decorum and modesty

23. Manifestations of Values
Preened image
Energetic
Phenomenal work ethic
Sense of duty towards the “Public Good”
Self-confident
A Society of “over-achievers”

24. 5. Literary Movements

25. Key Features of Early Victorian Literature
The novel makes its first appearance on the pages of periodicals.
The voice of the omniscient narrator provides a moralizing barrier between what is right and wrong.
Most stories were set in the town, specifically London.
Literature was generally realistic and focused on the private lives (secrets) of characters.
Literature often focused on social issues.
Generally, literature transcended class.

26. Key Features of Late Victorian Literature
1870’s onward
A new realism prevailed which rejected any sentimental and romantic attitude.
Literature focused on the clash between man and environment, his dreams and their fulfilment, and illusion and reality.
the writers were critical and attacked the superficial optimism and self confidence of the age.
Main characters became alienated from society.

27. 4 Main Literary Movements
Realism: reproduction of the reality without idealizing it
Naturalism: total objectivity and scientific approach to Literature
Aestheticism: Art for Art’s sake (O. Wilde)
Decadentism: Art is superior to nature, the finest beauty is that of dying and decaying things