1. THE VICTORIAN AGE NOVEL
THEMES
SETTINGS
NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES
ANTIVICTORIAN REACTION
SOURCES

2. THEMES
CLASS: One of the main themes is class, through the opposition between different social classes. (ex: Oliver twist, the difference between the children and the masters.)
MIDDLE CLASS FAMILY: an example of this theme is in Vanity Fair’s chapter II, with Amelia Sedley’s personality.
EDUCATION: education of children is important in many novels, in Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby this theme is central.

3. SETTING
Victorian novels are set in the city. The new born industrial towns are often described by Victorian novellists. The main novel set in factories is of course Hard Times by Dickens.
Schools and Workhouses: another important setting deal with the world of children. Oliver Twist and Nickolas Nickelby are some examples.

4. NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES
PATHOS: Exageration of situation and emotion, it’s conveied through the use of children or through extreme poverty.
GROTESQUE: Make a tragic situation funny. It uses hyperbolic language to convey this feeling.
IRONY
CARICATURE: Characters are a parody of true people. Novellists used this kind of characterization so that their readers could not identify with them. The high class readers wouldn’t feel guilty.

5. THE ANTIVICTORIAN NOVEL
Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure is an example of the antivictorian reaction.
The difference between this new kind of novel and the traditional victorian novel is evident just considering the plot.
Another important difference is based on the characterization of the protagonist, wich is not an hero anymore, but a more modern and complex character.
Society is still cristicized but in a less hidden way.

6. SOURCES Charles Dickens: Hard times Oliver Twist Nickolas Nickelby
William Makepeace Thackeray:
Vanity Fair
Thomas Hardy:
- Jude the Obscure