A Social Morality Of The Victorian Age - 1355 Words

Oscar Martin Professor Stephen Mendonca English 2323 2 August 2015 A Social Morality The Victorian age ranged from 1830 to 1901, during this time England reached its highest point as a world imperial power. Industrialization and the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 to 1901) played a major role in England’s success. The overwhelming industrialization caused a population boom that changed England’s population from two million to six million people. The abundance of people created new social problems that the leading writers and thinkers would have to face and challenge. Such problems were often targeted towards the lower class which faced harsh working conditions, discrimination and other factors that would affect the lives of these people negatively. Social and economic troubles by industrialization were noticed at the start of the era, it went from â€Å"a period of prosperity from 1832 to 1836, a crash in 1837, followed by a series of bad harvests, produced a period of unemployment, desperate poverty, and rioting† (Greenblatt 1022 ). Industrialization came with its positive side as well; writers were able to publish their works faster and spread awareness to the public with the prominence of periodical press. The Victorian age created social commentators such as Charles Dickens, social challengers like George Eliot, and social thinkers similar to John Ruskin to change their world. Charles Dickens experienced the ugly side of the Industrial Revolution in England, which led him toShow MoreRelatedThe Victorians Concern With Morality1180 Words   |  5 PagesThe Victorians’ Concern with Morality â€Å"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Charles Dickens). This quote helps to sum up the Victorian Era. The Victorian Era is understood to have existed during the rule of Queen Victoria between 1837 to 1901. It was thought to be an exciting period that saw various literary schools and artistic styles along with social and politicalRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde1300 Words   |  5 Pageswas written in the Victorian Age of England. During this time morality was connected with sexual restraint and strict codes of conduct in public. This play hilariously critiques Victorian moral and social values while the characters in the play try to figure out the meaning of â€Å"earnestness†. Wilde uses humor and irony to publicly ridicule the self-aggrandizing attitude of the Victorian upper classes, as well as to expose their duplicity and hypocrisy in regards to their social behaviors. The charactersRead MoreSpring Awakening By Frank Wedekind Essay982 Words   |  4 PagesWedekind, pushed the boundaries of the strongly moralistic society of the Victorian age. It was written in 1891, but because of its explicitness, it was not performed until more than a decade later, in 1906. One controversial aspect that is detailed in the play is the unwanted pregnancy of the character Wendla Bergmann. Wedekind s description of this topic illuminates the destructiveness of the Victorian age, which believed in morality and virtuosity above all else. The complete lack of sexual educationRead MoreDuring The Mid.-Nineteenth Century, Victorian England Was1355 Words   |  6 PagesDuring the Mid.-nineteenth century, Victorian England was divided into distinct social classes. The three social classes included the working, middle, and upper leisure class. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, the working class became very isolated from the leisure class and often had low paying jobs s uch as a blacksmith, tradesman, and farmer. The wealthy ladies and gentlemen of the leisure class lacked awareness that their frivolous lifestyle was built on the laborious work of the workingRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1438 Words   |  6 Pagesunreliably explanation on the dramatic farce genre for Wilde. This play is a comedy of manner during the Victorian Age. The Victorian Age was a period of peace and sensibility. The Importance of Being Earnest was an early trial in Victorian melodrama. This play was particularly known as a satire with a touch of sentimental comedy. This play was known for its worldly deliberately farce. The Victorian society dealt with brittle comedy which happened to be one of Wilde’s downfalls. Due to the fact thatRead MoreCarmen, Madness, And Sexuality947 Words   |  4 Pagesis why she is portrayed in that way. One of the sad realities of the Victorian time period was the choice to view deviant behavior as proof of insa nity. Tania Woods, in her article that covers several different works and how they view female madness, remarks that Victorian age literature defines madness in an animalistic way, which reflects the â€Å"concept of insanity as a deviation from human rationality† (5). In the Victorian age, hysteria, a unique disease to females, was gaining credibility, andRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde1407 Words   |  6 Pageswhere marriage in Victorian society is widely contradicted as a ‘very pleasant state,’ instead using various comedic devises, such as puns, double entendres and inversions to mock its virtue and morality. Wilde creates comedy through the presentation of Victorian views on the functionality of marriage, ridiculing it as a social tool. The fact that Victorian society does not value the ‘love’ and romance of marriage is witnessed from the exposition, where Algernon’s mockery of social constraints is shownRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde1086 Words   |  5 Pagesa fascinating Oscar Wilde reveals a story of social class and hierarchy during the roaring Victorian time period (1837-1901). Focusing his writing on the social classes, the play becomes comical when he exposes the flaws held by the upper class during this time. Wilde saw earnestness as being a key ideal in Victorian culture for much of British society struck Wilde as dry, stern, conservative, and so â€Å"earnestly† concerned with the maintenance of social norms and the status quo that it had becomeRead MoreVictorian Values in Jane Eyre Essay2309 Words   |  10 Pages1) The Vi ctorian Age: Social Background There are tow dates for the beginning of the Victorian Age in England: The first date is 1837, when the Queen Victory accessed to the British throne. However the most accepted date as the start of the Victorian Age is 1832, date of the First Reform Bill. This reform allowed the entrance of urban bourgeoisie or middle-class in the Parliament because the requirements for voting were simplified; there was an increasing number of population with the rightRead MoreThe Importance Of Being Earnest By The Victorian Era1502 Words   |  7 PagesThe Importance of Being Earnest was written in the Victorian Era when many of the â€Å"religious, social, political, and economic structures were experiencing change† (Joshi). Many writers such as Oscar Wilde criticized Victorian morality and snobby social customs in their writing (Peltason). In his play, Wilde uses Algernon Moncrieff, a wealthy and witty gentleman with no morals, to satirize Victorian values and customs. The play opens with Algernon receiving Jack, or John, Worthing, his friend and