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The Victorian Age
1832 - 1900
Introduction
* Industrialism
The eighteenth century had been a period of comparative rest. It was followed by a period of
change and progress, and new achievements in many fields. The most important of these
changes took place in the early years of the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901), in what
Carlyle called "the Age of Machinery".
With the Industrial Revolution the wealth of the aristocratic landowners gradually passed into
the hands of the new middle class of capitalist factory-owners, and England, from an agricultural
nation, became a prosperous industrial country. The proud symbol of this change was the Great
Exhibition of 1851. Most of the goods produced in the factories were sold abroad, and in
exchange England imported large quantities of food-stuffs for its growing population. The Corn
Laws, which protected the price of wheat, were abolished in 1846, and from now on wheat could
be imported freely. This meant cheaper bread for the working classes, but it also meant the
decline of English agriculture and England's dependence on food from abroad.
The repeal of the Corn Laws was a result of the movement for free trade, which was
supported by the Liberal businessmen. Free trade helped to break down the barriers between the
nations, while increasing the prosperity at home, and England remained the "workshop of the
world" until, after 1870, Germany and America began to produce more iron and steel. But in
spite of the increasing competition the last decades of Victoria's reign were a period of security,
wealth, cheap goods, and rising wages, ane when the Queen died the population of England was
more than three times that of 1800.
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* progress
The most characteristic belief of the Victorians was their idea of Progress, by which they
meant the expansion of human power in the material, the intellectual, and the spiritual field. This
belief, which may have been created by the improvements visible everywhere, was stimulated by
the great scientific discoveries. The Victorian Age was not only an age of major economic,
political and social reforms; it was also the age of revolution (Darwin), of railways (George
Stephenson), of steam navigation, of gas-light, of the telegraph, and of anaesthetics. Faraday
(1791 - 1867) and Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879) became famous for their discoveries in
electricity, while other scientists investigated the nature of sound, light, heat and energy.
* reform
The three main problems which faced the Victorians were the rise of democracy, the position
of the poor, and the emancipation of women. Generally speaking, the English Liberals were in
favour of reform in all these fields.
The Reform Bill of 1832 had given the vote to the middle classes; the Second Reform Bill of
1867 extended the vote to the working classes. Negro slavery in the colonies was abolished in
1833, and by the end of Victoria's reign the white colonies were largely self-governing.
Slow improvement was also made in the condition of the poor. The Factory Act of 1833
forbade child-labour below a certain age in most industries. But the New Poor Law of 1834,
which transferred the care of the poor from the parish to the state, destroyed family life by
sending the poor to the workhouse. (The hero of Dickens's Oliver Twist was born in a
workhouse.
In the meantime the condition of the working classes in the new industrial cities, which had
been miserable, was improving, and the workman of 1850 was better fed and clothed than his
grandfather in 1800. This was largely due to the activities of the Trade Unions, whose position
was well-established by the end of Victoria's reign. The education of the large masses began
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with the Education Act of 1870, which made elementary education compulsory for all children.
The fine work done by Florence Nightingale in the Scutari hospitals during the Crimean War
(1854 - 1856) encouraged the feminists in their cause of the emancipation of women. But
women had to wait till after 1900 before they got their political and professional rights.
Many of these reforms were the result of the work done by William Corbett, and by the Earl
of Shaftesbury (1801 - 1885), the greatest Christian philantropist of the age.
Towards the end of the century the British form of Socialism, preached by G.B. Shaw and
others, became a factor of reform in its reaction against Victorian capitalism.
* Liberalism
After the French Revolution Liberalism, which had been revolutionary in France, also spread in
England, where it became a peaceful force in politics, economics, and religion. In politics the
Liberals, led by the great statesman William Gladstone (1809 - 1898) aimed at a more
democratic government, but in this they were opposed both by the conservative aristocrats (who
were afraid that the Liberals would go too far and deprive them of all their old rights) and by the
working classes (who thought that they did not go far enough). In the economic sphere
Liberalism strove after free trade and free competition. Religious Liberalism, finally, was a
continuation of the old eighteenth-century Rationalism, which sought to diminish the authority of
the Church.
The philosophical system underlying English Liberalism was Utilitarianism. The two greatest
Utilitarian philosophers were Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832) and his disciple John Stuart Mill
(1806 - 1873). Their crude theories were based on the rationalistic principle of Utility: what was
useful was good, what was useless was bad, and their ideal was "the greatest happiness of the
greatest number".
However, the Victorians were their own severest critics, and the best of Victorian literature is
laregely a reaction against Liberalism. Political Liberalism was fought by Thomas Carlyle, who did
not believe in democracy; economic Liberalism had found its opponent in William Corbett, who
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stood up for rural England, while religious Liberalism was opposed by Newman, who moved from
the Anglican position to the Roman Catholic Church, and ended as a Cardinal. Other writers who
revolted against the Utilitarian spirit were Tennyson, Browning, Dickens, and Matthew Arnold.
* The Oxford Movement
The influence of Utilitarianism, Liberalism and scepticism also made itself felt in the Church of
England. In 1833 a few Oxford clergymen, under the leadership of John Keble and John Henry
Newman, started a movement to restore the authority of the Church. This struggle between
Liberalism and dogma is called the Oxford Movement. It resembles the Romantic Movement in
its stress on the past and in its rejection of Reason as the supreme guide to knowledge. As a
result of his studies in the history of the Early Church Newman, in 1845, became a Roman
Catholic, a step that caused nation-wide repercussions.
* Science and the Theory of Evolution
The two most notable names in the field of Victorian science were Sir Charles Lyell and
Charles Darwin. In his Principles of Geology (1830 - 1833) Lyell established the age of the
earth and the gradual evolution of its surface. In 1859 Charles Darwin, a naturalist who had
made a voyage to South America on the "Beagle", published his famous On the Origin of
Species. In this book Darwin tried to prove that it was possible for higher animals to develop
from lower animals by means of spontaneous evolution and natural selection (the "struggle for
life").
The theory of evolution, which was later worked out by philosophers and scientists like Herbert
Spencer and Thomas Huxley, came to exercise a tremendous influence on Victorian thought.
This influence was twofold: it strengthened the optimistic belief in progress, which was so
characteristic of the Victorians, but it also perplexed the minds of those who believed in a literal
interpretation of the Book of Genesis. Though a serious effort was made to reconcile the
discoveries of geology and biology with the old religious beliefs, many Christians failed to see
that there cannot really be any disagreement between the religious and moral truths of the Bible
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on the one hand, and the findings of science on the other; some, e.g., George Eliot, the novelist,
even lost their faith. This apparent conflict between science and faith cast a dark shadow over
the Victorian scene, and the struggles and doubts are reflected in the literature of the period.
* Imperialism
The Victorian Age was a time of peace, and the consolidation of the British Empire. In 1876
Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. Unfortunately, the last years of her reign were
marked by the growth of Imperialism, by which we mean the idea of the supposed right of
Englishmen to govern over other territories and peoples. Imperialism was popularized by the poet
Rudyard Kipling, but the Boer War (1899 - 1902) practically put an end to this dangerous idea.
Towards the close of Victoria's reign the position of Britain was quite secure, and when she died
in 1901 she left to her son Edward not a country, but a vast empire.
C19 American Literature
Social History and Literature
* introduction
The period between the Civil War and the First World War in the U.S.A. was rather similar to
the situation in Victorian England. In both countries prevailed a sense of confusion and chaos
due to a rapidly changing social life. In both countries again writers were called upon to provide
stability by clarifying the consciousness of the age. The basic elements of change and hence the
themes of the nineteenth century writers were the following:
* rise of wealth
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The Civil War had created millionaires, and had instigated many industrial activities
(encouraged by government). Activities which rapidly exhausted the human and natural
ressources of the country. Along with this increase in wealth an interest in frivolous and
distracting amusement was aroused.
* the growth of the city
The city had been "the pit of evil" according to strict Christian beliefs, but now people began
to realize the enormous possibilities of the city too. Apart from native Americans, many
immigrants came to the cities; for instance New York held as many Germans as Hamburg. The
immigrants were attracted to the U.S.A. with the vision of the ideal state. Surprisingly enough, it
turned out to be exactly the foreign immigrants who kept reviving this optimistic picture.
* education
The prevailing intellectual mood was one of reform, a remnant of the C18 and early C19
moral idealism. More and more people began to develop themselves intellectually. By 1881 as
many as nineteen states had adopted a compulsory educational system.
* growth of science and naturalistic truth
Just like in Victorian England the increasing popularity of Darwinism led to fervent discussions
between those adhering religion and science. Noteworthy in this respect are the Christian
attempts to incorporate Darwinian ideas into traditional Christian beliefs: "God worked through
natural selection."
* technology
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Along with the industrialization - again a paralel with England - came an eager interest in
technology. Inventions were the toy of the age; technology became an end in itself.
* the rise of mass literature
The circumstances that influenced the literary production between the wars were:
1. the way in which the continuity of literary taste and sales was
shattered by the Civil War;
2. the very important development of various kinds of popular media
and of new means of distribution on a massive scale. At the close
of the war books were sold through the mail, by subscription agents
(often mutilated ex-soldiers), in book stores and also in department stores (as appetizers for other articles, also called "book
butchering").
3. The lack of an international copyright law until 1891. Many classic
writers ranging from Dante to Homer were introduced to "normal" families due to very low prices.
4. The widespread influence of foreign authors on Americans (see 3).
Most popular in this respect were the nostalgic and romantic writers. ("Augustan mentality")
* conclusion
In this social and literary (cultural) climate of confusion and overall loss of identity, writers
were again summoned to provide clarity, to make the new world understandable. So again
literature adopted a vigilistic and realistic mode. Realism broadly focusses on the renewed
experience with the various cultural roots (regional realism, e.g., Twain) and a review of modern
reality, especially in the cities (e.g., Howells).
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Realism and Naturalism
Attempts at Definition
REALISM
The American literary critic Becker discerns the following characteristics of literary realism:
(a) versimilitude of detail derived from observation and documentation;
(b) effort to approach the norm of experience, that is to describe the representative
instead of the exceptional;
(c) effort to give an objective view of human nature and mankind, and try to refrain
from subjective and idealistic views.
These are elvated aims, but as Pizer points out, the subject-matter of realistic novels is very
often more diverse than representative. Moreover, the writer often applies an idealistic, moralistic
attitude than an objective one. The heroes in Howells' novels, for instance, are often involved in
moral choices that have to be made.
NATURALISM
The traditional approach towards naturalism has often been that it is a continuation of realism,
infused with a sense of pessimistic social determinism. Pizer again points out that this view is
too simple; in naturalistic novels there are two tensions or contradictions which together provide
an interpretation of reality:
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(1) The contradiction between the subject-matter and the concept of man. The
heroes in naturalistic novels are often characters who are unsophisticated, poor and from the
lower social classes. Yet, the naturalistic writer tries to portray them as heroic and adventurous.
(2) A contradiction in theme. The naturalistic writer describes his characters as
conditioned by heredity, environment, instinct or chance, but he also allows for a certain
significance of the individual.
Nineteenth Century American Literature
Realism and Naturalism
Realism, of course, is hardly the privilege of any particular literary movement. There are
various kinds of realism, and in some form or other, one might argue, it has been present in
literature from the earliest times.
In the history of American literature, however it has become customary for scholars to reserve
the term for a movement which arose in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and which
owed a great deal to the "local colour school" - with its "realistic" attention to details in the
portrayal of regional life, and its attempts at reproducing regional dialects -, as well as to such
European "realists" as Flaubert (1821 - 1880), Daudet (1840 - 1897), Zola (1840 - 1902) and
Tolstoy (1828 - 1910).
American "realism", however, was no mere slavish imitation of these European models. To
the dean of the movement, William Dean Howells (1837 - 1920), whose best-known work is
probably The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), realism meant "the study and the appreciation of the
common", the everyday world and everyday people. But this, to Howells, implied a concern with
"the more smiling aspects of life, which are the more American", rather than with the sordiness
which he disapproved of in the French "realists". A friend of Twain's, Howells was sometimes a
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little shocked at Twain's language, but this was nothing to his growing consternation at the work
of such younger men as Hamlin Garland
1
(1860 - 1940), Stephen Crane
2
(1871 - 1900),
Frank Norris 3 (1870 - 1902) and Theodore Dreiser 4 (1871 - 1945), who departed increasingly
from his own pleasant brand of realism, to turn to naturalism.
Anything but smiling, naturalism conceives of man as the helpless victim of his inherited
instincts and passions, of circumstance and environment. Such victims of fate the naturalistic
novelist then studies, according to Emile Zola's doctrine, with scientific objectivity, tracing their
inevitable degradation to their final defeat, and refraining from the moral judgement which to
Howells was an essential element of all literature.
Footnotes
1 E.g. Main-Travelled Roads.
2 E.g. "The Red Badge of Courage".
3 E.g. McTeague.
4 E.g. Sister Carrie.
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