The Victorian Age (1832 1902)

Queen Victoria

the early period (1830

48) - a time of dramatic
change
the mid-Victorian period
(184870) a time of
prosperity and
colonization
the later period (1870
1901) the breakdown of
the old verities
 The Profile of the Age:
PROGRESS a belief in the evolution of
society
industrialization/urbanization: the doctrine
of laissez-faire - free trade and the private
capitalistic enterprise ; technological
advances
Lifestyles changed more dramatically than
ever before in English history
COLONIALISM: the supreme world power,
the empire on which the sun never set;
 The Profile of the Age
RESULT: the growth of national and cultural
self-consciousness
the reverse of the industrial coin two
nations in Britain: the rich and the poor (in
1842 1. 5 million paupers)
a highly structured class-society - the
middle-class - the heroic protagonist of
progress and the moral heart of society
gentleman (manners and mode of life)
upper social mobility / a cultural ambition
 The Profile of the Age
the participation of the masses to the
phenomenon of culture; mass literacy;
the modern public school system; quality
journalism (periodicals) - the prose of
the period: speaking prose, didactic,
communicative, ideological
utilitarian view of culture - a useful
culture
 The Profile of the Age
middle-class ethics of progress: social
success and public recognition are virtues
orthodox puritanism (hard work, asceticism
discipline sobriety and respectability )
utilitarianism (useful, utility): the greatest
happiness of the greatest numbers
hypocrisy- the praise of pragmatism and
virtues
 The Profile of the Age
the central conflict of Victorian society:
religion vs. science (materialism vs.
spiritualism, feeling & fact, mysticism &
rationalism)
science and progress made religion seem
anachronistic - loss of personal faith
The Machine Age - the dehumanization
of work and the worker
 Cultural Criticism- The Victorian
Essay
General tendencies of Victorian criticism:
the view of society as a mechanical entity /
the social theory / materialism/pragmatism
a campaign for idealism: secular spirituality -
the human spirit should be developed in
history
NOTE: not concerned with social equality
 Thomas Carlyle (1795-
1881)
the prophet of the Victorian age
to educate the middle class audience; a
critic of 19th century materialism - the
vanity fair where all is bought and sold - a
constructive thinker who tries to offer a
solution
Sartor Resartus - the tailor reclothed
the metaphor of clothing: 1. matter vs.
spirit (the material world or human
institutions as the clothes of the spirit)
the loss of spiritual value
 Thomas Carlyle (1795-
1881)
the cures for the social ills and the dehumanization of
life
1. the doctrine of activism: man should perfect
himself by means of work
2. a change of direction from the material to the
spiritual values - he finds these values in in the cult
of discipline, morality and order of the monastic
culture medievalism
the paradox of Carlyles criticism: he criticized
materialism and supported the part of the official
doctrine of the age: the high moralism of the
dominant puritanical spirituality
 Matthew Arnold (1822-
1888)
an eminent poet, a lifelong educator, a
pioneer in the field of literary
criticism, and an influential public
figure
culture is a spiritual entity - the best
that has been thought and said in the
world
a cultural critic is a social benefactor
 Matthew Arnold (1822-
1888
THE SOCIAL/MORAL ROLE OF POETRY -
poetry is the universal tool for culture
POETRY IS THE CRITICISM OF LIFE - a
healthy interpretation of life /to question all
authority and to make judgments in a
disinterested way
poetry = emotions, the model of what life
ideally should be life, poetic truth and poetic
beauty propose the right conduct of public and
personal life
 Matthew Arnold (1822-
1888
cultural and critical values seem to be
synonymous / literary criticism is also
social criticism
the touchstone method - passages taken
from works of great masters of poetry
should be applied as touchstones to other
poetry
THE ENGLISH CANON - Great
Literature" - to define, in absolute (trans-
historical) terms, "great literature"
 Matthew Arnold (1822-
1888
an ethical cure for the culture of
utilitarian materialism: a return to classical
values
Hellenism vs. Hebraism (the free play of
mind vs. religious faith, strictness of
conscience)
he claimed as universal the particular
interests of the ruling classes (the middle
classes