During the 19th century, books had a huge impact on society.

Writers were not

simply meeting the demands of their audience but they also could bring new ideas in front

of society and encourage changes. In this essay, the impact of 19th-century writers on

society will be examined and the ways their writings reshaped their societies. To do that,

the work of two great English writers will be considered: Charles Dickens and Oscar

Wilde.

Charles Dickens made a huge impact on English Victorian society by describing

the everyday life of people from lower social classes. Through his writing, Dickens brought

a strong critique of social stratification. His heroes are outcasts from society: children

without parents struggling to survive, women and men without any education and

opportunity to earn their living, sick poor people, and criminals. His works are full of

characters forced to do crime to survive, children living in the street. Dickens' descriptions

of the misery of the lower classes of society had practical consequences. He managed to

turn the attention of the society to the lower classes and their misery, abuse of children,

corruption, and weaknesses of the justice system. Thanks to Charles Dickens, the society

could rethink the nature of a crime - whether it was done out of necessity. His actions

encouraged helping the poor, changing the school system to prevent child abuse and

other changes in legislation to benefit the poor.

Oscar Wilde also brought a great critique of the 19th-century society. Although a

member of the Victorian aristocracy, he uses satire to depict its hypocrisy. In his works,

Wilde questioned and challenged the strict Victorian morality. With his lifestyle, Oscar

Wilde was challenging Victorian morality even more. Because of his homosexual
preferences, he was even sentenced to prison. In a certain sense, Wilde was a symbol

of struggle against Victorian society and its values.

Although Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens were literary opponents, they were

both reshaping Victorian society in a similar way. While Dickens was trying to awaken

humanity of higher classes and affected social changes, Wilde was pointing to the

hypocrisy of Victorian society and inadequacy of its moral norms.