The Victorian Age

Victoria succeeded to the throne of England at 17, very young. She had to face a very
complex society, it was called ​the age of contradictions​, social complexity. (1837 - 1901)
Queen Victoria's reign was the longest, it must be considered as a bridge between the 19th
century and the following one. She opened the way to the 20th century. She was very young
but ​determined​, but she was not alone, his husband Prince Albert, who was Queen Victoria's
cousin.
They got married, their marriage was very happy, and they had 9 children.
A real photo of the time with Victoria and their children. Without his husband she wouldn't
have been the same queen. ​Prince Albert was ​her counselor​, she made with him her
decisions, he was more ​open minded​, he understood the necessity of changing the society.
If queen Victoria passed so many ​reforms in favour of the working class​, it was thanks to
prince Albert. ​He died very young​, and it was such a trauma for her that she was so sad, she
felt lost because she relied on him. ​The last part of her reign was more gloomy than the first
one​.
Queen Victoria: on the one hand she represented the determined woman, on the other hand
she liked to be photographed with her family. She wanted to represent and to ​symbolise the
perfect mother and wife​. ​Political woman and stereotyped idea of woman - the role of the
woman. Many women started to understand that their role could be different at the time. The
woman taking care of the family.

The emancipation of women

Most women started to pioneer the new role of the woman​. Victoria couldn't perfectly
understand the emancipations of women. Women who started to do sports typical of men,
women who started to study biology, medicine and to attend university, which had been
limited to men by now. (16/09/19) ​Age of contradictions: social, political, cultural​. These
contradictions were very well embodied by queen Victoria and her husband, who played a
very important role supporting her in all the difficult decisions because she had to face a very
complex society​.
On the one hand women were considered wives and mothers and on the other hand they
started to become aware that their role could not only depend on their husband. The
suffragette movement was composed by learned and cultivated women, who could read and
study and attended university. They understood they could not only depend on men, they
started to ​emancipate​. Women started to play ​sports like golf​, which were typical of men,
they started to ​travel alone far off lands​, they started to ​study biology, medicine​. ​They started
to become aware of their role in society. Queen Victoria was a little conventional, conformist,
she thought that the role of the woman was centered on family. Women thought that queen
Victoria was right. But we are talking about a ​small group of women​, some of them were
abandoned by their husband, some of them were not considered good mother and their
children were taken from them. These women were not supported by the society, neither
queen Victoria.

Florence Nightingale was a ​nurse​. During the Crimean war, she moved from the battlefield,
healed wounded soldiers, children and civilians who as a consequence of the war were
injured. The ​nurses of the Red Cross act nowadays as Florence Nightingale acted. She
opened ​the first training school for nurses in a hospital. She opened the way for many
women to become nurses.

The people' movements and the acts

The chartist movement​. People's Charter (la carta del popolo) 1838. The ​chartism​, in the
second industrial revolution. The machines become more and more used in the factories, the
number of factories increased along with pollution and the number of workers. No rights and
no insurance. The workers couldn't vote and were paid with very low wages, and so
exploitation. The workers continued to live in slums where the igene conditions were awful,
overcrowded. Children and women were the most exploited.
Positive aspects​: increase in the production, cheaper prices so a major number of people
could buy the products, people were becoming richer and richer, unequal distribution of
wealth became more unequal during the second industrial revolution.
Difference: like women even workers started to become aware of their rights. In the Victorian
time the workers started to understand little by little that ​their work in the factories was
important for the factory owner​, they could ask for rights, for better working conditions, for
the right to vote.
The ​suffragette movement asked for the ​right to vote​, they could pass the laws in their
favour. The first thing they asked was the right to vote.
The chartism was important because the middle class and the working class signed a
petition of rights called ​The people's charter.​ The trade unions continued to meet and they
asked for the right to have the Trade Unions. When people were waiting for the answer they
gathered in front of the Houses of Parliament. It was a pacific fight. The parliament didn't
pass these requests, it was composed by aristocrat and middle class representatives, they
were afraid of losing their political and economical power. When they knew that the
parliament didn't pass these reforms there were hundreds of policemen ready to shoot. It
was both a failure and a success, a failure because the parliament didn't pass the requests,
they could reject ​The People's Charter one time but the parliament realised that it was time
to change, even queen Victoria and her husband realised this. It was an age of industry but
even an age of reforms. Unequal distribution of wealth, but an age of reforms.
- the ​third Reform Bill​ (legge elettorale), 3 reform bills
- the ​second Reform Bill 1867 *(in the book). Women had to wait till 1916 to obtain the
right to vote.
- the ​Mines Act ​(1862)
These were not the only reforms:
- the Education Act​: it increased the compulsory school to the age of 12 (more than
one education act). Children under 12 were exploited in the factories.
- the​ Hours Act:​ people couldnt work more than 10 hours.
- the​ Trade Unions Act:​ Trade Unions were made legal
- the​ Pension Act:​ workers who retired after a working life were paid with a salary.
Queen Victoria was conservative, she supported the nobles, the aristocrats, but she
understood that if she hadn't granted these reforms, Britain would have been the victim of
blooded civil wars, as the rest of Europe. The working class was not the one of the
Enlightenment. People would have reacted, but this time not peacefully, also thanks to
Prince Albert.
 - the​ Poor Amendment Act, ​passed by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. (20/09/19)
- the ​Emancipation of religious sects opens the way to all the categories and social
classes which had been excluded. There were lots of acts enlarging the rights to
other social classes. Many of the rights the people fighted for are not to be taken for
granted nowadays. Workers in Amazon strike for their rights, there are lots of workers
who are exploited. Even nowadays lots of people don't have the same rights people
could have under queen Victoria
- the Poor Law​: (la legge per i poveri) was one of the laws Prince Albert supported
during the Victorian Age. In there big industrial cities there were lots of homeless
people, as in Milan. There were lots of people sleeping in the streets. Lots of them
were orphans, children, whose parents died very young because of the awful
conditions of factories and workers. It aimed to give these people lodging. These
were workhouses, big buildings run by charity troops who took the money from the
state, to support the poorest classes. These groups spent only a little quantity of
money on these poor people, so that these children were exploited like in the
factories.

Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens: like Verga he denounces the awful conditions in the workhouses, his
novels were set in the workhouses, so that the majority of people could be aware of this
problem. In the workhouse women were separated from men. Many of them were crowded
in very small hoods, like slums. Oliver Twist painted this.
Big problem of immigration, the mechanism is the same as in the workhouses, there are
charity organizations in order to support these people, giving them food and lodging, and
giving them a job. But then these money are not spent for the aim they were given for, and
so immigrants have become a good business, where mafia has tried in the recent years to
get the control of the situation, and this is the same thing which happen in these years.
The political system which was born in the Enlightenment (Tories and whigs) changed
(conservatives and liberals). Then, there was foundation of the labour party, to support and
protect the working class.

The Great Exhibition

Positive side of the Victorian Age: ​The Great Exhibition 1851 London, wanted by Prince
Albert.
Page 24: image: Crystal Palace, built on purpose to host the Great Exhibition, by an
architect.
It was made of iron and glass. These two materials have a symbolic value, they were
innovative. Instead, the materials typically used were wood and stone. The message the
visitors could get was modernity, Great Britain was a modern country, projected to the future.
The Great Exhibition is the first expo. Prince Albert was the first who thought about an
exhibition where the country should show the world its investment on the future. All the
industrial machines were exhibited: the steam engine, the locomotives. Millions of visitors
came all over the world, to see the power of England, which was powerful. This was a way to
show off and to impress the world, tho show how powerful Britain was, it was political
propaganda. If on the one hand Britain was featured by the exploitation of workers, on the
other hand there was a big power. Great prosperity and great economic power.

The colonial empire

Page 22: Britain was the greatest colonial empire. From Canada to Australia and New
Zealand, South Africa, India, Egypt. There is a nice saying: the sun never sets on England.
Queen Victoria was crowned empress of England to show her great power. The colonies
were fundamental to England, they were used to import raw materials and to export the
goods produced by the factories. Some colonies also exported workers, slaves, raw
materials. Little by little, even the colonies, like women and workers started to realize that
they should rebel against the exploitation of Britain. At first they accepted to be colonies, but
then they started to rebel, also because some writers wrote about this. Also in England some
people started to sharply criticize this, not only in the colonies, but also in England. This idea
that colonies' people were inferior and English people were superior collapsed. Foster
started to criticize this aspect. The colonial empire was the largest of ever. This process
ended up with the foundation of the Commonwealth. The Irish problem. Page 22-23.

The neo gothic style - Pugin

Victoria and Prince Albert supported the building of some buildings like the Houses of
parliament, the Albert Museum. The style used by Pugin Is neogothic. The Gothic style is the
style of the Middle Ages. According to many artists, the Middle Ages were the last time
where spirituality was more important than money. So, using the Gothic style was a protest
against the Victorian society based on money, richness, industrialization, and on the other
hand the exploitation of workers. This rebellion is the same we will find in Oscar Wilde. The
society in the Middle Ages is not so materialistic.

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill is one of the greatest philosophers of the time. He fell in love with a woman
who was married. In the Victorian time a married woman was a slave of her husband. A
woman who was married was not able to divorce or not, they were submitted to their
husband. She had to wait until her husband's death to marry John Mill. He denounced the
role of women in the society, he supported the suffragette movement. There was the
subjugation of women. The state was important, but it couldn't limit individual freedom, but
guarantee it. He really helped the more learned people changing their mind.

These Victorian age was very conformist, but this denounce opened the way to the 20th
century. The contradiction between the role of the women and the rebels / the exploitation of
workers and the new movement to guarantee more rights and the right to vote.
The first reform bill satisfied the middle class, extended the right to vote to some workers, but
not to all of them.

The Indian colonies

British people who lived in India were not monsters who wanted to exploit the Indian people.
But their culture was superior, they believed in the myth of the culture birthing. People want
to impose their tradition. British people taught them that they should behave in a more
democratic and human way. They considered their traditions brutals because they couldn't
understand their tradition and culture. We think that we have to export our ideas to free
those people. We don't know that society and how that society is organised. Our principles
are not wrong, but the way we consider democracy belongs to our history. But if we try to
export this to a completely different country, with a different history, religion, it will be very
difficult, if the people are not convinced, if they don't have our awareness. They wanted to
export their democratic ideas and they failed, because those people considered it as a
submission, a colonization. This is the same as nowadays, we consider the Americans
colonisers.

Ireland and Dark England

Ireland was considered a colony. Michael Collins was the leader of Ireland. People don't
want to be considered colonised. Dark England is made of the poor part of England. We can
not judge other cultures by our point of view. Then, they changed completely the way of
judging, all people are equal. The Indian worshipped cows, they could think that English
people were animals, because they ate cows. (02/10/19) British people believed that they
had a moral and rich game. It was their duty to spread their culture and teach these people
the superior culture of the white man. The British Empire used also propaganda in order to
spread this idea. This propaganda was supported by Rudyard Kipling (page 24 - page 104).
British factories needed the colonies as new markets, where they could export their
products. It was not only for economic reasons but mostly for ethical reasons. Many teachers
were sent from England to teach Indian people. Also their children were born in England and
the English people never mixed up with Indian people. They lived in privileged areas of India,
where houses were built like typical English cottages, and the gardens were English typical.
As they think that this culture is inferior, they are not interested in this culture, so they don't
mix up with this population. English people never tried to understand the native culture.
Kipling is the artist who supported this idea.
To serve the captives need, the natives are fluttered, irrequieta, at first people didn't accept.
English people wrongly couldn't understand the importance of native people. "Half devil and
half child" evil people: the British couldn't fully understand this culture. Some of their habits,
as they were difficult to understand by British people, were evil. Some philosophers and
artists started to criticize this attitude, but they were a minority, because the majority thought
that Kipling was right.

→ ​Connection with ​Charles Darwin​. (Page 27-28). Each country which wants to colonise
another country always finds good excuses. Charles Darwin was a scientist, and he didn't
support any idea of British imperialism, his book had nothing to do with this idea, but it could
be easily misinterpreted, it was easy to misinterpret his idea in that way. Charles Darwin was
the first who put in doubt the existence of God. The scientist in the Enlightenment didn't put
in doubt the existence of God. Instead, Charles Darwin created a break between science
and religion. His story seemed to show how the strongest survived and the weakest
deserved to be defeated. The weakest needed to be colonised and submitted from the
superior race. All living creatures have taken their living force through a slow process of
change and adaptation. In the struggle for survival, physical conditions determined the
survival of a species and the extinction of another. Man evolved, like any other animal, from
less highly organised forms, namely from a monkey.
This theory was taken from ​Herbert Spencer​. Herbert Spencer misused Charles Darwin's
theory and found a philosophical current called social darwinism, the social justification for
the British empire. He affirmed using Darwin's theory that as there are some animals
stronger and superior than others, the same happens in the world inhabited by men. There
are men who are superior and the men who are inferior needed to be submitted. He applied
Charles Darwin's theory to men. He affirmed that there are races who are superior to other
races, and the races who are superior had to colonise other countries.
John Stuart Mill​: he's one of the voices who started to contradict the principles of the
Victorian age. Legislation, the state, the laws of the state should help men develop their
natural talents. If you are good at something the state should help you fulfill your desire. The
individual with his energy can make the country move on, not the machines of factories. This
is progress according to Mill. If you want population who can express their talents and
energy, it needs education, total education, not only for the middle class children. Queen
Victoria supported this with the Education Act. He also supported:
- Trade Unions, because the workers needed to be represented
- Extension of the franchise
- Emancipations of women, they needed the right to vote and to choose their role in
society. He's the philosopher who supported the suffragette movement.
Charles Darwin didn't think that there were some races superior than others, his idea was
totally different from Spencer's one. Spencer misinterpreted his theory.
(Ogni volta che un paese o una nazione cerca di imporre le proprie idee su alcune cultures
prescindere da quelle culture, riceve un rifiuto. Per quanto a noi possa sembrare che quelle
culture siano sbagliate e crudeli, non possiamo pensare di esportare la nostra cultura,
perché inevitabilmente quei paesi si ribelleranno.)

(10/08/19) According to Herbert Spencer, the poor deserve to be poor, because poor people
are not good and fit enough to compete in that very competitive society. The same happens
to colonised people, they are inferior, not as educated as the more civilised people.
Mill and ​Marx went against this theory. The optimism, symbolised by the Great Exhibition
was substituted by pessimism. When Karl Marx wrote his manifesto of communism he was
in England: he criticized what he could see travelling throughout England. He criticized the
unequal distribution of wealth. Those who produced wealth couldn't profit from it. They didn't
profit from their work, because it was taken by the factory owners, and this was unequal.
George Orwell, in ​Animal Farm​, in the very beginning of the book, wrote about a man who
speaks to animals, reproducing Karl Marx's ideas. He wrote about some animals, the pigs,
who are the rulers and exploited the other animals, the working class, and the other animals
died of starvation. He reproduced the same ideas Karl Marx had expressed in his manifesto.

Progress was based on the past. The new Gothic movement, Pugine (architect), they looked
back to the Middle Ages. Spirituality in the Middle Ages was more important than money.
The individual in the British society was not enough valuated. George Orwell realised that it
was a utopia. Any form of democracy turned out to become a dictatorship. The seeds of a
certain criticism of that model of the capitalistic society were made. When a woman got
married she had to give all her properties to her husband.
Celts never accepted domination. India and Ireland, since Henry VIII, never accepted of
being English. Ireland and Scotland hadn't accepted the imposition of the Anglican Church.
Relations with Ireland had always been difficult, since the Celts. The Irish people had always
maintained their spirit of independence. They have never accepted the domination of the
English.
The potato blight​, an epidemic of the potatoes. The Irish people who were only based on
potato had problems of starvation. They didn't accept England's impositions anymore. When
the potato blight destroyed the crops (raccolti), the Irish people accused the English of
having stolen their food. Lots of Irish people emigrated to America, some Americans now are
of Irish origin. Some Irish people preferred the long journey to America rather than the short
journey to Britain, which was the cause of their problems.
Civil war broke out in northern Ireland. The leader of this new movement is Charles Palmer,
who tried to convince Gladstone to pass a reform (​Irish Home Rule Bill​), but he didn't accept.