Chapter 18

Socio Political Conditions

When the concept of Enlightenment started to stress upon the activities of the society, and
making ‘‘Reason and Rationality’’ a guiding principles of human nature, there came a group of
people who opposed the concept of the above revealed ideologies. The historians called the
new age as Transitional period also known as Pre-Romanticism. It occurred during the late 18 th
century when the thinkers of the Transitional age searched for new models for their writings
other than the works of the ancient writers. The period was momentously marked by the
French Revolution, the American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.

George III came to throne in 1760 when the French revolution greatly affected the Europe
politically and intellectually. The other two revolutions, Industrial and American, led many
changes economically and socially. They originated not only in this particular age, but due to
early developments in the field of science and the advancements in technical level for instance,
the invention of steam engine etc which ended the usage of the domestic materials. The
revolutions need financial support which is invested by the men of high social status and the
ones who worked in making these developments remain a part of lower status. Therefore, it
created a deep social division between the working class and the upper class.

As I have already mentioned that Pre-Romanticism was a reaction against the models of the
neo-classicism, that is why the authors of this age particularly focuses on the Nature of earth
and not on the Bookish nature. As a result, the idea of rationalism was replaced by emotions
and feelings of the individuals.

Themes:

The novels of the latter half of the eighteenth century, from Richardson to Austen, expressed a
greater understanding of the complexities of human nature and life, than the works before
them had done. These novels, in common, display moral patterns, in the tension between
public and private lives of characters, of which Richardson’s Pamela, and Fielding’s Joseph
Andrews, are famous examples. For these two authors and their followers, morality, gentility,
marriage, class divide, and social abuse were important themes, which show the authors’
understanding of human psychology. With class divide, there are further themes in play like
hypocrisy, virtue and chastity, as well as innocence and ignorance in matters of immoral
conduct.
Authors following Richardson and Fielding, like Smollett, continued with the travelling and
adventurous themes of the picaresque tradition, maintaining their focus on the common
people. There was a definite growing interest in the “idiosyncrasies of the human mind” and
the “individual consciousness”, as in the case of Tristram Shandy. However, as this transitional
age moved towards the Romantic era, a new thematic trend appeared in the novels, with
Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. This novel was the first Gothic novel, bringing to
literature the excitement of horror, mystery, and the supernatural.

Despite, the trend of the Gothic genre, the novel of manners had a few names under its banner
to, with Jane Austen being the most famous. Combining wit, irony and humor, Austen’s novel
featured personal morality, social hierarchy and economic propriety, all revolving around the
constant subject of marriage.

Features:

During 18th Century English novel was destined to flourish and is considered to be the “product
of the middle class” then. It is because, it has the appeal of middle class” ideals and
sensibilities” (700). Moreover, works such as The Spectator by Addison and Steele, Gulliver
Travels by Swift, various writings of Defoe provided “background for the emergence of the
English novel”, Therefore, from the time of Richardson till 20th century, subject matter of the
novel was based on social political and domestic conventions, for instance, as David Dachies
stated,

”English fiction were based on the view… what altered a social relationship-love followed by
marriage, quarreling and reconciliation, gain or loss of money or of social status. The class
consciousness shown by the novel from the beginning, the importance of social and financial
status and the use of the rise or fall from one class to another as a reflecting critical
development in character and fortune, indicate the middle-class origin of this literary
form”(700).

It is noted by Dachies that,” Richardson’s novels enshrine an eighteenth-century bourgeois

morality” (709) .This can be supported with the example of Pamela by Richardson, in which he
has incorporated contrasts between “prudence and virtue, gentility and morality, reputation
and character” through the depiction of characters such as Pamela, Squire B, Clarissa. Also,
social relationships, class differences, moral patterns are evident in this novel. Therefore, we
can safely assert that Richardson was the” first important English writer to deal with basic
moral problems in a detailed social context” (710).
In the novel Jospeh Andrews by Henry Fielding, which is considered to be a parody of Pamela,
“the dangers of convention and the ambiguities of innocence are explored for the first time in
English fiction” (715)? Through the depiction of different characters, Fielding has tried to create
his own view regarding views which” go behind eighteenth century attitudes and conventions
to a view of marriage and of the relation between the sexes” (713).

In Victorian novels, women which are aware of “facts of life” are considered “evitably bad”
(715), whereas ignorant ones are innocent and virtuous. But Victorians restricts the “equation
of innocence and ignorance to genteel women and to matters of sex” (716). However, Fielding
in Joseph Andrews and Richardson in Pamela has depicted women such as Fanny and Pamela,
respectively, as being aware of “facts of life” and protects their chastity from the advances of
different lustful predators.

Moreover, through comic epic Tom Jones, Fielding has tried to reflect upon the society, to
communicate the variety of colors of human life mixed with his ironic perception of “the
underlying identity of high class dueling… low class brawling…(717)”.New blood was infused
with the notion of Fielding’s “comic epic”, into the picaresque tradition(731).

Jane Austen has raised the genre of novel to the “new level of art” (743). With her vision of
seeing man as “social animal”, her “ironic awareness”, “polished and controlled wit” and her
“steady moral apprehension of the nature of human relationship”, she has produced greatest
novels in England history. (744). In her writings she has depicted the English country society
encompassing idea of ambition ,marriage, fears, hopes and other domestic and social
conventions. Through the depiction of generation of Englishmen and Englishwomen, she has
provided “remarkable insight into the relationship between social convention and individual
temperament” (744).

Pride and Prejudice is the most popular novel of Jane Austen, in which she has highlighted
different themes such as social status, love, marriage etc. For instance, when Charlotte’s
accepts the proposal of Mr. Collin, out of economic pragmatism, here Austen has tried to make
her audience “fully aware of some of the ugly realities underlying the stately social ballet”
(752).Sense of “class duty…claim of superiority…on noble birth” by Austen can be observed
when Darcy was revealed to be generous towards his tenants. This novel also depicts the
importance of Reputation, class consciousness through the characters of Elizabeth, Miss
Bingley, Lady Catherine, Lydia, and Mr. Collin etc.
Writers:

With the Augustan Age ending in the late 1740’s, the most significant aspect of the latter half of
the eighteenth century was the rise of the English novel. Although the English novel had made
its debut with Daniel Defoe in the early 1700’s, the genre really flourished under authors like
Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne, to name a few, and continued into the
early 19th century, with writers like Jane Austen and Anne Radcliffe dominating the scene.
Keeping my discussion within the confines of the eighteenth chapter of David Daiches’ book “A
Critical History of English Literature Volume II”, here is a breakdown of the age’s most famous
writers and their works:

Famous Writers Famous Works

Samuel Richardson Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740)
Pamela in her Exalted Condition (1742)
Known best for his invention and Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748)
masterful use of the epistolary novel The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754)

Henry Fielding Shamela (1741)

The History of the Adventures of Joseph
Andrews and his Friend, Mr. Abraham Abrams
(1742)
Famous, not just as a novelist, but
The Life and Death of Jonathan Wild, the Great
a playwright as well, due to his satirical and
(1743)
comical powers. He is known for having
produced over 23 plays (1728-1737), A History of Tom Jones (1749)
alongside his novellas. Amelia (1751)
Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1755) –
posthumously
Tobias Smollett The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748)
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751)
An Essay on the External Use of Water (1752)
Known best for his satirical The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom
picaresque novels, one of which is credited (1753)
to have inspired Charles Dickens later on The Reprisal: or, The Tars of Old England (1757)
The Adventures of Lancelot Greaves (1761)
Travels Through France and Italy (1766)
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771)
Lawrence Sterne A Political Romance (1759)
A Fragment in the Manner of Rabelais (1759)
Known as a satirist and a The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1759-
1767)
 A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy
(1768)
humourist. His sermons, some 45 in
Journal to Eliza (1904) – posthumously
number, were published under the
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Julie, or the New Heloise (1761)
Clara Reeve The Champion of Virtue, a Gothic Story (1777)
Oliver Goldsmith Account of the Augustan Age in England (1759)
The Citizen of the World (1762)
The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765)
A Jack of all trades, he is known as a The Hermit (1765)
novelist, essayist playwright and poet. The Vicar of Wakefield (1762)
The Good-Natur'd Man (1768)
The Deserted Village (1770)
She Stoops to Conquer (1771)
The Man of Feeling (1771)
Henry Mackenzie The Man of the World (1773)
Julia de Roubigné (1777)
London (1738)
Life of Mr Richard Savage (1744)
Samuel Johnson The Vanity of Human Wishes (1748)
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia
(1759)
Horace Walpole
The Castle of Otranto (1764)
Known best for the invention of
the gothic genre
Charlotte Smith Emmeline, or the Orphan of the Castle (1788)
Sophia Lee The Recess (1785)
William Beckford Vathek (1786)
Ann Radcliffe The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789)
A Sicilian Romance (1790)
Known for her masterful use of The Romance of the Forest (1791)
the romantic gothic genre, the gothic The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)
genre’s fame in the 1790’s is attributed to A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794 (1795)
her. She is also credited for having paved The Italian (1797)
the way for the Romantic poets, such as
Gaston de Blondeville (1826)
Lord Byron and S T Coleridge.
Mathew Gregory Lewis The Monk (1796)
The Fatal Revenge (1807)
Charles Robert Maturin Melmoth the Wanderer (1820)
Fanny Burney Evelina: Or The History of A Young Lady's
Entrance into the World (1778)
Cecilia: Or, Memoirs of an Heiress (1782)

Maria Edgeworth
Jane Austen
Famous for her novel of manners,
Austen helped shape the novel’s modern
outlook. Her works are known as timeless
classics and are widely enjoyed, read and
studied even two centuries after her death
Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth (1796)
The Wanderer: Or, Female Difficulties (1814)
Castle Rackrent (1800)
Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Mansfield Park (1814)
Emma (1815)
Plan of a Novel (1815)
Northanger Abbey (1818) – posthumously
Persuasion (1818) – posthumously
Lady Susan (1871) – posthumously