The Victorian Age

The Victorian Age 
1830-1900
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This lesson contains 30 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 3 videos.

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The Victorian Age 
1830-1900

Slide 1 - Slide

A Survey of English Literature
Victorian Age & Poetry

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The Victorian Age 
  • Started around 1830 ended in early 20th century
  • Named after Queen Victoria (1837 - 1901)
  • Britain: great economic and political power
  • "The workshop of the world"
  • "The empire on which the sun never set"

Slide 3 - Slide

General introduction
  • Enormous changes occured in political and social life in England
  • The scientific and technical innovations of the Industrial Revolution, the emergence of modern nationalism, and the European colonization of much of Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East changed most of Europe
  • Far-reaching new ideas created the greatest outpouring of literary works the world has ever seen

Slide 4 - Slide

Queen Victoria (1819-1901)  Reign: 1837-1901
She had the longest reign in British history after Queen Elizabeth II.
Became queen at the age of 18;
Queen Victoria restored people’s faith in the monarchy again after a series of horrible leaders
1840-Victoria married a German prince, Albert, who became Prince-consort
After he died in 1861, she sank into a deep depression and wore black every day for the rest of her life

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Young Victoria
Elderly Victoria

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The British Empire
where the sun never sets
  • England grew to become the greatest nation on earth
  • Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and India
  • England built a very large navy and merchant fleet (for trade and colonization)
  • Because of England’s success, they felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world

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Slide 10 - Video

Downsides of the uprise of industry
  • population increase 
  • Search for employment
  • Child Labour & Child crime
  • Housing shortage
  • Slum housing
  • Poor sanitary conditions
  • Destitution
  • Homeless children
  • Workhouses

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Victorian literature - Poetry
  • A continuation of the Romantic period
  • Themes: nature  / the past / the human spirit

  • Important poets:
  1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)
  2. Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)

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Victorian literature - the novel
  • The age of the novel
  • Growing audience for "true stories"
  • Greater wealth (rise of the middle classes)
  • Better education (rise in literacy)
  • Instalment system (novels published in serial form)

Slide 13 - Slide

Important authors
  • Charles Dickens
  • The Brontë Sisters
  • George Eliot
  • Thomas Hardy
  • Oscar Wilde

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Victorian Literature
In this class you will learn about Charles Dickens and his novel Oliver Twist

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Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens: Many of his novels were published in serial form, called instalments. His comic and sentimental descriptions of the lives of people in diverse occupations and social classes made Dickens the most popular Victorian novelist. 

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Charles Dickens and realism
The realistic novel was born in the 19th century, and is characterized by  social content, such as the description of the struggle of the bourgeoisie against the aristocratic society, or the description of the world of the poor and unfortunate.
London was the setting of most of his novels; he knew and described it in realistic details.
At first, Dickens created middle class characters, though often satirised. He gradually developed a more radical social view, although he was not a revolutionary thinker.  

Slide 17 - Slide

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Slide 18 - Video

What themes are addressed in Dickens' novels?

Slide 19 - Open question

Why did Dickens have such a strong sense of the precariousness of life?

Slide 20 - Open question

To what purpose did Dickens use entertainment in his novels?

Slide 21 - Open question

In which novel did Dickens write about the blackening factory?
A
Oliver Twist
B
David Copperfield
C
A Christmas carol
D
The Pickwick papers

Slide 22 - Quiz

How did Dickens make readers feel compassionate about the characters?
A
He made the characters question the readers' own judgement about social misstandings
B
The characters in his books were always very poor
C
He wrote articles in a newspaper about it
D
He made sure that we liked them

Slide 23 - Quiz

Did Dickens offer possible solutions for the social problens he wrote about?
Ja
Nee

Slide 24 - Poll

What other aspect did Dickens address in his novels to keep people on board with his vision of social reform
A
He bluntly wrote down the horrids of Victorian England
B
He suggested people would come in hell if the did not care
C
He paid a lot of attention to the sweet comfort of life
D
He blamed rich people for not looking at poor people

Slide 25 - Quiz

Which of these sum up Dickens' ideal?
Make goodness attractive
Be politically engaged
Broaden our sympathies to people we may not know form the outside but who are similar to us by character
Do not scare people people away by writing too honestly
Make it bearable for people to learn uncomfortable lessons

Slide 26 - Drag question

Oliver Twist
* Poor boy born in the Workhouse
* Sold for 5 pounds to a coffin maker
* Runs away to London
* Where he is "found" by an older boy
*  Brought to Mr Fagin, the leader of a boys' pickpocketing gang
* Lots of (sometimes criminal) activities happen
* Finally there is a happy end...

Slide 27 - Slide

subtle irony
Subtle irony: not immediately obvious irony. Use of words to convey a meaning that is
      the opposite of the real meaning.
example:
" ...where on a rough, hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. Novel illustration of the tender laws of England. They let the paupers go to sleep"
Find examples of subtle irony in the next fragment taken from " Oliver Twist' 

Slide 28 - Slide

Slide 29 - Link

Slide 30 - Video