English Advanced

Notes- Context of the nineteenth century

1. Traditional social structure
Social classes were distinguished by inequalities; these included power,
authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span,
education, religion, and culture.
Old hereditary aristocracy, reinforced by the new gentrywho owned their
success to commerce, industry, and the professions, evolved into an
upper class. They maintained control over the political system,;
depriving working class and increasing middle class social status.
The working class remained oblivious to the political process and
developed hostility towards the aristocracy and the middle class. The
progression of the Industrial Revolution progressed for further social
stratification. Capitalist were employed as industrial workers who were one
component of the working class. Beneath the industrial workers was a
submerged under class.
The Basic Hierarchical structure:
o Upper class
o Middle class
o Working class
o Under class
2. The place of religion
The bible was taken as the literal truth and was the foundation of moral
behaviours, which became known as Victorianism. During Victorias
reign, textbooks and games were based on religion and morality. It was
believed that if all accepted religion, that act would bring an end to all
crime and poverty.
While the age of enlightenment progressed, religion decreased. Its
theories and beliefs remain strong until the middle of the century, when
1859, Charles Darwin published his book on Evolution of the Species
theory. Many, including the clergy began to question the beliefs of the
church.
Evangelical influences and the Oxford Movement did produce a surge of
spirituality which helped to rebuild the Anglican and Roman Catholic
Churches. Towards the closing of the century, most individuals began to
religion as meaning little more than responsibility. However the works of
writers, architects, painters and social reformers remained from the
period.

3. Patriarchal society and gender roles

- Men and women searched for an ideal relationship based on the
expectations of a demanding society. Victorian societys unrealistic
expectations on the individual showing how rejection, whether from a
potential partner or society as a whole, can lead to deceit and engaging in
a double life in order to satisfy conventions showing how rejection,
whether from a potential partner or society as a whole, can lead to deceit
and engaging in a double life in order to satisfy conventions.
Women in the Victorian society had one main role in life, which was to
marry and take part in their husbands interests and business. Before
marriage, they would learn housewife skills such as weaving, cooking,
washing, and cleaning, unless they were of a wealthy family. If they were
wealthy, they did not always learn these tasks because their maids
primarily took care of the household chores. Typically, women were also
not allowed to Victorian men also expected women to possess feminine
qualities as well as innocence; otherwise, they would not be of marriage
potential.
be educated or gain knowledge outside of the home because it was a
mans world.
Charles Petries Victorian Women Expected to be Idle and Ignorant
Innocence was what he demanded from the girls of his class, and they
must not only be innocent but also give the outward impression of being
innocent. White muslin, typical of virginal purity, clothes many a heroine,
with delicate shades of blue and pink next in popularity. The stamp of
masculine approval was placed upon ignorance of the world, meekness,
lack of opinions, general helplessness and weakness; in short, recognition
of female inferiority to the male

4. Rules of social interaction

o Courtship
Romance during the Victorian era was strongly influenced by the changes
in attitude people were adopting concerning the virtues of social behavior.
The social season of a young woman was a very important concept during
this age, it marked the point in time at which a young woman was
considered to be at a respectable age for marriage. Among the upper
classes, this time was normally marked by a young woman's presentation
at a social event, such as a ball, and by her assistance in fulfilling social
obligations with her mother, such as paying calls. Among the middle
classes, the social season was not as marked by such grandiose events.

5. The economic dependence of women

Women were overlooked for their economic rights during the Victorian Era.
Upon placement of economic independence beyond their reach, men
forced women not only into economic dependence but sexual
subservienceMary Lyndon Shanley.
In denying women the vote, an all-male Parliament assured the
perpetuation of the unequal distribution to resources between men and
women.
6. The industrial revolution and its impact
o

The industrial revolution

The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th
centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural
societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. Prior to the
Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the late 1700s,
manufacturing was often done in peoples homes, using hand tools or
basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, specialpurpose machinery, factories and mass production. The iron and textile
industries, along with the development of the steam engine, played
central roles in the Industrial Revolution, which also saw improved systems
of transportation, communication and banking. While industrialization
brought about an increased volume and variety of manufactured goods
and an improved standard of living for some, it also resulted in often grim
employment and living conditions for the poor and working classes.
o

Impact on Victorian Poetry

Victorian England, named after Queen Victoria who was crowned in 1837,
is marked by several social qualities: repressed sexuality, strict morality,
an expansion of English imperialism, a focus on human inventiveness, and
nascent doubt over man's place in the universe. With the world changing
so quickly over the roughly 70 year-period, artists, scholars and scientists
created and wrote from a place of unrest. Where perhaps most of them
came down strong on one side of the period's many questions, Browning
embraced the uncertainty of his time as a facet of human nature and
psychology, and his poetry reflects not strong opinions but rather our
tendency to waver between opposing views.
7. Nineteenth century feminists
Early twentieth-century womens movement applied to earlier feminists as
well. It meant the realization by each woman of the fact that she was an

individual apart from each man, and it meant also the realization by all
women of the fact that they were a class apart from all men, with common
interests different from, and often people opposed to those of the other
sex.

8. Darwinism and its impact

o Darwinism
In Chapter Four, "Ideological Opposition to Darwin's Five Theories",
Mayr summarizes "Darwin's Theory", or "Darwinism", thus:
In both scholarly and popular literature one frequently finds
references to "Darwin's theory of evolution", as though it
were a unitary entity. In reality, Darwin's "theory" of evolution
was a whole bundle of theories, and it is impossible to discuss
Darwin's evolutionary thought constructively if one does not
distinguish its various components.
The term "Darwinism", ... has numerous meanings depending
on who has used the term and at what period. A better
understanding of the meaning of this term is only one reason
to call attention to the composite nature of Darwin's
evolutionary thought.
o Impact
Evolutionary theory provoked in Victorian letters a wave of pessimism and
scepticism about the human condition. Darwin made it necessary to reevaluate the most essential concepts which humanity had created for the
last 2000 years: man, nature, consciousness, God, soul, and so on.
Mankind had been proud of these concepts because they put man in a
superior position in relation to the world of nature, but Darwin shattered
them by one theory. Darwins theory of evolution appealed not only to
eminent scientists, such as the biologistThomas Henry Huxley, the
botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, the anthropologist and eugenicist Francis
Galton, but also to novelists and poets. As a result, many Victorian writers
dramatically modified their opinions about mans origins and the physical
aspect of mans existence
9. Marxism and its impact
o

Marxism
Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis, originating from the
mid-to-late 19th century works of German philosophers Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels, that analyzes class relations and societal

conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development

and a dialectical view of social transformation.
o

Impact

Marxian socialism had little impact on various strands of Britain's

socialism. Karl Marx (1818-83), who lived and wrote his works in London
from 1849, was not widely known in England until his death. He met few
Englishmen and was not very keen on making acquaintances with English
radicals.

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