The Victorian Age

Criteria of Criticism
The criteria of talking more about one literary figure than the other is fixed by
asking the question: is this man still worth reading? Or is this man still exerting
an influence on modern writers? It would seem that quite a number of Victorian
writers, once regarded as great, are no longer read because they no longer
have much to say to us.
Social and Political problems
There were agitations for parliamentary reform-more genuine representation
for the people, less for the corruption and cynicism that animated politics.
Other reform was Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Slavery was denounced.
Philosophers were concerned with important political questions; Jeremy
Bentham taught the doctrine of Utilitarianism. Malthus saw that the problem
of poverty could only be solved by artificially limiting the birth rate. The
challenge of the new science to the old Christian faith.
Darwin
Darwins theory of evolution hit at the Book of Genesis-man had evolved from
lower forms of life; he had not been created complete by God. Materialism,
which denied the existence of everything except matter was another
challenged to orthodox belief. Marxs Das Kapital preached a new conception of
society and of the distribution of wealth, and it was based on a materialist
interpretation of history.
Puritanism
It was an age of progress-of railway-building, steamships, reforms of all kindsbut it was also an age of doubt. There was certainty about faith or morals. It
was a puritanical age: it was easily shocked, and subjects like sex were taboo.
It was an age of conventional morality, of large families with the father as a
godlike head, and the mother as a submissive creature. The strict morality, the
holiness of family life, owed a good deal to the example of Queen Victoria
herself, and her indirect influence over literature, as well as social life, was
considerable.
Victorian Novel
The Victorian novel enshrined many of the Conservative ideas-the new concept
of democracy, Disraelis vision of a great British Empire-, which were to be
translated into actuality.
Dickens
The secret of his popularity lies in an immense vitality, which swirls around his
creations and creates a special Dickensian world, which, if it does not resemble

the real world, at least has its own logic and laws and its own special
atmosphere.
Dickens world is mad-most of his characters have single obsessions which
appear in practically everything they say or do, and many of them can be
identified by catch-phrases. The world created by Dickens is mainly a kind of
nightmare London of chop-houses, prisons, lawyers offices, and taverns, dark,
foggy, and cold, but very much alive. Dickens novels are all animated by a
sense of injustice and personal wrong; he is concerned with the problems of
crime and poverty, but he does not seem to believe that matters can be
improved by legislation or reform movements-everything depends on the
individual, particularly the wealthy philanthropist.
If he has a doctrine, it is one of love. He has a lively ear for the rhythms of the
speech of the uneducated, and he is not afraid of either vulgarity or
sentimentality.
In some ways, Dickens remained a child: it is the weird wonderland of ogres
and fairies that one finds perpetually recurring in his books.
Brontes
Charlotte Bronte who admired Thackeray, dedicated Jane Eyre to him.
Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights.
Anne Bronte wrote Agnes Grey but didnt have much as much talent as her
sisters.
George Eliot
Her name was Mary Ann Evans. She shows sympathy in her novels for the faith
of others and she is always concerned with moral problems. She deals mostly
with country people, has a gift for reproducing their speech and a taste for their
humor. She analyzed human conduct, to show the moral consequences of even
trivial actions-this makes her very modern. It is human dignity she is concerned
with.
Fitzgerald
Edward Fitzgerald produced a series of quatrains which are still widely read,
though they had to be rescued from obscurity in their own day by Rosetti. He is
a pessimist-life is vanity, therefore drink wine; of life after death we know
nothing, therefore make the most of this life. He illustrates the complete loss of
faith, and a kind of hedonistic skepticism.