Concetti Chiave
- Queen Victoria's reign marked a period of significant economic, scientific progress, and social reforms from 1837 to 1901.
- The era was characterized by political stability despite the coexistence of progress with poverty and social injustice.
- The Victorian Age saw a sharp increase in population and challenging working conditions, with children laboring under harsh circumstances.
- Society emphasized identity, morality, and consumerism, with strict social norms and the middle class seeking to emulate wealthier lifestyles.
- Victorian values included a strict social hierarchy, gender roles, and a morality focused on public respectability, often masking deeper societal issues.
Victorian Age (1837-1901)
- When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, she was just eighteen years old.
- She had the power for 64 years until 1901
- Her name is connected to an age of economic and scientific progress and social reforms
- She provided political stability
- It was a time of unprecedented change, but also of great contradiction: progress, reforms and political stability coexisted with poverty and injustice
- For some, it was a time of great wealth and privilege, but for the majority, life was hard with long working hours in unhealthy factories or in really bad conditions
- Huge increase in the population
- Children began to work when they were very young
- Beliefs: Identity, Morality and Consumerism (=expansion of the middle class, who wanted to imitate and became similar rich people of the society, so they started to buy)
- Control of the way people act and interact → stability and order in life were essential, if you didn’t follow the rules, you could expect to be rejected from the society
- In your private life you could do whatever you want, however appearance was very important and it was forbidden to create scandals
- Identity: it was higher than the national one and formed by: Gender, Race, Social Class
Race → “Great Chain of Being” with God at the top, then angels, humankind, higher animals, lower animals, plants and rocks
- Human chain with British at the top and black people considered the lower race.
- Gender → The role of the woman is to stay at home and raise children, while the man goes out and works
- Class → every social class had her own respectability, so a sort of conformation to social standards. The middle class’ values dominated the Victorian family’s life with the man at the top of this patriarchal unity
- Morality: Victorian Compromise -> To the higher classes appearance was more important then the truth: everybody must seem a respectable man/woman in the public life, but then inside their house they could do whatever they wanted. It was the two faces of the same medal: there were unemployment and poorness, which led often to an increase in crimes and violence (the reason why jails were full of people), but in the high society politeness was more important. Also charity was a way to demonstrate to others the Christian ethic of the middle class, it was not a true help form the bottom of the heart. Plus, every sexual connotation was prohibited in vocabularies, art and public life, but it was known that the Queen had a lot of lovers. The hypocrisy was that until nobody said that explicitly, there was no problem. But if something came out, the society would reject you, like what happened to Oscar Wilde and his homosexuality.
- The Victorian Age came to an end with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, after a century of decorum, stability and continuity
Domande da interrogazione
- ¿Cuántos años tenía la Reina Victoria cuando ascendió al trono y cuánto tiempo duró su reinado?
- ¿Qué características definieron la Era Victoriana en términos de progreso y contradicciones?
- ¿Cómo se percibía la identidad durante la Era Victoriana y qué papel jugaban el género, la raza y la clase social?
- ¿Qué era el "Compromiso Victoriano" y cómo afectaba la moralidad y las apariencias?
- ¿Qué impacto tuvo la muerte de la Reina Victoria en la Era Victoriana?
La Reina Victoria tenía dieciocho años cuando ascendió al trono en 1837 y su reinado duró 64 años, hasta 1901.
La Era Victoriana se caracterizó por el progreso económico y científico, reformas sociales y estabilidad política, coexistiendo con pobreza e injusticia.
La identidad se basaba en el género, la raza y la clase social, con una jerarquía que colocaba a los británicos en la cima y a las mujeres en roles domésticos, reflejando una estructura patriarcal.
El "Compromiso Victoriano" implicaba que las apariencias eran más importantes que la verdad, con una moralidad pública estricta mientras que en privado se permitían libertades, siempre que no se hicieran públicas.
La muerte de la Reina Victoria en 1901 marcó el fin de la Era Victoriana, cerrando un siglo de decoro, estabilidad y continuidad.
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