Concetti Chiave
- Queen Victoria ascended the throne at eighteen in 1837, marking a period of economic and scientific progress and social reforms.
- The era saw great wealth for some, but also harsh conditions and long work hours for the majority in unhealthy environments.
- Victorian society emphasized identity, morality, and consumerism, with strict societal rules and a focus on appearances.
- Gender roles were rigid, with women expected to manage the home and men working outside, reflecting class-based respectability.
- The Victorian Age concluded with Queen Victoria's death in 1901, ending a century marked by decorum, stability, and continuity.
The Rise of a Young Queen
- When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, she was just eighteen years old.
- She had the power for 64 years until - Her name is connected to an age of economic and scientific progress and social reforms
- She provided political - It was a time of unprecedented change, but also of great contradiction: progress, reforms and political stability coexisted with poverty and injustice
Work and Social Conditions
- 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: 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. This opinion justified colonialism, because the aim became to share the right culture, religion and civilisation to the inferior races
- 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 End of an Era
- 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
- How old was Queen Victoria when she ascended to the throne, and how long did she reign?
- How did Victorian society view identity and morality, and what was the "Victorian Compromise"?
Queen Victoria became queen at the age of eighteen in 1837 and reigned for 64 years, marking an era of significant economic, scientific, and social progress.
Victorian society valued identity based on race, gender, and class, with a strong emphasis on appearance and respectability. The "Victorian Compromise" referred to the duality of public respectability versus private behavior, where societal norms were strictly upheld in public but often contradicted in private.
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