Concetti Chiave
- The Victorian Age is named after Queen Victoria, whose reign from 1837 to 1901 established Britain as a global superpower.
- Queen Victoria emphasized the importance of family, marrying Prince Albert and having nine children.
- The era saw economic growth driven by the second industrial revolution, with advancements in heavy engineering and machine tools production.
- The British economy adhered to laissez-faire policies, promoting free trade with no export limits or import taxes.
- The British Empire, spanning from Canada to India, was viewed as the "workshop of the world" during this period.
Indice
How the name was chosen and Queen Victoria's reign
The name comes from Queen Victoria (an Hannover), the second big queen after queen Elizabeth II. Her reign was very very long: to 1837 to 1901.During her reign, Britain was the most powerful country in the world.
She married Prince Albert, they had nine children: she wanted to give the example of the importance of the family.
This age is characterized by a super power due to the second industrial revolution and the economic boom:
- Heavy engineering;
- Machine tools productions;
- Whole and cotton industry.
Economy and policy in the reign
This economy was characterized by (lasseiz-fair), (free-trade).- The state couldn’t interfere with individual relationships.
- No limit to the exportation and no taxes to the importations
The empire was considered the workshop of the world.
The colonies were an empire that came from Canada to Australia, from Egypt to South Africa, from West India to India (India was considered the jewel of the empire).
Man who were officials, that had studied in the most important school, were sent to colonies in order to rule – as a sort of civilization. Supporting the idea of Darwinism (the survival of the fittest), a writer wrote ‘The White Man’s burden speaking of the colonization.
Progresses in the Victorian Age
The Victorian Age was characterized by important processes of democratization of the English society.For example: she gave the freedom of action to the “Oxford movement”, that was Catholic-oriented and wanted to fight for their social rights; the middle class gained more benefits, despite most of the population was starving and was subjected to epidemics, thanks to industrial progresses; in 1848 the Public Health Act established the public health; in 1870 the Elementary Education Act set off mandatory education.
Nevertheless, in addition to what has been mentioned above, important problems needed to be faced: prostitution was highly spread in the society and prostitutes’ age was continuously decreasing; children overworked in difficult, dirty and heavy conditions while also being sexually abused; workhouses were unhuman and exploiters; infant mortality was at an high rate; the colonialism of Africa was progressing cruelly and, consequentially, wars of conquest were frequent; heavy pollution due to the use of coal in factories.
Moral aspects of the Victorian Age
Since most of the population in England was living in terrible conditions, the religious orders, especially those in the Anglican area, proselytized and had an excellent response.For this reason, Anglicanism was spread in the society and with that ideals regarding purity and sobriety that led to: the closure of theatres; a strong and oppressing moral duty to observe religious holidays; the creation of taboos around sex and intimacy; the spread of modest, formal and closed dresses; respectability was pursued at all costs so appearance had to be maintained at all times and the possibility to express themselves was absent (that also led to deviant behaviors, subversive and dark practices).
On the other hand, theatres, although at the edges of the civilized community, continued to show some of the most relevant plays of the English culture like: Shakespeare, Marlow, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde.
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