History English Literature

THEMES

Originally intended as an attack on the hypocrisy of the establishment, including

 the government

 the courts

 the church (both Roman or English)



In these fantastic tales, Swift satirizes

 the political events in England & Ireland in his day

 English values and institutions(学学, 学学)



MODEST PORPOSAL

A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a

 burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public.

an essay that uses satire to make its point

 It’s a satire against the English ruling class and the cruelty of English landlords.

 a. The poor Irish people were forced to sell their one-year-old child for the rich people for

 food.

b. English King allowed French King to recruit soldiers from Ireland to solve the problem of

 over population.

c. Some politicians suggested sending Irish people to Australia to be concentrated servants

 because of over population

d. Swift lists some terrible scenes in the prose:

 a beggar mother followed by children in rugs;

poor parents sell children

The Romantic Frame of mind

The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major

changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation had a profound effect on socioeconomic

and cultural conditions in Britain and subsequently spread throughout the world, a process that

continues as industrialisation. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marked a major turning point

in human social history, comparable to the invention of farming or the rise of the first city-states;

almost every aspect of daily life and human society was eventually influenced in some way.

Guilds and Trade Unions grew and developed a strong political tone.

• “No Taxation without Representation” was a slogan which represented the common feeling

• against the system of Parliamentary organisation which was not democratic but oligarchic.

The differences between rich and poor were becoming more noticeable as the change of

• capitalism concentrated the wealth of the country into the hands of an increasingly small

percentage of the population.

Tom Paine (1792), The Rights of Man. This book praised the French revolution and

• advocated republicanism in Britain.

William Godwin (1793), Inquiry Concerning Political Justice. Its publication made a huge

• impact with its avocation and redistribution of wealth and an end to the current system of

Government.

Both these texts were radical and revolutionary and they both gained enormous popularity

• in the making of American and French Revolutions.

The Novel in the Romantic Age

All changes in society and economy had their effect on the development of the novel

• The age of revolution put an end to the golden age of free formal experimentation

• Fiction became increasingly tied to the new way of the world

The linear history of one or more characters became the preferred form

Novelists began to reflect a wider range of themes, issues and settings

Novels began to encompass ideas, settings and points of view:

•

Present/past, male/female, urban/rural

Jane Austen – Walter Scott

•

Although polar opposites, reflected in different ways the climate of their times

The rise of the Gothic Novel

•

From romances to novels

The Victorian Age

• The term “Victorian” literally describes things and events from the reign of Queen Victoria.

• She is England’s longest reigning queen, having ruled from 1837 to 1901.

• Her husband was Prince Albert of Sax-Coburg-Gotha, her German cousin. The two had a

very close and affectionate relationship; Albert was instrumental in Victoria’s decision

making as Queen. Together, they had nine children (“Queen Victoria - 1819-1901”).

• The Queen's own ethics and personal tastes (“Queen Victoria - 1819-1901”) have perhaps

lead to our association of the word Victorian with things that are “prudish”, “repressed” and

“old fashioned”. In part, Victoria herself encouraged her own identification with the qualities

we associate with the word Victorian – earnestness, moral responsibility, and domestic

propriety. In general, when we think of “Victorian” values today, we often think of sobriety,

hard work, and joyless abstinence from worldly pleasures (Abrams 1044-1045).

• Victoria's long reign witnessed the expansion of the British Empire as well as political and

social reforms In England and abroad.

• Indeed, a feeling of national pride was connected with the name of Victoria; however, this

era was also a time shaken by various social, political, religious, technological and scientific

developments, all of which had an impact on the literature of the time.

• Over time, these rapid changes deeply affected the country's mood: an age that began with

a confidence and optimism leading to economic boom and prosperity eventually gave way

to uncertainty and doubt regarding Britain's place in the world”(“Victorian England: An

Overview”).

Key Factors of Change:

• Advancements in Technology

• The Industrial Revolution

• The Growth of the British Empire

• Scientific Discovery

• Questioning of Religious Authority

• Mandatory Education and Increased Literacy

In science and technology, the Victorians developed the modern idea of invention based on the

belief that man could create solutions to problems in order to better himself and his environment.

Here are some of the key inventions of the era:

The Steam Engine (1775) -James Watt – making possible steam-powered trains and ships.

• The Cotton Gin (1794) -Eli Whitney - allowed for the removal of cotton from its seeds.

• (“Industrial Revolution Inventors”)

Telephone (1876) -Alexander Graham Bell

• Diesel Engine (1892) – Rudolf Diesel

• The Light Bulb (1877) –Thomas Edison

•

•

• Such improvements in technology fostered the industrial revolution.

• England was the first country in the world to become industrialized.

• Throughout Victoria’s reign, the population of London grew from two million to six-and-a-

half million.

• There was a shift from an agricultural way of life based on land ownership to a modern

urban economy based on trade and manufacturing. (Abrams 1043)

• Key industries supported by the invention of new technologies included the manufacturing

of cotton textiles, coal mining, and iron production.

The growth of the empire

• England became the world’s workshop and London the world’s banker.

• Profits gained through trade led to capital investments in other continents.

• England colonies sprung up in Australia, Africa, India, and North America.

• By 1890, more than a quarter of the world was part of the British Empire, upon which the

sun never set.

• England was now at its highest point of development as a world power (Abrams 1044).

THE EARLY VICTORIAN PERIOD – 1830-1848 – A “TIME OF TROUBLES”

• Despite England’s growth as a dominant world power, it also experienced a host of social

and economic problems due to rapid and unregulated industrialization. It is perhaps

necessary to understand these issues in order to understand the ideas that preoccupy the

writers of this era.

The Industrial Revolution and Political Reform

• The opening of England’s first railway coincided with the opening of the country’s first

Reform Parliament.

• It was soon observed that the country’s electoral system needed to change since some the

new and growing industrial cities were unrepresented in Parliament.

• Manufacturing interests who refused to tolerate their exclusion from the political process led

the working class in agitating for reform. (Abrams 1046)

A Rising Middle Class

• The Reform Bill of 1832 extended the right to vote to all males owning property worth £10

or more in annual rent.

• In effect, the voting public thereafter included the lower middle classes.

• In 1867, a second reform bill was passed granting the vote to the working classes as well.

• These reform bills represent the beginnings of a new age in which middle-class economic

interests gained increasing power.

• People became more critical of the poor working conditions in factories and coal mines.

• Women and children workers were exploited, often having to work 16 hour days in horrific

conditions especially in textile factories and mines.

• Even five-year-old children worked these long shifts dragging heavy tubs of coal in low-

ceilinged mine passages.

• For ten years, a large organization of workers known as the Chartists incited the public

against government and cried out for legislative reforms; so strong was the call for social

justice that there were even fears of revolution.

• These “Times of Trouble” left their mark on Victorian literature as writers advocated for

change, expressed fear of chaos and revolution, or documented the living conditions of the

time, as in the works of Charles Dickens.

• Many writers began to denounce the evils of Victorian industry, feeling that England’s

leadership in commerce and manufacturing was being paid for at a terrible price in human

happiness (Abrams 1047-1048).

So-called “progress” had been gained by abandoning traditional rhythms of life and traditional

patterns of human relationships. Many Victorians writers expressed an anxious sense of

something lost in a world made alien by technological changes

• In contrast, the rich were enjoying the perks of a booming economy.

• The British were the “best” in the world at most things. People were “blessed and happy” if

they were among the privileged and rich (middle and upper class).

• Industrialization didn’t affect them, other than the fact that they made more money; not all

Victorians cared about their environment or the living conditions of the poor.

• Like the Romantics, many Victorian writers opposed materialism and the preoccupation

with “progress” and material wealth.

• Between 1853 and 1880, almost 2.5 million immigrants left England for various British

colonies (Australia, India, Canada, Africa.

• Technological revolution in communication and transportation supported the growth of the

Empire. Britain built railways, strung telegraph wires and put in place a system of

education and government to preserved British influence in the colonies.

• Overall, the colonies were a source of wealth as they created markets for British

manufactures goods and became sources for raw materials.

• Some writers of the Victorian Era wrote about the religious conf