Victorian Age

Ⅰ Historical Background

The Progress of Reform（改革进程；1832《改革法》Reform Bill）; Chartism(宪章运动) Ⅱ Critical Realism

In Victorian period appeared a new literary trend---critical realism. English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the early fifties. It found its expression in the form of novel. The critical realists, most of whom were novelists, described with much vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint. The greatest English realist of the time was Charles Dickens. The English critical realists of the 19th century not only gave a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and all the ruling classes, but also showed profound sympathy for the common people.

The major contribution made by the 19th century critical realists is their perfection of the novel. Like the realists of the 18th century, the 19th century critical realists made use of the form of novel for full and detailed representations of social and political events, and of the fate of individuals and of whole social classes. However, the realistic novels of the 19th century went a step further than those of the 18th century in that they not only pictured the conflicts between individuals who stood for definite social strata（classes）, but also showed the broad social conflicts over and above the fate of mere individuals. Their artistic representation of vital social movements such as Chartism, and their vivid description of the dramatic conflicts of the time make the 19th century realistic novel “the epic of the bourgeois society”. Ⅲ Critical Realist Novelists in Victorian Age 1. Charles Dickens(1812-1870)

The greatest representative of English critical realism. In his outstanding novels he masterly depicted the life of contemporary English society. He gave us a most vivid picture of the everyday life of the ordinary people of his time. His literary career falls into 3 periods. Features of his Novels

a) Dickens’s novels offer a most complete and realistic picture of the English bourgeois society of his age. They reflect the protest of the people against capitalist exploitation, and criticize the vices of capitalist society.

b) Dickens is a petty bourgeois intellectual(小资产阶级知识分子). He could not overstep the limits of his class. He believed in the moral self-perfection of the wicked propertied classes. He failed to see the necessity of a bitter struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors. There is a definite tendency for a reconciliation of the contradictions of society. That is why most of his novels have happy endings.

c) His novels tell much of the unhappy experiences of his own childhood.

d) Dickens is a great humorist and satirist. His novels are full of humor and satire.

Selected Works: Oliver Twist/ David Copperfield /A Tale of Two Cities/ Great Expectations Oliver Twist

The novel tells the story of a poor child named Oliver Twist. He is born in a workhouse and brought up under miserable conditions. After experiencing an unhappy apprenticeship to an

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under-take, he runs away to London, where he falls into the hands of a gang of thieves. Then he is made to be a pickpocket. A benevolent rich old man called Mr. Brownlow rescues him and takes him home, but the thieves kidnap him and make him join them again. A bad person named Monks, who turns out to be Oliver’s half-brother, helps the thieves in keeping Oliver in the gang, in order to ruin him and obtain the whole of his father’s property. One day Oliver is made to help one of the thieves in breaking into a lady’s house. He gets wounded, and comes into the hand of her aunt. Finally the thieves in the gang are punished and Oliver’s half brother is compelled to confess his evil doings and then put into prison. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow.

This novel is a powerful exposure of the bourgeois society. It shows the extreme brutality and corruption of the oppressors and their agents under the mask of philanthropy. Dickens, the great critical realist, gives vivid descriptions of the sufferings of the poor and oppressed. We see that Dickens, while sympathizing with the miseries of the people, did not know what or who was responsible for such miseries and even cherished illusion about rich, idle and benevolent people like Mr. Brownlow. He believed that the social problems would be solved if only every employer followed the example set by “good gentlemen” like Brownlow.

2.WilliamMakepeace Thackeray(1811-1863)

He was another representative of critical realism in 19th century England. In 1847 he published his masterpiece Vanity Fair, which marks the peak of his literary career. Vanity Fair

This novel is Thackeray’s masterpiece. The subtitle of the book is “A Novel without a Hero”. The writer’s intention was not to portray individuals, but the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole. The title of the novel was taken from Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. The character of Rebecca Sharp is drawn with admirable skill. Characteristics of Thackeray’s Novels

1) Just like Charles Dickens, he is one of the greatest critical realists of the 19th century Europe. He paints life as he has seen it. With his precise and thorough observation, rich knowledge of social life and of the human heart, the pictures in his novels are accurate and true to life. 2) Thackeray is a satirist. His satire is caustic and his humour subtle.

3) Besides being a realist and satirist, Thackeray is a moralist. His aim is to produce a moral impression in all his novels.

3. George Eliot (1819-1880)

The name George Eliot was the pseudonym/pen name of Mary Ann Evans. She became a novelist when she was nearly forty years old. She produced three remarkable novels which made her famous. They are Adam Bede(<亚当·贝德>1859), The Mill on the Floss（〈弗洛斯河上的磨房〉1860) and Silas Marner(〈织工拉斯·马奈尔〉1861). Characteristics of Eliot’s Novels

a) Her novels, for the most part, describe rural life, deal with moral problems and contain psychological studies of the characters.

b) She has rich humor and keen observation, and her characters are real men and women of her time. She writes very faithfully about the rural artisans, farmers, the country clergy, and other native people, and she fully realizes that the working people like Adam Bede and Silas Marner are much better than the landed aristocracy.

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c) Her novels are very philosophical. The philosophy she preached is idealistic. She believes that all contradictions of social life can be solved by converting mankind to the religion of humanity.

d) With her the transition from critical realism to naturalism began in English literature.

e) As a woman of exceptional intelligence and life experience, she shows a particular concern for the destiny of women, especially those with great intelligence, potential and social aspiration.

4. The Bronte Sisters: Charlotte and Emily

The Bronte sisters are Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), Emily Bronte (1818-1848) and Ann Bronte (1820-1849). They were all talented writers and all of them died young. Charlotte Bronte produced four novels, Professor, Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, Jane Eyre being her masterpiece. Emily Bronte wrote only one novel entitled Wuthering Heights. It is one of the best novels in English literature. The youngest sister Anne Bronte wrote two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall. Her novels are not so good as those by her two elder sisters. Charlotte Bronte’s Masterpiece Jane Eyre

In this novel, Charlotte pours a great deal of her own experience, such as the life at Lowood school and life as a governess. One of the central themes of the book is the criticism of the bourgeois system of education. Another problem raised by Charlotte in the novel in the position of woman in society. Jane Eyre, the heroine of the novel, maintains that women should have equal rights with men.

Just like Dickens and Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte gives us realistic pictures of the social life of the 19th century in her novels. She attacks the evils in bourgeois society. She believes that education is the key to all social problems, and that by the improvement of the school system, most of the social evils could be removed.

Emily Bronte’s Masterpiece Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte was a poet and novelist. But now she is chiefly remembered as the author of Wuthering Heights. The novel deals with the story of the hero Heathcliff who is a gipsy. The novel deals with the story of the hero Heathcliff who is a gipsy. He is picked up by Mr. Earnshaw on the way home and brought up together with Earnshaw’s children. When Mr. Earnshaw dies, his son Hindley bullies and insults the gypsy boy. He drives him from their company to the servants’ and compels him to work hard out of doors. Heathcliff and the daughter of the family Miss Catherine have loved each other since their childhood. But their pure love is crushed by the brother, because he considers it a shame on the family to let a gipsy marry his sister. Unable to bear the insult, Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights and joins the army. Three years later he becomes a wealthy man, and comes back. He finds his sweetheart has already been married to a man whom she dose not love. He resumes his lovemaking to the lady and then she dies heartbroken after giving birth to a girl. Later when Heathcliff becomes the master of the family, he takes revenge upon the next generation. He treats Hindley’s son Hareton very cruelly and compels Catherine’s daughter Cathy to marry his own sickly son. After his son dies Cathy falls in love with Hareton. Heathcliff tries to destroy the love between them. Finally he sees the futility of revenge. After his death, Hareton and Cathy are united.

It is a powerful attack on the bourgeois marriage system. The pure love between the hero and heroine is destroyed by class prejudice founded on wealth. It shows that pure and true love in a

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class society is impossible of attainment. Many critics take Emily Bronte to be the most gifted of the three sisters.

5. Thomas Hood(1799-1845)----The Song of the Shirt

6. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-12)

He was made poet laureate in 1850. In 1883, he was made peer of the realm（世袭贵族）and was thus accorded the title of lord（勋爵）. His poetic output was vast and extremely varied, he wrote lyrics, dramatic monologues, plays, long poetic narratives, elegies and poems commemorating specific occasions.

His Main Poetical Works(see textbook) Characteristics of Tennyson’s poetry

Tennyson has a total mastery of the sounds and rhythms of the English language. He has a genius for evoking moods and states of mind in his poems. He is able to create a sense of nostalgia, a wistful longing for the past or for remote experiences. No English poet surpasses Tennyson at linking descriptions of nature or setting to the state of mind of the speaker. Some of his poems deal with the main political, religious and scientific issues of his day. His poems reflect his conservative ideas and idealization of the bourgeois social reality.

7. The Brownings Robert Browning

Robert Browning is thought of today as the most important Victorian poet after Tennyson.. Browning met Elizabeth Barrett in 1845. She was six years older and much better known as a poet than he was. The story of the love and courtship of Browning and Elizabeth is well known through the letters they exchanged and through Elizabeth’s own love sonnets. Elizabeth’s father did not agree to their marriage. They were secretly married in the autumn of 1846, and eloped to Italy, where they lived until Elizabeth’s death in 1861.

His Works: My Last Duchess “Home Thoughts, from Abroad” Features of His Poetry

His great contributions to poetry are his dramatic monologues, i. e. poems in which a character or a situation is expressed by words put into the mouth of the character himself. He is realistic, much concerned with presenting facts and analyzing human psychology. He is optimistic and believes in the progress of mankind.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

Before she met Robert Browning and married him in 1846, she was a better-known poet than he was. During their courtship she wrote a series of 44 sonnets celebrating their love. These poems were published with the title of Sonnets From the Portuguese, as if Elizabeth had translated the poems from that language. These are most inspiring love poems. Her poem Cry of the Children describes the miserable life of child-workers in the factories and mines. It showed the poet’s deep sympathy for the workers.

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