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Victorian Period (1832-1898). Increasing rise in literacy rates Establishment of the middle class as the dominant ruling class Formation of a mass market press helped to establish the novel as the middle class' primary artistic form in this period
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Victorian Period (1832-1898) • Increasing rise in literacy rates • Establishment of the middle class as the dominant ruling class • Formation of a mass market press helped to establish the novel as the middle class' primary artistic form in this period • Emphasis on domestic values of the period (approximately 1832-1898). • Novels underscore such middle-class values as domesticity, duty, responsibility, work, and conservative social reform
Victorian architecture (particularly the central location of the hearth/fireplace and the separation of rooms by hallways) helped to establish spaces where private identity and domesticity could be established. Middle Class Home in Victorian England
A primary figure of the period was the "Angel in the House," the perfect self-sacrificing and self-disciplining domestic housewife. Victorian women – “Angels”
Her reign represented a long period of prosperity for the British people. Profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements at home, allowed an educated middle class to develop. The Victorian Era was named for Queen Victoria 1837-1901
The 19th century saw the novel become the leading form of literature in English. The works by Victorian writers like Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) closely-observed social circumstances through satire. (satire is an author’s way of holding up a mirror to society to show the injustice that occurs). Victorian Literature
Dickens pen-name was "Boz.“ He was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters through the plot line of social reform. Charles Dickens
Dickens’ popularity is evidenced by the fact that his novels and short stories have never gone out of print. Much of his work first appeared in periodicals and magazines in serialized form, (the Victorian Era’s “Grey’s Anatomy”).
A Christmas Carol came from Dickens’ childhood memories and his sympathies with the poor during the 1830’s and 1840’s. First publication, 1843
Dickens wrote in the wake of British government changes to the welfare system known as the Poor Laws The Poor Laws established workhouses and debtor’s prisons where welfare applicants were forced to "work" on treadmills.
Tudor Law! • The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and were developed out of late medieval and Tudor laws. • The history of the Poor Law in England is divided between two statutes, the Old Poor Law passed during the reign of Elizabeth I (Tudor Law, 1558-1601) and the New Poor Law, passed in 1834 and was carried out during the reign of Queen Victoria. • The New Poor Laws replaced the church lead services to the poor and was replaced by government control and workhouses. • The Poor Law system was not formally abolished until the 1948 National Assistance Act, and parts of the law remained on the statute book until 1967.
Workhouses contained treadmills (treadwheels) which were used for raising water, lifting cranes, and harvesting grain. British citizens sent to debtors’ prison would regularly walk an average of 17,000 feet every day.
In 1824, Dickens‘ father, John Dickens, was arrested for unpaid debt and imprisoned in the Marshalsea. The family moved into the prison but twelve-year-old Charles was forced to take lodgings nearby, pawn his collection of books, leave school, and accept employment in a shoe polish factory.
As a boy, Dickens had a deep sense of class and intellectual superiority and was uncomfortable in the presence of the other factory workers who referred to him as "the young gentleman".
Dickens observed the live of the people in the poorest areas of London and witnessed the social injustices they suffered. The devastating impact of the period wounded Dickens psychologically, and it colored and haunted his work.
Dickens purpose in writing A Christmas Carol was to convince people to recognize the poverty of those displaced during the Industrial Revolution.
A Christmas Carol was Dickens’ call-to-action. He was an advocate for the poor. • “[It] cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below upon a doorstep. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters and had lost the power forever.”
Historical Impact • Since its first publication, A Christmas Carol has had a profound effect upon its audience. • A prominent businessman attended a reading on Christmas Eve in Boston in 1867, and he was so moved he closed his factory on Christmas Day and sent every employee a turkey. • A prominent phrase from the tale, “Merry Christmas,” gained wider usage following the appearance of the story. • The name 'Scrooge' has entered the English vocabulary as a synonym for a miser. • The phrase “Bah! Humbug!” has become a response to anything a listener thinks overly sentimental or ludicrous.
