Describing Victorian Writing - Essay Example

?Victorian Literature Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 The background of the Victorian era and its influence on literature 3 Themes of the Victorian works 7 Charles Dickens and his Great Expectations and Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray 8 References 15 Introduction Describing the Victorian writing in any comprehensive and satisfactory way has proved to be a bothersome job for the critics continually from the time when 19th century reached its conclusion. The process approximately consists of the period starting from 1830 to 1900, although there is plenty of disparity concerning even this trivial matter. Victorian literature implies the body of the fictional work that used to be written throughout the period of influence of Queen Victoria on the United Kingdom, since 1837 till her demise during 1901. Most fictional historians regard 1830 as the commencement of the Victorian epoch. Literature created up to 1870 is generally known as early Victorian, whilst the whole lot formed after the mentioned time period is frequently known as late Victorian. The Victorian period served as a changeover between the Romantic phase of literature and the contemporary literature of the 20th century. British authors dominated the Victorian era, even though there were eminent writers from the United States, Russia, France, and from other nations as well (Black et al., 2009). The themes of these novels mainly comprised of religion, fiction, children’s stories and science fictions. Thus the thesis statement of this debate can be framed as, “the Victorian literary and non literary works didn’t include merely religion and science related topics, there were a lot more other than these two aspects that influenced the works of that era”. The background of the Victorian era and its influence on literature In several means the Victorian epoch returned worth that Queen Victoria herself advocated, which are domestic propriety and moral responsibility. For as "perfect" an era as the Victorian period appeared to be, conversely, there was as a great deal of substantiation of moral impropriety and social dissolution. Queen Victoria, probably much more than any preceding ruler, turned out to be visually identical with the kingdom she reined, in part since she was the 1st sovereign who lived in the era of camera work: her picture could be comparatively effortlessly created, reproduced, and spread (Boyce, 2012). Authors of the Victorian epoch had a propensity to pen down more unambiguously than had the authors of the preceding ages the extent to which theirs was, for bad or good, an age of rapid change and transition. Since the Victorian period continued so long and since it was an era of such vast changes, it is difficult to portray in any particular, overarching manner. The period of influence of Queen Victoria from1837 to 1901 incorporated a phase of massive political, cultural, and social change and innovation. The Victorians went through vast progresses in the fields of arts, science and technology, and the literature looked for inventive solutions to community issues, and formed a collection of literature that prolonged to captivate and inspire artists, scholars and readers. The collective charm attached with the Victorian epoch, its long-lasting influence on the lives of common people, and the overabundance of existing key resource matter, makes it a prosperous era for study (Dinscore, 2010). The early era of the Victorian rule is strikingly remarkable due to two key non-literary happenings- 1st, public railway networks extended on an exceptional scale; and 2nd, the British upper house passed a restructuring bill during 1832 that (to some degree at least) reorganized the voting rights to reveal the rising populace in recently industrializing hubs like Liverpool and Manchester. The Reform Bill of 1832 ensured, for many Victorians, the commencement of a novel epoch of political control which was never experienced in the earlier eras. The eras of 1830s and 1840s came to be known as the "Time of Troubles" principally for the reason that industrialization was giving rise to such rapid transitions on such a philosophical range; industrialization had a flowing consequence in as much as it resulted in a lot of other community "troubles." Working conditions were dreadful for the greater part of the population that included females and kids, who were engaged in factories and mines. This era witnessed the disparity among classes and thus the writings reflected this scenario of the society and criticized those (Waterman, 2003). The Victorian epoch incepted during 1837 but did not, as reason would put forward conclude with the bereavement of its great regal matriarch during 1901. Certainly, even at this time during the 21st century those intense people, with their “frock coats and improbable whiskers, are like party guests failing to take the hint at yawns and polite offers of coffee” (Tate, n.d.). The writing of this period expressed the blend of wholesome romance to harsh reality. Despite the fact that, the Victorian era created great bards, the period is also notable for the fineness of its prose. The discoveries and breakthrough innovations of science have definite influences upon the works of the period. Victorian novels have a propensity to reveal an idealized portrayal of hard lives which are generally dominated by hard work perseverance, luck and love achieve victory in the last part. The writings revolved around the theme that good works would be recognized and wrongdoers will be duly reprimanded. They were likely to be of an enhancing nature with a fundamental moral message at heart. Whilst this principle used to be the foundation for most of the former Victorian novel, the circumstances became more multifaceted as the years progressed (Stankovics, 2009). The nineteenth century witnessed the novel turning out to be the foremost form of writing in English. The writings by the pre-Victorian authors such as Walter Scott and Jane Austen had introduced perfection both closely-observed adventure stories and social satire. Admired writings opened a new section for the novel among the readers. This century is frequently considered as a high peak in British prose as well as in other nations such as the United States, Russia, and France. Novels and Books in particular, turned out to be omnipresent, and the "Victorian novelist" produced heritage works with long-lasting appeal (Cooper, 1978). The authors of the Victorian epoch created writing that observed the condition of the social, financial, and philosophical and religious contexts of that point. A great deal of Victorian literature disparaged the amplified industrialization of the planet, and on the other hand, the worsening situation of the rural standard of living. a good deal Victorian text experimented with satire as it criticized the society it amused. Even as the middle class augmented its political power over the people, the underprivileged had to make outstanding efforts with lesser payments for earning a living. The authors of this era critiqued this disparity of authority in their writings. Moreover Victorian writing dealt with the topics of conflict amongst the deprived class of people as well as the rapidly increasing fight for women's rights and their miseries. However, the crucial trait of Victorian literature is a sturdy focus on ethics. The literal heroes of this era frequently belonged to the oppressed and exploited people of the society, specially the poor class. Victorian writers were often found dealing with strong virtue and hard work. Beneath the moral facade, features in Victorian writing are often found filled with temptation and obsession of malevolence. The characters of the writings, however, demonstrates control against their untamed emotions—a self-control that was deserted by the writers of the Romantic era who came earlier, celebrating unruliness and irrepressible emotions. The most eminent and notable Victorian poets and novelists consist of the names like the Bronte sisters (Emily, Anne and Charlotte Bronte), Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti, Joseph Conrad, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Benjamin Disraeli, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Meredith, George Gissing, Thomas Hardy, Richard Jefferies, Rudyard Kipling, A. E. Housman, Robert Louis Stevenson, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bram Stoker, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Philip Meadows Taylor, William Thackeray, Lewis Carroll, H. G. Wells (even though it is considered by many people that his writing belongs to more of the Edwardian age)and Oscar Wilde. Short narratives thrived during this era and the entire credit goes to the vigorous monthly publication traditions of that period (Ott, 1979). The novels were probably the most widespread variety of that time phase; it was particularly well matched to the writers who wanted to confine the wide assortment of industrial scenario and the class differences and conflicts that were created by industrialization. A widespread theme among the Victorian writers was related to a central character who is attempting to identify him or her relative to the social systems and class. Themes of the Victorian works As the writers of the Victorian epoch were much concerned with the society at large therefore there was no single theme that influenced their works. The era witnessed industrial, technological and scientific changes and thus the main concern of the writers were wide ranging. The innovations of science have specific influences upon the prose of the epoch. If the great works of this period are studied thoroughly, then four wide-ranging characteristics can be identified: 1. Literature of this epoch tends to move closer to the everyday life of the common people which reveals its realistic issues and concern. It turns out to be an authoritative tool for human development economically and socially. Industrialism was on the increasing point and a variety of reform movements like child labor, emancipation, evolution and women’s rights. 2. The works of this era contained a moral purpose. The Victorian writing appears to diverge from "art for art's sake" and emphasizes its moral rationale. Browning, Tennyson, Ruskin Carlyle all was the educators of England with the trust in their ethical message to educate the world. 3. Idealism was a noted factor of the works of this era. It is frequently regarded as an era of pessimism and doubt. The power of science can be felt at this point. The entire period appears to be fixed in the idea of man in association with the world within the philosophy of evolution. 4. Despite the fact that the era is distinguished as materialistic and practical, majority of the writers paid tribute to a merely idyllic life. It is an unrealistic era where the enormous ideals like justice, truth, brotherhood, love are given emphasis by essayists, novelists and poets of the period. Charles Dickens and his Great Expectations and Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray Charles Dickens used to be an extremely well-liked writer of the Victorian era, with his protagonists following a path of their own ahead of the page, and he is considered as one of the utmost admired authors of this epoch. His 1st real work of fiction, The Pickwick Papers, created at a tender age of twenty-five, was an immediate hit, and all his succeeding works sold enormously well. Dickens worked conscientiously and industriously to generate pleasurable writing which the mass demanded, however also to put forward observations on community challenges of the epoch. The humor of his primary work of fiction has an ironic periphery which permeates his works. His works mainly talk about the troubles of the poor and exploited and the writing usually concludes with a ghoul story shortened by his demise. The slow development in his novel towards the negative themes are reflected in much of the works of that era , and prose after his bereavement in 1870 is remarkably proved to be dissimilar from those which was witnessed at the beginning of the era (Dickens, 2009). Great expectation is one of the most popular novels of Charles Dickens, where Pip is the central character. The story revolves around Pip’s enchanting journey of life. The theme of Great Expectations is popular as it is easily understandable by everyone. It gives an account of Victorian Society, where Pip is the representative of lower strata of the society. Pip’s immense desire to achieve wealth and power showcased three important characteristics of his life, i.e. his social structure, his faith on moral values and his educational background. All these acted simultaneously on him and made him to act differently. Sometimes his behaviour towards Biddy and Joe was miserable but when he met Estella and fell in love with her he behaved decently and it appeared that he is eligible to become a part of high society which he had craved for. Dickens wished to emphasize the theory of ambition and wishful thinking through the depiction of the character of Pip. Satis House, the place where Pip used to go as a young boy represents the high society which divides him from his usual low class background. Pip becomes another entity when he enters the Satis house. Miss Havisham and Estella becomes the symbol of higher class people with whom Pip wants to get familiarized. But his social behaviors becomes as a constraint for him. Pip, however, manages to create his own identity which makes the novel more interesting as the readers can relate their stories through Pip’s ups and downs in life. The gothic Victorian culture comes to the forefront through Satis House. The class system in Victorian England becomes highlighted throughout the novel. The novel is a combination of crime, guilt and innocence. Pip, being a child had helped a convict unwillingly. Later he comes to know that why someone becomes a criminal? He gets the answer by his inner struggle and here comes the role of the society. Pip realizes being a good human being is much more important than to achieve wealth and status. He realizes the worth of education. He values humanity before anything else. Pip’s morality becomes more important in his life than his great expectations and thus the title of the novel turn out to be appropriate. There are various minor characters present in the novel. These characters play a very important role throughout the novel and helps Pip realize his worth as a human being. Among these characters Mrs. Joe, Mr. Wemmick, Joe and Biddy are remarkable. Besides Magwitch, the convict whom Pip met in the marshes, at the end of the novel turns out to be a person with moral and ethical values who transforms Pip’s life drastically. The person who was hated by everyone because he was a convict becomes the secret benefactor of Pip. Pip, the protagonist is a mixture of innocence and compassion learns to live life on his own terms. At the end of the novel we find a transformed version of Pip, who has gained maturity and confidence and has successfully passed the game of life with flying colors. The society at large creates many problems and difficulties in his life and Pip jumps over all the hurdles with his own capability as because he possess a big heart which makes him a man with morality and self conscience. Thus it can be noted that the central theme of the novel revolves round the themes like society, class and childhood and of course the daily life of a child. Moreover the theme critically analyzes the transformation that is faced by Pip from being an innocent and compassionate person to a person of confidence and maturity that learns to accept the harsh truths of life. This novel deals with the psychology of a criminal to some extent and finds answer for the question, what forces someone to commit crimes? The central theme also involves Pip’s immense longing for becoming the part of a higher society. Next we can discuss about Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the majestic London abode of his relative, Lady Brandon, the famous artiste Basil Hallward sees Dorian Gray. Gray is an impossibly handsome, wealthy, and well cultured young gentleman who right away captures the artistic thoughts of Basil. Dorian poses for numerous portraits of Basil, and Basil frequently portrays him as a primeval Greek legendary figure or a hero. When the story starts, the artiste is carrying out his 1st sketch of Dorian as he actually is; however, as he confesses to his pal Lord Henry Wotton, the picture disheartens him since it discloses his sentiments for his subject Dorian to a great extent. Lord Henry, a renowned person of humor who enjoys shocking his friends by rejoicing exquisiteness, the selfish quest of contentment, and youth. Lord Henry argues with Basil and states that the picture is Basil’s masterwork. In the meantime Dorian reaches the studio, when Basil unwillingly introduces Lord Henry to Dorian, and feels scared that Lord Henry will have a harmful influence on the gullible young man (Wilde, n.d.). In the later parts of the novel it becomes evident that Henry gradually manages to change Dorian’s views about the world. From this very point of the story Dorian's formerly naive point of outlook gets dramatically changed – he starts viewing life just like Lord Henry perceives life, as a sequence of pleasures within which queries of evil and good are immaterial. Basil completes his sketch of Dorian, and delivers it to the young chap, who preserves it in his dwelling, where he could have a high regard for his own attractiveness. Lord Henry keeps on exerting his influence over the young man, to Basil's disappointment. Dorian keeps moving more and more far-away from Basil, who used to be his earlier best companion, and builds up his own separate concerns. The young man becomes gradually a follower of the concept of “new Hedonism” and desires to live a life devoted to the hunt for contentment. He falls for a young performer, Sibyl Vane, who acts in a theater located in the slums of London. He admires her performances and Sibyl in return, names him as “Prince Charming” and denies paying attention to the forewarnings of James Vane, her brother, who always stated that Dorian is not a good choice on her part. Gradually Sibyl gets overpowered by her love for Dorian and comes to a decision that she can act no longer, questioning herself that how she could act on the stage making others believe as if she’s in love at present when she has already experienced the genuine feeling. Dorian loved Sibyl because of her acting skills and as she had decided to leave acting, Dorian broke his engagement with her. After this when he returned home, he found his portrait had changed and it is sneering now. Being afraid that the effect of his ill behavior would influence the portrait’s beauty, Dorian decided to sort out things with Sibyl, but unfortunately his decision was late. By the time he had decided to amend their relationship, Sibyl had killed herself to death. Sybil's death transforms the whole thing. At the beginning, Dorian feels terrible – but he pretty swiftly changes his thought. According to Lord Henry's proposition, Dorian starts reading a strange "yellow book," a self-indulgent French work of fiction which makes him restate his entire belief structure. The central character of the novel lives his days in chase for physical pleasures, that maneuvers Dorian. From this point on, Dorian becomes a changed person. Dorian started to live a life with a hedonistic philosophy just like his iniquitous guide, Lord Henry, does. The sole thing that records this change for the most horrible thing is the sketch by Basil that terrifyingly starts to display the inward dishonesty of Dorian's spirit; the handsome image transforms, illuminating new physical flaws and scars with each of Dorian's dishonorable acts. As years surpassed by, the man in the portrait develops into a more and more ugly representation, while Dorian himself remains abnormally beautiful and young. Rumors started to extend about the different individuals whose lives were ruined by Dorian and his previous good repute slowly gets shattered. On the 38th birthday of Dorian, he comes across Basil, who frantically asks his earlier pal about all the horrendous rumors regarding him he had heard of. Dorian lastly snaps and demonstrates the portrait to Basil, within which the awful fact about his evil nature is exposed. Basil retreats, and requests Dorian to plead for mercy. In reply, Dorian kills Basil, wounding him viciously. He intimidates another of his previous friends into throwing off the corpse. Dorian moves back to an opium warren after handling all of the facts, where he comes across an unknown opponent James who was Sybil Vane's brother. In the course of a rather complex series of occurrences, Sybil Vane's brother (who is on a task to penalize Dorian for his ill-treatment towards Sybil) eventually got killed by Dorian. Dorian isn't straightway accountable for the mishap, but it's hitherto yet another bereavement to sum up to Dorian's score of life-wrecking mishaps. Dorian was relaxed that his foe was out of his path, but this occasion flashes a type of mid-life predicament within him. Finally He makes up his mind to make changes in his life and he decides to lead an improved life but cannot gather the guts to confess his offenses and wrongdoings, and the picture started to reveal his believed craving to regret for what he had done— however he was never changed in his heart and his regrets were simply because the portrait was getting evil and losing all its charm. In a rage, Dorian picked up the dagger that was used by him to bash Basil Hallward and tried to demolish the picture. Finally the story ends with a severe hurtle, while Dorian’s attendants entered the room (where the portrait was kept) in a rush to discover that the unharmed portrait was yet again presenting Dorian Gray as a good-looking young gentleman. Out of awe, they additionally discovered the body of Dorian lying on the ground that has turned into an old fellow, terribly crumpled and blemished, with a dagger stabbed into his chest. Conclusion Thus it can be concluded that themes of the novel revolves round the concepts of the bad and the good. Here we can draw similarity between Dorian’s transformations with Pip’s transformation that gradually turned an innocent man into a materialistic and practical person, however Pip was not as evil as Dorian. The novel further notes down that love with an innocent mind can be pure but when loves happens with a purpose, there’s an evil mind working behind it. Additionally the theme of the novel also demonstrates how outer beauty becomes more significant for some people that they forget to nurture and preserve the beauty of their sole. After going through both the novels it can be concluded that the literary and non-literary works of the Victorian era were quite different from its predecessors, who were authors of the Romantic period. The works of the Victorian era symbolizes the raw facts of life that deals with harsh realities like struggle, deprivation, crime, treachery, cheating, love for money, sacrificing the ethical side as people gets greedy and then finally the novels ends with a lesson that addresses the common people at large. Thus here we can restate the thesis statement, that seeks my opinion about the primary concerns of the Victorian literary and non literary works that, as stated by John Kucich, involves religion and science and in this regard the answer is that the Victorian literary and non literary works not only involved science and religion but it involved so many other topics as well, among which the daily life of common man used to be the most popular theme. References Black et al., 2009. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Victorian Era - Second Edition. Canada: Broadview Press. Boyce, N. 2012, 'Victorian values', Lancet, 379, 9811, p. 112, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 January 2014. Cooper, D. W. 1978, 'Victorian Life and Victorian Fiction (Book Review)', Library Journal, 103, 19, p. 2241, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 January 2014. Dickens, C. 2009. Great Expectations. Bizarro Press. Dinscore, A. 2010. Victorian literature and culture. California State University-Fresno. Available at http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/4/197.full Ott, W. 1979, 'Victorian Noon (Book Review)', Library Journal, 104, 12, p. 1339, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 January 2014. Stankovics, D. J. 2009, 'Why Victorian Literature Still Matters', Library Journal, 134, 1, p. 90, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 January 2014. Tate, A. n.d. What the Dickens? Third Way Magazine. Available at http://www.thirdwaymagazine.co.uk/editions/dec-2011/features/what-the-dickens.aspx Waterman, A. C. 2003, 'REVIEW ESSAY: ROMANTIC POLITICAL ECONOMY: DONALD WINCH AND DAVID LEVY ON VICTORIAN LITERATURE AND ECONOMICS', Journal Of The History Of Economic Thought, 25, 1, p. 91, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 January 2014. Wilde, O. n.d. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Plain Label Books. Read More