Exploration of the Triad of Victorianism

2371 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The industrial revolution in England during the 1700s-1800s

Queen Victoria’s reign signified the longest single rule of one monarch throughout the history of England. “British history is two thousand years old,” Twain observed, “and yet in a good many ways the world has moved father ahead since the Queen was born then it moved in all the rest of the two thousand put together.” Victoria—earnest, morally inclined, fond of domestic proprietorship—mirrored the concepts associated with the time period itself. Under her eloquent leadership, The Victorian Era, following the span of her reign from 1837-1901, was born. The era as whole experienced drastic cultural shifts; sporting a chameleon of identities. The Early Victorians signified despair, hopelessness, and a smatter of tired souls, but was followed by “calm and prosperity”—the Mid-Victorians. Stemming the river of Victoria’s reign were the years of hollow beauty, aptly entitled the “Age of Aesthetics.” These three stages of development congregated under the shadow of the woman who served monarch, and motherly-figure to their duration and, collectively, The Victorian Era. Referred to as “A Time of Troubles,” the Early Victorians began with a foreboding precursor: industrialization. The grand opening of a railway between Liverpool and Manchester catalyzed England’s transformation from a landscape of widely dispersed towns, to that of a bustling enterprise, newly awakened by the scent of pungent manufacturing. This ‘scent’ was accompanied by the ever-present murmur of an unhappy, discontented working class. But labor discontent was not the only blight England suffered. The Irish Potato Famine, the worst famine in Europe during the 19th century, killed off half of the Irish population, primarily the rural poor. “Time of Troub... ... middle of paper ... ...s Cited Alfred Lord Tennyson. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1981. Print. Blanchard, Mary Warner. Oscar Wilde's America: Counterculture in the Gilded Age. New Haven: Yale UP, 1998. Print. Cowie, Sarah E. The Plurality of Power: An Archaeology of Industrial Capitalism. New York: Springer, 2011. Print. "Irish Potato Famine." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2012. . Hoppen, K. Theodore. The Mid-Victorian Generation: 1846-1886. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998. Print. Koebner, Richard, and Helmut Dan Schmidt. Imperialism; the Story and Significance of a Political Word, 1840-1960,. Cambridge [Eng.: University, 1964. Print. Le, Vot André. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Ireland Starves and Lives to Tell: The Effects of the Great Potato Famine

    1583 Words  | 4 Pages

    “It must be understood that we cannot feed the people” (Kinealy Calamity 75). The mid 1800s in Ireland were characterized by extreme poverty, death, and emigration. The Great Potato Famine, also known as “The Great Hunger,” first hit in 1845; however, its effects lasted into the 1850s and can still be seen today. Prior to the famine, Irish manufacture and trade was controlled and suppressed by British government, which made Ireland an extremely poor country. Farmers in Ireland were forced to export crops such as corn, wheat, and oats to Britain, which left the potato as the main dietary staple for the people, especially the poor. Therefore, when the fungus Phytophthora infestans caused some, and eventually all, of the crop to rot over the next couple of years, the reliance on the one crop made the people of Ireland extremely susceptible to the famine. The effects were devastating, and poverty spread across the nation causing a huge increase in homelessness, the death-rate, emigration, and a change in the Irish people and country overall.

    Read More

  • The Irish Famine 1845-1849

    3944 Words  | 8 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... n that after nearly seven hundred years of attempted domination, the British oppression of the Irish had deprived them of all but the bare necessities of survival, and caused such destitution that when the potato famine struck, the poor could not avoid the worst privations, given the social and political conditions controlling their lives. The British government’s ineffectual attempts at relieving the situation played a major role in worsening the situation; they allowed prejudice and State and individual self-interest, economic and religious dogma to subjugate even the least consideration for humanity. Ultimately British politicians bear considerable blame because they were not prepared to allocate what was needed to head off mass starvation, and they as the parent government did nothing to protect its subject people.

    Read More

  • The Fall of the Potato: Causes of the Great Famine

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are several circumstances to take into consideration when looking at the causes of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. Due to the great dependence the Irish people had on the potato, it is clear how blight could devastate a country and its people. To understand the Irish people's dependence on the potato for diet, income, and a way out of poverty, it is necessary to look at several key factors that were evident before the famine. Factors such farming as the only way of life, rise in population, and limited crops explain why the people of Ireland relied on the potato. But not only do these reasons clarify why the famine hit the Irish people so hard, other important factors play into effect as well. By looking at the weak relationship between England and Ireland through parliamentary acts and trade laws, it is more evident what the causes of the Great Famine are and why it was so detrimental.

    Read More

  • The Character of No-one in Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

    3761 Words  | 8 Pages

    Buzard, James, Linda K. Hughes.  "The Victorian Nation and its Others" and "1870."  A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture.  Ed. Herbert F. Tucker.  Malden:  Blackwell Publishers, 1999.  35-50, 438-455.

    Read More

  • Causes Of The Great Potato Famine

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...sh potato famine lasted for several years, resulting a reduction of land holdings for small farmers and nearly a million Irish dead. Those farmers who survived the Phytophthora Infestins were able to buy land back from the land lords under the Encumbered Act of 1849 (Johnston). A non-violent peasant revolution occurred as the number of farms over 15 acres increased from 19 percent from 1841 to 51 percent in 1851 (Johnston).

    Read More

  • European Imperialism in Africa and Asia

    1516 Words  | 4 Pages

    Introduction: The epoch of imperialism cannot be defined simply as a proliferation of inflated egos tied to the hardened opinions of nationalists, but also a multi-faceted global rivalry with roots of philosophies tainted with racism and social Darwinism. The technique of each imperialist was specific to the motivations and desires of each combative, predominantly Western power and subsequently impacted the success of each imperialist and its colonies. Driven by industrialization, Europeans are aware of the urgent need for raw materials and new markets to maintain a constant rate of expansion and wealth. Imperialism became a competition; in general, the European countries led with fervor while the non-Western regions deemed likely to be stepped on.

    Read More

  • Voices of the Oppressed: Browning and Browning

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    Robson, Catherine, and Carol T. Christ. "The Victorian Age." The Norton Anthology English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 9th ed. Vol. E. New York: Norton &, 2012. 1130-137. Print.

    Read More

  • Industrial Revolution and the Crime Conundrum

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    O'Brien, Patrick, and Roland Quinault, eds. The Industrial Revolution and British Society. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1993. Print.

    Read More

  • The Irish Famine

    2346 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the six years from 1845 to 1851 the Irish Famine caused approximately one million deaths from a population of eight and a half million. It is during this period that two million Irish people emigrated with a further three million emigrating in the subsequent 50 years. Historians including Ó Gráda illustrate the longevity and significance of the Famine on Irish society, showing how the event shaped Ireland both economically and indeed politically. Although the Irish famine was not the most devastating of famines, compared to those which occurred in China 1957-62, in Bengal in 1943 and in the Ukraine in the 1930’s, which eclipse it in terms of mortality. Nonetheless, the Irish famine is unique as the proportion of the population who either died or who were forced to escape from its effects was as high as thirty-five percent of the total population in 1850. To this day, the Irish population has never fully recovered, remaining half of pre-famine levels, thus showing Ireland is still socially scarred even in 2013.

    Read More

  • The Imperialism Of Free Trade By John Gallagher And Ronald Robinson

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    This method of understanding imperialism that contrasts with the traditional ideas provides a much more complete understanding of not only European imperialists in the 19th and 20th centuries, but of the concept of imperialism as a

    Read More

  • Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray

    2260 Words  | 5 Pages

    Pearson, Hesketh. Oscar Wilde: His Life and Wit. 3rd ed. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1946.

    Read More

  • Victorian Era Fashion

    1837 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the time period of Queen Victoria's reign the population alone of Britain had grown from 10 million at the start of the 1800's to over 26 million by 1870. The British Empire grew and now held over a quarter of the world's population. When the empire was at its climax, it was the largest in history. The industrial revolution in Britain came with fantastic outcomes, such as huge technological revolutions and production of iron, coal, and cotton cloth increased dramatically. This increase in population and industrialization flooded the cities with peasants looking for jobs. Most of these people were living in poverty and hazardous conditions. This was when the first railway took form, allowing people to spread out and not crowd in the cities. Although people spread out, many still lived in slums and working conditions at the time were atrocious. Around 1833 through 1844 the Factory Act was finalized controlling child labor. Now children could not work...

    Read More

  • The Victorian Age

    1327 Words  | 3 Pages

    “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair” (Dickens n. pag.). These words by Charles Dickens, one of the most famous writers of the Victorian Period, were intended to show the connections between the French Revolution and the decline of Dickens’s own time, the Victorian Era (“About” n.pag.). Dickens wanted to show how the trends of his time were following a tragic path that had already played out and not ended well in France. According to an article about this historical period, the Victorian Era was “a time of change, a time of great upheaval, but also a time of great literature” (“Victorian” n.pag.). The Victorian Period reflects the great changes in the social, political, and economical shifts of the time.

    Read More

  • Oscar Wilde: Typifying the Victorian Era

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oscar Wilde was born in October 16, 1854, in the mid era of the Victorian period—which was when Queen Victoria ruled. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901.While she ruined Britain, the nation rise than never before, and no one thought that she was capable of doing that. “The Victorian era was both good and bad due to the rise and fall of the empires and many pointless wars were fought. During that time, culture and technology improved greatly” (Anne Shepherd, “Overview of the Victorian Era”). During this time period of English, England was facing countless major changes, in the way people lived and thought during this era. Today, Victorian society is mostly known as practicing strict religious or moral behavior, authoritarian, preoccupied with the way they look and being respectable. They were extremely harsh in discipline and order at all times. Determination became a usual Victorian quality, and was part of Victorian lifestyle such as religion, literature and human behavior. However, Victorian has its perks, for example they were biased, contradictory, pretense, they cared a lot of about what economic or social rank a person is, and people were not allowed to express their sexuality. Oscar Wilde was seen as an icon of the Victorian age. In his plays and writings, he uses wit, intelligence and humor. Because of his sexuality he suffered substantially the humiliation and embarrassment of imprisonment. He was married and had an affair with a man, which back then was an act of vulgarity and grossness. But, that was not what Oscar Wilde was only known for; he is remembered for criticizing the social life of the Victorian era, his wit and his amazing skills of writing. Oscar Wilde poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” typifies the Vi...

    Read More

  • “How Do I Love Thee?” Understanding the Victorian Era Through Browning and Stickney Ellis

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Victorian Era in English history was a period of rapid change. One would be hard-pressed to find an aspect of English life in the 19th century that wasn’t subject to some turmoil. Industrialization was transforming the citizens into a working class population and as a result, it was creating new urban societies centered on the factories. Great Britain enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity at home and thus was extending its global reach in an era of New Imperialism. Even in the home, the long held beliefs were coming into conflict.

    Read More

More about Exploration of the Triad of Victorianism

Open Document