Sensationalism - Sensation Novels of the Nineteenth Century
The "sensation novels" began to appear during the mid-to-late 1800's. The term first used by W. M. Thackeray, in his own Cornhill Magazine, was in reference to "a particular literary or dramatic phenomenon." Courtroom scenes, corpses, secrets, adultery, insanity and prostitution were all staples of the novel's plot that would offer the many unexpected twists and turns of the story. The author's goal was to have the reader feel basic sensations-shock, disbelief, horror, suspense, sexual excitement, and fear.
There are several reasons why sensation novels became so popular with Victorian society, and especially women, during this time period. Urbanization and industrialization were changing the face of the countryside by creating more and more big cities. This type of novel was a welcomed escape from the emergence of industry and capitalism in England and America.
Even though the times were changing, women were still expected to be subservient to men. They did not enjoy the freedom to vote or to own property. Because it is the Victorian era, they are still expected to control their emotions in front of men and to be supportive at all times.
As women started to shun this role, it was reflected in the sensation novel. The female became a strong character in these books. Female sexuality was used to show strength, rebelliousness and evil. They were often portrayed as seductresses and villains who would be punished by the ending of the book. Females were no longer the victim waiting to be rescued. The sensation novel reversed male and female roles with the man many times being victimized.
These novels with thei...
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...the strong female characters, his name was associated with both the male and female groups of authors.
Sources
Law, Graham. Serializing Fiction in the Victorian Press. London: Palgrave, 2000.
Hughes, Winifred. The Maniac in the Cellar. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980.
Miller, D.A. The Novel and the Police. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988.
Boyle, Thomas. Black Swine in the Sewers of Hampstead. New York: Viking Penguin, 1989.
James, Henry. Notes and Reviews. Cambridge: Dunster House, 1921.
Gaskell, Elizabeth. Mary Barton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 80.
Mansel, Henry. "Sensations Novels." Quarterly Review 113 (April 1863): 251-68.
Websites
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/english/Clayton/318biblio.htm
http://www.indiana.edu/~victoria/
Determinate sentencing is becoming more popular in juvenile courts. It is a special statute that allows for the possibility of a juvenile serving a sentence beyond the age of 21. It specifically covers certain violent offenses and drug cases, like murder, capital murder, sexual assault, and indecency with a child. Aggravated controlled substances cases are also covered (TYC website). The alternative to determinate sentencing is blended sentencing, which allows judges to issue delinquent offenders both juvenile and adult dispositions. Depending on the behavior of the delinquent while serving out their juvenile sentence, a fail-safe postadjudication stage occurs to determine whether or not their adult sentence should be suspended or invoked (Belshaw et al, 2011).
Our book was divided into different chapters on various theorists and explained the major theories of personality that were proposed by the different psychologists. One of the theories that we learned about was the trait theories. Gordan Allport introduced the trait theory and his theory suggested that individual personalities are primarily composed of broad dispositions’. Eysenck’s three dimensions of Personality was also a part of the trait theory. Eysenck developed that model of personality upon three universal trails. And at last, the trait theory had the Big five dimensions which proposed that there are give basic dimensions of personality. One of the four conclusions in our textbook suggested that “until more unambiguous empirical research is available, the best one can do is to evaluate the various theories personally, and to accept concepts that make sense and reject those that do not”(531).
The Victorian era brought about many changes and the introduction of new things. One issue that stood out was “The Sex.” Many things evolved around this issue like changes in laws all over, it became a topic for literary poets/ writers and also for the woman question. This term means discrimination based on a person’s sex and during the 19th century this was a vast issue toward women. This all Started from the early Victorian era with queen victoria, who was the monarch of the united kingdom of Great Britain from 1837- 1901. Being the queen she played a very substantial role during this time. As a wife she showed a domestic side. She supported Prince Albert, had his children, became very submissive and devoted to her husband a family. This image she portrayed became a trend to the outside world. Most people looked at this as what the ideal woman was during this era.
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray women are often portrayed as passive and weak characters. During the 19th century when these books were written, the proper domestic ideology was that women were naturally squeamish, defenseless, innocent beings, who needed protection from the male worlds of business and politics (Stepenoff). This theme is demonstrated throughout both of these novels through major and minor characters. In the case of Frankenstein, Shelley, who is a feminist herself, covers her book with submissive women who suffer calmly and eventually die. Similarly in Wilde's story, there are a few female characters that do not show much immediate importance, but they ultimately have a major impact on the story. Both authors portray their female characters as weak and passive, yet, despite their minor roles, these women strongly influence the men and greatly alter the course of events in each novel.
Basically the Victorian era sucked for women. During the beginning they were expected to be smart, but to not have an opinion. They were to be beautiful, yet act and appear virginal. Women were also
Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.
During the times in which Shakespeare lived, women had certain roles which ensured they were a permanent underclass to men. In Women in Shakespeare’s world by Theresa D. Kemp, Kemp states that “The roles of early modern women included daughters and wives, sisters and mothers; they learned and worked and played but for the most part they were not expected to be school girls (whining or otherwise) As women they were expected to be the slightly beautiful beloved and not the balladeer. Women were not seen as fit to play soldier or the judge. And as keepers of the homes and the households, as in our own time, women withdrawn from a “world too wide” ( 29). This quote from Kemp shows how victorian women were seen a just a pretty face to do as told. They were to be obedient and non opinionated. A woman of that time period was very objectified and used, basically women weren't real people.
Magnavita, J. J. (2002). Theories of personality: Contemporary approaches to the science of personality. New York: Wiley.
...y he is so obsessed with trying to attain it. He is the product of his own illusions and of a society that believe that with hard work everything is possible. The reader can understand that Willy’s skewed perspective of the “American Dream” is due to his distortion of his life and the dream that he thinks he lives in everyday.
Hergehhahn, B. R. and Olson, M. H. (1999). An Introduction to Theories of Personality. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Personality traits can affect success in school and many other long-term outcomes. Traits affect daily moods as well (Feist & Feist, 2009). An individual’s personality may seem unstable from one situation to the next: this means that an individual may be acutely aware of his or her academic work, but not aware of the cleanliness of his home or the working condition of his car (Feist & Feist, 2009). The lack of interest in the cleanliness of the home and the working order of the car may be from any number of factors, but it still points out that his trait of being conscientious is situational. A person’s disposition will only affect his behavior under certain conditions or in specific situations (Feist & Feist, 2009). This observation seems to suggest that an individual’s perceptions of self and situation play a strong role in behavior, as opposed to personality as the only indicator (Feist & Feist, 2009). Another example of situational changes in personality includes dating. A person that is outgoing and friendly may be shy and reserved when on a date with a new person, or when they around someone they are interested in. This may be because the person wants to make a good impression; it co...
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Physical piracy-the copying and illegal sale of hard-copy CDs, videotapes, and DVDs-costs the music industry over $4 billion a year worldwide and the movie industry more than $3.5 billion. These numbers do not factor in the growing (and difficult to measure) problem of Internet piracy, in which music and movies are transferred to digital format and copies are made of the resulting computer file. Journalist Charles C. Mann explains why Internet piracy has the potential to be vastly more damaging to copyright industr...
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