The Impact of Industrialization on Literary Characters

The Industrial Revolution was a period of time in which Great Britain saw advancements in technology, agriculture, and transportation. These changes heavily influenced the country economically and socially. The creation of the unskilled factory labor worker emerged and a movement began from rural to urban areas. With an increase in wages from factory work, the population of the country increased as well. Overall Britain was becoming smaller during this time period. The Industrial Revolution did not solely bring positive outcomes. The interactions humans once held despite social status were gradually deteriorating as values began to shift. The industrialization taking place in Britain had a great presence in current and up and coming literature. Through the years authors such as Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, and D.H. Lawrence created characters whose morals were altered due to the evils of industrialization despite their social classes. During the course of the eras in literature, characters began to have a shift in morals which caused the relationships held with other characters to fall apart. The presence of industrialization and its troubles amongst the range of classes is present in Frankenstein, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

When Mary Shelley began creating her first novel, she was well aware of the studies being conducted in order to animate the dead. She knew the experiments being performed were only achievable because of advancements made in science by industrialization and knew they were simply impossible before her time. In Frankenstein, Shelley presents Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who becomes obsessed with pushing the boundaries of his study further no matter the cost. Victor wanted t...

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...fe permission to have an affair the only person in his life that paid any attention to him was Mrs. Bolton. He began to feel a genuine connection with her but from her perspective she despised everything Clifford represented because of the death of her husband. Hoping to change Clifford’s interest in the miners she began to share gossip about the town and hoped Clifford to begin to feel entitled to help out. Unfortunately that backfired because it reinforced the fact that Clifford had power all along. “Clifford began to take a new interest in the mines. He began to feel he belonged. A new sort of self assertion came into him. It was a new sense of power, something he had till now shrunk from with dread” (Lawrence 110). With industrialism there can never be two people from two distinct opposite classes being able to relate, there is always one that has more power.