English Realistic Period

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1870-1914

• English Realistic Period

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background

• 1870 -1914 Realistic Period
• 1870 -1901 Late Victorian Age
• 1901-1914 Edwardian Age

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Realism

• A manner of treating subject manner that presents
  a careful description of everyday life, usually
  of the lower and middle classes.
• A theory of writing in which the ordinary,
  familiar, or mundane aspects of life are
  represented in a straightforward or
  matter-of-fact manner that is presumed to reflect
  life as it actually is.

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• The English Realistic Era was the rebellion
  against romantic idealism. People were more
  skeptical against society and wanted to show its
  faults they wanted to show that the world was
  not perfect.
• Realism is said to be the opposite of Romanticism
• Realists wanted to prove truth and accuracy

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Major authors

• Thomas Hardy
• He wrote about people struggling with their
  passions.
• George Eliot
• Mary Ann (Marian) Evans used male pen name so
  her works were taken seriously. She didnt want
  to automatically be classified as a romantic
  writer because she was a female.
• Henrik Ibsen
• Oscar Wilde
• Extremely famous writer and still is to this day.
  The Importance of Being Earnest is most famous
  writing. He was imprisoned for two years after
  gross indecency with other men and that was his
  dramatic downfall.
• George Bernard Shaw
• His writings focus on social problems but he uses
  comedy to talk about them. He hated working class
  topics and most of his writings show that abuse.
  He examined education, marriage, religion,
  government, health care, and class priveledge.

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Important works

• Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd 1874
• Eliot, Middlemarch 1872
• Ibsen, A Dolls House 1879
• Shaw, Mrs. Warrens Profession 1894

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summaries
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Far from the madding crowd

• Bathsheba Everdene is young woman who has no
  money. She meets Gabriel Oak, a farmer and saves
  his life one evening. He proposes to her and she
  says no. Bathsheba leaves to a new town and when
  Gabriels farm strikes disaster, he is relocated
  to the same town as Bathsheba. He ends up
  becoming her shepherd, but Bathsheba is falling
  in love with her neighbor Mr. Boldwood and she
  asks him to marry her. She later changes her mind
  and meets a soldier named sergeant Troy. She did
  not know at the time, but he had recently
  impregnated a girl named Fanny Robin. Troy falls
  in love with Bathsheba which makes Boldwood mad.
  Gabriel is a friend to Bathsheba now and doesnt
  approve of the marriage. He sees Fanny who later
  dies giving birth to the child. Troy runs away
  after the her death because he is so sad.
  Boldwood still tried to get her to marry him but
  Troy sees her later on and proposes again. This
  outrages Boldwood and he shoots Troy and is then
  sentenced to life. She later marries Gabriel.
• Theme of imperfections in society and city life.

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middlemarch

• Dorothea Brooke marries Edward Casaubon. Dorothea
  later feels that he doesnt want her to succeed
  and then she forms a relationship with his cousin
  Ladislaw, but Edward forbids him to visit. Edward
  was on his death bed and made Dorothea promise
  that if he died she would not marry Ladislaw
  otherwise she would not receive all of his
  fortunes. He died before she could respond.
• Doctor Tertius Lydgate comes to town. His work
  brings him to Mr. Bulstrode who has a secret
  past. His niece is Rosamond Vincy, the mayors
  daughter and has eyes for Lydgate. They have an
  unhappy marriage and Lydgate becomes in debt and
  wants help from Bulstrode. He starts to feel
  better because of his friendship with Camden
  Farebrother.

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• Then we are introduced to Rosamonds
  university-educated brother Fred. He is in love
  with Mary Garth who will not marry him until he
  abandons the Church and gets a new career. Mary
  was not happy with Fred because of his loss of a
  considerable fortune from Mr. Featherstone, which
  was later changed by a new will which
  Featherstone begs Mary to destroy on his
  deathbed. Mary, unaware of what is at stake,
  refuses to do so. Fred, in trouble over
  horse-dealing borrows money from Marys father,
  Caleb Garth. Fred is humiliated from everything
  and begins to reassess his life.
• Ladislaw has kept his love for Dorothea to
  himself. He works for Mr. Brook and becomes a
  focus for Rosamonds attentions. After Brookes
  election collapses, Ladislaw visits Dorothea to
  say goodbye. Dorothea (still a prisoner of
  Casaubons will), sees Ladislaw and decides to
  throw everything away and marry him.
• This story has many plots with many serious and
  comical characters. Every characters purpose is
  to bring attention to controversial subjects.
  This story consists of eight different books.
  They brought up issues during the time and the
  story was also about the way people reacted to
  unwanted change.

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A Dolls house

• Ibsen was Norwegian but classified in the English
  Realistic era because he influenced so many
  writers of that time. He was a realistic
  dramatist and his works all focused on social
  problems that he dramatized. His writings were so
  shocking that they sometimes made him change the
  endings before they would release his works.
• Nora Helmer had always been controlled by her
  father and husband. She one day questions
  everything about marriage. She had borrowed money
  from a man named Krogstad for forging her
  fathers signature in which she was able to pay
  for a trip to Italy to save her sick husbands
  life. He did not know about the loan because he
  thought it was from her father. She had to find
  ways to pay back the loan. She thought her
  husband would receive a huge wage so she would
  then pay back the loan, but Krogstad approaches
  her and he learns that his position at the bank
  was given to Mrs. Linde, a friend of Nora. He
  tells Nora that he will reveal her secret if she
  does not tell her husband to give the position to
  Krogstad.

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• In the meantime, Nora learns that Dr. Rank, who
  is dying, is in love with her. Krogstad announces
  that instead of publically humiliating Nora, he
  is going to write Torvald a note. She tries
  everything to stop him from reading the note. A
  day passes and Torvald finally reads the note. He
  is furious with Nora right away wanting nothing
  to do with her but receives another letter from
  Krogstad saying that he decided to let them keep
  the bond. After reading the second letter, he had
  a change of heart and forgave her.
• Nora tells Torvald that she is leaving him. She
  tells him he does not love her and she does not
  love him. She felt suffocated and owed it to
  herself to become fully independent.
• There is the theme of womens roles in society.

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Mrs. Warrens profession

• Mrs. Warren is a prostitute and her daughter
  Vivie is horrified to find out that her mothers
  fortune is from managing a high-class whorehouse.
  The mother and daughter talk and Mrs. Warren
  explains that her impoverished childhood led her
  to prostitution. Vivie forgive her mother until
  she finds out that the business remains open.
• Shaw wrote this play not to focus on
  prostitution, but to show that women were so
  desperate to become independent and work (and
  with no opportunities) that they would resort to
  prostitution.
• The play was written in 1893 and not put on stage
  until 1903 because it was so controversial. The
  title was even controversial because of the word
  profession. People also did not like how Mrs.
  Warren benefitted from the profession. It was
  how she made her living.

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characters

• Far From the Madding Crowd
• Gabriel hero, honest, quiet observer but knows
  when to step in and save others.
• Bathsheba only thinks of herself, impulsive
  actions, independent, financially independent
• Troy - irresponsible, vain, but he knows how to
  love
• Boldwood reserved man, he doesnt know how to
  love until Bathsheba makes the first move, he
  becomes obsessive
• Fanny Robin represents the fate of women if
  they relied on men for support

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• Middlemarch
• Dorothea wants to improve the world, she goes
  against common advice about marriage, she follows
  her heart, she only means well, represents a
  strong woman
• Casaubon marries Dorothea because he thinks she
  is submissive, he independent attitude bothers
  him
• Tertius Lydgate he symbolizes change, he wants
  to do good, marriage ruins him financially, the
  more in debt he becomes, the more his attitude to
  toward life and marriage change
• Ladislaw loves Dorothea, kind man, does good
  things

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• A Dolls House
• Nora seems happy at the beginning, loves her
  children and puts up with her husbands teasing,
  she represents the doll in the title, she
  represents a woman that is smart enough (takes
  out loan) to do more than housewife things
• Torvald believes a mans role is to protect his
  wife, treats her like a daughter, treats her like
  a child but his character is actually childish,
  he says Nora ruined his happiness in the end, but
  urges her to stay for the sake of his social
  appearance
• Krogstad seems like villain of story, but he
  saves Nora from suicide, victim of society, he
  blackmails Nora for his family, represents what
  one will do to save reputation

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• Mrs. Warrens Profession
• Mrs. Warren suppose to represent
  businesswoman, good mother, believes that her
  job is good because it allows women to better
  their lives by making a living,
• Vivie she speaks her mind, doesnt approve of
  her mothers profession but shows sympathy when
  her mother explains why she chose that
  profession,