The Victorian Age

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The Victorian Age

• Literatuur klas 6
• Hand-out reader Victorian Age

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The empire upon which the sun never sets

• During C.19, England went through formidable
  changes, as it built the most extensive empire in
  world history.

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The Victorian Age 1832-1901

• Named after Queen Victoria.

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The Victorian Age 1832-1901
make notes

• 1832-1848
• Time of troubles
• 1848-1870
• Economic prosperity
• 1870-1901
• Prosperous, but also decay of Victorian values
  increased competition

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Revolution!

• Industrial Revolution
• From agriculture to industry.
• French Revolution (1789)
• Liberty, equality, fraternity.

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Victorian belief

• Effects of Industrial Revolution
• Dramatic growth of cities
• Agricultural ? industrial
• Middle class emerging
• Belief in progress!
• Material, intellectual, spiritual

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Victorian problems

• Rise of democracy (?reform)
• Position of the poor
• The Woman Question

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These forces combined
make notes

• Victorian belief
• Progress in every field
• Victorian problems
• Rise of democracy
• Position of the poor
• The Woman Question

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Victorian belief Progress
make notes

• Material
• Manufacturing industries, railway (1840s),
  photography (1830s), telegraph (1850s), concrete
  (1849), telephone, cars (1885), bicycle (1872),
  toilet (1852), pasteurizing of food (1856), oil
  discovered (1859), gas light, electric light,
  steamships, typewriter (1873), electric street
  lighting, anaesthetics.
• Intellectual/ spiritual
• Darwin Origin of Species (survival of the
  fittest)
• The Empire
• Feeling of superiority the right/obligation to
  govern other people and territories. White mans
  burden

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Victorian problems (1)
make notes

• 1) Rise of democracy reforms
• Economic reform
• Repeal of Corn Laws (1848)
• Call for free trade
• Trade Unions
• Social reform
• Reform Bills (1832, 1867)
• Factory Acts (1802, 1833)
• Education Act (1870)

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Factory Act (1802, 1833)

• Factory owners must obey the law.
• All factory rooms must be well ventilated and
  lime-washed twice a year.
• Children must be supplied with two complete
  outfits of clothing.
• The work hours of children must begin after 6
  a.m., end before 9 p.m., and not exceed 12 hours
  a day.
• Children must be instructed in reading, writing
  and arithmetic for the first four years of work.
• Children may not sleep more than two per bed.
• On Sundays children are to have an hour's
  instruction in the Christian Religion.
• Children (ages 9-13) must not work more than 9
  hours.

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Criminal Law Amendment Acts

• Made visiting a prostitute illegal, if the girl
  was younger than 13 (later 16 yrs, because many
  girls were sold to brothels).
• Proscribed homosexual relations.

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Life in the factory
Ideal working clothes
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Victorian problems (2)
make notes

• 2) The position of the poor
• Movements for better working conditions (Factory
  Acts)
• Movement for education (Education Act)
• (increased literacy? rise of novel)
• Movement for electoral representation (Reform
  Bill, 1867)

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Victorian problems (3)
make notes

• 3) The Woman Question
• Women couldnt vote (Reform Bill for men)
• Textile factory work (poor conditions)
• Stay at home, but no rights at home
• Many driven into prostitution
• A lot of people protested against this. As
  usual, those in power held out for a long time

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The ideal wife
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Victorian problems (3)
make notes

• 3) The Woman Question
• By the end of the Victorian Age, a lot of things
  had improved for women. They could, for example,
  go to university and own a house. Suffrage in
  1918.

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Summarizing
make notes

• Century of enormous material and intellectual
  progress. Prosperity, empire.

Inevitably, many social problems for the poor,
for women, and for traditional beliefs.
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Learning objective

• After this discussion, you must be able to
• Explain why the Victorian Age was an age of
  dramatic progress, but also of dramatic social
  changes.

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The Victorian Age