VICTORIAN NOVEL

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VICTORIAN NOVEL
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THEME

• The difference between social classes.
• In Oliver Twist the difference is between
  children and the Master in his cooks uniform.
• In Nicholas Nickleby the difference is between
  Nicholas and the Master of the school.
• The contrast between the rich and the poor.
• In Oliver Twist the contrast is between Oliver
  with his friends and the Masters of the cookshop.
• In Nicholas Nickleby the contrast is between
  Nicholas and Mr Squeers.
• The middle class family life.
• In Nicholas Nickleby an example is Mr Squeers.
• In Chapter II of Vanity Fair an example is Amelia
  Sedley.
• The education of children.
• In Nicholas Nickleby the education of children is
  the main theme.
• 
  

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SETTING

• The general set in Victorian Novel is the city
• The factories
• Coke Town represents a city in the time of
  Industrial Revolution it is surrounded only by
  factories, smoke and work.
• The schools
• In Nicholas Nickleby the set is the school.
• Workhouses
• The set of Oliver Twist is the workhouse.

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NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES

• Pathos Pathos is an exaggeration of a
  situation or of an emotion.
• Oliver Twist Oliver Twist and his companions
  suffered the torture of slow starvation
• Nicholas Nickleby The children sat crouching
  and shivering together
• Hyperbolic use of the language Grotesque
  effect
• The grotesque is the way to make comic a dramatic
  situation. It works through humorous strategies.
• Nicholas Nickleby For what we have received
  may the Lord make us truly thankful
• Caricature Caricature gives extreme
  features to the characters, so that the reader
  doesn't identify himself in them.
• In Chapter II of Vanity Fair When Miss Sharp
  had performed the heroical act
• I
  hate the whole house, continued Miss Sharp in a
  furry.

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STYLISTIC FEATURES

• Irony Irony is used to make comic a
  situation.
• In Nicholas Nickleby the irony is represented
  when Nicholas answers Mr Squeers.
• In Oliver Twist The gruel disappeared.
• Philanthropy Philanthropy worked through
  falsity the rich gave money to poor to appear
  good men. They wanted to have a clear conscience.

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NARRATOR

• Omniscient Narrator The omniscient
  narrator knows everything the story, the
  characters and their personality. He also
  comments the personality and the attitude of the
  characters.
• In the novels of Charles Dickens the narrator is
  always a omniscient narrator he knows the story,
  the characters and the personality of them.
• In Chapter II of Vanity Fair Dickens knows the
  mind of Rebecca, what she thinks and in which way
  she acts.
• In Chapter XXX of Vanity Fair Dickens describes
  Rebecca like a woman superficial and materialist
  he knows her personality.

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ANTI VICTORIANISM

• The Anti Victorianism differs from Victorianism
  in some aspects
• Theme In Anti Victorianism novel is not
  important the difference of social classes, the
  education of children and middle class family
  life, but Anti Victorianism deals with other
  aspects.
• Narrative techniques The grotesque, irony and
  the hyperbolic use of the language are deleted.
  The language creates a tragic effect.

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Liceo Scientifico Albert EinsteinAnno scolastico
2010/2011Consuelo Canciani VB