1. The Victorian Age An Introduction Yes, it’s time to take some notes!

2. 0 1840: England issues the Penny Black stamp, the first stamp in the world 0 1848: Women begin attending University of London 0 1850: Life Insurance introduced 0 1851: Gold discovered 0 1860: Florence Nightingale founds school for nurses 0 1876: 0 Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone 0 School attendance becomes compulsory 0 1877: Thomas Edison patents the phonograph 0 1878: Electric street lighting appears in London 0 1886: Wimbledon opens 0 1888: Jack the Ripper stalks London’s East End 0 1901: Queen Victoria dies Interesting Dates from the Victorian Age

3. Queen Victoria 0 Ruled from 1837-1901, the longest reign in British history (63 years and 7 months) 0 Took the throne at age 18 0 Was graceful & self-assured 0 Exemplified qualities of earnestness, moral responsibility, domestic propriety and helped restore high opinion of the monarchy 0 Married German prince Albert in 1840, who became Prince-consort 0 They had a happy marriage that produced 9 children and 42 grandchildren! 0 After Albert died in 1861, she sank into a deep depression and wore black every day for the rest of her life 5 minutes

4. Social Context of the Victorian Age: 0 Victorians emphasized decorum: life would be improved if it became more refined, more rationally organized, better policed, and therefore safer. 0 Because of England’s success, they felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world 0 By the end of the century, however, the disruption and materialism of the era made people question changes brought on by rapid industrialization and reevaluate the definitions of progress. 5 minutes

5. Victorian England and Social Class The social class system consisted of three distinctive groups: 0 The working class consisted of agricultural workers, factory workers, mine workers, maids, servants, housekeepers, soldiers, etc. 0 The middle class became the most influential segment of British society. The middle class consisted of administrators, merchants, professionals, and business owners. 0 The upper class consisted of the hereditary aristocracy and the landed gentry who had come into money through commercial enterprise and ascended from the middle class. Members of the upper class did not work.

6. Victorian Society and Gender Roles 0 Middle- and upper-class society was characterized by a strict and conservative moral code that dictated rigid formal manners and an unwavering adherence to duty, family, and propriety. 0 Gender roles were firmly defined. 0 Men dominated the public sphere in politics and industry 0 Women were relegated to the private sphere where they were to oversee the household and supervise the educations of their children. 0 The ideal Victorian woman was a domestic “angel”—always quiet and demure. She had no business participating in public life or politics.

7. Historical Context of the Victorian Age: 0 Advancements in technology, science, and industrialization change the entire world quickly 0 1830: England opens first public railway line in the world 0 1851: Crystal Palace opens at Great Exhibition 0 During this time… 0 British Empire largest in the world 0 Britain largest importer and exporter in the world 0 Great Britain is richest country in the world 0 Intellectuals convinced that all social problems could be overcome by progress. 0 Time of great social and political change 0 Many challenges to religious belief 0 1859: Darwin publishes The Origin of Species 5 minutes

9. All was not rosy, however… 0 Unemployment 0 Poverty 0 Rioting 0 Crime 0 Disease 0 Slums in large cities 0 Working conditions for women and children were terrible 0 The “Naughty 90s” 3 minutes

10. Social Context of the Victorian Age: 0 Victorians emphasized decorum: life would be improved if it became more refined, more rationally organized, better policed, and therefore safer. 0 Queen Victoria exemplified qualities of earnestness, moral responsibility, domestic propriety and helped restore high opinion of the monarchy. 0 Because of England’s success, they felt it was their duty to bring English values, laws, customs, and religion to the “savage” races around the world 0 Far-reaching new ideas created the greatest outpouring of literary production the world has ever seen 0 By the end of the century, however, the disruption and materialism of the era made people question changes brought on by rapid industrialization and reevaluate the definitions of progress.

11. Literacy, Publication, and Reading 0 By the end of the century, literacy was almost universal. 0 Compulsory national education required to the age of ten. 0 Due to technological advances, an explosion of things to read, including newspapers, periodicals, and books. 0 Growth of the periodical 0 Novels and short fiction were published in serial form. 0 The reading public expected literature to illuminate social problems. 3 minutes

12. Victorian literature focuses on: 0 conflict between those in power and the common masses of laborers and the poor 0 shocking life of sweatshops and urban poor is highlighted to encourage reform 0 country versus city life 0 romantic triangles 0 heroines in physical danger 0 aristocratic villains 0 misdirected letters 0 bigamous marriages 0 sexual discretion (or lack of it) 0 strained coincidences 5 minutes

13. The Fabulous Oscar Wilde An Introduction to The Importance of Being Earnest

15. Biographical Information  Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland on 16 October 1854.  Wilde excelled in his studies and attended Trinity College in Dublin, where he was top in his class and won numerous writing and academic awards.  He then went to Oxford to further his studies.  After graduation, he moved to London and continued to write with moderate success.  He went to America in 1881 and spent a year touring and lecturing and meeting with such greats as Longfellow and Whitman.  He married Constance Lloyd in 1884, and the couple had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan.

16. Biographical Information  Over the next several years, Wilde experienced great writing success, publishing two collections of children’s stories, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and several plays such as Lady Windermere’s Fan, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest.  The Picture of Dorian Gray was greatly criticized for its “homoerotic” undertones, and it played a role in the legal troubles with which Wilde would later find himself embroiled.  Because of his relationship with another man, Wilde was eventually arrested for and convicted of gross indecency (“buggery”) and sentenced to two years hard labor.  Upon his release, Wilde mostly spent the last three years of his life wandering Europe, staying with friends and living in cheap hotels.

17. Biographical Information  He was unable to rekindle his creative fires.  When a recurrent ear infection became serious several years later, meningitis set in, and Oscar Wilde died on November 30, 1900.  He is buried in the Pére Lachaise Cemetary in Paris, France.  Wilde is renowned as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian period.

19. Aestheticism and Decadence  As a reaction to the conservatism and restrictive moral and social code of the Victorian Age, the Aesthetic (or Decadent) Movement championed artistic excess and rejected morality as a measure for the value of artistic expression.  Aesthetes promoted the creation of “art for art’s sake.” Writers and artists of the Aesthetic Movement believed that art should not be judged on moral grounds but, instead, should be valued for pure beauty, sophistication and refinement, and the pleasure derived from its design and composition.  Oscar Wilde is a representative figure of the Aesthetic Movement.  He dressed flamboyantly and made the enjoyment of “art for art’s sake” the focus of his writing.  Wilde, although married, was engaged in homosexual relationships with younger men.  Many literary and artistic ideas as well as the notion of fluid gender identities carried on into the twentieth century and became cornerstones of the age of modernism.

21. Things to pay attention for in Earnest…  Seriousness (“earnestness”) vs. triviality  The complex and contradictory notion of being “earnest”  The hypocrisy and superficiality of the upper classes  The complex nature of identity – one cannot accurately judge others by their apparent adherence to social norms or the ways they behave in public.  The institution of marriage  IRONY! Situational, verbal, and dramatic are all present.  SATIRE!  Comedy of manners: uses elements of satire in order to ridicule or expose the behaviors, manners, flaws, and morals of members of the middle or upper classes.