Victorian Period
One of the most important passages of the history of Britain is the Victorian
Period. Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was the first English monarch to see her
name given to the period of her reign whilst still alive. The Victorian Period
revolves around the political career of Queen Victoria and it started with her
coronation in 1837. Many historians opine that the period should be named "Albertine",
after the name of Prince Albert whom Victoria married in 1840. It was actually
his rectitude that set the tone of the era.
Though he did not live long (died in December, 1861), his philosophy was sacrosanct
to Victoria and his wishes and way of life continued long after his death till
1901. There are some other historians who argue that the Victorian age actually
begun in 1832 with the passage of the Reform Act 1832. The Victorian Period
was preceded by the Regency Period and succeeded by the Edwardian period.
The Age was characterized by impetus change and developments in every sphere
of life- from science and technology to medicine, from population, culture and
literature to architecture; the period saw the beginning of a new economic dawn
as a result of the Industrial Revolution. These rapid developments and transformations
deeply influenced the British society in particular and the whole humanity in
general. The Victorian Age also saw the emergence of a new literature that was
more concerned with social reforms.
Important Features Of The Victorian Age:
Queen Victoria was the longest serving monarch in British history ruling almost
64 years. The Victorian Age was so long that it had many phases. During her
reign, England experienced huge transformation in every field resulting in great
expansion of wealth, power, and culture. But these developments were not smooth.
Within few years after ascending to the throne, the young queen faced many problems
like epidemics (cholera, typhus), crop failures and economic collapses, riots
over enfranchisement and the repel of the Corn Law. But she overcame all the
early jitters and ushered in a golden age for England.
Scientific & Technology and Engineering:
The Victorians invented the modern idea of "invention"-the concept
that human beings can create solutions to problems faced by them. The period
is marked by many great scientists and thinkers and their legendary inventions.
Though the seeds of the great Industrial Revolution was already sown earlier,
it was during this period that it gained ultimate momentum. The revolution led
to the expansion of the railways to wider areas thus connecting even the remotest
areas to cities. It also led engineering field to a great leap forward. The
spinning wheel became outdated, new factories were set up at breakneck speed;
people migrated to cities by large numbers resulting in the growth of slums
and over crowded apartments. It also created a new aristocracy class in the
society -the industrialists.
The progress in science also resulted in significant development in medicine
during the heydays of the Victorian era. Several new, specialized hospitals
were established. These hospitals began to employ advanced surgical treatments
due to pioneering breakthroughs in anaesthetics and antiseptics.
Politics and Ideology:
Politics was very important to people of the Victorian Age. As in science and
technology, the Victorians also created host of important innovations and changes
in the field of ideology, politics and society. New ideas like democracy, liberalism,
socialism, labour unions, Marxism, feminism and other modern movements that
were to change the whole world in future, took form during this period. Darwin,
Marx, Freud and other great thinkers not only experimented with modern social
problems but they also attempted to find solutions to them. The Victorians were
liberal in their hearts and wanted to spread their ideas throughout the British
Empire.
The era is famous for great explorations and expansion of the British Empire
in large areas of Asia and Africa. The British Navy went virtually unchallenged
in whole of nineteenth century. But queen Victoria remained bothered about the
Irish problem throughout her reign and faced humiliation as well failure at
the Boer War.
Society, Religion and Institutions:
English society was divided into three distinct classes prior to the Industrial
Revolution-the Church and Aristocracy, Middle Class and the Poor Working Class.
The Clergy and Aristocrats were the most privileged and yielded great power
and had all the wealth. They didn't have to pay taxes. The middle class consisted
of factory owners, lawyers, engineers, merchants, traders and other professionals.
Though some of them had huge wealth still they did not enjoy enough privileges,
which was cause for resentment among them. On the other hand, the lower class
consisted of the working people in both urban and rural areas. They lead a very
sub standard life. The middle and lower section of the society were also burdened
with numerous taxes that made their life miserable.
The Industrial Revolution brought about a sea change into the structure of
the British society. Due to spread of the railway network into remote areas,
more and more people migrated into cities and they found work in new factories
which were rapidly growing by numbers. This new phenomenon along with emergence
of new ideologies like democracy, liberalism, socialism, trade unionism created
hostility between the upper class and the lower class. People of the middle
class and lower class were demanding more privileges and started to fight for
their legitimate rights. The transformation also saw creation of a new "under
class" sometimes referred to as the "sunken people" who lived
in slums. Growth of wide spread prostitution also posed great threat to the
society. According to the 1851 census, there were around 750,00 prostitutes
in England out of a total population of 18 million. This problem is referred
to as " The Great Social Evil" in British history.
Victorian England was deeply religious. During this period, families were generally
large and patriarchal. Habits of hard work, respectability, deference and religious
conformity were taught to the new generation. People were frequent Church goers
and read the Bible regularly. But at the later stages of Queen Victoria's reign,
doubts were raised against institutional Christianity or organized religion
specially after Charles Darwin published his famous book "The Origin Of
Species" in 1859. Many people started to question the role of the Church
and the authority and privileges it enjoyed. They opined that the Clergy should
concentrate on religion only.
Education, Literature:
Education during the Victorian era was not equal- between the sexes and between
the classes. While children from Aristocratic families enjoyed all they benefits
of going to famous educational institutions like the Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester,
Westminster, Cambridge, Oxford and others, those from the lower class had to
be content with low quality education. Female education was almost absent and
they were basically taught languages, dancing, drawing, music, sewing, embroidery,
accounts etc. at home.
When Victoria became queen, English literature seemed to have entered upon
a period of lean years with the death of Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron and
Scott. But the leanness is more apparent than real. Soon great literatti consisting
of Tennyson, Barret, Browning, Carlyle, Ruskin, Dickens, Disraeli appeared on
the scene and heralded a new age in the British Literary history that was to
rank along with Elizabethan and Romantic periods.
Victorian Culture and Architecture:
The apparent change that took place during the reign of Victoria bonded together
modernity and cultural continuity and led to the Battle of the Styles between
Gothic and Classical ideas. This had been reflected in Charles Dickens' famous
novel " A Tale of Two Cities". Gothic ideas were popular as they epitomized
communal and inclusive social values, as opposed to Classicism, which was considered
to epitomize mechanical standardization. The period saw Gothic revival, Neoclassicism,
Renaissance revival, Neo-Greac and Folk style houses in the field of architecture.
The invention of photography greatly influenced in the works of artists and
changed their outlooks.
Conclusion
The Victorian era started with optimism and rapid economic growth but later
on it paved the way for the disintegration of the legendary British Empire.
Today, the nineteenth century is associated with the Industrial Revolution,
great economic boom and prosperity, Protestant work ethics, family values, religious
and institutional faith.
"The time for levity, insincerity, and idle babble and play-acting,
in all kinds, is gone by; it is a serious and grave time"- Thomas Carlyle
"All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface
do so at their own peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their own peril."-Oscar
Wilde.
Original Authors:
Bishal Chakma
Edit Update Authors: None
Updated On: 06/01/2007
