The Victorian Period

& Charles Dickens

1830-1901

Queen Victoria and the Victorian

TemperRuled England from

1837-1901Exemplifies Victorian

qualities: earnestness, moral responsibility, domestic propriety

The Victorian Period was an age of transition

An age characterized by energy and high moral purpose

The Reform Bill of 1832

Transformed English class structure

Extended the right to vote to all males owning property

Second Reform Bill passed in 1867

Extended right to vote to working class

The Time of Troubles1830’s and 1840’s

UnemploymentPovertyRiotingSlums in large

citiesWorking

conditions for women and children were terrible

The Mid-Victorian Period1848-1870

A time of prosperity

A time of improvement

A time of stability

A time of optimism

The British EmpireLarge scale

immigration to British colonies

In 1857, Parliament took over the government of India and Queen Victoria became empress of India.

Many British people saw the expansion of empire as a moral responsibility.

Missionaries spread Christianity in India, Asia, and Africa.

The Role of WomenProtected and enshrined within the home, her role was to create a place of peace where man could take refuge from the difficulties of modern life.The only occupation at which an unmarried middle-class woman could earn a living and maintain some claim to gentility was that of a governess.Bad working conditions and underemployment drove thousands of women into prostitution

The Victorian Novel Charles Dickens

Victorian novels seek to represent a large and comprehensive social world, with a variety of classes.

Victorian novels are realistic.

For the first time, women were major writers: the Brontes, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot.

The Victorian novel was a principal form of entertainment.

Knowing more about Dickens

Born February 7, 18121824 -- Dickens worked at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse1824 -- Mr. Dickens (Charles’ father) taken to debtors’

prison; family joins himImprisoned from February – May1827 - Dickens family evicted from home for not paying

rentCharles is pulled out of private schoolCharles, now 15, becomes law clerk and free-lance writerHe fathered 10 children.His wife left him (in 1856).He gave numerous talks across Europe and in America.He developed heart trouble.

His Works1843 -- A Christmas Carol1845 -- The Cricket on the

Hearth1846 -- The Battle of Life1850 -- David Copperfield1853 -- A Child’s History of

England1854 -- Hard Times1859 -- A Tale of Two Cities1861 -- Great Expectations1869 -- The Mystery of Edwin

Drood (unfinished)

His Social Conscience

He crusaded for children’s rights.

He was an advocate of child labor laws to protect children.

He opposed cruelty, deprivation, and corporal punishment of children.

He protested a greedy, uncaring, materialistic society through such works as A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens’ End1870 -- Dickens, who had

been in declining health since 1866, died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

He is buried in the Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey in London

Dickens’ epitaph: “He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.”