The Victorian Era is defined by the rule of Queen Victoria over England from 1837 until her

death in 1901. One of the most significant historical events of the period is Brittain’s
transition from a rural society to an industrial one. During this time, the Industrial
Revolution was in full effect; more and more large factories were being built around the
major cities, automatising the work done by people in rural areas. Therefore, these people
moved to the city to find work in these huge factories, which had a lot of demand for work.
The Industrial Revolution led to the accumulation of wealth for many major factory owners,
who quickly formed a new ‘aristocracy’, reducing the roles of the traditional aristocracy. On
the other hand, the massive move from people to the cities led to an underpopulated
countryside and overpopulated cities. This led to a lack of housing in the cities and combined
with the vile working conditions in the dangerous and filthy factories, the inhumanly long
work days, bad pay, which then forced parents to send their children to work in the factory’s
as well, made it so the workers, who formed the new ‘working class’ descended into
poverty.

The rapidly increasing amount of factories also called for more and more raw materials to
make its products, therefore leading to a shortage of them. To solve this problem, Brittain
made use of their colonial power and navy, to search in the world for the needed materials,
occupying countries where necessary. Besides this, the Victorian Era was relatively
peaceful, as Brittain only found itself in two conflicts. Firstly, the Crimean War, which lasted
from 1854 to 1856. This was an intense, albeit brief, war with the Russians. It, surprisingly,
led to an enormous defeat for the British. Secondly, the British fought in two Boer Wars, in
South Africa, the first from 1880 until 1881 and the second from 1899 until 1902. Here they
fought the Boers, the children of Dutch colonists, who were rebelling against the influence of
the British Empire, which succeeded in the first Boer War, but failed in the second one.

During the Victioran Era, society was at first almost solely defined by the ideals of the newly
developed bourgeoisie, the rich factory owners. They controlled what they thought was
‘proper’ based on their strict, religious lifestyle. Those who did not follow, or questioned this
way of life, were kicked out or not welcome in the social circles of the bourgeoisie. Up until
1875, authors who followed the close-minded Victorian ideals were held in high esteem. But,
because of the rapid rise of science, a lot of writers started to question the influence of
religion. Not only did the intellectuals question religion, they also took issue with the morals
and especially the narrow-mindedness of the bourgeoisie. Many writers and scientists
empathised with the rapidly growing socialist movement, which was looking to improve the
lives of the working class. The Labour Party was established in 1893, which sought to realise
these ideals through politics.

The Victorian Era was preceded by the Romantic period, an era which focused more on
feelings and emotions rather than the rationalism of the Victiorian Era. Herein we can
recognize the way literary periods react to each other by opposing the previous period. The
Victorian Era included many core elements which sat directly opposite the elements of the
Romantic Era. More about these elements and themes later in this presentation. The
Victorian Era was more or less succeeded by the Modern period and directly by the First
World War literature, a period which in its turn included a lot more feelings and emotions.
The most important novelists of the Victorian Era include;
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and spent his childhood partially in school, and partially
working in a factory to support his family after his father had gone to prison. In his adult life
he was able to publish stories in a magazine, which became very popular. He eventually
became proprietor of the magazine, enabling him to publish Oliver Twist, which became
insanely popular. After this basically all his novels and stories were very well received across
all layers of society, even though Dickens criticises Victorian society in his writings. In 1861
he published what can be considered his magnum opus; Great Expectations. Charles
began to suffer from health complications, eventually succumbing to a stroke in 1870.

Charlotte and Emily Bronte were born in 1816 and 1818 respectively. In 1842 Charlotte
and Emily found themselves in Brussels to learn French, which is where Charlotte wrote her
first novel. However, her most successful work was published years later, in 1847, called;
Jane Eyre, a novel that still remains widely popular to this day. Closely after this, Emiliy
released her only novel; Wuthering Heights, which has left a legacy much like Charlotte’s
one. Unfortunately, tragedy struck for the Bronte family, with their brother and then Emily
dying of tuberculosis in 1848. In 1854 Charlotte married her fathers assistant and the couple
moved in with him to care for Charlotte’s sickly father. However, tragedy struck for Charlotte
as well; she died of complications with her pregnancy in 1855.

Other important novelists of this Era include George Elliot, whose real name was Mary Ann
Evans, Oscar Wilde, who also wrote plays, Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote Sherlock
Holmes.