English 12A Glossary - Technical Words
English 12B Vocab List - Vocabulary Words
History and literature sometimes form a close connection. For example, during the eighteenth-century neoclassical era, people placed great emphasis on science, rationality, and logic. Much of the literature of that era, in turn, is clear, concise, and tightly organized.
In contrast, the history and literature of other time periods have a more indirect relationship. As you review background information and details about culture in different time periods, notice the different ways in which literary content and style inform and are informed by the values and struggles of a given era.
1485 — 1660 - The English Renaissance: Renaissance literature emphasized learning and a return to the classical writing of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Optimism and a spirit of inquiry pervaded life at this time. This era saw the rise of humanism or the belief in the superiority and importance of the human being and a rejection of the medieval emphasis on religion. The Renaissance also saw the rise of metaphysical poets and early forms of neoclassicism. Important authors of the era include William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, Andrew Marvell, and Ben Jonson.
1660 — 1785 - The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century: The Restoration period marks the reinstatement of the English monarchy after the rigid and puritanical rule of Oliver Cromwell. This period includes the Enlightenment, which emphasized order, logic, and science.
In literature the dominant style was neoclassicism. Inspired by the Enlightenment preoccupation with order and logic, this style became best known for simplicity and clarity. One example of Enlightenment writing is the simple and accessible prose style of John Bunyan. Important authors of the era also include John Milton, who developed a complex style in his poetry, as well as Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Johnson.
1785 — 1832 - The Romantic Era: The romantic age emphasized originality, individualism, emotion, nature, and imagination. Many of its proponents believed people were capable of great feats and should aspire to them. It was a movement that ran counter to industrialization and the idealization of rationality and logic. The artists of this era were highly influenced by the French Revolution and its aftermath. The romantic era also gave birth to the genre of gothic fiction. Important romantic authors include Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and Mary Shelley.
1832 — 1901 - The Victorian Era: The literature of the Victorian era reflected social concerns and documented the everyday lives of people from all classes of society. Many Victorian works addressed issues surrounding political reform, religious doubt, scientific advancement, and industrialization. Important authors of the era include Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Charlotte Brontë, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, and Matthew Arnold.
The Industrial Revolution greatly influenced life during Queen Victoria's reign. It had both good and bad effects on the people of Britain. Many people saw increased wealth, but the working class suffered from poor housing conditions, long working hours, disease, and early death. Victorian thinkers struggled with the era's central concern: how to balance prosperity with justice and charity.
Literacy increased dramatically in Britain's population during the Victorian era. At the same time, literature included more and more stories about people's everyday lives.
Victorian literature is divided into three main stages, corresponding to stages of Queen Victoria's reign.
The early Victorian period was a time of unrest and social change.
The middle Victorian age was characterized by a feeling of optimism and even self-confidence.
The late Victorian era was marked by a backlash against this pride and a growing emphasis on democracy, socialism, and progressive change.
The Victorian era includes many notable poets, but Alfred, Lord Tennyson is often seen as the most popular. Just as William Wordsworth is considered the voice of the romantic age, Tennyson is considered the voice of the Victorian age. He was the most celebrated poet of the era and was named poet laureate of England after Wordsworth died.
Tennyson was born in the small town of Somersby in Lincolnshire, and he attended the University of Cambridge. At Cambridge, he met Arthur Henry Hallam, who became a close friend. With Hallam's encouragement, Tennyson began publishing his poetry in 1830. Hallam's sudden death in 1833 deeply affected Tennyson, and his grief inspired much of his greatest work. Tennyson began a series of poems that dealt with issues of death, religious faith, and immortality. The series of poems grew over the next 17 years into the extended elegy In Memoriam, A.H.H.
It was this elegy that led Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, to encourage the queen to appoint Tennyson poet laureate. Tennyson continued to publish regularly throughout his lifetime. In 1884, Queen Victoria made Tennyson a baron, adding the title of Lord to his name, in honor of his literary achievements. Tennyson's poetry expresses the strength of the human spirit and reflects both the faith and doubts of Victorian-era people.
A poet laureate is an honorary title awarded to a poet whose work is seen as representative or significant to a specific country, region or group.
They receive this title for their writing being well-known works that reflect on current events at the time they are/were living. This means that different countries have their own current poet laureate, as well as those given the title in the past. They are usually appointed by the head of an organization (for example, the president, or ruling monarch) and sometimes asked to write poems on special occasions.
“Ulysses” was published in the collection Poems in 1842. In Victorian tradition, it blends classical elements with the tone of the times, that is, an age when people believed in the pursuit of knowledge and new experience. It also shows Tennyson's mastery of rhetoric and figurative language. The poem centers on the familiar character Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Odyssey (a popular Greek Mythology tale). In Tennyson's poem, many years have passed since his glory days. Ulysses has grown restless and bored. He seeks adventure and a challenge once again and plans a final excursion, knowing that he may not return.
The poem reflects the popular Victorian mentality in which one must strive onward in the face of adversity. This work in particular epitomizes the stoic tone of the early Victorian era.
For a refresher on figurative language and what it is, see these notes from ENG 9B!
Enjambment is a thought that runs from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a pause that marks a sentence or phrase. Here is an example from "Ulysses" by Lord Tennyson:
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea:
For a more in depth refresher on emjambment, with examples, please see these notes from ENG 11A!
Blank verse is a poetic structure (way of writing poems) uses iambic pentameter but does not feature end rhyme.
imagery—descriptive language that relies on sensory details (descriptions associated with the five senses) to help readers imagine the setting, characters, and details of a story or poem.
metaphor—a figurative comparison that does not use the words like or as. Sometimes the metaphor is explicit, as in “Life is fire.” Often the comparison is implied, as in “I cried a river,” where tears are compared to a river.
A proverb is a short, wise and truthful saying about life. For example: "Actions speak louder than words."
Here are some examples of proverbs from "Ulysses":
I am a part of all that I have met.
All experience is an arch.
Death closes all.
Tis not too late to seek a new world.
That which we are, we are.
"The Lady of Shalott" is a poem about a heroine banished to an island castle. Because of a curse, she cannot look directly at the surrounding land of Camelot (a reference to The Legend of King Arthur's kingdom of the same name).
The Lady of Shalott spends her time weaving a tapestry that depicts the beauty of human life. She can only experience this beauty indirectly by looking at its reflection in the mirror in front of her loom. When the sight of the handsome Sir Lancelot in her mirror causes her to turn and look directly at the world, her mirror and loom break into pieces. She boldly leaves the tower to experience the world directly and is cursed to death for her choice. She floats down the river, seeing the world for the first time, and dies before arriving at Camelot.
As you read this poem, think about how Tennyson is known for exploring personal issues as well as public concerns. “The Lady of Shalott" explores some of the following themes:
the Victorians' concepts of femininity and the domestic realm
the conflict between the artist and society
the personal dilemma of Tennyson as an artist
the effects of a journey from innocence to experience
A synecdoche uses a part to represent a whole.
For example, in the sentence "Cleveland won by six points," the word "Cleveland" is a synecdoche. The city is who is represented, but not the team itself, so we're using one part (the city's name) to reference the entire group, which is Cleveland's basket ball team.
Synecdoche is a common way to characterize fictional characters. It highlights certain features and adds variety to characterizations. A character may be consistently described by a single body part or feature such as the eyes. In "The Lady of Shalott," the helmet and plume are used to represent and emphasize Sir Lancelot's high stature as the best knight in the kingdom.
Several literary movements flourished during the Victorian era.
Although romanticism remained popular, realism was the first distinct movement of the Victorian era. In fact, it developed in response to romanticism. Realists sought to portray human life as it truly was. They rejected literature that was heavy with symbolism and the reverence romantics had for nature. They were interested in depicting social relationships and the occurrences of everyday life.
A related movement, naturalism, grew out of realism. Naturalists took an even harsher attitude toward life than realists. Because they were influenced by Charles Darwin's scientific theories, they viewed nature as indifferent to human suffering. Naturalists often focused on the dirt and grime of city living. Their works often included a call for social change.
The Victorian era produced a large and diverse body of poetry. While the romantic style of poetry dominated in early years, realism and naturalism gained popularity over time. Common themes included social concerns of the age and religious doubt.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was England's most famous female poet during the 1800s. Her childhood pursuits reflected her thirst for knowledge. Although she received no formal education, she studied history, philosophy, and literature from a young age. Her first book of poems was published before she was 13 years old.
Much of her work is romantic in style but addresses Victorian issues. Today, Barrett Browning is remembered for her attacks on the era's social injustices such as slavery in the Americas, the oppression of the Italians by Austria, the use of child labor, and restrictions on women's freedoms.
Behind Barrett Browning's literary acclaim was a difficult personal life in which she struggled with poor health and a controlling father. Her courtship with fellow writer Robert Browning remained a secret until they finally eloped because her father had forbidden any of his children to marry. The couple fled to Italy, where Barrett Browning blossomed as a poet.
She regained much of her health, had a son, and became involved in Italian nationalist politics. Barrett Browning wrote about her love story in the epic poem Aurora Leigh and in Sonnets from the Portuguese, a collection of love poems.
"Sonnet 43" is one of 44 sonnets in the sequence Sonnets from the Portuguese, which Barrett Browning wrote in secret during her courtship. The sonnets were published only after she was married when she disclosed them to her husband. The sonnet expresses her deep love for her husband. She titled the collection after Robert Browning's nickname for her, "my little Portuguese." In "Sonnet 43", Barrett Browning compares the intensity of her love to the strength of her childhood spirituality.
She writes that her love is pure and contains no expectation of personal gain. In fact, she says that she loves him with the intensity of the suffering of Jesus on the cross. She concludes with the declaration that her love for him will continue even after death.
A Petrarchan sonnet is also known as an Italian sonnet. It is divided into two parts:
an octave (eight lines) with the rhyme scheme abbaabba, and
a sestet (six lines) with the rhyme scheme cdcdcd.
The difference in the rhyme corresponds to the difference in the content of the octave and the sestet.
For more in depth information about Italian Sonnets, click here to see notes from ENG 12A!
Click here to see a visual chart of what an Italian Sonnet looks like!
Robert Browning was born in South London in 1812. His father was a bank clerk who had an extensive library, and his mother was a loving woman with an interest in music. Browning did not receive a traditional education, but he frequently read about history, art, and literature. In particular, he was influenced by the works and life of Percy Bysshe Shelley. He decided at a young age to make writing his career, but his first attempts at personal poetry and plays were not well received. Browning soon focused on dramatic monologues, a move that brought him much acclaim.
Browning met Elizabeth Barrett in 1845 and soon fell in love with her. After the couple moved to Italy, Browning's career flourished. He and Elizabeth spent 15 happy years together. After Elizabeth's death, Browning returned to London with their son and continued to write until his death in 1889.
Browning's simple language and his renewal of the dramatic monologue were significant contributions to nineteenth-century poetry. In his poetry, Browning rejected formal Victorian language in favor of comical and colloquial diction and simple syntax.
Despite this use of language, Browning's themes were largely Victorian. His dramatic monologues explored problems addressed by Victorian authors such as faith and doubt, good and evil, and the function of artists in a modern world. His fame has continued to grow since his death. Today, he is better known and respected than he was during his own lifetime.
The poem revolves around a painting of the Duke’s "last" (now deceased) wife. He shows it to an envoy (representative) of his bride-to-be’s father. As he praises the work of the painter, he unknowingly reveals his arrogant and harsh character. He explains that he could not bear the fact that his last wife did not particularly value him, so he rid himself of her (possibly by having her murdered).
He never expresses his dissatisfaction to her because he doesn't want to “stoop” or lower himself to such a demeaning task, but he also concedes that he lacks the skill to pinpoint an exact shortcoming in her. The Duke's haughty, self-complacent tone emphasizes his inhumane nature and his utter lack of respect for other people.
Browning adopted the form of the dramatic monologue used by great writers such as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. He is famed for his ability to manipulate verse while implying the complex feelings of his speakers. In "My Last Duchess," the best known of his many dramatic monologues, he uses this form to cleverly reveal the Duke's twisted character.
A dramatic monologue is when one person speaks in a dramatic situation and no one responds.
These characteristics are often found in a dramatic monologue:
The speaker indirectly reveals his or her situation and character.
The speaker uses a logical and argumentative tone.
The reader completes the dramatic scene from within, by means of inference and imagination.
Matthew Arnold was born in Laleham, a village in the valley of the Thames. He was greatly influenced by his father, a powerful educational reformer. Arnold attended Oxford University, where he developed his own strong social conscience. Throughout his life, he was a public servant, poet, and literary critic. He became Inspector of Schools in 1851 and did much to improve the education system in Great Britain. He believed a solid system of education for the middle class was the greatest need of his century. In Arnold's opinion, much of the gross inequality in Victorian society could be combatted by refining the middle class.
In the midst of his career as an educational reformer, Arnold still found time to write. He produced poetry, literary and social criticism, and religious and educational writings. His harsh criticisms of the conservative middle class in Great Britain made him a controversial figure. He often referred to the wealthy, urban middle class of Britain as "Philistines," (a biblical reference meaning someone who is uninterested in art, culture, or intellectual pursuits, and only cares about making money) claiming they valued success and material gain over art, humanity, and compassion. His use of social commentary reflects the Victorian influence in his works. Arnold wanted his poetry and prose to not only delight the world but also change it.
In "Dover Beach," Arnold uses the sea as a metaphor for faith. Though it begins by describing the calm of the sea at night, the tone eventually shifts to describe the sea in a way that represents the sense of religious doubt and confusion felt by many Victorians. Arnold reflects back on a time when people experienced religion without doubt, and asserts that now the world is a bleak place. Loss of faith and social stability is discussed throughout the poem. Near the end, the speaker asks his love to be true and loyal even though the world lacks basic human values such as joy, love, and peace.
A novel is a long work of fiction that usually contains the following features:
a complex plot, often including subplots and spanning a few settings
major and minor characters
a significant overall theme
Although the novel had developed as a genre of writing hundreds of years before the Victorian era, novels became especially popular during the Victorian age. The nineteenth century was a period of drastic social and economic change. The rising popularity of the novel was largely the result of a rapidly expanding and educated middle class. Most novels written during the Victorian era deal with themes related to manners, morals, and money.
Most Victorian novels share some notable characteristics:
They closely represent the real social life of the age (often including social criticism).
They emphasize people's relationships to society.
They are typically long and dense with multiple characters and plots.
They include narrative interruptions in which the narrator pauses the action in the story to address the reader directly.
Most Victorian readers weren't interested in tales of wealthy aristocrats or the quests of medieval heroes. They wanted to escape, but with as little suspension of disbelief as possible. Readers were drawn to depictions of ordinary life and characters with whom they could identify. In many ways, Victorian novels provided the same kind of escape that weekly television sitcoms provide today. Many novels were published chapter by chapter in serial form in weekly or monthly journals. Writers often used cliffhangers to keep readers interested.
Charles Dickens was one of the most popular Victorian novelists. In his novel Hard Times, Dickens combined vivid storytelling, humor, empathy, and irony with sharp social criticism and keen observations of people and places.
Other popular novelists of the era include the Brontë sisters: Emily, Charlotte, and Anne. Unlike Dickens, the Brontë sisters were heavily influenced by romanticism. They were among the many women whose novels were published during this time, usually under male pseudonyms to increase their chance of publication and a good reception.
Other important authors who wrote using realistic themes and depictions include William Makepeace Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Samuel Butler.
Toward the end of the Victorian era, British novels began to lean more toward naturalism. This movement is exemplified by the works of the late Victorian novelist Thomas Hardy.
Certain commonly held farmland became the property of individual landowners during the enclosure movement. Although the movement began in the thirteenth century (1200s), it became much more widespread during the eighteenth (1700s) and nineteenth centuries (1800s). The movement reached its peak during the Industrial Revolution and led to the displacement of small farmers who had survived on the land. They were then forced to migrate to cities to find jobs.
The enclosure movement also led to the dominance of large farms and the push to revolutionize farm equipment to increase production.
Jethro Tull invented machine drills for sowing seeds in neat rows.
Charles Townshend came up with a rotation system of planting that kept soil healthy and fertile.
Robert Bakewell discovered new ways to breed animals for food quality.
Support from the British Parliament helped foster an environment for this growth, partly because many members of Parliament were landholders themselves. In 1793, the British government established the Board of Agriculture to help further agricultural development.
As the Industrial Revolution progressed, the factory-based production of goods replaced agriculture as the primary economic activity in Britain. This change arose from several important inventions in the manufacturing industry. For example, the spinning jenny (a device to spin yarn) and the power loom (a machine to weave cloth) revolutionized the textile industry. These inventions made production faster and more efficient. In the United States, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that made harvesting cotton less time-consuming and sparked the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Perhaps the most important development of the Industrial Revolution was the steam engine. In the late eighteenth century (late 1700s), inventor James Watt improved on earlier designs of this form of power. His engine allowed the movement of steam to continuously turn a wheel and was much more efficient than previous engines. Watt's invention was a crucial step in development of machinery for factory production and transportation.
The day-to-day life of workers at this time was often miserable. The goal of most factory owners was to make as much money as possible by producing as many goods as possible in the shortest amount of time possible. Owners didn't care about the well-being of their workers, who would often labor up to 16 hours a day with little pay. Because many people believed that children should earn their own livelihood, children as young as 5 years old were put to work in factories and mines. This practice didn't change until the British government began to pass child protection laws during the mid-nineteenth century (mid-1800s).
Because of overpopulation, living conditions in crowded cities were horrendous. Ironically, this negative aspect of modern society resulted in part from two very positive developments: a longer life expectancy and a lower death rate. Increased food production due to new agricultural machinery led to better nutrition and fewer food shortages. Additionally, medical science and public health legislation helped prevent unnecessary deaths. The combination of these factors led to overcrowding, especially in urban centers and around factories. By 1851, half the population of England lived in London. Often, an average family with four to five children lived in a small room and shared a home with many other families.
The sudden influx of people to London also resulted in poor sanitation in some areas. Sewage from human and animal waste often overflowed onto the streets. Factories spewed smoke into the air and dumped their toxic waste directly into the Thames river, further degrading living conditions.
The Industrial Revolution brought increased prosperity and leisure time to some sectors of British society. In a world without radio, television, or other modern forms of entertainment, reading remained the most popular leisure-time activity. With widespread literacy among the growing middle class, the novel reached even greater levels of popularity.
The word novel first appeared in England in the mid-seventeenth century. In some Latin-based languages, the word for novel is roman, which is similar to the word romance. This term suggests a connection between the novel and the genre of the romance. Traditional romances were often written as epic poems. They commonly centered on a hero who accomplished great feats and experienced fantastical adventures.
Unlike romances, novels of seventeenth-century (1600s) England took a realistic approach to life and social manners.
Like other forms of literature, the novel has undergone its own history. Precursors to the novel include romances, novellas (short tales in prose), picaresque narratives (a sequence of events that happen to one person), and histories (long prose fictions of the eighteenth century). Today, there are many different types of novels. They include allegorical novels, science fiction novels, historical novels, social novels, regional novels, detective novels, and more. But these genres did not emerge all at once. They developed gradually over a period of 300 years.
Over the years, the novel has become the most popular literary form. It has succeeded in reflecting life in such detail that readers get a deep understanding of the situations and circumstances faced by a novel's characters. During the Industrial Revolution, the novel's popularity grew as authors included characters and stories that focused on the middle and working classes.
Charles Dickens was born in 1812, in Portsmouth, England. His father was irresponsible with money and was sent to a debtors' prison when Dickens was only 12 years old. For much of his childhood, Dickens was forced to live alone and work with other children in a warehouse.
As an adult, Dickens became a law clerk and a court reporter before settling in as a novelist. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published when he was 25 years old. It turned out to be a huge success. From that point on, Dickens was a literary celebrity.
Mary Beadnell was the love of Dickens's life. Although he was very successful, he was considered inferior to Mary in wealth and family background. For this reason, Mary's father would not allow her to marry Dickens. Eventually, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. They had 10 children together, but they were never truly happy and eventually separated.
Dickens lived during the Industrial Revolution, and his own experiences greatly affected his stance on child labor and the plight of the working poor. Apart from criticizing the injustices that the poor experienced, he also became involved with numerous organizations to improve living conditions. He became a speaker for the Metropolitan Sanitary Organization, and he organized projects to build better and cheaper homes for the poor.
Dickens used his writing to call attention to social injustice. Many of his novels feature working-class heroes. His works also reflect his contempt for the complacency of the middle and upper classes.
Dickens wrote many stories and novels in his lifetime. His most famous works are Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Hard Times.
Oliver Twist revolves around the life of a poor orphan who suffers a series of misfortunes. In the novel, Dickens portrays the plight of orphans in workhouses and the indifferent or oppressive treatment the poor received from public officials and members of the middle class. The novel is full of realistic details about the lives of orphans and street criminals. Dickens also portrays London during the Industrial Revolution as a dirty, overcrowded city that is home to widespread poverty and degradation.
Dickens examines the lack of regard for human life in a society that treats poor people merely as a source of labor. He also explores the elaborate system of hypocrisy and corruption that arises as a result. Factory owners, merchants, and people who performed clerical duties prospered in the booming economy. In contrast, poor workers led a meager existence despite working long hours. Dickens also exposes the hypocrisy of the upper and middle classes. Although they seem indifferent to the miserable lives of the poor, they do not hesitate to preach the virtues of labor and honesty. Much of the novel satirizes the social institutions of the time, such as the parish board, the workhouse system, and the legal system.
In the chapters you read, you learned how Oliver begins life as one of the many victims of a workhouse. He eventually becomes an apprentice for an undertaker. Although the undertaker is not unfriendly toward Oliver, the undertaker's wife and another apprentice, Noah, are vicious toward him. After Noah and the undertaker's wife beat up Oliver, he runs away to London. This escape leads to a chain of events that make up the rest of the novel.
In London, Oliver falls into the company of a gang of street criminals headed by a man called Fagin. Oliver learns about the gang's life of crime only when he is falsely accused of stealing. However, Oliver finds a protector and benefactor in Mr. Brownlow, an older gentleman whose handkerchief was stolen by one of Fagin’s gang. Mr. Brownlow takes pity on Oliver and lets him stay in his house. But later, Oliver is abducted by Fagin’s gang, and Fagin continues to try to corrupt him. Fagin forces him to assist Sikes in a robbery, which ends in Oliver being wounded by a gunshot and left in a ditch.
After being wounded, Oliver is taken in and nursed to health by Mrs. Maylie and her adopted niece, Rose, who are the owners of the house where Sikes attempted the robbery. They both grow fond of Oliver, and he spends a pleasant summer with them. The story also includes a mysterious man named Monks, who seeks Fagin's help to ruin Oliver. However, Nancy, a member of Fagin's gang, is sympathetic toward Oliver and warns Rose about Fagin's plans.
Rose contacts Mr. Brownlow to seek his help in rescuing Oliver. Mr. Brownlow confronts Monks, and we learn through Monks about Oliver's upper-class lineage and the fact that Oliver is the rightful heir to his father's property. However, Monks, his half-brother, wants to ruin Oliver so that Oliver can't claim the inheritance. Later in the novel, Oliver comes to realize who his parents were. The novel ends with the villainous characters dying or being ruined, while Oliver is united with his aunt and his benefactor, Mr. Brownlow.
One of the most prominent themes in Oliver Twist is the deeply flawed response of society to widespread poverty. Poverty is identified as the source and focus of many other problems of city life, such as hunger, homelessness, crime, and alienation from society.
Dickens's novel presents the upper and middle classes as being obsessed with notions of propriety, class, and status. They are largely blind to the poverty and suffering that exists around them, and they blame the poor for their own misery. This attitude is reflected in the views of Mr. Bumble and the board members of the parish workhouse. Such prejudiced views were so deeply rooted in society that starving orphan children generally did not evoke feelings of pity or even consideration from wealthy people. The authorities of charitable institutions such as the workhouses also introduced several rules that were directed at keeping the poor away from workhouses instead of providing effective relief to them.
Another important theme in the story is child labor and the abuse of children. Because of widespread poverty and common beliefs at the time, children as young as five were made to work long hours in hazardous conditions for meager or no wages. The novel shows the helplessness of children in the face of a cruel social system and the inevitability of becoming an unhealthy and morally empty adult.
Yet another theme of the novel is the conflict between good and evil. Dickens presents this theme through Oliver's life. Oliver represents an innocent child who Fagin tries to corrupt morally by forcing him to participate in crimes. But Oliver's innate goodness keeps him from wrongdoing. For example, when Oliver realizes that Sikes is attempting to rob a house with his help, he decides to alert the household of their presence.
Satire is the use of irony, exaggeration, and ridicule (to make fun of) to criticize or point out the stupidity of a person, thing or idea.
The novel is packed with satire. Dickens mocks how the middle and upper classes treat people less fortunate than they are. He repeatedly uses the obesity of parish officials as symbols of their comfortable positions. They closely regulate the lives of the poor and view the suffering of people in poverty with a mixture of apathy and contempt. In chapter 2 of Oliver Twist, Dickens satirizes how the rich parish board members enforced rules in the workhouse based on their prejudices and unfair assumptions. The officials did what was convenient and tried to justify their unfair treatment of the poor.
Dickens uses the setting of the workhouse where Oliver is born to criticize society's lack of care for the poor. The workhouse was an eighteenth-century British institution. Its purpose was to offer shelter to homeless adults and children who were unable to fend for themselves. Ironically, the novel shows that children in workhouses faced a life of suffering and abuse that was similar to what they would have faced elsewhere, prompting them to run away if they could.
Dickens also uses satire to criticize other social conditions in Britain. For example, a conversation between Mr. Bumble, the parish official, and Mr. Sowerberry, the undertaker, illustrates an increasingly profit-minded society that was indifferent to pain and suffering. In chapters 5 and 6, Dickens calls attention to the British preoccupation with class during the Industrial Revolution. Noah Claypole, Sowerberry’s apprentice, was frequently bullied by boys of a higher social class. He, in turn, mistreats Oliver because he believes an orphan is beneath him.
Dickens also criticizes the prejudiced views of the poor held by the middle and upper classes. The rich generally considered the poor to be dirty, lazy, and immoral criminals. This impression was based merely on the appearance and circumstances of those in poverty. On the other hand, the rich considered themselves to be good because they were clean, well-fed, and of a higher social class.
However, Dickens suggests the roles of good and evil aren’t so easily categorized by class. Oliver, though dirty and poor, is a friendly person with a good heart and an innocent nature. He looks upon the prospect of robbery with horror and refuses to engage in it, despite Fagin's attempts to lure him into the profession. Noah, who is in a slightly better social standing than Oliver, is portrayed as cowardly and cruel. He steals from his employers and eventually joins Fagin's gang. Monks, who belongs to the upper class, seems to be naturally evil and full of hatred.
Dickens uses Oliver Twist to expose the deplorable living conditions of the urban poor during the Industrial Revolution in Britain. In chapter 6, for example, he describes a rundown neighborhood in great detail. Dickens, having spent a part of his childhood in poverty, sympathized with the poor. His writing indicates that he strongly opposed some of the effects that the Industrial Revolution had on society.
Dickens was upset at the growing dependency on machines and the treatment of the poor as mere "hands of labor." He also opposed child labor, which increased during the Industrial Revolution. The author used Oliver to gain the audience's sympathy for similar children who were forced to work in poor conditions at an early age. His decision to set the novel in the poor neighborhoods of London was driven by his desire to make his audience aware of the daily struggles faced by the poverty-stricken masses.
Reverend Patrick Brontë, son of an agricultural worker from Ireland, left his home to attend college in England and graduated from St. John’s College, Cambridge. He married Maria Branwell of Yorkshire in 1812. They had five daughters, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, and one son, Patrick Branwell.
In 1820, Patrick Brontë became the parish priest in Howarth, a village in the Yorkshire region of northern England. The family moved into the parsonage there. The next year, he lost his wife to cancer. In 1825 Maria and Elizabeth contracted tuberculosis and were sent home, where they eventually died of the disease. Charlotte and Emily were taken out of the boarding school and had to continue their studies at home. Their father was a strict disciplinarian who demanded that the children stay quiet in one room during the day, while he worked in the adjoining room that was his study. The children had access to good books and magazines and read the works of Shelley, Byron, and Walter Scott.
The Brontë children started writing at an early age and often escaped into the world of fantasy. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne continued writing into adulthood. Their poems were published in 1846, in a volume titled Poems. The Brontë sisters also published their novels under the pseudonyms Currer Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell. In the Victorian period, women writers did not enjoy the same status as the men who wrote during that era. Works by women were considered frivolous and were not taken seriously.
The three Brontë sisters were novelists. Charlotte Brontë is well-known for Jane Eyre, Emily Brontë’s single novel Wuthering Heights gained popularity after her death, while Anne Brontë’s novel The Tenant of Wildefell Hall did not gain as much fame because publication stopped after her death.
The stories told in the novels were drawn from the sisters’ personal experiences. Charlotte Brontë modeled her main character in Jane Eyre on her sister Maria, who was very mature for her age and was a mother figure to the younger sisters after their mother’s death. Harsh experiences at the boarding school are also embedded in the story. Jane Eyre’s best friend contracts tuberculosis at the school and later dies of it, much like Maria Brontë. In Wuthering Heights, the character of the Hindley is modeled on the Brontë sisters’ brother, Patrick Branwell.
Emily Jane Brontë was the fifth child in the Brontë family. She was born in 1818, after Patrick Branwell and before Anne. At the age of 17, Emily went to Roe Head School at Dewsbury for a few months. She took up a job as a teacher at a school in Halifax, England, in 1838. Emily gave up the job after six months and returned to Haworth Parsonage, where she and Charlotte opened a school for girls. However, this endeavor did not last very long. In 1842, she went to the Penssionnat Heger at Brussels with Charlotte to learn German and French.
Emily loved reading and enjoyed writing poems. She was a fiercely private person and did not have friends outside her family circle. Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847, only after much persuasion by her sister Charlotte. The novel was not well received at the time because it dealt with passionate love and vengeance, subjects that rattled the moral sensibilities of the Victorian audience.
In this frame story, the servant Nelly narrates the story of Wuthering Heights to another character, Lockwood. She explains the history of Wuthering Heights to him after discovering that he is troubled by nightmares and by Heathcliff’s strange behavior.
In the chapter of the novel that you will read, Nelly tells Lockwood of the time when Hindley and his wife, Frances, come home to Wuthering Heights to attend his father’s funeral. Meanwhile, Catherine and Heathcliff spend time together on the moors and venture into the nearby manor, Thrushcross Grange, to spy on the Lintons. They are caught, and Heathcliff is sent back to Wuthering Heights. Catherine, however, must stay because the bulldog, Skulker, bit her while she was trying to run away. This incident is pivotal in that it allows Catherine to come in contact with the cultured Linton family. She is later torn between her desire to be a part of cultured society and her free-spirited love of the wilderness.
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For a refresher on what a frame story is, head back and take a look at Unit 1!
You may have noticed that this novel is structured as a frame narrative, meaning there is an outer story that contains at least one inner story. Lockwood starts the story by recounting his visit to his landlord, Heathcliff, and the strange events that befell him. Framed within his story is the story told by Nelly, which gives an account of the past events at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, including the whole story of Catherine and Heathcliff and the two households.
The styles of the two narrators are distinct: Lockwood’s language is refined and has a complex structure, while Nelly’s narration has a sense of immediacy and a colloquial (casual, ordinary conversation) flavor. She presents characters as actually speaking to each other. The narration fluctuates between the past and present and is shaped by personal feelings as both narrators present the story from their perspective. These two points of view introduce an element of unreliability into the narration.
For a refresher on what a frame story is, head back and take a look at Unit 1!
Wuthering Heights contains many elements of a gothic novel, such as an eerie setting, supernatural presence, madness, revenge, death, and mystery. It is similar on many of these counts to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
The setting of Wuthering Heights is the Yorkshire moors, a place known for being wild, desolate, and dangerous, with rough terrain and boggy marshes. With its brooding, overcast sky and fierce storms, it is a perfect setting for the tempestuous story of Catherine and Heathcliff’s star-crossed love. The relationship begins when Catherine’s father, Mr. Earnshaw, brings the orphaned Heathcliff to Wuthering Heights. The love that develops between Heathcliff and Catherine is wild like the moors where they pass so much time together, even though they are socially mismatched. It is never clear whether Heathcliff’s tendency to be temperamental and violent arises from the ill-treatment he receives from others or from his shady family heritage. But in the course of the story, he becomes cruel-hearted and vengeful.
Despite the hardening of his character, Heathcliff's feelings for Catherine persist beyond her death as he tries, and even succeeds, in communing with her ghost. He arrived as an outsider, and his wild passion grows in the natural ruggedness of the moors, reaching the realm of the supernatural.
Betrayal and revenge are major themes of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff endures years of abusive treatment by Hindley at Wuthering Heights. Even so, he remains at the manor because of his strong tie to Catherine. When he overhears Catherine telling Nelly that she has accepted Edgar Linton’s proposal of marriage, he finally leaves Wuthering Heights and disappears without a trace. When he returns, his sense of betrayal seems to fuel his desire for revenge. The series of events that unfold upon his return leads to the destruction of both the Earnshaw and Linton families. Eventually, Heathcliff’s own son becomes a pawn in his scheme of revenge.
A love that is not socially acceptable but is still intense and pure is another major theme in Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë shows the passionate but doomed love of Heathcliff and Catherine that transgresses social boundaries. Their love affair overturns social codes, is ill fated, and leads to self-destruction. The love between Catherine and Edgar Linton is superficial in comparison. It is proper and socially acceptable because both belong to the landed gentry, yet it lacks the passion that exists between Catherine and Heathcliff. To some extent, it is fueled by Catherine’s desire to become “the greatest woman in the neighborhood," a desire that raises doubts about the authenticity of her feelings for Edgar Linton.
Class and social distinctions are also important themes in Emily Brontë’s novel. Wuthering Heights was written at a time when the effects of the Industrial Revolution could be felt on the economic and social structure of society. More than in the past, money affected one’s social status. The term gentleman was being redefined by the rise of the upwardly mobile middle class. When Mr. Earnshaw brings Heathcliff, an orphan, into his family, the reactions are mixed. Mr. Earnshaw loves the boy as a son, but Hindley and Mrs. Earnshaw treat him with contempt. Curiously, though, Catherine bonds with him, and the two spend much time exploring the moors. They love each other’s company as they grow up, and eventually fall in love. Differences in social status become a hindrance in the Catherine-Heathcliff love story. Their relationship changes when Catherine gets a taste of the good life at the Linton’s residence, Thrushcross Grange. Catherine takes a liking to Edgar Linton and decides to marry him when he proposes. As she reveals to Nelly, her decision comes from her desire to be part of cultured high society. She also feels that by rising up in social class, she will be able to do something to help Heathcliff improve his social position.
One of the benefits of modern living during the Victorian era was a bustling nightlife. The urban social scene of London included a variety of entertainment options such as private clubs, restaurants, cafes, and casinos. Attending the theater was also a popular pastime. Victorians had access to many types of live performances, including plays, ballets, and symphonies.
At the start of Queen Victoria's reign, actors and other "theater people" were not viewed favorably. Many people thought actors were immoral and uneducated. Such views had been common for centuries and were sustained by the ongoing influence of Puritan thought.
Just as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe elevated the status of theater during the Renaissance, a new batch of playwrights and actors brought greater legitimacy to the theater. In the past, actors had mostly come from the lower classes. During the Victorian era, respectable and educated members of the middle class began to enter the profession. Gradually, the social stigma began to fade. Still, middle-class actors rarely achieved the status of the wealthy characters they portrayed on stage.
One of the most influential developments in theater during the Victorian era was the revitalization of the comedy of manners. This type of comedy first flourished during the late seventeenth century (late 1600s) and typically dealt with the complex behavior codes in wealthy social circles. The plots of such plays were formulaic, revolving around romance, greed, and social status. In most cases, the shallowest characters triumphed in the end. Their comedic aspect came from witty dialogue and word play.
Breakdown: The term "comedy of manners" suggests a work that is literally a comedy about manners or how people behave daily as they interact with one another.
A popular Victorian playwright, Oscar Wilde, was inspired by this genre. Although the genre was already satirical in its own right, Wilde and others began to parody the comedy of manners with humor and sarcasm.
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1854. He moved to London to study and eventually made the city his permanent home. As an author, he did not limit himself to writing plays. He also wrote reviews, edited a women's magazine, published a collection of poetry and children's stories, and wrote a novel.
As a literary figure, Oscar Wilde is remembered for his skill and popularity as a playwright. His plays took London's high society by storm with their witty dialogue and unique style. As a middle-class Irishman, Wilde was initially an outsider in elegant high society. He eventually earned his way into this exclusive world with his wit, intellect, and artistic ability. Despite this change in social status, Wilde continued to satirize the superficiality of the very society to which he now belonged.
In addition to his skill as a playwright, Oscar Wilde is also remembered for his flashy style and famous public persona. Wilde expressed his individuality by growing his hair long, wearing colorful clothes, and using expressive mannerisms. He openly challenged conventional Victorian beliefs about gender, dress, and public behavior.
Wilde also challenged the popular Victorian belief that artists should use their work as a call for social reform. As a supporter of aestheticism, Wilde believed that the artist's sole responsibility was the creation of beauty. He further argued that art should be about enjoyment and entertainment, not serious political issues.
Characters based on common social and cultural stereotypes are known as stock characters. These characters originated in early Greek plays and were easily recognizable to audiences.
Here are some examples popular stock characters we see in media today:
The Sidekick - a close friend of the protagonist who can offer guidance. They almost always pale in comparison to the protagonist and don't have as many skills.
Damsel in Distress - a young, beautiful and noble lady who is always in need of rescue.
The Bad Boy - a handsome macho loner who doesn't care about breaking rules or being judged for bad behavior, usually including gambling, drinking, and being a womanizer.
The Geek - a smart and nerdy character who is sometimes clumsy but always talks about their special interest; often, their expertise ends up being what saves other characters in unexpected situations.
The Mentor - an older character who can offer mature guidance and training for the protagonist and are wise, experienced, and usually very powerful
The Fool - a character that lightens the mood of a story by always stating witty one-liners and jokes, even in inappropriate situations. They usually have quirky or odd personalities and view things very differently from other characters.
Important note: What makes a character a stock character is that they don't have to be explained. The story gives clues about the character and their personality, and because the audience knows what to expect, they don't have to think hard about the role that character will serve.
Another of Wilde's major contributions to Victorian society was the development of a stock character known as the dandy.
In Wilde's plays, a dandy is an overdressed, philosophizing character who often speaks in riddles. Dandies are always men. They are portrayed as trivial, shallow, and obsessed with other peoples' perceptions.
Wilde used this stock character to attack the fake morality and superficiality he saw in Victorian society. The term dandy quickly made its way into the Victorian lexicon. In everyday conversation, the word was used to describe flamboyant men—including Wilde himself.
From its London debut in February of 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest was an instant success. It is still performed today and remains one of Wilde's most recognized works. Although it has been criticized for having a weak plot, The Importance of Being Earnest is still considered the quintessential Victorian comedy of manners. For many, the weak plot is overshadowed by Wilde's skillful use of wit and sarcasm.
The Importance of Being Earnest seems like a typical, carefree comedy. However, insightful and pointed social commentary lies just below the surface. Many of Wilde's characters are driven by strict but hollow codes of social conduct. Over the course of the play, it becomes clear that the wealthy characters use these behavioral codes to maintain their status relative to other members of society. The Importance of Being Earnest is a humorous and thought-provoking social comedy that still entertains readers today.
Click here to an excerpt from The Importance of Being Earnest!
The title The Importance of Being Earnest indicates the play's basic plot. Typically, to be earnest means to be sincere and serious in intention, purpose, or effort. Jack Worthing, the play's protagonist, experiences a series of events that eventually teach him the "importance of being earnest."
The play, however, is not that simple. Wilde toys with the word earnest. The two main female characters, Miss Prim and Cecily Cardew, want to marry men named Ernest. Ironically, the male characters' behaviors are far from earnest, since they lie and pretend to be named Ernest.
Jack Worthing is an upstanding citizen of the county of Hertfordshire. Mr. Thomas Cardew found baby Jack in a handbag on a railway station and decided to raise him as his own. After his death, Mr. Cardew entrusted Jack with the care of his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew.
To escape his responsibilities in Hertfordshire, Jack fabricates a story about a mischievous brother, Ernest, who lives in nearby London and is in constant need of help. When in the city, he goes by the name Ernest and keeps his real identity a secret. In London, Jack (as Ernest) meets and falls in love with Gwendolyn Fairfax. Gwendolyn is the cousin of Algernon Moncrieff, Jack's (Ernest's) London friend. Algernon does not know Jack's true identity, but he becomes suspicious after finding a cigarette case that reads "From Little Cecily . . . to Uncle Jack." The play opens with Algernon confronting Jack (Ernest) about the mysterious inscription on his cigarette case.
Wilde's main tool is irony. Irony is the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning. Throughout the play, Wilde uses irony to illustrate the absurdity of certain social conventions. His characters often say the opposite of what is true or expected. The following quote is an example of irony:
ALGERNON: In married life, three is company and two is none.
Wilde's audience would have been familiar with the popular saying "two's company and three's a crowd." This phrase means that two people will be happy together, but a third person only complicates things. Algernon's statement is ironic because it is the opposite of what we expect to hear. However, it also reveals a humorous truth about Victorian society: married people often wanted a third person around because they did not like their spouses.
Wilde also uses sarcasm to satirize Victorian social rituals. Sarcasm is biting or cutting language used to convey scorn or ridicule (making fun of someone). Note the stage directions in the following exchange between Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax from act II (pay attention to the stage directions!):
CECILY (Sweetly.): Sugar?
GWENDOLEN (Superciliously.): No, thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more. (Cecily looks angrily at her, takes up the tongs and puts four lumps of sugar into the cup.)
CECILY (Severely.): Cake or bread and butter?
GWENDOLEN (In a bored manner.): Bread and butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.
CECILY (Cuts a very large slice of cake, and puts it on the tray.): Hand that to Miss Fairfax.
Social conventions require Gwendolen and Cecily to treat each other politely. However, Wilde conveys their mutual dislike through their sarcastic tone and actions. This sarcasm creates humor, but it also reveals the hollowness of polite manners.
Wilde also uses paradox to skewer (criticize harshly) social conventions. A paradox is a statement that seems contradictory or absurd but actually expresses a possible truth. Paradoxical statements call into question the truth or actual meaning of what is being said. Wilde takes clichéd phrases such as "two's company, and three's a crowd" and changes them around to reflect new insights about Victorian society. Here is another example:
ALGERNON: Divorces are made in Heaven.
This statement is a play on the popular phrase, "a match made in Heaven." The original phrase is a cliché because it is overused. "Divorces are made in Heaven" is a paradox because it initially makes no sense. How can the end of a marriage be heavenly? On closer inspection, however, the statement reveals Wilde's perspective on marriage. Since so many marriages are unhappy, divorce actually brings happiness to the (former) couple.
Wilde also uses puns to create humor. In the broadest sense, a pun is a phrase that purposefully exaggerates confusion between similar words. The most common type of pun makes use of different denotations of the same word. These puns have two levels of meaning. The first is the literal meaning of the word in context. The second is an understanding of the word outside of the context. Wilde uses a pun in Jack and Algernon’s conversation about dentists.
JACK: It is very vulgar to talk like a dentist when one isn’t a dentist. It produces a false impression.
ALGERNON: Well, that is exactly what dentists always do.
Think about all the different possible meanings of the words false and impression. Jack says that one should not "talk like a dentist if one isn't a dentist" because it "produces a false impression," meaning it is like lying. In other words, "a person should not pretend to be something he is not." Algernon makes the pun that dentists are in the business of "false impressions," meaning molds of fake teeth or dentures.
Victorians greatly admired a playwright's ability to devise ridiculous puns. Wilde was widely regarded as one of the best. In some cases, the characters make puns on purpose. In other cases, the pun goes unrecognized by the speaker.
Of course, one pun appears and reappears throughout the play:
JACK: It isn't Ernest; it is Jack.
ALGERNON: You have always told me it was Ernest. I have introduced you to everyone as Ernest. You answer to the name Ernest. You look as if your name was Ernest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life.
Here, Wilde exploits the confusion between the name Ernest and the word earnest. The humor in this pun is that most of the play's characters believe it is better to be named Ernest than it is to be an earnest person. As discussed earlier, to be earnest is to be sincere, serious, and disciplined. Some Victorians thinkers, such as Lord Tennyson and Matthew Arnold, upheld this trait as ideal. Others, such as Wilde, mocked it as a pointless obsession with rigid morality.
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