2. Queen Victoria and the
Victorian Temper
Ruled England from
1837-1901
Exemplifies Victorian
qualities:
earnestness, moral
responsibility, domestic
propriety
The Victorian Period
was an age of transition
An age characterized by
energy and high moral
purpose
3. 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
4. The Time of Troubles
1830’s and 1840’s
Unemployment
Poverty
Rioting
Slums in large
cities
Working
conditions for
women and
children were
terrible
5. The Mid-Victorian Period
1848-1870
A time of
prosperity
A time of
improvement
A time of
stability
A time of
optimism
6. The British Empire
Large 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.
7. The Role of Women
Protected 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
8. 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.
9. Knowing more about Dickens
Born February 7, 1812
1824 -- Dickens worked at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse
1824 -- Mr. Dickens (Charles’ father) taken to debtors’
prison; family joins him
Imprisoned from February – May
1827 - Dickens family evicted from home for not paying rent
Charles is pulled out of private school
Charles, now 15, becomes law clerk and free-lance writer
He fathered 10 children.
His wife left him (in 1856).
He gave numerous talks across Europe and in America.
He developed heart trouble.
10.
11. His Works
1843 -- A Christmas Carol
1845 -- The Cricket on the Hearth
1846 -- The Battle of Life
1850 -- David Copperfield
1853 -- A Child’s History of
England
1854 -- Hard Times
1859 -- A Tale of Two Cities
1861 -- Great Expectations
1869 -- The Mystery of Edwin
Drood (unfinished)
12. 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
13. Charles Dickens’ End
1870 -- 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.”
