Victorian America

The Victorian period formally begins in 1837, the year Victoria became queen, and ends in 1901, the year she dies. 1830 is usually thought of as the end of the Romantic Era in Britain, which makes an appropriate starting date for Victorianism. (Walker pg. ) Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth year, 1859, fell 22 years into Queen Victoria’s 64-year reign, a time of unparalleled growth and optimism for the British Empire. (BBC.co.uk) Supplies and workforce taken from groups worldwide had made England grow…

In the passage from Act II “The Importance of Being Ernest” by Oscar Wilde, Wilde uses many sources of humor to show the comical way in which Ernest and Cecily meet for the very first time. Starting with a confusing engagement and ending with a phony name, this encounter took a different turn than expected as it developed. The first source of humor used in “The Importance of Being Ernest” is when Cecily has announced to Ernest, also known as Algernon, that they are engaged. Ernest has never met…

In contrast to the literal slavery in Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Henry James’s “The Portrait of a Lady,” makes reference to metaphorical slavery. The story is about a woman named Isabel Archer. She must choose between keeping her independence or following the social norms of women by marrying. Because she is so determined to make her own choices and not listen to what her friends and family tell her, she falls victim to a scheme. As a result, she loses all the independence she…

Many critics have presented the sexualism of the characters in Bram Stoker’s Dracula in relation to different theories such as feminism. Other critics have developed their articles on the theme of religion mainly referring to the Victorian era and history of religion theology. On one hand, Noelle Bowels in her article “Crucifix, Communion, and Convent: The Real Presence of Anglican Ritualism in Bram Stoker's Dracula” argues that the religious symbols in Stoker’s novel Dracula hold deeper meaning…

Anecdotes, stories, novels, and other grandeur forms of art often bring out many different emotions and feelings such as happiness, sympathy, pain, and horror. Books such as “ the Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Stetson and “the Dead” by James Joyce lead to create a maudlin environment within the book by discussing mawkish topics such as pain and restraint. In the yellow wallpaper, one of the main themes is constraint, an element that leads to the antagonist to lose sanity, “ "I 've got out at…

In western academia, the Victorian era has always been a well studied subject. It was known to be an elegant time: filled with new innovations, a bustling economy, and an evolving political narrative. The Victorian era was the epitome of extravagance of its time, and no other society could compare. However the Victorian era was not faultless. While it was a prosperous time period, issues involving class, poverty, race, and gender still existed (as they do with all societies). Some of these…

Annotated Bibliography: The Importance of Being Earnest Reinert, Otto. "Satiric Strategy in the Importance of Being Earnest." College English 18.1 (1956): 14-18. National Council of Teachers of English. JSTOR, Oct. 1956. Web. 5 July 2015. The main idea in this analysis of Wilde’s satire is to prove that Wilde does not just use satire for the sake of having his play being called a “farce,” rather he uses satirical strategy to enhance the experience of the play and how it differs from “normal”…

This is possibly due to a sense of modernity in The Diary of a Nobody, which not is not only written less formally than other Victorian texts, but presents more modern issues to the reader. The Diary of a Nobody has been suggested to: “[celebrate] the lower-middle-class husband 's eager commitment to domesticity” (Hammerton, 291), which shows a drastic change to earlier Victorian ideologies concerning traditionalist domesticity: “Whilst men accumulated money to support home and family, women…

Among the numerous Femme Fatales of the Gothic Literature Era existed one of extraordinary power and mystery. Ayesha, known as “She,” was one of the greatest seductresses of the late Victorian Gothic period created by H.G. Haggard. With her unique beauty and charm she could put the world at her feet, but with total power comes consequence. She who must be obeyed was only as powerful as the blinding obsession she had for Kallikrates would allow her to be. Ultimately,a it is that obsession that…

Unique societal structures contribute to establishing the values and norms of the people during the Victorian era. In Wuthering Heights, society is divided distinctly between the wealthy nobles and the lower classes that are considered outcasts because they possess neither status nor recognition; therefore they are viewed down upon by the upper classes. This structure influences the way most characters are perceived throughout the story such as Heathcliff who is the only character to have a…