Victorian era

The Germanic Tribes told a few stories one of which was Beowulf. The epic, Beowulf “was the first monumental literary composition in a European vernacular language” (Fiero 123). That way everyone in European could understand the poem at the time. This epic’s purpose was to “celebrate the deeds of warrior heroes” as well as to entertain the audience with song (Fiero 123). Beowulf's original story is unknown, since this tale came to existents far before the written word was generalized. In the…

Do you ever wonder why teenagers under age eightteen are required under writing to work limited hours. What you probably didn't know was that each year an estimated fifty eight thousand children under the age of fifteen die due to poor working conditions. “World Report on Violence and Health.” Every day over two million children around the world are working strenuously without pay. Children often work the majority of their day standing up. Standing continuously over long periods of time can…

Essay outline The Importance of Being Earnest Thesis statement: Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, criticizes the society’s sense of priority regarding knowledge, intelligence and honesty, as education is depicted as superficial and invaluable compared to characteristics such as physical appearance and social status. Topic Sentence #1: Wilde asserts that education is a negligible factor of success; one’s knowledge is less important than one’s physical appearance and social…

Sincerity is a trait that is many times lacking. People put on a persona they wish to be seen as, while in reality, they are completely different. In The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, one can clearly see an example of people who lack sincerity. In this play, Jack pretends to have a younger brother named earnest so that he may indulge in pleasures while in the city. In the same way, Algernon pretends to have an ailing friend named Bunbury so he can escape his duties in the city. The…

Arguably one of the most significant and renowned Victorians in world history is Florence Nightingale. In addition to being well known as a leader in nursing and social reforms, Florence Nightingale is also revered as the nurse who went and cared for soldiers fighting in the Crimean War. Nightingales part in the Crimean War would forever change the way that the sanitation and handling of patients would be conducted. Florence Nightingale was born on May 12, 1820 into an affluent upper class…

Victorian England and the Abuse of her children. Charles Dickens was not only a man who wrote about but had also experienced first -hand the hard cold reality of the abuse of children. You can rarely open a Dickens novel without having your heart bleed for the poor tortured souls who were the children of his time. Child labor in Victorian England was synonymous to the much despised word slavery. Therefore, children were exploited, tortured and neglected even to the point of death. Because they…

The link “Women’s Clothing from University of Vermont” was very intriguing to me. Looking at the changes in fashion from decade to decade really interests me. I could not imagine wearing clothes from before the 1910s for more than a few hours. I am glad the text said people started realizing the negative impact constraining corsets had on women’s health. I do have to mention one of the pictures showing women’s clothing in the 1880s. It shows three women leaning on huge guns. Now I hope they were…

The third chapter, “From a Death to a View, the Hunt for the Welsh Past in the Romantic Period” was one that I was particularly curious about. I didn’t know much about Welsh history in general before reading this chapter, although, after I had read this chapter it had become clear to me that the Welsh history was more complex than I ever could have imagined. This chapter discusses the Welsh past during the 18th and 19th centuries. This region of Wales seemed to be undergoing a paradigm shift…

The Importance of Being Earnest: Written vs. Performed play. The Importance of Being Earnest , written by Oscar Wilde in 1895, is a romantic comedy play written about the happenstance, coincidence, and revelation that occurs one London season between two friends, Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, and their paramours Gwendolyn Bracknell and Cecily Cardew respectively. Minor characters include Lady Bracknell, Gwendolen’s mother and aunt to Algernon; Lane, Algernon’s butler; Miss Prism,…

When the play first opened, Wilde was revealed to be a homosexual (The Day). In Victorian England, the aristocracy were still at the top of social hierarchy, and advancements in society would not take place for many more years (Stokes). Therefore, the practice of homosexuality was still viewed as a sinful and unnatural practice to be condemned by the law. Wilde himself was arrested on charges of “gross indecency” after his affair with a young man came to light (Biography). With this knowledge,…