Victorian literature

The presentation of various foils in the novel causes much sympathy in the reader for Jane today, while Victorian readers would probably not have seen it as wrong, instead would be more shocked at Bronte’s boldness. Unlike most writers of her generation, Bronte didn’t concern herself with presenting an objective view of society; she could identify with people who were the outsiders in Victorian society--children, poor relatives, powerless employees of rich families, women in love with men who…

Author of The Importance of being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, utilizes dialogue, diction and irony to illustrate the play’s protagonist, Jack Worthing, who in turn illuminates the script’s theme that behavior deemed appropriate by society may conflict with moral decency. The dialogue from the interrogation of Jack by Lady Bracknell, his love’s mother, reveals that he is a character of high class and puts up a front in order to make a good impression in the face of others, as after the meeting, he…

Ladies and Porn” aims to explore the sexualised commodity culture of the Victorian period by providing an alternative reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Having stated the novel has a “quasi-pornographic” quality , Pikula comments on the way Stoker exploits sex to draw significance to the hyper-sexual fin-de-siècle practices such as consumption, materialistic production and the rise of the ‘modern’ women in regards to late Victorian advertising. Looking in particular at the introduction of ‘The…

Peaceful Place Collage This collage-making process was new to me but very fun to do. I really liked how you could layer as many pieces of paper as you want and make so many pieces look seamless enough to look like one piece of paper. For this Peaceful Place collage, I used cardstock paper, fabric material, magazine paper, marble paper, and wood paper to get a variety of textures and colors. I used a layering technique by layering pieces of paper, making them blend together as if they were paint…

In the introduction of the novel, Ruddick states that he found the case while studying papers about the Victorian times at the University of York. The case emerged at a time of social change where history started to resemble our modern era. The case had already hit its hundredth anniversary, and many novels, television specials, and movies had all been created about the case but there was still no solution. Ruddick adopted the case , and it would lead him all across England and into Jamaica and…

(Who is to Blame for the Death of Paul in The Rocking-Horse Winner?) In the first half of the 1900’s, Great Britain had a very specified and tight knit upper class. Those who were not upper class tried desperately to imitate those who were, in order to fit in and feel important. It was a priority for the members of the upper class to live in the right place, have the right friends, own the right things, and send their children to the right schools. Many people could not afford these luxuries,…

From 1811 to 1820, George IV ruled over a time in Europe known as the Regency Era. Many historians believe this era to be a time of elegance, romance, and follies. The most important concept to appear in this era was etiquette. Etiquette was a necessity for men and women to thrive throughout their communities. It's how people earned the respect of peers and exhibited class. During the Regency Era, a woman named Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice which became an instant success. In this…

Preforming an altered identity from your own, especially that of someone who is a lesser class, is a risk to destabilizes the notion of that identity, but only based on the reason for those actions. Within the Victoria Era the class system was rigid list; if you were born within a certain class, you stayed within that class your whole life and therefore, there was an identity that distinguish the people within those classes. Thus, features of the identity of the classes become repetitive, which…

In Oscar Wildes comedic play, The Importance of Being Earnest, the secrets kept and maintained by Jack Worthing, his friend Algernon Moncrieff and his abandoner Miss Prism completely influence the plot. In the play we are opened to multiple different types of characters. Many of these characters are put into situations which reveals to the audience the true meaning of the play. Often in a play, the characters success usually comes with some secret keeping from other characters. In The Importance…

The Victorian Era is named after Queen Victoria of England in which it was characterized by strict cultural norms, political stability and increased wealth. The rules motivated people to behave in a social way depending on one’s social standing. Women were seen comparatively weaker than men and the nurturing ability of the women meant that they had to fulfill household chores. Men and women searched form an ideal relationship based on the expectations of a demanding society. Men were seen as…