Victorian morality

INTRODUCTION. The Age of Innocence is one of the most famous novels of Edith Warton since it won the Pulitzer in 1921. It is placed in 1870 old New York. It explores its society, its conventionalisms and its rigid system in which everything has an order and a purpose. We are introduced to a love triangle which will show us a society that fears scandals more than feelings. Trough the three main characters, Edith Wharton portrays a society she knows well, and that eventually would have to flee.…

The Romantic Period has made a tremendous impact on literature. Not only has the romantic period shaped the way poetry is viewed but has caused an everlasting ripple social effect. As they say, the economy is nothing without the workers. The influential work of the Romantic poets such as William Blake challenges the cultural and political normalities of the 17th century. The movement encouraged expression and individuality.The Romantic Period and therefore the poet William Blake is a necessity…

“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses women for their strengths.” (Lois Wyse) She Stoops to Conquer is an 18th Century play by Oliver Goldsmith which tells the story of how a lady crosses class lines to conquer her love. The plot is unravelled when Charles Marlow, a man who is brought to marry noble woman Miss Kate Hardcastle by her father, has a minor foible whereby he is frozen stiff with fear when it comes to talking and socializing with upper-class women. However when it comes…

The literary manifesto of many a novelist in the past as well as in the present is to write for social, political and economic purpose. The purpose is not only to throw light upon the social evils and malpractices prevailing in the society in those days, but also to employ fiction to the cause of social amelioration. The establishment of novel in the world of literature manifests itself multifariously encompassing almost every facet of social life, which is regarded as Social Realism. Realism is…

Both “the open window,” by Saki, and “the monkey’s paw,” by Jacobs, are structured in parts; and each of these parts correspond to an occurrence during the story. Saki and Jacobs also both introduce ghosts during the climax of the stories- however in the Monkey’s paw we never really find out if the ghost is real, and in the Open window, we explicitly find out that the ghost is not real. Finally, both Saki and Jacobs make use of powerful language to instill fear in the reader and pull them…

One of the major themes in the novel, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is marriage. Unlike today, women in the nineteenth century women did not have a lot choices. One of the choices include marriage. Women in this time were held back and are not expected to have careers like men. Once they decide on a man, there is no going back and divorce was considered uncommon. The women in the novel, each display their thoughts on marriage. However, Elizabeth Bennett, who is opinionated and passionate…

Introduction to Author Oscar Wilde was a Anglo- English author, playwright, novelist, critic and poet. He was a popular literary figure in late Victorian England, known for his brilliant wit, flamboyant style. After graduating from Oxford University, he lectured as a poet, art critic and a leading proponent of the principles of aestheticism which emphasized aesthetic values more than moral or social themes. This doctrine can be clearly summarized by the phrase ‘art for art’s sake’. In 1890, he…

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) was written during a time period where both modernism and imperialism were societally pervasive. Inherently, these cultural contexts and epochs influenced literature and arguably Heart of Darkness. In order to evaluate how Heart of Darkness reflects and challenges the spirit of these two time periods and historical contexts, its narratological and thematic framework should be considered, to reach the synthesizing conclusion that the literary epoch of…

Mathlide Loisel, who was born on the opposite side of the economic spectrum that she believes she should have been. Madame Loisel was never comfortable with who she was. “The Diamond Necklace” is a short story written in 1884 by a French writer Guy de Maupassant. The short but interesting story is about a “pretty and charming” young lady, Mathlide might have been gorgeous but she was still full of greed and stubbornness. Mathlide was never comfortable with who she really was. She always…

Austen’s novel Pride And Prejudice revolved around the theme of marriage and addresses many key issues in society during the 19th century (Lane 2015). Charlotte was one of the characters that decided to marry for security and not for love. Lydia was a young immature girl that wasn’t wise enough to realize that she was fooled around on by a man who was in love with money and girls. Jane was a mature woman that married for love and happiness, and Elizabeth wanted to make her own decisions about…