Victorian Period

Victorian Period

The Victorian period, named after Queen Victoria, lasted from 1837 to 1901. It was a time of enormous change in Britain. New inventions and industries were transforming the country, leading to great wealth for some but also bringing new challenges. Think of it as an age where Britain became a modern, industrial powerhouse, but also an era where people had to adjust to rapidly changing ways of life.

One of the biggest changes was the Industrial Revolution. Factories sprung up, and people moved in large numbers from the countryside to towns and cities to find work. This meant cities grew very quickly, often without proper planning, leading to crowded housing and difficult living conditions for many working people. New technologies like railways and the telegraph also appeared, making travel and communication much faster and changing how people experienced the world.

Victorian society had clear social levels, from the wealthy upper class to the growing middle class of factory owners and professionals, down to the large working class. Family life was considered very important, with distinct roles for men (who typically worked outside the home) and women (who were usually expected to manage the household). There was a strong emphasis on being seen as respectable and moral in public.

During this time, Britain also had a vast empire, controlling territories all over the world. This brought immense power and influence but also raised complex issues. At home, new scientific ideas, particularly in biology, made some people question their religious faith and traditional views about humanity's place in the world. This created a period of both great confidence in progress and underlying anxieties about the future.

The literature from this era often reflected these changes and concerns. Novels were especially popular, telling stories about ordinary people's lives, the challenges of the new industrial society, and moral dilemmas. Writers explored themes of social class, poverty, the changing roles of men and women, and the impact of new ideas. Often, these stories aimed not just to entertain but also to make readers think about the kind of society they lived in and the moral choices people faced.

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist tells the story of a young orphan boy growing up in the harsh conditions of 19th-century England. Born in a workhouse with no knowledge of his parents, Oliver's early life is one of poverty, hunger, and mistreatment. Dickens uses Oliver’s experiences to paint a grim picture of how society treated its poorest and most vulnerable members, particularly children, during the Victorian era.

The novel highlights the cruelty and indifference of institutions like the parish workhouse. Oliver’s famous plea, "Please, sir, I want some more," after a meagre meal, results in him being punished and apprenticed to an undertaker. Facing further misery, he eventually runs away to London, hoping for a better life. This journey is a common theme in Dickens's work: the individual seeking escape from hardship in the daunting anonymity of the big city.

In London, the innocent Oliver falls in with a gang of young pickpockets led by the cunning Fagin. Characters like the Artful Dodger and the brutal Bill Sikes introduce Oliver to a dark criminal underworld. Despite their attempts to corrupt him, Oliver instinctively recoils from their thievery and violence. The novel explores whether a child's essential goodness can survive such a dreadful environment and the influence of wicked people.

Dickens masterfully contrasts the squalor and danger of Fagin's world with glimpses of kindness and respectability. Figures like the benevolent Mr Brownlow and the gentle Rose Maylie represent a safer, more compassionate society that Oliver yearns for. The story follows his struggles to escape the clutches of the gang and the mystery surrounding his true identity, which turns out to be key to his eventual fate and a more secure future.

Through Oliver Twist, Dickens powerfully criticised the Poor Laws of the time and the social injustices faced by the poor. He exposed the grim realities of London's criminal underbelly and the vulnerability of orphaned children. The novel is a compelling tale of survival, exploring themes of good versus evil, the impact of environment versus innate character, and the desperate search for love and belonging in a harsh world.

Discussion

Victorian Britain faced big problems like poverty and injustice. How much do you think novels written then, such as Oliver Twist, really made people think about these issues in their society?

Activity: Debating social issues

This activity asks you to pick one social issue from Oliver Twist and briefly connect it to today's world. Don't worry about writing a lot; just share your main thoughts.

Instructions

1. Choose Your Issue:
   Select one social issue from the list below that stood out to you in Oliver Twist:
   
   

   • Poverty

   • Child welfare (how children are treated and protected)

   • Crime and what causes it

   • Unfairness in society

2. In Oliver Twist:

   • In just one or two sentences, briefly say how the issue you chose is shown in the novel. What did you notice about it?

3. Connecting to Today:

   • Now, in two or three sentences, what's your main thought when you compare this issue to today's world? For example:

     • Do you see similar problems still around? If so, briefly how?

     • Or, do you think things have mostly improved for the better regarding this specific issue? Briefly, how so? (Just focus on one main thought here).

4. One Question for Today:

   • Based on your thoughts, write down one interesting question that this social issue in Oliver Twist makes you wonder about concerning society today.

What to Submit

Simply write down your answers for steps 2, 3, and 4. This should only be a few clear sentences for each section. Keep it brief and to the point!

Further reading

I. Victorian Period Literature

Flint, Kate, editor. The Cambridge History of Victorian Literature. Cambridge UP, 2012.

This comprehensive volume offers a wide-ranging survey of Victorian literature, engaging with its diverse genres, historical contexts, and critical receptions. Chapters penned by leading scholars explore topics such as the novel, poetry, drama, non-fictional prose, print culture, and the relationship between literature and science, empire, gender, and class. The collection serves as an invaluable resource for understanding the breadth and complexity of literary production throughout the Victorian era. Its extensive coverage makes it an excellent starting point for research, providing authoritative overviews of key authors, movements, and thematic concerns that shaped the period.

Poovey, Mary. Making a Social Body: British Cultural Formation, 1830-1864. U of Chicago P, 1995.

Poovey’s influential study examines the mid-Victorian period, focusing on how various discourses—medical, statistical, and literary—contributed to the conceptualisation and management of the "social body." She analyses how emergent anxieties about social order, poverty, and public health were articulated and addressed through different forms of writing and institutional practices. The book is particularly insightful for understanding how literary texts, including novels, participated in broader cultural debates about social cohesion, individual responsibility, and the nature of society itself. It provides a sophisticated theoretical framework for connecting literary representations to the material and ideological forces shaping Victorian Britain.

Christ, Carol T., and John O. Jordan, editors. Victorian Literature and the Victorian Visual Imagination. U of California P, 1995.

This collection of essays explores the rich interplay between Victorian literature and the visual culture of the period, including painting, illustration, photography, and theatre. Contributors examine how verbal and visual representations influenced one another, shaping Victorian perceptions of reality, art, and storytelling. The volume highlights the importance of illustration in the serial publication of novels (including Dickens's work) and considers how visual technologies and aesthetics informed literary techniques and thematic preoccupations. It is a key text for appreciating the multimedia environment in which Victorian literature was produced and consumed, offering insights into the era's distinctive ways of seeing and representing the world.

II. Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist

Miller, J. Hillis. "Chapter 3: Oliver Twist." Charles Dickens: The World of His Novels. Harvard UP, 1958, pp. 35-84.

In this foundational critical work, Miller examines Oliver Twist within the broader context of Dickens's developing artistry and thematic concerns. His analysis delves into the novel’s complex portrayal of innocence and corruption, society and the individual, and the search for identity. Miller explores the symbolic landscapes of the workhouse, the criminal underworld, and the elusive havens of bourgeois respectability. Although an earlier piece of criticism, this chapter remains significant for its close reading and its articulation of the psychological and moral tensions that animate the novel, offering a strong basis for understanding enduring critical discussions surrounding Oliver Twist.

Tambling, Jeremy. "Chapter 2: Oliver Twist: 'A Strong Sense of Place'." Dickens, Violence and the Modern State: Dreams of the Scaffold. Macmillan, 1995, pp. 20-40.

Tambling’s chapter situates Oliver Twist within a discussion of violence, state power, and the urban landscape in Dickens's work. He argues that the novel’s detailed evocation of London’s dark and labyrinthine spaces is crucial to its critique of social control and institutional brutality. The analysis focuses on how characters are shaped and constrained by their environments, and how the threat of violence underpins the social order Dickens depicts. This work is particularly useful for students exploring themes of crime, punishment, urbanism, and the Foucauldian dimensions of power within Oliver Twist.

Schor, Hilary M. "Chapter 3: Containing Contagion: The Subject of Reform in Oliver Twist." Dickens and the Daughter of the House. Cambridge UP, 1999, pp. 50-77.

Schor’s analysis of Oliver Twist focuses on themes of contamination, contagion, and the discourse of social reform, particularly as they relate to character and plot. She examines how the novel grapples with anxieties about social purity and the possibility of moral rescue for individuals tainted by poverty and criminality. The chapter offers a nuanced reading of how figures like Oliver and Nancy navigate societal boundaries and the pervasive threat of moral and physical pollution. Schor’s work is valuable for its engagement with gender, class, and the ideological underpinnings of Victorian reform efforts as represented in the novel.