Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Social effects of industrialisation
Social effects of industrialisation
Social effects of industrialisation
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Social effects of industrialisation
“Nineteenth-century Britain has been described as the ‘first industrial nation’ (Mathias 1983)” (Guy & Small. 2011: 13). Britain’s industrialisation during the eighteenth and nineteenth-century brought about significant changes transforming society as the technological advancements affected all aspects of life, that of cultural, social, political and economic circumstances. In particular the modern advancements of steam power technology expanded the industrial processes of printing which stimulated the economic growth within the writing industry, opening up forms of literature to a wider readership. Whereas before, “members of the social elite” had power and control on “the nature of literary culture” the integrity of “their cultural authority” was now under threat, to what Matthew Arnold had referred to as the “mass of mankind who were always satisfied with very inadequate ideas” (Guy & Small. 2011: 13).
Through the innovations of technology, scenes on the domestic, intellectual as well as the industrial front dramatically began to change, which provoked nineteenth-century writers to explore and embrace new ideas and themes “as they attempted to come to terms with what later historians would characterise as the beginning of modernity” (Guy & Small. 2011: 13). During this age of anxiety, I intend to explore and discuss two representations of the undersides of life presented in the early and latter halves of the nineteenth-century, referring to the portrayal of madness and the supernatural within Charlotte Bronte’s (1816-1855) Jane Eyre (1847) and Henry James’ (1843-1916) The Turn of the Screw (1898).
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a representation and reflection of the industrial era in which it was written. Depic...
... middle of paper ...
...11].
Iwama, M. (2003) Bertha Mason Madness in a Contemporary Context, Brown University. [On-line] Available from: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/iwama8.html, [accessed 20th April 2011].
Landow, G.P. (2006) "Porphyria's Lover" — A Case study in what counts as evidence and where the ambiguities arise in dramatic monologues, Brown University. [On-line] Available from: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/porphyria/porphyriagpl.html, [accessed 22nd April 2011].
Parkinson, E.J. (2010) The Turn of the Screw; A History of its Critical Interpretations 1898-1979. [On-line] Available from: http://www.turnofthescrew.com/, [accessed 9th May 2011].
Steinberg, B. (2004) The supernatural element in Jane Eyre, Brown University. [On-line] Available from: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/steinberg1.html, [accessed 20th April 2011].
Showalter, Elaine. "The Not So Strange Addiction of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." The Haunted Mind in Victorian Literature. Eds. Elton E. Smith and Robert Haas. Landham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1999.
Peoples’ lives hold the greatest power over their works. From the people around them and their interactions, to the places they grow up in and the perspective of the world it give them; peoples’ lives shape everything they do. There is no more of a perfect example of this then the fiction of Henry James Jr. Henry James Jr.’s withdrawal from society and his relationships with his siblings create the backing force for his settings and plot in his short fiction, Turn of the Screw.
Jane Eyre's literary success of the time has been cheaply commercialized. In other words, Bronte's novel never got the appreciation it deserved, in the areas it deserved. Many 19th century critics merely assigned literary themes to their reviews to "get it over with". Critics commended Jane Eyre for everything from its themes to its form. However, their surface examinations amount to nothing without careful consideration of the deeper underlying background in Jane's life where their hasty principles originate. The widely discussed free will of Jane's, her strong individuality, and independence are segments of a greater scheme, her life. For example: Jane's childhood serves as the most important precedent for all of the self-realism although this purpose is widely disregarded. Even though "many have celebrated Bronte's carefully wrought description of her protagonist's first eighteen years for its vivid pathos, no one has as yet accorded this childhood its deserved weight in the novels ultimate resolution." (Ashe 1) Jane Eyre's genius develops in a series of internal reactions to external circumstances rather than shallow judgments about those internal happenings.
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 3rd ed. New York: The Modern Library. Bronte, Charlotte. "
Jane Eyre is a Victorian Era bildungsroman by Charlotte Brontë that follows the development of the antagonist, Jane, throughout many tribulations reflective of the time period it was written. Focusing on the health criticisms throughout the novel, Alan Bewell’s “Jane Eyre and Victorian Medical Geography” takes an in-depth look at the medical practices of the Victorian Era and how they influenced Brontë’s work. Through a medical historical lens, Alan Bewell analyzes the trends of Victorian Era medicinal practices displayed in Jane Eyre. Applying his understanding of Victorian medical beliefs, Bewell criticizes the Victorian practices that are emphasized by Brontë’s choice of scenery and characters.
Sypher, Eileen. Wisps of Violence: Producing Public and Private Politics in the Turn-of-the-Century British Novel. London: Verso, 1993.
The setting is London in 1854, which is very different to anything we know today. Johnson’s description of this time and place makes it seem like a whole other world from the here and now....
Texts are a representation of their context and this is evident in Robert Stevenson’s novella: “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, where many values of late nineteenth century Victorian England values were reflected through the themes of the novel using language and structural features. These values included: technological advances, reputation and masculinity and are demonstrated in the text through literary and structure devices as well as the characterisation of the main character. During the reign of Queen Victoria, there were many technological and scientific advances that impacted how people viewed the society. The nineteenth century saw the rise of ideas such as the ‘fin-de-siecle”, where the progress in technology or science
The 19th century was a time of massive change socially, politically and scientifically. This time saw the rise of Imperialism and of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, seeing massive changes in the way industry was run. Also during this time the literary movements of Romanticism and Victorianism emerged. Romanticism dealt with the issues of reality versus illusion, childhood and man versus nature. The first book I will examine in this essay, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, comes from this literary period and focuses on the man versus nature theme, namely the theme of scientific development and it’s contrast to nature. The second book I will look at in this essay comes from the Victorian period of the 19th century. This period saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution and of huge social and political change. Hard Times by Charles Dickens deals with these issues very closely, focussing mainly on the rise of industry in Britain and its effects on the people of Britain. Both of these novels challenge the social, political and scientific developments of the 19th century, namely the advent of science and technology.
Bronte wrote Jane Eyre to emphasize her beliefs behind the purpose of women, and how society lacked to understand them as who they were created to be. The issue of lack of opportunity for women to engage in intellectual preparation and continuation is prevalent within the character of Jane. Expectation of women’s role was a social norm, with a lack of diversity or individuality. Bronte challenges this issue through the character of Jane, whom experiences a tug-of-war sensation between being herself, who she wants to be and should be, and what society wants her to be, and pushes her to be. Bronte was trying to explain that women have the same capability as men to be productive individuals of society, but they are held back from establishing their potential. The most unique understanding of Bronte’s challenge to society is the understanding that the characteristics and personality of Jane as a female is shamed and criticized, however these features are identical to those of a successful and representable man in
The setting for this novel was a constantly shifting one. Taking place during what seems to be the Late Industrial Revolution and the high of the British Empire, the era is portrayed amongst influential Englishmen, the value of the pound, the presence of steamers, railroads, ferries, and a European globe.
Bronte is known as one of the first revolutionary and challenging authoress’ with her text Jane Eyre. The society of her time was male dominated, women were marginally cast aside and treated as trophies for their male counterparts. Their main role in life was to be a mother and a wife, “ Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life……the more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure she will have for it.” A quote from a letter Robert Southey wrote to Bronte. A clear sign of the mentality and opposition Bronte was up against. A woman’s “proper duties” of course being to tend and wait on her “master’s” every whim and need. Women during Bronte’s time had no clear voice, none that was of any merit, they were a silent category of society, silenced by their male oppressors. Bronte’s book was in fact written before the first women’s rights movement had happened, yet it puts forward an image of an independent strong character, of a passionate and almost rebellious nature. A character “refusing subservience, disagreeing with her superiors, standing up for her right’s, and venturing creative thoughts.” I put forward that Bronte throughout her text not only revises the themes of male power and oppression, but reconstructs them also. The text is a female bildungsroman of it’s time, sometimes subtly and sometimes overtly tackling the patriarchal view of women.
The Victorian Age was characterized by a rapidly growing economy, an expansion of the British Empire, relative peace, and the social and economic problems associated with industrialization. Victorian society was conflicted by the changes; they admired the material benefits industrialization brought, as it encouraged great optimism and spurred the growth of the industrial working class and a modern middle class, but it was also a time of social concern. Brutal factory conditions and slums bred poverty and disease. (Literature, the British, 1996)
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre represents the role of women in the Victorian era by giving the reader an insight into the lives of women from all social classes. Jane Eyre therefore represents figures of the Victorian time yet the character of Jane Eyre, herself, can be seen as very unconventional for the Victorian society.