Victoria, Albert and their 9 children in 1857

The Victorian period1830/1901

3 periods: 1.the hungry forties

social and economic problems (slump in industry + bad crops)

Chartist Movement= social reforms: Universal suffrage, vote by ballot, Annual Parliaments, Payment of the members of Parliament, Abolition of the property Qualification so the working class too could have representatives.......

Too early= failure Trade Unions legalized in 1825 grew stronger and stronger Deckens/Gaskell denounce high rate mortality/exploitation of

children-Nightingale 1849 the Communist manifesto of Marx and Engels

Second period Apix of Optimism

Caused by Free trade = uncontrolled flow of economical transaction with foreign countries( middle class richer and richer)The flourishing of INDUSTRY and AGRICOLTURE1851 the Crystal Palace =exhibition of modern industry and science but:…….

It was an ARTIFICIAL OPTIMISMMAIN IDEA: respectability based on the Puritan code :Sunday Observance Bill_ established by custom : no entertainment on Sundays- hard work-Puritan sexual behaviour =Prudery female innocence ( in 1850 there were 8,000 prostitutes-separate beaches etc) veils on statues !!!Bad taste

The British empire

1886 the largest extension :idea of excellence of British culture and institutions

JingoismE. people believed in their right / the

empire had to absorb the excess of production

Contradiction between the liberal ideas and the imperialistic ambition.

Respectability

Respectability = mirror of the insecurity of the new powerful class based on external conformity/morality/hypocrisyE.g. THE FATHER( by divine right)NO DIVORCELARGE FAMILIES =symbol of success1870 artificial methods- large families cost!!!!

3 social Classes :aristocracy / middle class/ the poor

They had a separate justice

A separate morality

A different life

Crusades of some philanthropic groups to have Acts passed in defence of the poor

Overcrowded houses

Hard work

Hard work + sobriety +experience+ostentation from worldly pleasure = success

If you were poor it was your fault ( theory of predestination) Work-houses

Men work hard. Competition,courage,

physical strength

Workhouses

Unbearable life conditions for the “servant-Keeping class”

A sort of prisonsNot to make people

desire to go thereConnected with the

Victorian Compromise

Pessimism at the turn of the century

Bentham – utilitarianism ( hard times) “ the greatest good for the greatest number of people”Darwin “ the strong survived the weak perished”Shopenhauer God, free will immortality of the soul= human illusionsComte replaced religion and metaphysics with sociological ethicsReaction at Victorian ideals