Victorian Compromise and Literary Movements PDF

THE VICTORIAN COMPROMISE
The Victorian period was a time of contradiction, often referred to as the Victorian Compromise:
on the one hand there was the progress brought about by the Industrial Revolution, the rising
wealth of the upper and middle classes and the expanding power of Britain and its empire; on the
other hand there was the poverty, disease, deprivation and injustice faced by the working classes.
The change brought about by the Industrial Revolution was rapid: towns and cities grew at an
incredible pace as new factories and industries were started and thousands of people moved to
the cities for work. The inventions, developments and new industries showed how advanced the
country was and how it was a world power. The upper classes continued to prosper and the
middle classes had the possibility to improve themselves and their fortunes. Under Queen
Victoria’s reign (1837-1901) the values of the Church, family and home were fundamental. The
family unit was based around the authoritarian father, with the mother in a submissive role. The
concept of 'fallen woman' was a fate imposed upon thousands of women by a society with
intense concern for female chastity. Sexuality was generally repressed in its public and private
forms, and prudery in its most extreme manifestations led to denunciation of nudity in art, and
the rejection of words with sexual connotation from everyday vocabulary.
Morality and respectability were key, and society became almost puritanical. Monuments and
buildings were constructed to celebrate civic identity and pride. Philanthropy and charity were
important, so libraries, wash houses and swimming baths were also built to allow members of the
working classes to improve themselves.
However, in reality, this was hardly possible. The mortality rate, disease and deprivation faced
by the working classes in Victorian towns and cities across the country were some of the worst in
the civilised world. People were forced to live in overcrowded rooms, in degraded slums with a
lack of hygiene. Young children were forced to work, for example in textile mills, mines and as
chimney sweeps, and poverty and debt were considered crimes to be punished with
imprisonment.
It is clear that the morals, beliefs and values of the Victorians were not reflected in the reality of
the society around them. Nonetheless, this contradiction meant many reformers fought to
improve and change conditions for the working and lower classes, particularly in areas such as
health and education. In the late 19th century patriotism was influenced by ideas of racial
superiority. It was thus an obligation imposed by the Almighty on the British to bestow their
superior way of life on native throughout the world. This attitude came to be known “Jingoism”.
Since the Victorians, under the strict reign of Queen Victoria, had to compromise many essential
features of individuality and modes of expression, the term ‘Victorian Compromise’ came to be
coined and applied to this particular age. As expected, this characteristic of the Victorian era also
came to be reflected in the literature of that age.
Literary Movements
Within the Victorian Period, two other literary movements, that of The Pre-Raphaelites (1848-
1860) and the movement of Aestheticism and Decadence (1880-1900), gained prominence.
In 1848, a group of English artists, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, formed the "Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood." It was the aim of this group to return painting to a style of
truthfulness, simplicity, and religious devotion that had reigned prior to Raphael and the high
Italian Renaissance. Rossetti and his literary circle, which included his sister Christina,
incorporated these ideals into their literature, and the result was that of the literary Pre-
Raphaelites.
The Aestheticism and Decadence movement of English literature grew out of the French
movement of the same name. The authors of this movement encouraged experimentation and
held the view that art is totally opposed "natural" norms of morality. This style of literature
opposed the dominance of scientific thinking and defied the hostility of society to any art that
was not useful or did not teach moral values. It was from the movement of Aestheticism and
Decadence that the phrase art for art's sake emerged. A well-known author of the English
Aestheticism and Decadence movement is Oscar Wilde.

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THE VICTORIAN COMPROMISE

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