Victorian Era

Queen Elizabeth - the longest rule in English history. This era sometimes known as the English Renaissance because the arts were reborn due to funding. Era was considered repressed and old fashioned with little expression but developed quickly technologically and became the beginning of the 'modern' times.

German is a respectful, beautiful language since it's the language of commerce and government.

Prince Albert had no living heirs so he adopted Queen Victoria. Lord Melbourne attempted to prevent her from seeing the harsh realities of English life and forbade her even from reading Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. His only child died so he treated her like his daughter. When she became queen, no one expected her reign to last 64 years.

Enlightenment: "A state of maturity".
People believed they could now utilize reason to solve the world's prejudices and live in universal peace and harmony. Many writers believed they had achieved the enlightened state.

This era consisted of a patriarchal society and rural advancements.
Factory workers gained higher wages. In the books The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, Jan Eyre, Dracula, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, there should be directs references to characters who migrated to better themselves, characters rising out of poverty, social classes, strong women, schooling (differences between classes), spectacles and the use of the new railway system.

In 1851, the Great Exhibition took place in London, showcasing the new technologies and industrial advances.

More modern lifestyles became existent because of the new railway. By 1870, Britain grew from 10 million people to 26 million people.

The era was considered dark because after the Queen's husband died, she wore black for the rest of her life to represent her mourning.

Ideology of the time: 

• Democracy - government by the people.
• Feminism - the theory of the political, economical and social equality of the sexes producing and distributing to the community as a whole.
• Socialism - a social organization theory that advocates ownership and control for producing and distributing to the community as a whole.
• Utilitarianism - an ethical theory that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
• Darwinism - a theory that suggests a species originates from a parent and is adapted for the reproductive sex of their kind.
• Agnosticism - an intellectual doctrine affirming the uncertainty of all claims to ultimate knowledge

A gentleman was someone who had a liberal (public) education and it did not matter who his antecedents were.

All Victorian women were said to be weak and helpless, incapable of making decisions outside of the home. They were educated mostly in arts and had no right to money.

There was a bill passes to prevent children under 9 from working in the textile industry, but it did not apply to other industries. Teenage prostitution then became rampant since most children could no longer work.

Due to 3 reform bills, most men were allowed to vote if they were over the age of 21. 

The fashion of the women: corsets, balloon sleeves, the bustle.

The fashion of the men: cravats, hats, jackets, trousers, and facial hair.

WIGS (liberals)

TORI'S (conservatives)

During this era, paranormal activity became less shunned and women had to use pen names to achieve "realism" with their writing since no one would take a woman author seriously.