The Victorian Age

维多利亚时期⽂学Part Ⅷ The Victorian Age(维多利亚时代)A.The Victorian Age1.It refers to the period of the reign of Queen Victoria, from heraccession in 1937 and her death in 1901, but the era of literature is from the Reform Bill（改⾰法案） in 1932 to the end of the Boer War（布尔战争）in 1902.2.Three phrases :The early Victorian Period (1832--1854), the time of troubles,the Reform Bill & ChartismMid—Victorian Period (1855—1879), a time of economicprospering, highest point of development as a world powerLast Period (1880—1902), a time characterized by decay ofVictorian values (e.g. Self-control, family loyalty, thrift,hard work, etc).B.The backgroundAmid the multitude of social and political forces of this great age, four things stand out clearly.First, the age of democracy;Second, the age of popular education, of religious tolerance;Third, the age of comparative peace;Fourth, the age of all the arts and sciences and in mechanicalinventions.C.Chartist Movement(宪章运动)Chartist Movement (1836-1848) was organized by the English workers in big cities and brought forth the People’s Charter, in which they demanded basic rights and better living and working conditions. They, for three times, made appeals to the government, with hundreds of thousands of people's signatures. The movement swept over most of the cities in the country. Although the movement declined to an end in 1848, it did bring some improvement to the welfare of the working class. This was the first mass movement of the English working class & the early sign of the awakening of the poor, oppressed people.D.Literature Current(⽂学思潮)1.Chartist literature(宪章⽂学)The English working class created a literature of its own whichcan be, in full justice, called the Chartist Literature.The Chartist writers introduced a new theme into literature— the struggle of the proletariat(⽆产阶级) for its rights.Some great Chartist poets are Ernest Jones (1819-1869), ThomasCooper (1805-1892), and William James Linton (1812-1897).2.Critical Realism(批判现实主义⽂学)Critical Realism is one of the literary genres that mainlyflourished in the 40s and in the early 50s in the 19th century.The critical realists not only gave the criticism tobourgeoisie and all ruling classes, bur also showed their deepsympathy for the common people. Hence humor and satire aboundin the English realistic novels of the 19th century. But thecritical realists did not find a way to eradicate(根除) socialevils. They did not realize the necessity of changing thebourgeois society. They were unable to find a good solutionto the social contradictions. The chief tendency in their worksis not of revolution but rather of reformism. Here we see atonce the strength and the weakness of critical realism. Threegreatest representatives of Critical Realism are CharlesDickens(狄更斯), William Makepeace Thackeray(萨克雷), andGeorge Eliot(艾略特). E.………………………………………………………………………………………………. F.…………………………………………………………………………………………………G.………………………………………………………………………………………………….H.Some Exercises1.The precisian may limit the Victorian period to the years betweenthe Queen’s accession in 1837 and her death in 1901, but a newera really began with the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832 andclosed at the end of the Bore war in 1902.2.Victorian literature, as a product of its age, naturally took onits quality of magnitude and diversity. It was many-sacked andcomplex, and reflected both romantically and realistically thegreat changes that were going on in people’s life and thought.3.In the 19th century English literature, a new literary trendcritical realism appeared after the romantic poetry, andflourished in the 40s and in the early 50s.4.Critical realism found its expression in the form of novel; mostof the critical realists were novelists.5.Critical realism reveals the corrupting influence of the rule ofcash upon human nature. Here lies in the essentially democraticand humanistic character if critical realism.6.The Chartist Movement appeared in the 30s of the 19th century.7.The most important poet of the Victorian Age was Tennyson, nextto him, were Robert Browning and his wife.8.The Chartist writers introduced a new theme into literature: thestruggle of the proletariat for its rights.9.The Chartist poetry played an important role in the developmentof English proletariat literature; the greatest Chartist poet was Ernest Jones. I.．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．J.Charles Dickens（狄更斯）A.LifeCharles Dickens (1812--1870) was born in a poor family in the Portsmouth. He gave up schooling to work after his father was put into the prison because of the debt. In 1870, he died of overwork.B.The three period of his literary career1.the first period of youthful optimismAt this stage Dickens believed that all the evils of the capitalist world would be remedied if only men behaved to each other with kindliness, justice, and sympathetic understanding.Main works in this period:Sketches by Boz 《博兹随笔》Pickwick Paper 《匹克威克外传》Oliver Twist 《雾都孤⼉》Nicholas Nickleby 《尼古拉斯尼克贝》Old Curiosity Shop 《⽼古玩店》Barnaby Rudge 《巴纳⽐卢杰》2.the second period of excitement & irritationDickens' second period began from 1842, the year after his first visit to America.Main works in this period:American Notes 《美国札记》Martin Chuzzlewit 《马丁朱杰尔维特》A Christmas Carol 《圣诞欢歌》The Chimes 《钟声》The Cricket on the Hearth 《炉边蟋蟀》Dombey and Son 《董贝⽗⼦》David Copperfield 《⼤卫科波菲尔》3.the third period of steadily intensifying pessimismThe last period of Dickens's literary career began with the publication of "Bleak House" in 1852-1853.Up to this time Dickens maintained some hope of reform under capitalism but beginning from "Bleak House" there was an "underlying tone of bitterness" which showed the novelist's loss of hope for English bourgeois society.Main works in this period:Bleak House《荒凉⼭庄》Hard Time《艰难时世》Little Dorrit《⼩杜丽》A Tale of Two Cites《双城记》Great Expectations 《远⼤前程》Our Mutual Friend 《我们共同的朋友》Edwin Drood（unfinished) 《埃德温多鲁德》C.Distinct Features of His Novels(1) Character Sketches & Exaggeration(2) Broad Humor & Penetrating Satire(3) Complicated & Fascinating Plot(4) The Power of Exposure/doc/f75742644.htmlments of DickensCharles Dickens is one of the greatest critical realistic writers of the Victorian Age.In his works, Dickens sets a full map & a large-scale criticism of the 19th-century England, particularly London..Characterization is the most outstanding feature of his works.Dickens also employs exaggeration in his works.Yet he is a petty bourgeois intellectual. He could not overstep the limits of his class. He failed to see the necessity of a bitter struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors.E.Some works1.The Pickwick Papers《匹克威克外传》Plot2.Oliver Twist 《雾都孤⼉》PlotThe novel tells the story of a poor child named Oliver Twist. He is born in a workhouse and brought up under miserable conditions.After experiencing an unhappy apprenticeship to an undertaker, he runs away to London, where he falls into the hands of a gang of thieves.Then he is made to be a pickpocket. A benevolent rich old man called Mr. Brownlow rescues him and takes him home, but the thieves kidnap him and make him join them once again. A bad person named Monks, who turns out to be Oliver’s half-brother, helps the thieves in keeping Oliver in the gang, in order to ruin him and obtain the whole of his father’s property. Then Oliver is made to help one the thieves in breaking into a lady’s house. He gets wounded, and comes into the hands of her aunt. Finally the thieves in the gang are punished and Oliver’s half brother is compelled to confess his evil doing and put into prison. Oliver is adopted by Mr. Brownlow.F.Some exercises1. Charles Dickens was the greatest representative of English Critical Realism.2. Of all of Dickens’s novels, David Copperfield is regarded as his masterpiece.3. In A Tale of Two Cities, the two cities are London and Paris in the time of revolution.4. The novel Nicholas Nickleby touches upon a burning question of Dickens’s time; the education of children in the private schools.5. The novel Oliver Twist tells the story of a poor child named Oliver Twist who was born in a workhouse and brought up under miserable conditions.6. The novel Hard Times makes a fierce attack on the bourgeois systemof education and the bourgeois philosophy Utilitarianism.G.OthersWilliam Makepeace Thackeray（萨克雷）A.His worksThe Books of Snobs 《势⼒⼈》Vanity Fair《名利场》Pendennis 《潘丹尼斯的历史》The Newcomers《纽卡母⼀家》The Rose and the Ring (fairy tale) 《玫瑰与戒指》（通话）Henry Esmond《亨利·艾斯芒德》The Virginians (historical novels) 《弗吉尼亚⼈》B.Characteristics of Thackeray’s novels1．William Makepeace Thackeray is one of the greatest critical realists of the 19th century.The pictures in his novels are accurate and true to life. He is good at describing the life of the upper class with which he is familiar.2．Thackeray is a satirist.3．He is a moralist. His aim is to produce a moral impression in all his novels.C.Vanity Fair《名利场》1．The Origin of the TitleThis title was borrowed by Thackeray from The Pilgrim’sProgress (天路历程) by Bunyan. It means “a fair, wherein aresold all sorts of vanity.”2．The Implication of the Subtitle----Novel Without a HeroNo exactly positive characterAbout women instead of menNot about some particular person but about the society3．Theme of the novelIn this novel Thackeray describes the life of the upper class of England in the early decade of the 19th century, and attacks the social relationship of the bourgeois world by satirizing the individual in the different strata of the upper society. It is a world where money grubbing is the main motive for allmembers of the upper class.4． Characters: A brief comment on Amelia and Becky in Vanity Fair In Vanity Fair Thackeray successfully characterizes two heroines who stand in contrast in their characters and attitudes towards life.Amelia is a character of milk-and-water type, good in nature, tame and moral, sentimental and sympathetic, but unable to master her own fate. Becky, who is more impressively character and can be said to be the real heroine of the novel in a way, is different from Amelia;she is crafty, unscrupulous, and resourceful and she is neverobedient to her destiny and always rebels in order to have a change in her life, regardless of morality and the social judgment of her.The two heroines are, to Thackeray, the victims of the social environment that is inhuman in its nature.5．D.Some exercise1.In 1847, Thackeray published his masterpiece Vanity Fair, whichmarks the peak of his literary career.2.The sub-title of Vanity Fair is Novel without a Hero. The writer’sintention was not to portray individuals, but bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole.3.The main plot of Vanity Fair renders on the story of two women:Amelia Sedlley and Rebecca Sharp, whose characters are sharp contrast.E.othersGeorge Eliot（爱略特）----Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans.A.Her WorksScenes of Clerical Life 《教区⽣活场景》Adam Bede《亚当贝德》Mill on the Floss《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》Silas Marner《织⼯马南》Middlemarch《⽶德尔马奇》需要补充B.Some exercises1.George Eliot was the Pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans.2.The author of The Mill on the Floss is George Eliot.3.George Eliot produced three remarkable novels including Adam Bede,The Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner.4.In the novel Adam Bede, Adam falls in love with a village girl calledHetty Sorrel who is seduced and deserted by a squire.C.OthersCharlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte（夏洛特和爱⽶丽）A.Works of Bronte SistersCharlotte Bronte Professor《教授》Jane Eyre《简·爱》Shirley《雪丽》Villette.《维莱特》Emily Bronte Wuthering House《呼啸⼭庄》Ann Bronte Agnes Grey 《安格尼斯·格雷》The Tenant of Wildfell Hall《维尔德·霍的佃户》B.Jane Eyre1．The theme of the novelThe criticism of the bourgeois system of educationThe position of the women in society ---- the women should theequal rights with men2．The limitation of the novelCharlotte believes that education is the key to all social problems, and that by the improvements of the school system, most of the social evils could be removed.3．Why the novel is greatly admired?1) Jane’s characteristics.2) Jane’s treatment of her love and marriage.Jane, differentfrom many other women in the mammon worship society, considersmarriage not as a bargain but as a union of kindred souls.3) Jane sticks to her principles, successfully resists theoppression and other social evils in the inhuman world andacquires her own happiness.4) It contains the author’s criticism of bourgeois attitudetoward marriage and love, and her ruthless expose of inhumanmisery in charity schools of her days which were establishedand run in the name of philanthropy. She attacks the terribleeducational system in her day and points out the miserable fateof poor girls as charity school pupils and as governess.4．C.Wuthering HouseD.Some exercises1.The Bronte sisters are Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and AnnBronte.2.Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece is Jane Eyre.3.Emily Bronte’s masterpiece is Wuthering House.E.D. E.。

THE VICTORIAN AGE (1832-1900)- Historical introduction and general characteristicsThe name of Victorian Age comes from Queen Victoria (1819-1901). She became queen of England and Ireland and the Empress of India when she was very young. She married with Prince Albert who was her cousin. They had 9 children and they married with other European royal families.In 1861 Prince Albert died and Edward, his son, became king when he was 60. Q. Victoria was admired and loved by British people because she introduced a period of stability to Britain, industrialisation and Imperialism.The way of life changed completely: A way based on the ownership of land to a modern urban economy based on trade and manufacturing. This was a time of progress: the telegraph, rail ways, photography, the sewing machine, great manufacturing cities (Manchester, the industrial north cities of England).The imperialism: this is a country of traders, new dominios appeared. More than a quarter of the world was British. Britain also had a very important fleet, which carry the goods to the metropolitan.- Periods:1.- Early Victorian (1832-1848):Technological development and the opening of the reform parliament.The Reform Bill: it was a response to the demands of middle classes, who were taking control of England's economy. It extended the right to vote to all males owning property worth £ 10 or more in annual rent.The State had a system of economic liberalism in which the State doesn't participate in the rules of economy, industry work. There were many abuses from industrialists and manufactures.Gradually there was a great conscious in the society of children's work. The state told that children between 9-14 years could only work no more than 12 hours a day. The working class lived in Slums (neighbourhood very poor).The abolition of the Corn Laws because there were high tariffs established to protect English farm products from having to compete with low prized products imported from abroad. This is the end of protectionism.T here were also a group of reforms who were called the Chartists, they wrote “the people'scharter” (1838). It was a kind of people rights. They asked for a Universal Manhood suffrage.2.- Mid Victorian (1848-70):Because of the new inventions this is a period of prosperity (agriculture, industry...). in 1851 was “The Great Exhibition” in the Chrystal Palace, London. It shows the new inventions and congratulations of English empire.In this period there were a confrontation of ideas:Utilitarianism: it is a theory based on the idea that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by whether its consequences are conductive to general utility. The main thinker was Jeremy Bentham (Wrote about social happiness. He believed that individuals acted by self-interest). The utilitarians applied this idea for all the institutions, for everything.Opposed to the utilitarianism: Thomas Carlyle, he thought that intellect had limitations and couldn't explain everything and he turned to the humanism soul, a sort of religious belief was necessary to explain things.It was a group of writers who were shocked for the condition of living in some parts of England and they wrote a series of novels, “condition of England Novels” they were about living in the slums and they critiqued the oppression of working class.Elisabeth Gaskell´s “North and South” and Benjamin Disraelis “Sybil of the two nations”3.- Late Victorian: (1870-1900):The U.K. had more competitors in trade, e.g. The United States and Germany which was becoming an empire.It is a period in which workers began to join in associations, which are called trade unions. The first workers who went together were miners and textile workers. A very important association until today is called The Trade Union Congress (1868), which is the assembly of all the associations. From here we have an order of workers and a political party, Labour Party (1906)GENERAL CHARASTERISTICS OF VICTORIAN LITERATURE1. - Prose: The beginning of a new kind of prose, the lyric prose, is a prose that not only communicate ideas, it express it beautifully. In this time the readers wanted for advice from authority and some writers provided advise, people needed a guide. E.g. Thomas Carlyle, John Henry Newman, Mathew Arnold. It's full of prepositions because of this didactic style and parallelisms.2. - Poetry: It was considered superior than prose, novel theatre. They said that the writing of agenius must be poetry. There were two main romantic inheritances in poetry:1.- the use of retrospective forms: archaic language. They revived many old forms (particularly the mixture of lyric and elegy which influenced others forms like epigram).2.- experimentation with genres. Some poets continued the movement of colloquial diction into poetry (Robert Browning)3. - Novel: The main theme is man in society (family, business, friends...). they don't speak abut the past, speak about things that were happening in that time. (Dickens, Brontës).4. - Drama: Theatre had a little importance (Oscar Wilde, George Bernal Shawn)THE BRONTËS- Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)- Emily Brontë (1818-1848)- Anne Brontë (1820-1849)Their father, Patrick Brontë was a clergyman in Yorkshire. He had six children, his mother died very soon. The four eldest were sent to a boarding school. The two eldest died of tuberculosis so the four children that remain were educated at home.He encouraged the children to learn by their own. Mr Brontë discussed poetry, history and politics with his children. The children themselves created a world of fantasy. Mr. Brontë gave his son a book of wooden soldiers, the soldiers became for them the centres of an increasingly elaborate set of manuscripts. They created new countries like Angria, Gondal. They wrote little novels of these imaginary countries.They worked as teachers and governess and they wanted to set up their own school. They wen to Brussels to study language.Branwell (the brother) was a very talented as a writer and painter, he took drugs and alcohol and died in 1848. In the funeral Emily caught a cold and it developed into tuberculosis and died in December, a year late Anne also died.- Charlotte Brontë: “Jane Eyre”, the novel examines many sides of the circumstances of women show a new move towards freedom ad equality.- Emily Brontë: “Wuthering Heights”, it is a novel of passion, an early psychological novel.- Anne Brontë: “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” With an unusual central female character andinvolving complex relationships and problems.CHARLES DICKENSHe was born in the south of England, his father was a clerk, he went to prison and Dickens had to work in a factory (blacking workhouse) when he was 12 years old. He lived in different parts of London and knew poverty and London slums. He used this material in his novels.He became a reporter, he worked in many magazines and published in one of these magazines several sketches of the life and manners of the time these were together in one volume “Sketches by Boz”.He was asked to write “The Pickwick Papers” in 20 monthly numbers. He published his novels by instalments, he had to maintain the interest of the readers in order they want to read the following chapters. While he was writing the novel knew how was the reaction of the people, what people preferred and he could change the direction of the novel. Many critics think that the novels published in this way have a loose structure.He got married Catherine Hogarth, they had ten children, the couple separated because he had an affair with an actress. He went to America twice making them read his novels. He left his last novel unfinished.Sentimental work:- “Oliver Twist” (1837-38): it shows a great concern about social problems. He had very strong opinions against the factories in which children worked. It is a story of a poor boy that worked in a factory and describes his situation. He went away and discovered a band of thieves who taught him to be a thief. The novel is a mixture of melodrama and realism.- “The curiosity shop” (1840-41):This is the story of little Nell, a girl who lives with her grandfather. Her grandparent borrows money to a miser who takes the shop because he can't pay. They have to go away because the miser persecuted them.- “A Christmas Carol”: Scrooge a very bad miser received the visit of 3 ghosts which show past, present and the following Christmas and showed how bad he is.- “David Copperfield” (1949-50): The hero David, becomes the kind of success which Victorians admired, he is rich, he marries, and a general sense of happy ending is given. This novel was based in part of Dickens's own childhood and his success.Works after 1850:- “Bleak house”: it is a satire of the delays of law. It's a process which never ends.- “Hard Times”: it is an attack on capitalism, society and industrial life.- “A Tale of cities”: historical novel on the French revolution.- “ Great expectations”: it is about an orphan who has a secret benefactor. He help a prisoner to escape, the convict later helps him.General characteristics:He saw the world as a fresh experience. He had an extraordinary range of language, he could use colloquial and formal language. Great characters and intense emotionalism.THOMAS HARDY: “Far for the Madding Crowd”The tittle comes from the poem “Elegy written in a country churchyard”. It was published in 1874 in a magazine in serial form. He had to write in the way the readers wanted to know what was going to happen in the next chapter. It had a great success. When it was published he was 33 years old and it was his 4th novel.All Hardy's novels are settled in Wessex (the south west of England where there are a lot of counties, it is an imaginary noun).Hardy was very pessimistic and the main theme of his novels is the struggle of man against the indifferent forces that rule the world, his novels are tragic.In the first chapter, there is an introduction of the two main characters: Gabriel Oak and Bathseba; it is located in the countryside, rural setting.The narrator is omniscient, he controls everything. They are confident, they are sure of them. He goes through the novel controlling the novel, he could also change the point of view.Man in society is the main characteristic of Victorian novels. Gabriel is seen from the point of view of others.The basic idea is that he was just an ordinary man: Hardy conveys these ideas offering images of behaviour.GEORGE ELIOT (1819-1880)Her name was Mary Ann Evans, she used a pseudonym for his publications. She was born in the Church of England. At the school she converted into Methodism, which is very strict in words. She was a very cultivate woman, she was agnostic because of her intellectual formation. She translated religious texts and the critic about it. She was strongly influenced by religious concepts of love, morals, duty and behaviour.She became the assistant editor of a magazine, “The Westmister Review”. She felt strongly in love with the editor but this love was not reciprocated. Later she felt in love with Herbert Spencer but again this relation didn't go well. She met another writer G.H. Lewis, they felt in love and they went to live together until Lewis' death(1878). When he died she married her financial adviser (two years later) and seventeenth months later she died.Works:She translated many religious books. She knew Italian, German... she translated Feverbach's “Essence of Christianity”. It is important because she agreed with Feverbach view that religious beliefs are an imaginative necessity of man and a projection of his interest.Her novels were published by instalments. She has been considered the first modern English novelist.In the first generation the writers considered themselves as providers of advise and public entertainers. They wrote books to enjoy and offer them some advice. The new writers of the second generation took their job very seriously, they considered themselves as novelists, professional writers.Eliot takes her works seriously as novelists, the structure has to be perfect. She was a moral writer in the sense that she believed that the responsibility for a man's life and fate lay firmly on the individual and his moral choices. The individual has to decide in every situation and has the responsibility of his life. But the individual decisions are not external.She wrote: “Adam Bede”, “The Mill on the floss”, “Silas Marner”, “Romola, “Felix Holt”, “Middlemarch”, “Daniel Deronda”.We can represent her novels in two circles:“Middlemarch”: It was published in a serialised for. It is considered a masterpiece. The tittle is the changed name of a city where the action happens, Middlemarch is the provincial of Coventry. This novel is set during the years of the 1st reform bill. It has a multiple plot, with many arguments, several interlocking sets of characters, so she created a network that enclosed the whole life of this city.One of the stories is the story of Dorothea Brooke and Mr. Casaubon. She is an intelligent idealistic young woman and married Mr. Casaubon (a pedant). She wants to share her husband's world. When she married she realized that her husband has plans but didn't worked at them, she loses the respect of him. She begins to fell in love with Ladislaw.Another history is Dr. Lydgate, a young and very ambitious man who had plans, he wants to stablish professionally. A very beautiful woman plans to marry him, her name was Rosamand.They married but it didn't go well because she is materialist and selfish. He gets involved in some problems. In a determined point, Dorothe sees Rosemand and Ladislaw together and she decides not to love him.All the characters Know each other, at the end all the plots have relation between them, it makes a perfect portrait.THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)He was born in Dorchester. His father was a stonemason and he worked as an apprentice to several architects, learning the profession. He began to write poetry and in the period of 1870-3 he published his first three novels, his great success came with his fourth novel, “Far from the Madding Crowd” (1874). Then he left architecture for novel writer. The most important novels that he published are “The return of the native” (1878), “The major of Casterbridge”(1886), “Tess of the D'urbervilless” (1891), and “Jude de Obscure” (1896).He became a very well known figure in London. His works were very tragic. The critics criticised his two last novels, they said that they were very immoral and pessimistic and because of this he abandoned the fiction novels and wro te only poetry, such as “Wessex Poems” (1898). He called himself “meliorist” and said that the world could be better by human effort. He received a honorary degree from Cambridge University.Work:The main theme is the struggle of man against the indifferent forces that rule the world: how people suffer because of fate who are more powerful than him. The disparity between the things that people wanted to be and the things that actually they are, between human ambition and fate. The fate is completely eternal and is important, also the social conditions.The characters are not the masters of their own fate but they can achieve dignity by endurance. He offers some sense of human in the description of rural characters.“Wesssex” is the name he gave to the south west of England. He changed the names of the places, the villages are real but the name is invented.“Tess of the D'urbervilless” : Tess is a country girl who is seduced by Alec, a rich young man, she gets pregnant and Alec leaves her. The child dies so she is very miserable, she has to work as a maid. She meets another man, angel, who is the son of a priest and they married. In the wedding night, Tess told about Alec and Angel abandoned her.Tess has to accept to become the mistress of Alec because of her bad situation. Angel returns to look for his wife, but Tess and Alec are living together. Tess gets mad and kills Alec. She is hung because of this.OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900)He was born in Dublin. His father was a very famous surgeon and his mother was a very well known poetess in Dublin. She was very controversial, provocative, excentric and Oscar had her influence. He was very estrange physically: tall, fattish, big dreamy eyes, too fleshy, big mouth, at the same time he was beautiful and awful. He dressed extravagantly because he didn't feel ashamed of his appearance.He learnt from his mother how to be funny courageous and he was a transgressor (to break the rules of society). He went to Oxford and he was a very good student. He caught syphilis from a prostitute. At the age of 29 he married Constance Lloyd. They had 2 children but soon Constance was a very sexual object for him. He convinced his wife to stop having sexual relationships, but they continued living together.By this time he wrote books of poems, tales, fairy stories. He was an excellent conversationalist, he speaks beautifully, funny, witty. Some writers said he looked like disgusted at first impression. Under this image, superficial, trivial, he was transcendent, he belonged to a poetical movement called Aestheticism whose motto is art for art sake.In 1891 Oscar met Lord Alfred Douglas (Basic) who was 21 years and Oscar 37. Basic was a young rich selfish, conceited, frivolous, cruel man. Oscar felt in love desperately in love with basic, who introduced him to the world of underground and make Oscar's life very awful. Oscar tried to leave him but he couldn't because he loved him and Bosie threatened Oscar to suicide if Oscar left him. Bosie's father was the marquis of Queensberry, he knew the relation between them and they became enemies.Meanwhile Oscar published his only novel “The portrait of Dorian Gray”, is a sort of gothic novel. Dorian wanted to be young forever. He wanted to try forbidden things.The real success came with his plays: “Lady Wardermere's fan” (1892); “A woman of no importance (1893); “An ideal husband” (1895); “The importance of being Earnest” (1895). ð Witty, funny, word plays, paradoxes.15 days after the streno of the last play Bosies's father left a note in Oscar's club accusing him of being sodomite. Oscar didn't want to answer. Bosie told Oscar to take his father to court because of difamation. The case was a hopeless case, because during the trial all the things they had done appeared and Oscar was arrested and taken to a jury. During this second case all the people he had met in the underground come to the court and told all the things they had done.He was sent to prison. Two years of force labour and his name was a matter of shame. His novels were retired of libraries; his novels never were represented again. His wife changed her surname and her child's. After 2 years he was a broken man and his friends took him to France. Oscar accepted to see Bosie again, who left him when discovered that Oscar didn't write and had lost his glamour.“The Ballad of Reading Gaol” (1898) about his prison experience.The last work published after his death “De Profundis” (1905) is a letter to reproche to Bosie, a confession.ALFRED, LORD TENNYSONHe is the Victorian poet, he wrote the model of Victorian poetry. Queen Victoria was an admirer. She was a widow for 40 years and found consolation in Tennynson's poetry. He is the poet of love and loss.His father was a priest, he was the fourth of twelve children. Their father taught them privately: classical language, philosophy, reading. He went to Cambridge and became friend of a group of artists and writers. One of them was Arthur Hallan, who was his confident, adviser, closest friend. He became engaged Arthur's sister, but died at the age of 22 and this provoqued a great depression in Tennynson, it was the origin of the poem “In Memorian” (1850)Before 1850 he had written many books of poems although they didn't became famous. He became Poet Laureate; before this publication he had the recognition of his works and it gave him a lot of money.Works:“Poems, chiefly lyrical” (1830); “in Memorian” (1850);“The charge of the light Brigade”(1854): it is inspirited on a piece of news on the newspaper about the soldiers who died in the Crimean War.“Maud” (1855): It is a monologue and best seller“Idylls of King” (1859): It is about King Arthur.General characteristics of his literature:Great virtuosity of technique. He studied the poetry of his predecessors and achieved a great technique.He had a great capacity to link scenarios to states of mind. His vision of nature is not idealistic as romantics. He prefers rural things rather than urban.Preoccupation with the problems of his days: about technological changes, he thought that it was positive but he was very worried because of horrors of industrialism (slums, working conditions, working of the children).He was an admirer of Yeats.“In Memorian”He started it in 1833. It is a series of poems put together around the same theme: the death of his friend. More than an elegy is a group of poems about anxieties and doubts about the meaning of life, what a rule of a man was in the world and doubts because of the death of his friend. It is a poet diary upon his reflections on this matter.ROBERT BROWNING (1812-1889)/ ELISABETH BROWNING (1806-1861)Robert is admired for two things:moral toneinnovations in poetry- Robert browning was born in London, he was the son of a banker, and educated basically at home because his father had a great library and he read a lot.At the beginning he wrote personal poems. Some critics attacked his poems and he was embarrassed because of this, so he changed his way of writing( very personal), which became more obscure.After 1936 and during ten years, he wrote plays but without success, but it was a good practice for a new model of poetry which he developed; dramatic monologue. It was his best known kind of poetry because he could write in a personal way under a character.“Dramatics Lyrics” (1842) it was the first collection of this kind of poetry.After 15 years in Italy, he and his son came back to England. He wrote “Dramatis Personae” (1864) which was a monologue; “The Ring and the Book”.- Elizabeth was a very well known poet who was semi-invalid, under the control of her father. She was kept at home, she had a tyrannical father, she was very well educated.She published “Poems” (1844) and Robert read it and enjoyed it very much and they stablished a correspondence. After a time they became engaged secretly. In 1846 they got married secretly and eloped to Italy and stayed there for 15 years. There she discovered that she wasn't invalid and they were very happy. The product of their love is “ Sonnets from the Portuguese” (1850): a sequence of forty four sonnets in which she recorded the stages of her love for Robert Browning, a sequence she presented under the guise of a translation from the Portuguese language.“Aurora Leigh”(1857)Differences between Browning and TennysonTennyson was the Victorian poet who was worried with the topics of the age. But he explored the topics of the day in a different way: faith/doubt, Good/evil.The main difference is the style. Tennyson belonged to the lyrical tradition. Browning had a more colloquial, prosaic tone, his poems are like prose.The social world within which this dilema has to be resolvedThe centre of her novelsA small group of individuals involved in a normal dilema。

The Victorian Age (1830-1901) Sambourne House, London.❑Victoria became queen atthe age of 18; she wasgraceful and self-assured.❑Her reign was the longestin British history.Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842❑In 1840 she married aGerman prince, Albert ofSaxe-Coburg.❑They had nine children andtheir modest family lifeprovided a model ofrespectability.❑During this time BritainFranz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen Victoria, 1842changed dramatically.British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.•England grew to become the greatest nation on earth “The sun never sets on England”.British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.•British Empire included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, and India.British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.•Great Britain imported raw materials such as cotton and silk and exported finished goods to countries around the world.British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.•By the mid-1800s, Great Britain was the largest exporter and importer of goods in the world. It was the primarymanufacturer of goods and the wealthiest country in the world.British Empire throughout the World, 19th century, Private Collection.•Because of England’s success,the British felt it was their duty to bring English values,laws,customs,and religion to the“savage”races around the world.•1832: The First Reform Act granted the vote to almost all male members of middle-class.•1833: The Factory Act regulated child labour in factories.•1834: Poor Law Amendment established a system of workhouses for poor people.•1867: The Second Reform Act gave the vote to skilled working men.•1871: Trade Union Act legalised trades unions.•1884: The Third Reform Act granted the right to vote to all male householders.•Women‟s suffrage did not happen until 1918.The Rights of Women or Take Your Choice (1869)4. The woman’s questionSuffragettesIndustrial revolution: factorysystem emerged; for the firsttime in Britain’s history therewere more people who lived incities than in the countryside.Technological advances:introduction of steam hammersand locomotives; building of a Workers in a Tobacco Factorynetwork of railways.Economical progress:Britainbecame the greatesteconomical power in the world;in 1901 the Usa became theleader, but Britain remainedthe first in manufacturing.Workers in a Tobacco FactoryCrystal Palace was built forthe Great Exhibition of1851; it was destroyed byfire in 1936.The Crystal PalaceIt was made of iron andglass, exhibited hydraulicpresses, locomotives,machine tools, power looms,power reapers andsteamboat engines.The Crystal PalaceIt had a political purposeit showed British economicsupremacy in the world.The Crystal PalacePollution in towns due to factory activity.Homeless Boys (1880)London in 1872Lack of hygienic conditions: houses were overcrowded, most people lived in miserable conditions; poor houses shared water supplies.Homeless Boys (1880)London in 1872•Epidemics , like cholera, thyphoid, caused a high mortality in towns. They came to a peak in the Great Stink of 1858.•This expression was used to describe the terrible smell in London, coming from the Thames .•The “Miasmas”, exhalations from decaying matter, poisoned the air.8. The “Great Stink”Caricature appearing on the magazine «Punch»in18589. The Victorian compromise •The Victorians were greatmoralisers theysupported: personal duty,hard work, decorum,respectability, chastity.W. H. Hunt, The Awakening Conscience,1853-4, London, Tate Britain.•…Victorian‟, synonym for prude, stood for extremerepression; even furniturelegs had to be concealedunder heavy cloth not to be“suggestive”.•New ideas were discussed &debated by a large part of society.W. H. Hunt, The Awakening Conscience, 1853-4, London, Tate Britain.•The middle-class wasobsessed with gentility,respectability, decorum.•Respectabilitydistinguished the middle fromthe lower class.John Lamb, Victorian family portrait, 1879.Decorum meant:a.Victorian private lives weredominated by an authoritarianfather.b.Women were subject to maleauthority; they were expected tomarry and make home a “refuge”for their husbands.John Lamb, Victorian family portrait, 1879.John Stuart Mill and hisideas based on Bentham’sUtilitarianism.John Stuart MillKarl Marx and his studiesabout the harm caused byindustrialism in man’s life. Karl MarxCharles Darwin andthe theory of naturalselection.Charles Darwin•There was a communion of interests and opinions between the writers and their readers.•The Victorians were avid consumers of literature. They borrowed books from circulating libraries and readvarious periodicals.•Novels made their first appearance in instalments on the pages of periodicals.•The voice of the omniscient narrator provided a comment on the plot and erected a rigid barrier between «right»and «wrong», light and darkness.•The setting chosen by most Victorian novelists was the town.•Victorian writers concentrated on the creation of characters and achieved a deeper analysis of their inner life.12. PoetryAlfred, Lord Tennyson:the most popularVictorian poet. He wrotenarrative poems.Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, by George FredericWatts (died 1904), given to the National Portrait Gallery,London in 1895.Robert Browning: heraised the dramaticmonologue to new heightsmaking it a vehicle for adeep psychological study.Robert BrowningElizabeth Barrett Browning:she wrote love sonnets valuedfor their lyric beauty.Elizabeth Barrett Browning。

英国文学史习题The Victorian AgeI. Blank filling1. In the 19 th century English literature, a new literary trend ____________________________appeared after the romantic poetry .th2. The greatest English realist of the 19 century was ___________________________, whopictures bourgeois civilization, and shows the misery and suffering of the common people.3. The Victorian Age in English literature was largely on age of prose, especially of the_________________.4. Robert Browning is a great experimenter in poetic art. He is best known for the technique of__________________.5. The most important poet of the Victorian Age was _________________________. Next tohim were Robert Browning and his wife.6. The Chartist writers introduced a new theme into literature: the struggle of the_________________________ for their rights.7. The novel________________________ deals with the adventure of Mr. Pickwick, a retiredold merchant, who is the founder and chairman of the Pickwick Club.8. The novel “OliverTwist ”tells the story of a poor child named_________________ who isborn in a workhouse and brought up under miserable conditions.9. In “A Tale of Two Cities ”th,e two cities are _________ and ________ in the time ofrevolution.10. The subtitle of “V anity Fair ”is __________________________. The write r ’sintention wasnot to portray individuals, but the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole.11. The main plot of “V anity Fair ”centers on the story of two women: Amelia Sedley and___________________. Their characters are in sharp contrast.12. The Bronte sisters are Charlotte Bronte, _____________________ and Anne Bronte.13. Charlotte Bronte ’s masterpiece is _________________________.14. Emily Bronte ’s masterpiece is _____________________________.15. The author of “Mary Barton ”is ________________________.16. The author of “T R h e e t u r n of the Native ”is __________________.17. Chronologically the Victorian Period refers to _______________________.18. George Eliot produced three remarkable novels including “AdamBede”,“TheMill on theFloss ”and ___________________.19. In the novel “Adam Bede”, Adam falls in love with a village girlcalled__________________________ who is seduced and deserted by a squire.20. Hardy’s novels of character and environment, which are also called______________________________, are of great significance.21. Among Hardy’snovels, the best-known are _________________________ __ and “JudetheObscure ”.22. Hardy’snovel _________________________ talks about the life of a merchant who leavesthe big city and return to his home village.23. __________________________ is the representative among the writers of aestheticism anddecadence. “The Picture of Dorian Gray ”is a typical decadent novel written by him.24. “In Memoriam ”i s a collection of 131 short poems intended as a lament for the death of hisfriend___________________________.25. It was while living in Italy that Robert Browning published his finest volume of poems__________________ .II. Multiple choice1. Although writing from different points of view and with different technique, writers in theVictorian Period shared one thing in common, that is, they were all concerned about________.A. the love story between the rich and the poorB. the techniques in writingC. the fate of the common peopleD. the future of their own country2. The author of the work “Dombey and S o_n__”__i.sA. Charles DickensB. Henry JamesC. Robert BrowningD. Thackaray3. In the following figures, who is Dickens ’s first child hero?A. FaginB. Mr. BrownlowC. Oliver TwistD. Bill Sikes4. As a love story, Wuthering Heights is one of the most moving: the passion between_______ proves the most intense, the most beautiful and at the same time the most horrible.A. Hareton and CathyB. Heathcliff and CatherineC. Hareton and CatherineD. Heathcliff and Cathy5. Which of the following statements about Emily Bronte is not true?A. She was famous for here Wuthering Heights.B. She wrote 193 poems.C. She lived a very short life.D. Her masterpiece is noted for its optimistic tone.6. The most important characteristic in Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson is ___________.A. mastering of languageB. excellent choice of wordsC. use of the dramatic monologueD. excellent metaphor7. In the Robert Browning ’s works, whichestablished his position as one of the great English poets?A. PaulineB. The Ring and the BookC. SordelloD. Dramatic Romances and Lyrics8. Which of the following poems is not by V ictorian poets?A. “B reak, Break, Break ”B. “My Last Duches ”C. In MemoriamD. The Isles of Greece9. “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. ”T he above passage is most pr obably taken from___________.A. Great ExpectationsB. Wuthering HeightsC. Jane EyreD. Pride and Prejudice10. The sentences “And now he stared as here so earnestly that I thought the very intensity of his gaze, would bring tears into his eyes; but they burned with anguish, they did not melt ”are foundin ________.A. Wuthering HeightsB. Jane EyreC. Gulliver ’s TraveDls. Pride and Prejudice11. The first two lines of Alfred Tennyson -known ’p oesm w ell“Break, Break, Break ”read “Break, break, break, / On thy cold grey stones, O Sea! ”the repeated word “break ”suggests_______.A. joyB. fearC. fondnessD. hatred12. In the long poem “The Ring and the book ”, the “book ”is compared to ______.A. loveB. comprehensive knowledgeC. the hard truthD. the method of study13. Most of Thomas Hardy ’s novels are set in Wessex _______.A. a crude region in EnglandB. A fictional primitive regionC. a remote rural areaD. Hardy ’s hometown14. Middlemarch is considered to be George Eliot ’g rseatest novel, owning to all the followingreasons except ________A. it vividly depicts English country lifeB. it probes into perpetual philosophical thoughtsC. it provides a panoramic view of lifeD. it reveals women ’s true feelings15. Tess of the D’Urbervilles, one of Thomas Hardy’sbest known novels, portrays man as__________.A. being hereditarily good or badB. being self-sufficientC. having no control over his own fateD. still retaining his own faith in a world confusion16.In the play “The ImportanceeoinfgBEarnest”b y Wilde, the upper-class people is described asthe following except_______.A. corruptB. snobbishC. hypocriticalD. ambitious17. The success of Jane Eyre is not only because of its sharp criticism of the existing society, butalso due to its introduction to the English novel the first ______ heroine.A. workerB. peasantC. governessD. explorer18. Which of the following descriptions of Thomas Hardy is wrong?A. most of his novels are set in WessexB. Tess of the D ’Urbervilles is one of the most representative of him as both a naturalisticand a critical realist writer.C. Among Hardy ’s mawjoorrks, Under the Greenwood Tree is the most cheerful and idyllic.D. From The Mayor of Casterbridge on, the tragic sense becomes the keynote of his novels.19. “Everyday, every hour, brought to him one more little stroke of her nature, and to her onemore of his ”, the sentence is found in ___________.A. Middlemarch by George EliotB. Tess of the D ’v i U l e r b s e b r y HardyC. Jane Eyre by Charlotte BronteD. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte20. In ______ Tennyson dealt with the theme of women ’s rights and positions.A. The PrincessB. MemoriamC. Idylls of the KingD. Poems21. Which of the following best describes the protagonist of Thomas Hardy’s“TheMayor of Casterbridge ”?A. He is a man of self-esteem.B. He is a man of self-contempt.C. He is a man of self-confidence.D. He is a man of self-sufficiency.22. _________ not only continued to expose and criticize all sorts of social iniquities, but finallycame to question and attack the Victorian conventions and morals.A. George EliotB. Thomas HardyC.D. Lawrence D. Charles Dickens23. Robert Browning created the verse novel, transferring the thematic interest from merenarration of the story to revelation and study of characters in’n er world and brought to theVictorian Poetry____________.A. some psycho-analytical elementB. some romantic elementC. some realistic elementD. some classical element24. Dicken ’s works are characterized by a mingling of __________ and pathos.A. metaphorB. passionC. satireD. humor25. Among the writings by George Eliot, _______ is her only novel on English politics.A. Felix Holt, the RadicalB. MiddlemarchC. Daniel DerondaD. Romola26. The poetic form which Browning attached to maturity and perfection is _________.A. dramatic monologueB. use of symbolC. use of ironic languageD. use of lyrics27. Among George Eliot ’s seven novels, ________ is essentially an autobiographic account of herlife.A. Felix Holt, the RadicalB. MiddlemarchC. Daniel DerondaD. The mill on the Floss28. The author of ______ makes clear in the novel that it is wrong to discriminate on the basis ofsocial status, and it is cruel and destructive to break genuine, natural human passions.A. Jane EyreB. Wuthering HeightsC. Pride and PrejudiceD. Tess of the D ’Urbervilles29. George Eliot holds that the individual life is determined basically by two major forces:A. the spiritual self and the physical selfB. the good and the evilC. the individual ’s personality and the outer social circumstancesD. the divided self and the integrated self30. A typical feature of the English Victorian literature is that wriers became___________,exposing all kinds of social evils.A. didactic writersB. individual idealistsC. moral criticsD. religious advocators31. Thomas Hardy wrote novels of _______.A. psychoanalysisB. pure romanceC. character and environmentD. religious advocators32. The title of the Alfred Tennyson ’s poem “Ulysses ” reminds the reader of the following except ________.A. the Trojan WarB. HomerC. questD. Christ33. Tennyson ’s poem, Idylls of the King, was based on _________.A. the Celtic legendsB. an Italian documentC. a Roman murder caseD. the Bible34. One of the typical features of Dickens ’ novels is __________.A. complicated narrationB. exaggerated caricatureC. compressed syntaxD. streams of consciousness35. In style, Thomas Hardy is a traditionalist, though there are obvious traits of ______ inthematic matters.A. neo-classicismB. modernismC. romanticismD. utilitarianismIII. Error correction1. In the period of Victorian Age, a new literary trend called preromanticism appeared, whichflourished in the forties and in the early fifties.2. The greatest English critical realist was Charles Dickinson.3. Both Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Gaskell were well-known poet.4. Heathcliff is a character in the novel “Emm”a .5. In “Mary Barton ”, Carson is an active Chartist.6. Optimism and positivism are strongly reflected in Hardy ’s writings.7. The subtitle of Hardy ’s “Tess of the D ’Urbervilles ”is “a Novel without a Hero ”.8. Oscar Wilde is the representative among the writers of aestheticism and critical realism.9. The greatest Chartist poet was Thomas Cooper, who wrote a long poem “Therevolt ofHindostan ”in his imprisonment.10. The short poem “Break, Break, Break ”was written by Shelly.IV. Exercises on Selected ReadingExercise 1The room in which the boys were fed was a large stone hall, with a copper at one end, out ofwhich the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladledthe gruel at mealtimes; of which composition each boy had one porringer, and no more －excepton festive occasions, and then he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The bowls neverwanted washing —the boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again: and when theyhad performed this operation, (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as thebowls) they would sit staring at the copper with such eager eyes as is they could devour the verybricks of which it was composed; employing themselves meanwhile in sucking their fingers mostassiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been castthereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered thetortures of slow starvation for three months; at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger,that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn ’t been used to that sort of thing, (for his father had kept a small cook ’sshop) hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had another basin ofgruel per diem, he was afraid he should some night eat the boy who slept next him, who happenedto be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye, and they implic itly believed him. Acouncil was held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, andask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.The evening arrived; the boys took their places; the master in his cook ’usniform stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out, and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared, and the boys whispered to each other and winked at Oliver, while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger and reckless with misery. He rose from the table, and advancing, basin and spoon in hand, to the master, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity －“Pleased, Sir, I want some more. ”The master was a fat, healthy man, but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.“What! ”said the master at length, in a faint voice.“Please sir, ”replied Oliver, “I want some more. ”The master aimed a blow at Oliver ’h esad with the ladle; pinioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.QUESTIONS:1. This passage is taken from a well-known novel entitled _____________________.2. The writer of the novel is ____________________.3. What can you see from this passage?Exercise 2MRS WARREN: (piteously) Oh, my darling, how can you be so hard on me? Have I no rights over you as your mother?VIVIE: Are you my mother?MRS WARREN: (appalled) Am I your mother! Oh, Vivie!VIVIE: Then where are our relatives? my father? our family friends? You claim the rights of a mother: the right to call me fool and child; to speak to me as no woman in authority over me at college dare speak to me; to dictate my way of life; and to force on me the acquaintance of a brute whom anyone can see to be the most vicious sort of London man about town. Before I give myself the trouble to resist such claims, I may as well find out the whether they have any real existence.MRS WARREN: (distracted, throwing herself on her knees) Oh no, no. Stop, stop. I am your mother: I swear it. Oh, you can ’m t ean to turn on me－my own child! It ’n s o t natural. You believe me, don ’t you? Say you believe me.VIVIE: Who was my father?MRS WARREN: You don ’t know what you ’re asking. I can ’t tell you.VIVIE: (determinedly) Oh yes you can, if you like. I have a right to know; and you know very well that I have that right. Y ou can refuse to tell me, if you please; but if you do, will see the last of me tomorrow morning.MRS WARREN: Oh, it ’s too horrible to hear you talk like that. o Y u wouldn ’－t you couldn ’t leave me.VIVIE: (ruthlessly) Y es, without a moment ’s hesitation, if you trifle with me about this. (Shivering with disgust) How can I feel sure that I may not have the contaminated blood of that brutalwaster in my veins?MRS WARREN: NO, no. On my oath it ’s not he, nor any of the rest that you have ever met. I certain of that, at least.VIvie ’s eyes fasten sternly on her mother as the significance of this flashed on her.QUESTIONS:1. This passage is taken from a play entitled________________ .2. Who is the writer of this play?3. Do you kno w what is Mrs. Warren ’s profession?4. What is the theme of the play?V. Questions and Answers1. Comment on Tess of the D ’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.2. Make comments on Samuel Butler ’s novels.。

English Literature of the Victorian Age1. The Victorian Period:Chronologically the Victorian period roughly coincides withthe reign of Queen Victoria who ruled over England from1836to 1901. The period has been generally regarded as one of the most glorious in the English history. II. Historical Background1. economy: Industrial Revolution (1760 – 1840)2. politics: Chartist movement (1838 – 1848) 宪章运动3. science: Darwin’s theory of evolution(1859)4. society: the women question Queen Victoria ( 1837 – 1901)The early years of the Victorian England was a time of rapid economic development as well as serious social problems.III. Critical Realism1. definition----English critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the 40s and in the early 50s. It found its expression in the form of novel. The critical realists, most of whom were novelists, described with much vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint.2. Features:Victorian literature, as a product of its age, naturally took on its quality of magnitude & diversity. It was many-sided & complex, & reflected both romantically & realistically the great changes that were going on in people’s life & thought. Great writers & great works abounded.a. introduction of characters from the working classb. strong hatred for vices in the societyc. an illusion of bringing about social justice and harmony by reformsd. an interest in woman emancipation (Charlotte Bronte)3. Representatives:Charles Dickens; William Thackeray etc.4. Features of Victorian novelsIn this period，the novel became the most widely read & the most vital & challenging expression of progressive thought. While sticking to the principle of faithful representation of the 18th-century realist novel, novelists in this period carried their duty forward to the criticism of the society & the defense of the mass. Although writing from different points of view & with different techniques, they shared one thing in common, that is, they were all concerned about the fate of the common people. They were angry at the inhuman social institutions, the decaying social morality as represented by the money-worship & Utilitarianism & the widespread misery, poverty & injustice. Their truthful depiction of people’s life & bitter & strong criticism of the society had done much in awakening the public consciousness to the social problems & in the actual improvement of the society.Victorian literature, in general, truthfully represents the reality & spirit of the age. The high-spirited vitality, the down-to-earth earnestness, the good-natured humor & unbounded imagination are all unprecedented. In almost every genre it paved the way for the coming century, where its spirits, values & experiments are to witness their bumper harvest.The Chartist Movement （1836-1848）The English workers got themselves organized in big cities & brought forth the People’s charter, in which they demanded basic rights & better living & working conditions. They, for three times, made appeals to the government, with hundreds of thousands of people’s signatures. The movement swept over most of the cities in the country. Although the movement declined to an end in 1848, it did bring some improvement to the welfare of the working class. This was the first mass movement of the English working class & the early sign of the awakening of the poor, oppressed people.UtilitarianismAlmost everything was put to the test by the criterion of utility, that is, the extent to which it could promote the material happiness. This theory held a special appeal to the middle-class industrialists, whose greed drove them to exploiting workers to the utmost & brought greater suffering & poverty to the working mass.Critical RealismThe Victorian Age is an age of realism rather than of romanticism-a realism which strives to tell the whole truth showing moral & physical diseases as they are. To be true to life becomes the first requirement for literary writing. As the mirror of truth, literature has come very close to daily life, reflecting its practical problems & interests & is used as a powerful instrument of human progress.Dramatic MonologueBy dramatic monologue, it is meant that a poet chooses a dramatic moment or a crisis, in which his characters are made to talk about their lives, & about their minds & hearts. In “listening” to those one-sided talks, readers can form their own opinions & judgments about the speaker’s personality & about what has really happened. Robert Browning brought this poetic form to its maturity & perfection & his “My Last Duchess” is one of the best-known dramatic monologues.Further Reading:After the Reform Bill of 1832 passed the political powerfrom the decaying aristocrats into the hands of the middle-class industrial capitalists, the Industrial Revolution soongeared up. Towards the mid-century, England had reachedits highest point of development as a world power. Andyet beneath the great prosperity & richness, there existedwidespread poverty & wretchedness among the workingclass. The worsening living & working conditions, themass unemployment & the new Poor Law of 1834 with itsworkhouse system finally gave rise to the Chartist Movement (1836-1848).During the next twenty years, England settled down to a time of prosperity & relative stability. The middle-class life of the time was characterized by prosperity, respectability & material progress.But the last three decades of the century witnessed the decline of the British Empire & the decay of the Victorian values.Ideologically, the Victorians experienced fundamental changes. The rapid development of science & technology, new inventions & discoveries in geology, astronomy, biology & anthropology drastically shook people’s religious convictions. Darwin’s The Origin of Species (1859) & The Descent of Man (1871) shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith. On the other hand, Utilitarianism was widely accepted & practiced. Almost everything was put to the test by the criterion of utility, that is, the extent to which it could promote the material happiness.Charles Dickens (1812-1870)I. Life:1. a middle class family2. once was a child labor in a shoe-blacking factory3. a clerk, a reporter, a writer4. the poets’ cornerII. Major Works1. Oliver Twist;雾都孤儿2. David Copperfield;大卫·科波菲尔(autobiographical)3. Hard Times; 艰难时世4. A Tale of Two Cities双城记III. three periodsa. optimismb. frustrationc. pessimism1. Period of youthful optimistSketches by Boz 《博兹札记》(1836); The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club 《匹克威克外传》(1836-1837); Oliver Twist 《雾都孤儿》or 《苦海孤雏》(1837-1838); Nicholas Nickleby《尼古拉斯·尼克贝》(1838-1839); The Old Curiosity Shop《老古玩店》( 1840-1841); Barnaby Rudge《巴纳比·拉奇》(1841)2. Period of excitement & irritationAmerican Notes 《美国纪行》(1842); Martin Chuzzlewit 《马丁·翟述伟》(1843-1845)；A Christmas Carol 《圣诞颂歌》(1843); Dombey & Son 《董贝父子》(1846-1848); David Copperfield 《大卫·科波菲尔》(1849-1850)3. Period of steadily intensifying pessimismBleak House 《荒凉山庄》( 1852-1853); Hard Times 《艰难时世》(1854); Little Dorrit 《小杜丽》(1855-1857); A Tale of Two Cities 《双城记》(1859); Great Expectations 《远大前程》or 《孤星血泪》(1860-1861); Our Mutual Friend 《我们共同的朋友》(1864-1865); Edwin Drood 《艾德温·德鲁德之谜》(unfinished) (1870)Distinct Features of His Novels1. Character Sketches & ExaggerationIn his novels are found about 19 hundred figures, some of whom are really such “typical characters under typical circumstances”, that they b ecome proverbial or representative of a whole group of similar persons.As a master of characterization, Dickens was skillful in drawing vivid caricatural sketches by exaggerating some peculiarities, & in giving them exactly the actions & words that fit them: that is, right words & right actions for the right person.2. Broad Humor & Penetrating SatireDickens is well known as a humorist as well as a satirist. He sometimes employs humor to enliven a scene or lighten a character by making it (him or her) eccentric, whimsical, or laughable. Sometimes he uses satire to ridicule human follies or vices, with the purpose of laughing them out of existence or bring about reform.3. Complicated & Fascinating PlotDickens seems to love complicated novel constructions with minor plots beside the major one，or two parallel major plots within one novel. He is also skillful at creating suspense & mystery to make the story fascinating.4. The Power of ExposureAs the greatest representative of English critical realism, Dickens made his novel the instrument of morality & justice. Each of his novels reveals a specific social problem.5.unnatural happy endingHis Literary Creation & Literary AchievementsCharles Dickens is one of the greatest critical realistic writers of the Victorian Age. It is his serious intention to expose & criticize in his works all the poverty, injustice, hypocrisy & corruptness he saw all around him. In his works, Dickens sets a full map & a large-scale criticism of the 19th-century England, particularly London. A combination of optimism about people & realism about society is obvious in these works. His representative works in the early period include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield & so on.His later works show a highly conscious modern artist. The settings are more complicated; the stories are better structured. Most novels of this period present a sharper criticism of social evils & morals of the Victorian England, for example, Bleak House, Hard Times, Great Expectations & so on. The early optimism could no more be found.Charles Dickens is a master story-teller. His language could, in a way, be compared with Shakespeare’s. His humor & wit seem inexhaustible. Character-portrayal is the most outstanding feature of his works. His characterizations of child (Oliver Twist, etc.), some grotesque people (Fagin, etc.) & some comical people (Mr. Micawber, etc.) are superb. Dickens also employsexaggeration in his works. Dickens’ works are also characterized by a mixture of humor & pathos. William Makepeace ThackerayI. Lifea. born in India;b. studied in Cambridge;c. gambling and bad investmentsd. has to make a living by writing articles for newspapers and magazines.II. featuresa. Just like Dickens, Thackeray is one of the greatest critical realists of the 19th century Europe. He paints life as he has seen it. With his precise and thorough observation, rich knowledge of social life and of the human heart, the pictures in his novels are accurate and true to life.b. Thackeray is a satirist. His satire is caustic and his humour subtle.c. Besides being a realist and satirist, Thackeray is a moralist. His aim is to produce a moral impression in all his novelsIII. Vanity Fair ----masterpiece1. title: from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress.2. Subtitle: “A novel without a hero”the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a wholeno positive characters (c) female3. plot( p193 -196)Read the story from P137 to P138 by yourself. Make clear about the development of the plot and relations between main characters. (Rebecca Sharp, Amelia Sedley, Joseph Sedley, Sir Pitt Crawley, Rawdon Crawley, Lord Steyne, George Osborne, William Dobbin)Amelia: good-natured, sentimental, and simple-mindedGeorge Osborne: snobbish, caustic, selfish and simple-mindedJoseph Sedley: vain, selfish, effeminateWilliam Dobbin: good-natured, honestIII. Comparison between Thackeray and Dickenssimilarities:① both representatives of critical realism;② both novelists, humorists;③ both criticized the Victorian society satirically.2. differences:① D described the common people, T mainly described the lives of aristocrats and rich people.②D was a sentimentalist. T was a cynic who doubted the goodness of human nature as a spectator.③ D advocated social reforms, T was not a crusader for good causes.④ D was a romanticist, T was against all romantic conventions.George eliotI. life1. George Eliot (1819-1880), pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, was born on Nov. 22, 1819 into anestate agent’s family in Warwickshire, England.2. Though brought up under strict religious influences, she early abandoned religious beliefs, adopted agnostic opinions about Christian doctrine, & showed a great interest in social & philosophical problems.3. At the age of 39, she started he literary career. Being a woman of intelligence & versatility, she quickly found herself ranking high among the great writers.4. In 1857, she wrote her first three stories which were later published in book form under the title of Scenes of Clerical Life.II. Literary Career1. her three most popular novels came successively, Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860) & Silas Marner (1861), all drawn from her lifelong knowledge of English country life & notable for their realistic details, pungent characterization & high moral tone.2. 1863, Romola, a full elaborately documented story of Florence in the time of Savornarola.3. Felix Holt, the Radical, her only novel on English politics.4. 1872, Middlemarch, a panoramic book, George Eliot’s greatest achievement5. 1876, last novel, Daniel Deronda.These novels, together with a number of poems & a collection of satirical essays, The Impressions of Theophrastus Such, constitute a formidable body of work from a woman frail in health & working constantly under the apprehension of failure or worthlessness.III. Achievements1. Writing at the latter half of the 19th century & closely following the critical realist writers, George Eliot was working at something new.2. By joining the worlds of inward propensity & outward circumstances & showing them in the lives of her characters, she starts a new type of realism & sets into motion a variety of developments, leading in the direction of both the naturalistic & psychological novel.3. In her works, she seeks to present the inner struggle of a person & to reveal the motives, impulses & hereditary influences which govern human action.4. She is interested in the development of a soul, the slow growth or decline of moral power of the character.5. Eliot holds the belief that a certain act in daily life will produce a definite moral effect on the individual.6. Most of her novels are characterized by two features: moral teaching & psychological realism. IV.The theme of her worksAs a woman of exceptional intelligence & life experience, George Eliot shows a particular concern for the destiny of women, especially those with great intelligence, potential & social aspirations. In her mind, the pathetic tragedy of women lies in their very birth. Their inferior education & limited social life determine that they must depend on men for sustenance & realization of their goals, & they have only to fulfill the domestic duties expected of them by the society. Their opportunities of success are not even increased by wealth.Charlotte Bronte & Emily BronteI. Life of the Bronte sistersCharlotte(39), Emily(30) ,Anne(29)1. born in Yorkshire moors, daughters of a poor country clergyman.2. 2 elder daughters died in the charity school3. Charlotte and Emily once worked as governessesII. Jane Eyre 简·爱III. Wuthering Heights 呼啸山庄1. Plot (P264-268)a story about two families and an intruding stranger2. Point of view: first person point of view;3. narration: two dramatic narrators (Mr. Lockwood, and Nelly Dean)IV. detail-reading (268-278)1. content: Final meeting of Heathcliff and Catherine before Catherine’s death2. narrator: Nelly Dean3. their love: passion, love, agony, horror4. Catherine:a common girl who met an uncommon love. In her heart, the struggle between true love and tradition never ceased, and finally caused her early death.5. theme :a. criticism upon the materialism and social discrimination.b. hatred and revenge are meaningless; only love lasts forever.6. features: Romantic color (private passion and personal emotions; description of nature; Gothic elements)Gothic NovelThe word “Gothic”originally implied medieval, but in the later 18th century, when the Gothic novel became influential, the word added the implication of mystery, horror and supernatural. Gothic novel is a type of prose fiction which flourished in 1790s and early years in the 19th century. It once refers to the novel which produces stories set in lonely frightening Gothic places. It is now generally applied to literature dealing with the strange, mysterious and supernatural designed to invoke suspense and terror in the readers.On Gothic NovelThere is a strong Gothic strain in many mainstream 19th century works, including the works of the Brontes, Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, and Hawthorne.In the 20th century, the genre flourished notably in popular horror fiction and films.Jane eyreSignificance:1. one of the most popular & important novels of the Victorian age.2. its introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine.II. Point of viewfirst person point of viewIII. Character (Jane Eyre)1. a naïve, kind-hearted, noble-minded woman who pursues a genuine kind of love.2. a middle-class workingwomen (governesses) struggling for recognition of her rights & equality as a human being.3. possessed of strong feelings, fiery passions & extraordinary personalities.IV. Themethe struggle of an individual towards self-realization.V. Style1. realism (criticism of the existing society) combined with romanticism (horror, mystery & prophesy)2. intensity of vision and passion3. The vividness of her subjective narration, the intensely achieved characterization4. vivid description of her intense feelingsVI. Detail-reading (Chapter XXIII)Jane finds herself hopelessly in love with Mr. Rochester but she is aware that her love is out of the question. So, when forced to confront Mr. Rochester, she desperately & openly declared her equality with him & her love for him. The passion described here is intense & genuine.Alfred Tennyson (1809－1892)I. life1809: Born at Somersby rectory, 4th son of the rector.1827: Poems by Two Brothers. Enters Trinity College, Cambridge.1829: Friendship with Arthur Hallam. love with Emily Tennyson.1831: Father dies.1832: brother Edward goes insane.1833: Hallam dies.1834: love with Rosa Baring1838: Engaged to Emily Sellwood.1840: Engagement broken off.1844: Has an emotional breakdown.1850: In Memoriam published anonymously. Marries Emily Sellwood. Appointed Poet Laureate. 1852: Son Hallam born.1862: Has first audience with Queen Victoria.II. Works:1. Poems by Two Brothers2. Poems, Chiefly Lyrical3. Poems (two volumes)4. The Princess5. Maud6. The Idylls of the King7. In MemoriamIII. Break, break, break(p294)IV. Features:1. T’s thoughts on the problems of life, death and immortality2. the conflict between the spirit and the flesh3. classical materialsRobert Browning & Elizabeth BarrettI. LifeLegendary love, happy marriageII. E’s WorksFrom Sonnets from the Portuguese(p305)III. Features:1. theme: love2. Feature: reason & emotion3. significance: set up new belief for Victorians who were thrown into a crisis in faithRobert BrowningRobert Browning (1812-1889) was born in a well-off family & received his education mainly from his private tutor, & from his father, who gave him the freedom to follow his own interest. In 1833, he published his first poetic work Pauline, which brought great embarrassment upon him. But in his second attempt Sordello (1840), he went too far in self-correction that the poem became so obscure as to be hardly readable. He even tried play writing but failed. All these frustrating experiences forced the poet to develop a literary form that suited him best & actually give full swing to this genius, i.e. the dramatic monologue.In 1846, Browning married Elizabeth Barrett, a famous poetess whose famous book of love poetry was Sonnets from the Portuguese. In 1869 Browing’s masterpiece, The Ring & the Book, came out. In 1889, Browning died & was buried in the Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey, beside Tennyson.My Last Duchess"My Last Duchess" is Browning’s best-known dramatic monologue. The poem takes its sources from the life of Alfonso II, duke of Ferrara of the 16th-century Italy, whose young wife died suspiciously after three years of marriage. Not long after her death, the duke managed to arrange a marriage with the niece of another noble man. This dramatic monologue is the duke’s speech addressed to the agent who comes to negotiate the marriage. In his talk about his "last duchess," the duke reveals himself as a self-conceited, cruel & tyrannical man. The poem is written in heroic couplets, but with no regular metrical system. In reading, it sounds like blank verse.V. the Dramatic Monologue戏剧独白The dramatic monologue is a soliloquy in drama in which the voice speaking is not the poet himself, but a character invented by the poet, so that it reflects life objectively.Thomas Hardy(1840-1928)I. Life (novelist and poet)a. Born in Dorchester —“Wessex”b. close to peasantryc. belief in evolutionII. Works:1. Tess of the D’Urbervilles《德伯家的苔丝》2. Jude the Obscure《无名的裘德》3. The Return of the Native《还乡》4. Far from the Madding Crowd《远离尘嚣》5. The Mayor of Casterbridge《卡斯特桥市长》III. Tess of the D’Urbervilles1. subtitle “a pure woman”2. Plot (p315-319)3. Pessimistic philosophy; critical realism; symbolism; naturalism;IV. H’s Ideas of FateMost of Hardy’s novels are tragic. The cause is not man’s own behavior or his own fault but the supernatural forces that rule his fate. According to Hardy, man is not the master of his destiny; he is at the mercy of indifferent forces which manipulate his behavior and his relations with others.John Galsworthy(1867-1933)I. lifeBorn in a rich bourgeois familyA representative of bourgeois realism in English novel of 20th centuryII. work1. The Island Pharisees岛国的法利赛人2. The Man of Property有产业的人3. Forsyte Saga福尔赛世家4. The End of the Chapter尾声III. Forsyte Saga(p352-356)1. powerful sweep2. brilliant illustrations3. deep psychological analysis4. satire & criticismIV. point of viewG’s works give a complete picture of English bourgeois society. Yet his criticism was limited to the spheres of ethics and aesthetics. Facing the crisis of British imperialism and the growing forces of socialism, Galsworthy began to idealize the decadent bourgeoisie.1. Modernism in English Literature prevailed during the 20s and 30s of the 20th century2. OriginThe concept of modernism emerged in the eighteenth century when the classicists mocked those who opposed them and called them modernists. Now it is a comprehensive term applied to international tendencies and movements in all creative arts in the 20th century. In a broad sense, it is applied to writing marked by a strong and conscious break with traditional forms and techniques of expression.3. Major philosophical Influences on modernism1) Darwinism 2) Marxism 3) Freudianism4. Major ideas of modernism1) It employs a distinctive kind of imagination. Thus it practicessolipsism( 唯我论). It believes that we create the world in the act of perceiving it.2) It implies a historical discontinuity, a sense of alienation, loss and despair. It rejects traditional values and assumptions. And it looks forfresh ways of looking at man’s position and function in the universe.Many modernists are philosophical existentialists.3) It elevates the individual and his inner being over social man andprefers the unconscious to the self-conscious. It celebrates passion andwill over reason and systematic morality.4) It rejects the traditional rhetoric by which tradition values and assumptions were communicated. It is bent on stylistic innovations and experiments with language, form, symbol and myth.4. Modernist movements1)Symbolism 2)imagism 3)aestheticism 4)expressionism5) the stream of consciousness 6)surrealism 7) existentialism8) theatre of the absurdLawranceI. TitleThe representative of psychological fiction.II. Life(p415-417)III. works(1) Sons and Lovers儿子与情人(2) The Rainbow虹(3) Women in Love恋爱中的女人(4) Lady Chatterlay’s Lover 查泰莱夫人的情人IV. Sons and Lovers1. autobiographical2. the Oedipus complex3. themea) the damage caused in family relationship by industrial forceb) the split of human beingsc) natural love as the only cureWoolfI. title:The representative of “stream of consciousness”school of novelII. LifeA novelist, critic and feminist; nervous breakdown since childhood; self-suicide III. Works1. Mrs. Dalloway达洛维夫人2. To the Lighthouse到灯塔去3. The Waves海浪4. A Room of One’s Own一间自己的房间5. Modern Fiction现代小说IV. Mrs. Dalloway (p441-445)V. point of view1. She challenged the traditional way of writing.2. She thought the depiction of details darkened the characters.3. She called the writers for writing about events of daily life that gave one deep impression.V. Influence(1) The stream of consciousness presented by Joyce and Woolf marks a total break from the tradition of fiction and has promoted the development of modernism.(2) However, because of the newness in form but hard to understand, this kind of fiction cannot attract readers.(3) The writers showed interest in the psychological depiction of the bourgeoisie but neglected the conflict that most people cared about at that time.James joyceI. Title: the representative of the “stream of consciousness”school of novelII. “stream of consciousness”1. definition:a psychological term indicating “the flux of conscious and subconscious thoughts and impressions moving in the mind at any given time independently of the person’s will”2. time: in the 20th century3. foundations:a. the literary device of “interior monologue”内心独白b. Freud’s theory of psychological analysisIII. J’s worksa. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man青年艺术家的画像b. Dubliners都柏林人c. Ulysses尤利西斯d. Finnegans Wake芬尼根觉醒IV. significance of his worksa. He changed the old style of fictions and created a strange mode of art to show the chaos and crisis of consciousness of that period.b. From him, stream of consciousness came to the highest point as a genre of modern literature.c. In Finnegans Wake, this pursue of newness overrode the normalness and showed atendency of vanity.William Butler Yeats(1865-1939)I. title“the greatest poet of our age –certainly the greatest in this (English) language”-----T. S. Eliot II. LifePoet and dramatistIrishLifelong love for Maud GonneIII. Works1. The Responsibilities责任2. The Land of Heart’s Desire理想的国土3. When You Are Old4. The Winding Stair盘旋的楼梯5. The Hour Glass时漏6. The Tower塔IV. FeatureHe is a celebrated and accomplished symbolist poet, using an elaborate system of symbols in his poems. But read as a whole, his poetry is elucidated by itself and gives the reader many memorable stanzas and lines of great poetry. (moon, water, rose)V. Themes1. Patriotism;2. love;3. civilization;4. age;5. the relation between imagination, history and the occultVI. When you are oldWhen you are old and gray and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read , and dream of the soft lookYour eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;How many loved your moments of glad grace,And loved your beauty with love false or true,But one man love d the pilgrim soul in you,And loved the sorrows of your changing face;And bending down beside the glowing bars,Murmur, a little sadly, how love fledAnd paced upon the mountains overheadAnd hid his face amid a crowd of stars.George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950)I. TitleA representative of critical realism in modern English literatureII. lifeIreland;socialist Movement;criticize the evil of capitalism;support the forces of revolution and democracyIII. works (plays unpleasant)Widower’s Houses 鳏夫的房产Major Barbara巴巴拉少校Heartbreak House伤心之家Mrs. Warren’s Profession华伦夫人的职业The Apple Cart苹果车。

The Victorian Age(1832-1902)English Critical RealismI. Historical BackgroundII.Literature of the age●An age of novel: The age produced such great novelists as Dickens, Thackeray, theBronte sisters and George Eliot.●An age of poetry: Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning (dramatic monologue)III. The Critical RealismEnglish critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the 40s and in the early 50s. It found its expression in the form of novel. The critical realists, most of whom were novelists, described with much vividness and artistic skill the chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalist system from a democratic viewpoint.Characteristicsa.Exposure and Criticism of the capitalist societyb.Satire on the ruling classes and sympathy for common peoplec.Essentially democratic and humanitarian attituded.Aiming at reform, not revolutionCharles Dickens (1812-1870)I. Biographical informationII. Works of three periods.The First Period (1836-1841) The Pickwick Papers ; Oliver TwistThe Second Period (1842-1850) David Copperfield; Dombey and SonThe Third Period (1851-1870)Bleak House; Hard Time; A Tale of Two Cities; Great ExpectationIII. Features of his works● A master storyteller: with his first sentence, he engages the reader’s attention and holds it tothe end;●What he writes is mainly the middle and lower-middle class life in London;● A master of language with a large vocabulary● A great humorist as well as a great painter of pathos. He mix the two to make his fictionalworld realistic;●Character sketches and exaggeration: The best depicted are: innocent and helpless childcharacters; evil villain characters; humorous or comical characters.Oliver TwistMain Plot⏹ A child of unknown parents, born in a workhouse where his mother dies soon after hisbirth;⏹Leads a miserable life in the workhouse under the tyranny of Bumble, a parish councilofficial;⏹After an unhappy apprenticeship at an undertaker’s shop, where he dressed in mourningclothing, acted as the attendant at funerals, Oliver runs away to London, and falls into a gang of thieves.⏹Led by Fagin, the gang includes the brutal burglar, Bill Sikes, his whore Nancy, and ayoung pickpocket called the “Artful Dodger.”⏹Every effort is made to convert Oliver into a thief.⏹The benevolent Mr. Brownlow rescues Oliver but only temporarily.⏹The ill-willed Monks, who has an interest in keeping Oliver’s parentage a secret, inducesthe gang to kidnap him.⏹Oliver is forced to join the gang and take part in their crimes. One day while helping BillSikes to break into Mrs Maylie’s house, Oliver is wounded and is taken good care of by Mrs. Maylie’s Protegee Rose.⏹Through the effort of Nancy, who is brutally murdered by Sikes, Oliver is finally rescuedand then adopted by Mr. Brownlow.⏹Monks has to confess the secret that he is the half-brother of Oliver. He wants to ruin hisbrother in order to retain the whole of his father’s property. All the other bad fellows come to no good end.⏹Rose proves to be Oliver’s mother’s sister.Chapter IIDriven by hunger Oliver ventures one day to ask for a second serving of porridge. The scandalized authorities beat him, put him in solitary confinement, and give him away along with ₤5.This scene strips the philanthropy mask of the ruling class and highlights their extreme brutality and corruption. It is in scenes like this we see the great critical realist voicing the helplessness of the poor and the oppressed.CommentaryOliver Twist gives strikingly vivid description of the underworld of the 19th century London., exposes the inhumanity of city life under capitalism and shows the extreme brutality and corruption of the oppressors and their agents under the mask of philanthropy.But t he happy ending of the novel shows Dickens’s optimistic belief in the inevitable triumph of good over evil. It also shows that Dickens’s belief that the social problem would be settled if only every employer followed the example set by good gentlemen like Mr. Brownlow.William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1893)Vanity FairThe Story centers on the story of two women: the well-born Amelia Sedley and the penniless Becky Sharp. In order to climb up into the upper class, Becky tries to marry Joseph, the fat brother of Amelia but fails. Becky then becomes a governess in the house of the mean and greedy Sir Pitt Crawley. She secretly marries the second son of Sir Crawley, Captain Rawdon, who then is disinherited by his rich old aunt for marrying a poor girl. So her hopes of being married to a rich man are dashed. Becky enters into a liaison with Lord Steyne, from whom she accumulates lots of money. Rawdon breaks with her after he discovers her treachery, then takes a post in Coventry Island, where he dies of yellow fever. Amelia is married to a lieutenant George Osborne, who is killed fighting at Waterloo. Amelia retains a romantic image of George. A few years later, the two meet.Becky discloses an old secret that George asks her to elope with him on the eve of Waterloo battle. Amelia finally marries Dobbin, who has loved her unselfishly from the start. Becky takes all the money of Joseph, who later dies. At the end of the book Rebecca has the money necessary to live in Vanity Fair; she appears to be respectable.The novel is given a subtitle “A Novel Without a hero.”⏹There are only two heroines⏹Sharp and Amelia can’t be seen as heroines, either, because Sharp seems too evil acharacter and Amelia appears too pale.⏹Thackeray’s intention to portray the whole of the notorious Vanity Fair.CommentaryThe story describes the life of the upper classes of England in the early decades of the 19th century and attacks the craftiness, snobbishness and vanity of the ruling classes. Life is portrayed as a vanity fair where everything can be sold and bought and money grubbing is the main motive for the members of the upper classes.Character analysisChild of a poor artist and a French opera girl, Becky Sharp has one determination: to carve out a place for herself in Vanity Fair. She sacrifices husband, child, friends to it; but she enjoys the battle. She is described as a merciless social climber.Characteristics of Thackeray’s Novels : He mainly described the lives of aristocrats and rich businessmen. He paints life as he has seen it. His satire is caustic and his humour subtle.Charlotte Bronte (1816 -1855)Emily Bronte (1818 – 1848)Major works⏹CharlotteProfessor 教师Jane Eyre Shirley雪丽/谢利Villette 维莱特⏹EmilyWuthering Height⏹AnneAgnes Grey艾格尼斯·格雷Jane EyreThe storyThe novel tells a story of a poor, plain orphan governess. She grows up in a cold and loveless house where she was badly treated by her aunt and cousins and a charity institution Lowood School where she suffers both physically and spiritually and later works at a rich family as a governess in Thornfield Hall where she falls in love with her master, Mr. Rochester, wins his heart, and is ready to be his wife. When the truth about his married status is out, she leaves him, refusing to stay as his mistress. At Moor house, she receives and rejects another proposal of marriage form Jo hn Rivers, a handsome young priest, because he doesn’t love her.Finally she returns to the penniless, disabled but free Mr. Rochester and the two are happily married.Themes⏹Sharp criticism of the existing society:1. The religious hypocrisy of charity institutions such as Lowood School where poor girls are trained to be humble slaves through constant starvation and humiliation.2. The social discrimination Jane experiences first as a dependent at her aunt’s house and later as a governess at Thornfield.A moral fable:people have to go through all kinds of physical or moral tests to obtain their final happiness. The first governess heroine:Despite her misfortune and plainness, fights her own way in the lonely world, maintains hr independence and dignity, and obtains her happiness.Jane Eyre’s famous assertion of self-integrity‘Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! –– I have as much soul as you, –– and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, or even of mortal flesh: –– it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as both have passed through the grave, and we stood at God’s feet equal, –– as we are!FeaturesFirst person narration allows the reader the insight into the heart and mind of the heroine from the beginning to the end and gives the work an extraordinary authenticity and fascinating interest.Wuthering HeightsPlotThe Earnshaws (Wuthering Heights): Mr Earnshaw, his wife, Hindley and Catherine.The Lintons (Thrushcross Grange): Mr. Linton, his wife, Edgar, Isabella.Heathcliff: a gypsy looking boy Mr. Earnshaw found in the streets of Liverpool.Catherine loves Heathcliff, while Hindley hates him. After the death of Mr. Earnshaw, Hindley degrades Heathcliff in everyway he can. Heathcliff grows brutal. When heathcliff overhears Catherine say that it would degenerate her to marry him, he runs away. Catherine marrys Edgar Lindon. Heathcliff returns as a rich man three years later and is determined to take revenge on Hindley and the Lintons. Catherine, ill and distressed by her continuing love for Heathcliff, dies after giving birth to a daughter, Cathy. Heathcliff turns Hindley into a drunkard and gambler and wins all his possessions. Hindley’s son Hareton becomes a pauper in his house. Heathcliff marries Isabella and they have a son, Linton Heathcliff. When Linton is grown, he forces him to marry Cathy. After a brief and unhappy marriage, Linton dies. But all his revenge is foiled by Cathy and Hareton, who love each other. Tortured by memories of Catherine, Heathcliff dies a defeated man.Themes⏹Love:the passion between Heathcliff and Catherine is the most intense, beautiful and the most horrible passions ever found among human beings.⏹Social discrimination:as an orphan, Heathcliff suffers all kinds of inhuman treatment and is forced to separated from his beloved.The way of narration : Starts from towards the end when Heathcliff is the master of both estates and little Cathy and Hareton are still in his clutch, and goes back to the very beginning and moves back and forth as the occasion requires. Most of the story is told by Nelly, Catherine’s old nurse, to Mr. Lockwood, a temporary tenant at Thrushcross Grange. Part of it is told by Mr. Lockwood himself, and part through Catherine’s diary and Isabella’s letters to Nelly.Victorian PoetsAlfred Tennyson(1806-1892):the most representative Victorian poet. Poet LaureateMajor worksIn Memoriam (Arthur Hallam)Idylls of the KingUlysses (To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield)Two best-known short poemsBreak, Break, Break: the poet’s own feelings of sadness are contrasted with the carefree, innocent joys of the children and the unfeeling movement of the ship and the sea waves. The beauty of the lyric is to be found in the musical language. Linking descriptions of nature or setting to the state of mind of the speaker.Crossing the bar: written in 1889, three years before Tennyson died. It describes his placid and accepting attitude toward death. Tennyson uses the metaphor of a sand bar to describe the barrier between life and death.Robert Browning (1812-1889)the most original poet, who improve and mature the dramatic monologue.dramatic monologue:A lyric poem that reveals a character within an ironic setting.A character speaks to an imaginary and silent listener and the speech provides not only the character’s account of the story but also a deep insight into the personality of the character. The poetic form was brought to a very high level by Robert Browning.“My last Duchess” is an example of this form. Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSonnet 43 “how do I love thee” expresses her love for her husband Robert Browning.。

1.the Highlanders龙(1)They are the Scots who live in the mountainous regions of the Highlands in Northern Scotland.(2)They are a proud,independent and hardy people who maintain their strong cultural identity.(3)They mainly live by farming sheep in mountain areas or fishing on the coasts and islands.2.the British Isles李(1)The British Isles lie northwest of Europe in the Atlantic Ocean.(2)They consist of two large islands-Britain and Irelandand several small islands.3.the Norman Conquest（William the Conqueror）李(1)In AD 1066,William of Normandy landed his army in England.(2)He defeated the Saxon king Harold and the English soldiers,and became the king of England the same year.(3)French was made the official language and the feudal system was firmly established in England.4.the Magna Carta(1)The Magna Carta(or Great Charter)was a document signed in 1215 by King John under compulsion by the powerful barons.(2)The purpose of the Charter was to make King John to recognize the rights of the barons.(3)The Magna Carta is now in the British Museum,London.5.the Victorian age(1)It refers to the monarch of Britain under the great Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901,the longest reign in British history.(2)The Victorian age was an age of national development and national optimism.(3)The Victorians were very religious and conservative in family life.(4)It was also,in its later stages,an age of imperialism.6.Modern English(1)Modern English is the English language since 1476.(2)With the introduction of the printing press in 1476,spelling and written forms of the English language began to become standardized.(3)The changes from Middle English to Modern English involve mainly pronunciation,vocabulary and spelling.7.Standard English龙(1)The form of English as written and spoken by educated speakers of the language.(2)The style of speech of BBC announcers is usually recognized as Standard English.(3)Standard English is also the most appropriate variety of English for a foreigner learning English to copy.mon Law(1)It is one of the main components of the British Constitution.(2)It refers to the Bills which have been passed by courts.9.the Bill of Rights in1689(1)It was the Bill passed by the Parliament in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution.(2)It laid down a number of things that future monarchs could not do.(3)It marked a sharp decline in powers of the Monarch.(4)It marked the beginning of the British Constitutional Monarchy10.Mercantilism(1)It was an economic theory practised by British government in eighteenth(2)It held that the acquisition of gold and silver,in payment for goods exported,increased the wealth of a nation.(3)Only by an excess of exports over imports could a country grow wealthy and self-sufficient.(4)Britain sold its surplus products abroad for gold and silver through extensive trade.11.the Protestant Reformation(1)A religious movement started in 1517,when the German monk Martin Luther posted for debate a series of theses that challenged Roman Catholic teaching.(2)Many Protestant sects broke away from the central organization of Roman Catholic Church.(3)Most of the Protestants stressed the Bible as the source and the norm of their teaching instead of the Pope as a source of authority.12.New England(1)New England refers to the north-eastern six states:Maine,New Hampshire,Vermont,Connecticut,Massachusetts and Rhode Island,an area running from the Canadian shore to New York.(2)This area resembles old England in many ways.(3)Some of the earliest settlement in American history was in this area(4)In general,this part of the country is small-scale,long-established and urban.13.Washington,D.CThe capital of the United States, on the Potomac between Maryland and Virginia: coextensive with the District of Columbia. The U.S. Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state.14.The declaration of IndependenceThe Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.15.Separation of powersInfluenced by Montesquieu’s theory of division of powers,the US Constitution ruled that political structures should share out political power between legislative,executive and judicial authorities,and that these authorities should exercise checks against each other.16 the ”lost generation”(1)It was a term first given by the writer-critic Gertrude Stein(2)the ”lost generation” refer to young people lost and embittered in a world that had been shaken to its foundations by World War I.(3)Representative writers of this group were F.Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.。