The Victorian Era (1837–1901) is defined by the reign of Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne at the age of 18 and ruled during the industrialization of England, encouraging tremendous change and expansive growth of England’s domestic and foreign power. The Victorian period in England’s history is a case study in stark contrasts: the beauty and richness of the aristocracy versus the poverty and depression of the poor working class. The middle class was essentially nonexistent, but the Industrial Revolution meant that the balance of power shifted from the aristocracy, whose position and wealth was based on land, to the newly rich business leaders. The new aristocracy became one of wealth, not land, and often bought themselves titles, which remained important in British society.
Until the reign of Queen Victoria, England’s populace was primarily rural. The explosion of the Industrial Revolution accelerated the migration of the population from the country to the city. The result of this movement was the development of horrifying slums and cramped row housing in the overcrowded cities. By 1900, 80% of the population lived in cities. These cities were “organized” into geographical zones based on social class—the poor in the inner city, with the more fortunate living further away from the city core.
In an age of burgeoning technology and industry, the common working man suffered what to the modern reader would seem brutal, degrading, and almost unimaginable conditions with a patient resignation and the sense that survival is its own end. Industrial workers labored from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, without health benefits, bonuses, or vacation. Adult factory workers were forced to leave their children with little to no supervision in drafty homes with inadequate septic systems, no running water, toilets, and little ventilation. Half of all children died before the age of five due to neglect and malnourishment. By 1839, nearly half of all funerals were for children under the age of ten.
The overcrowded shanty homes were built within walking distance of the factories. The houses were “back to backs,” often sharing a wall without windows in the front of the homes, and no backyards. In London and other large towns, the waste from houses drained into the sewers that ran down the center of the street, tainting the air with the smell of human and animal waste. Due to these conditions and mountains of animal filth and feces that filled the London streets, disease ran rampant, quickly sweeping through neighborhoods and factories. More than 31,000 people died from an outbreak of cholera in 1832; typhus, smallpox, and dysentery were also common diseases.
The Victorian Age was characterized by rapid change and developments in nearly every sphere – from advances in medical, scientific and technological knowledge to changes in population growth and location. Over time, this rapid transformation deeply affected the country’s mood: an age that began with a confidence and optimism eventually gave way to uncertainty and doubt and grievous conditions for the common man.
Dickens portrays those three social phenomena in negative way. It shows his disagreement on it. By presenting the pain of the working class, the horrible condition of the industry city and the failure of Utilitarianism, Dickens criticizes the Industrial Revolution which caused social chaos for England Society.
This was made up of technological, scientific and industrial innovations (e.g. mass production, steam engines, railways, sewing machines, gas and electric light, the telegraph) that led to an enormous expansion of production, particularly through the factory system.
What is called the first Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-18th century to about 1830 and was mostly confined to Britain. The second Industrial Revolution lasted from the mid-19th century until the early 20th century and took place in Britain, continental Europe, North America, and Japan.
Within the novel Dickens is highly critical of the darker consequences of the industrial revolution. He presents these attitudes in Scrooge through the way that he treats his worker Fred before his redemption, highlighting that they are unfavourable characteristics which do not benefit society.
As Irene Collins points out, Dickens "dislikes the violence of the revolutionaries, both in its popular form (the mob) and in its institutionalised form (the Terror). Unlike Carlyle, he can no longer see justice in the violence" (Collins 53).
The Industrial Revolution was the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines. Its start and end are widely debated by scholars, but the period generally spanned from about 1760 to 1840.
During the Victorian period, the industrial revolution spurred a massive social, political, and economic process of change. Attracted and repelled by this transformation, writers produced an explosion of essays, novels, poems, plays, autobiographies, and journalism.
The Industrial Revolution shifted societies from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy where products were no longer made solely by hand but by machines. This led to increased production and efficiency, lower prices, more goods, improved wages, and migration from rural areas to urban areas.
The conclusion of the Industrial Revolution was the creation of many inventions that improved manufacturing capabilities of certain industries and improved the economy. Inadvertently this also led to a rise in poverty and unemployment as dependence on manual labour was reduced.
Pre-industrial society refers to social attributes and forms of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which occurred from 1750 to 1850. Pre-industrial refers to a time before there were machines and tools to help perform tasks en masse.
Answer and Explanation: Charles Dickens was highly critical of industrialization and in particular the owners of industry. He viewed urbanization as unhealthy and the saw the working-classes, particularly, children exploited by the new system. He wrote articles and novels attacking and satirizing owners of industry.
It made a permanent mark on how Christmas is viewed and celebrated in modern times. You could say that every aspect of the festive season – turkeys, mince pies, mistletoe, present giving, and overall merriment – was down to Dickens's portrayal of Scrooge's spiritual transformation.
Instead of creating a community in which life can be enjoyed by all, Dickens highlights the injustice of wealth distribution. Dickens uses two wretched children, called Ignorance and Want, to represent the poor. a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds.
The strenuous and often harsh working conditions made a lasting impression on Dickens and later influenced his fiction and essays, becoming the foundation of his interest in the reform of socio-economic and labour conditions, the rigours of which he believed were unfairly borne by the poor.
In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens uses his critique of both the conditions leading up to the Revolution, and the Revolution itself as a warning to his English audience. He connects the cold and selfish behavior of the aristocracy to the revolutionaries' violent demands for justice.
The Industrial Revolution shifted societies from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy where products were no longer made solely by hand but by machines. This led to increased production and efficiency, lower prices, more goods, improved wages, and migration from rural areas to urban areas.
In an excerpt from "Oliver Twist," Charles Dickens criticizes the lack of compassion shown by all classes toward the plight of the poor, a feature of industrialized Britain.
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