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Literary Overview
1. General Features
It is a fact that Victorian literature was many sided
and complicated. It reflected the great changes in social life and thought.
The most impressive and popular genre in this period was novel, which
expressed the progressive thought and depicted the vast social reality.
The Victorian novelists succeeded the novelists a lot
in the 18th century, such as Fielding, Richardson and Smollett, etc.
Novelists of these two periods were mainly concerned with people, people’s
life and people’s relationship in society. However, the content of the
novels in the 19th century was much wider and the theme much deeper.
Novelists in the 19th century took two more functions except description and
moralization, which was social criticism. A reason for the popularity of
Victorian novels was the widespread cultural movement, among the lower
class, which resulted from the proletarian struggle. More and more people in
lower class joined in the social and cultural activities. These readers were
not content to read abstruse philosophy, idyllic lyrics or romantic legends.
They called for the literature that could show common people’s feeling and
life. Novels in this period just could satisfy these readers.
They exposed and criticized all the evils in real life,
such as the brutal workhouse, the corrupted government, the unfair law and
vain and sanctimonious hypocrites. These novelists are known as critical
realists. The representatives are Charles Dickens (1812-1870), William
Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), Charlotte Btontë (1816-1855),
George Eliot (1819-1880) and many
other writers.
Another famous
realistic novelist in the last part in Victorian age is Thomas Hardy
(1840-1928) who mainly depicted the humble and simple peasants and the pain
brought by the industrialization to them.
Besides novels, the non-fictional writers also effectively expressed the
Victorian Spirit. They supported the political and economic expansion in
England. Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859), a historian and literary
essayist, celebrated England’s progress and prosperity in England in his
History of England. Furthermore, most prose writers of this period showed
religious and philosophical enthusiasm that the Victorian middle class
mainly concerned and resulted from industrial advancement and scientific
discoveries. Darwin’s evolutionary theory made the prose writers, such as
Carlyle, Ruskin, Arnold, Huxley, abandon the institutional Christianity and
adhere to some secular faith. In addition, at the end of Victorian Age
appeared a literary trend of aetheticism with
Walter Pater (1839-1894) and
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900) as the representatives.
Apart from prose, fictional and non-fictional works in
this age, there were also great poems. The two notable poets of this age
were Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) and Robert Browning (1812-1889).
Tennyson moved his interest from romantic escapism to problems of religious
faith, social change, and political power. His poems, “The Elegy in
Memoriam” (1850), and “Idylls of the King” (1859-1885) clearly showed his
idea. He ended as a conservative man. Robert Browning tended to be much
harsher to social problems than Tennyson. Browning’s most important short
poems are collected in Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1841-1846) and Men and
Women (1855). With these two great poets, there were many other worthy
poets, such as Matthew Arnold, a critic and poet, Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, Robert Browning’s wife, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algeron Charles
Swinburne, and others. As novels became the dominant form of literature, the
poets tried to tell stories in verse form. Just like novelists, poets wrote
long poems in a casual tone and usually in prosaic style.
2. Critical Realism
As a new literary trend, critical realism in Victorian period flourished in
the forties and early fifties in the form of novel. The critical realists
described the chief features of English society and criticized the
capitalist system from s democratic viewpoint with much vividness and great
artistic skill. The greatest English realist of the time was Charles
Dickens. With striking force and truthfulness, he depicts bourgeois
civilization, describing the misery and suffering of the common people.
Another critical realist, William Makepeace Thackeray, was also a rough
revealer of contemporary society. Thackeray’s novels are chiefly a satirical
portrayal of the upper society. Other novelists such as Charlotte and Emily
Brontë, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy, further adopted the critical realism.
The English critical realists of the 19th century
showed a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and the entire ruling
classes as well as profound sympathy for the common people. In their best
works, the greed and hypocrisy of the upper classes are contrasted with the
honesty and good-heartedness of the obscure “simple people” of the lower
classes. Hence humor and satire were widely employed in the English
realistic novels of the 19th century. Humorous scenes may appear in the
actions of the positive characters, yet this humor usually serves to stress
the fine qualities of such characters. Meanwhile, grotesque and bitter
satires are used to expose the dingy side of the capitalist society.
Critical realism reveals the corrupting influence of the rule of money upon
human nature. Democratic and humanistic features are also clearly shown in
critical realistic works. Although critical realists exposed and criticized
social evils, they did not realize the necessity of changing the bourgeois
society or find a way to eradicate the social evils. These writers preferred
reformation or evolution rather than revolution. Starting with a powerful
exposure of the ugly and cheating bourgeois society, they often ended their
work in a much too coincidence or an impotent compromise. Thus, we can see
the strength and weakness of critical realism.
The critical realists of the 19th century
contributed a lot to the perfection of the novel. Just like the realists of
the 18th century, the 19th century critical realists presented a full and
detailed picture of social and political events, and of the fate of
individuals and of whole social class. However, the realistic novels of the
19th century went a step further than those of the 18th century. The
critical realists of the 19th century not only pictured the conflicts
between separate individuals who were in definitely different social strata,
but also showed the broad social conflicts over and above the fate of
individuals. The realistic novels in the 19th century became “the epic of
the bourgeois society”.
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