THE VICTORIAN AGE 1837-1901 POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMS

Victoria became Queen in 1837 and reigned for 64 years. When she ascended the throne England was in bad conditions: the economy was weak and people were not satisfied of their life conditions. In this period there was the birth of "The Chartist Movement" (1837) that was a social movement asking for social reforms, but they were politically immature so their projects failed and they disappeared after 1848. On the contrary, little by little the Trade Union Movement got stronger and stronger. In this period we had also the Second and the Third Reform Bills: the Second Reform Bill was passed in 1867 and gave the right to vote to the town labourers. The Third Reform Bill was passed in 1884 and gave the right to vote to the agricultural labourers. So thanks to the Second and Third Reform Bills the working class had its representatives in the House of Commons. This period was also marked by other important social achievements such as: 1 - the 10 hours act, which limited the working hours in a day 2 - the Public Health Act, which improved peoples health conditions 3 - The Emancipation of religions sects. THE INDUSTRIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Begins in 1815 and finishes in 1914 ( from Waterloo to the first world war) . The period of Queen Victoria s reign begins in 1837 and finishes in 1901.This period is characterized by : the growth of the political and constitutional system the rapid industrialization the poverty of the new urban population the pre-eminence of England in foreign trade a strong puritanical spirit the dominance of the British Empire During the 19th century, Britain changed completely from an agricultural to an industrial society. The population increased rapidly and became concentrated in the cities and towns. London became the biggest city in the world. This period saw also an incredible number of innovations, discoveries and improvements: The first underground railway was built ( the Victorian line in London) There were new printing methods The growth of journalism THE VICTORIAN COMPROMISE - THE SOCIAL CLASSES CONFLICT - THE WORKING CLASS PROBLEMS

The Victorian age covers a period of time of sixty years from 1830 to 1890 which corresponds to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), who was to become the symbol of a whole era. The Victorian age was a complex age marked by political, social and religious struggle. The class which benefited most from the changes of the time was the middle class, which increased in power and took the reins of government. In this period there was a great progress in industrial and technological sectors as well as in scientific research and communication. Such a progress made people to believe that happiness could be reached by everybody thanks to the technical progress; in other words the whole country was pervaded by a widespread optimism which tended to ignore the problems which still afflicted England. There was in fact a part of society, the working class which lived in very bad conditions and they were very poor. Queen Victoria and the politicians of the time tried to find a solution but very little was made; that's why we can speak of the so-called "Victorian compromise" that is a compromise which saw prosperity and progress on the one hand, and poverty and injustice on the other. With the passing of the time the conditions of the working class were getting worse and worse and the workers began to ask for social reforms.

Dickens is one of the most famous English novelist and the foremost representative of the Victorian Novel; and his popularity is in part due to the enormous number of characters and situations which he created and invented, in fact in his novels Dickens doesn't just describe a particular social class; on the contrary he extends his range from the upper middle class, throughout the middle class and working class to the most unfortunate members of society: that's why he speaks about prostitutes, thieves, burglars and so on. And we have to say that Dickens was seriously interested in the Welfare of the masses and wanted to bring to the attention of the reading public the social problems of the time. In his novel "Oliver Twist" for example he attacks the workhouses, the child labour and first of all the exploitation of the children by criminals. In his novel "David Copperfield" he speaks about the problem of prostitution and attacks the laws according to which people were sent to prison for debts. In his novel Hard Times there is a harsh criticism of industrial society which had brought about many social problems. Another reason of Dickens' popularity was his natural sense of humour; in fact Dickens created characters after characters and used to put them in funny situations. A very brilliant example of Dickens sense of humour is his great comic novel "The Pickwick Papers" which are all based on a misunderstanding. Moreover Dickens is also a subtle observer of London life. Particularly he knew those parts of the town where poor people lived and he also knew from personal experience the life led in factories; so as a result in his novels he offers a very precise description of British home life, of school system and of domestic life of poor people. Dickens characters are realistic? Dickens characters are drawn from the observation of real people but most critics say that Dickens' characters are not realistic, in that they are either good or bad do not present the complete range of good qualities and defects which usually constitute real human types. In fact his characters can be divided into good and evil but he doesn't create types. Was Dickens a revolutionary? In his novels he attacked the evils of Victorian society but he was not a revolutionary. He believed that social improvement could be achieved by benevolence and human solidarity. However he exerted a considerable influence on the reform movement of the time. FEATURES AND THEMES OF HARDYS NOVELS

In the history of English literature, Thomas Hardy standing as the most important regionalist writer and also realist and naturalist. The first regionalist features of his novels is the setting because all his novels are set in Dorset shire but Hardy didnt use the real name of this region. He used the old name Wessex that the Anglo-Saxons used to call this part of Great Britain. Another important feature of Hardys novels is the precise description of sexual relationships and love between sexes. Then there is also the description of rural life and rural folklore.