The historical terms, Victorian Age or Victorian Era, referred to thethings and the events that happened during the reign of Queen Victoria inEngland from 1837 to 1901. Some adjectives to describe the people andthings of this period would be prudish, strait-laced, and old-fashioned. Another characteristic of the Victorian society was that many of the upperclass individuals were snobbish and that they looked down upon others,especially the lower class individuals.
In addition, this era came beforethe Women’s Suffrage Movement in the 1920’s. Many women were still thoughtof as being inferior to their male counterparts, even if they were wealthy. Two examples of literary works that show some of the characteristics ofthe Victorian age are The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde andThe Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell. During the Victorian age, there were immense changes in society,advances in the sciences, and it was also the beginning of the IndustrialAge.
A number of the literature produced during this period reflected onthese changes and celebrated them. Some literary works criticized thechanges being made and made a mockery of them as well. The literary genre, the novel, also came on the scene during theVictorian Era. Some Victorian writers that also emerged are CharlesDickens, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Oscar Wilde. Victorianwriters always responded to the conditions around them. Queen Victoriainfluenced her world and she also influenced the literature that usedconditions in the Victorian world as its subject.
Oscar Wilde’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest, is set in thelate Victorian age in England. Here, he uses satire to get his pointacross about how it was to be an aristocrat during the Victorian Era. Inthe play, Wilde portrays many characters as being prudish, snobbish, andvery formal. Many times, it is a person’s name that determines socialstatus. Like today, a name such as, Hilton, Kennedy or Rockefeller mightsuggest that one is a descendant from one of these wealthy families or itmay mean that you may have some social status. The character of Gwendolynis set on obtaining social status by marrying a man named Ernest.
In ActI, Gwendolyn says to Jack, “. . . my ideal has always been to love someone ofthe name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absoluteconfidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friendcalled Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you” (Wilde 1769).
There isalso the ideal of love at first sight. Jack, whom Gwendolyn thinks hisname is Ernest, is willing to lie to her in order to get the girl that hewants. To get a better idea of how it was to live in upper crust Victoria,it is best to view the movie, The Importance of Being Earnest. The viewerswill get a better sense as to how the Victorians dressed, how they spoke,among other things. Elizabeth Gaskell, like many other women writers, opposed thepatriarchal societies.
They expressed their opinions and views throughtheir literature. In her writings, Gaskell shows how male domination canmake females seem powerlessness. The Old Nurse’s Story is a Victorian tale that tells of Lord Furnivallwho is an overbearing father who had control over his wife and daughters. Lord Furnivall was the type of man who looked down upon all females.
Hewas depicted as a “fierce dour old man, and had broken his wife’s heartwith his cruelty” (Gaskell 1329). Lord Furnivall was so cold hearted thathe banished his own daughter and granddaughter from his estate. Thepassage reads, “. .
. there was a great and violent noise heard, and the oldlord’s voice above all, cursing and swearing awfully, – and the cries of alittle child, – and the proud defiance of a fierce woman, – and the soundof a blow, – and a dead stillness, – and moans and wailing’s dying away onthe hill-side! Then the old lord summoned all his servants, and told them,with terrible oaths, and words more terrible, that his daughter haddisgraced herself, and that he had turned her out of doors, – her, and herchild, – and that if ever they gave her help, – or food, – or shelter, – heprayed that they might never enter Heaven” (Gaskell 1330). There were also incidences in the tale where Lord Furnivall’s organwould play by itself, even though he was dead. We see this in the passagewhere it says, “. . .
but it was a very strange noise, and she had heard itmany a time. . . folks did say, it was the old lord playing on the great organin the hall, just as he used to do when he was alive. .
. and I thought it wasrather pleasant to have that grand music rolling about the house, let whowould be the player; for now it rose above the great gusts of wind, andwailed and triumphed just like a living creature” (Gaskell 1324). Thenursemaid then says, “I opened the organ and peeped all about it and aroundit, as I had done to the organ in Crosthwaite Church once before, and I sawit was all broken and destroyed inside” (Gaskell 1324). This particularincident shows that Lord Furnivall’s spirit still lives on and still hascontrol over the people, particularly the women, who are living in hishome. He may not have been physically there, but he still had the power toplace fear in others. The Victorian Age is a very important time in our world history.
Itwas a time of flourishment for the arts and literature as well as otherthings. The characteristics of this period defined what this era was allabout. They are well known and will continue to be. Works CitedGaskell, Elizabeth.
“The Old Nurse’s Story. ” The Norton Anthology ofEnglish Literature. Ed. Julia Reidhead. 7thed.
Vol. 2. New York: Norton & Company, 2000. 1319-33. Wilde, Oscar. “The Importance of Being Earnest.
” The Norton Anthology ofEnglish Literature. Ed. JuliaReidhead. 7th ed.
Vol. 2. New York: Norton & Company, 2000. 1761-1805.
