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1、The Victorian Age,(1832-1902),Unit ,Objectives,1. To have the basic knowledge about the brief history of the Victorian Period. 2. To be familiar with Charles Dickens writing styles and major contribution to English literature. 3. To know something about Bronte Sisters and their representative works:
2、 Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights,Contents,The Background Charles Dickens and his position in British literature Bronte Sisters and their writings,Historical Background (1832-1868),- began with the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832 and closed at the end of the Boer War in 1902.,Victoria age:,Victori
3、a age: Between the queen Victorias accession in 1837 and her death in 1901. She ruled for 63 years, the longest in English history.,It can be divided into 2 periods: - Early Victoria Period （1832-1868） - Late Victoria Period （1869-1902）,Politically a period of great social unrest (Chartist Movement
4、1838-48); Reform Bill (1832) was enacted, giving right to representation of growing cities and 50% raise of electorate to middle class.,Economically An age of prosperity and progress the richest and most powerful; the 1st urban and industrial society in the world; The development of science and tech
5、nology: railways, telegraphs, journalism;,Culturally 97% people able to read by 1900; cheaper paper; faster printing; easier circulation; more working readers demanding cheap literature:,Literarily poetry Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): poet laureate Robert Browning (1812-1889) Elizabeth Barrett Browni
6、ng (1806-1861) Novel A Golden Age of Novel：(Critical) realist novels Critical realism flourished as a literary current.,*Critical Realism,The English critical realists of the 19th century flourished in the forties and in the beginning of fifties. The realists set themselves the task of criticizing c
7、apitalist society from a democratic viewpoint and delineated the crying contradictions of bourgeois reality. Critical realists reveal the social reality and criticize the injustice, poverty and religious hypocrisy.,Critical realists reveal the social reality and criticize the injustice, poverty and
8、religious hypocrisy.,The Features of English Critical Realism,1. Gives a satirical portrayal of the bourgeoisie and shows profound sympathy for the common people. 2. Democratic and humanistic 3. Unable to find a good solution to the social contradictions.,*Some major novelists:,William Makepeace Tha
9、ckeray Vanity Fair 名利场 George Eliot The Mill on the Floss 弗洛斯河上的磨房,Charles Dickens,（1812-1870）,- born in 1812; - the second of eight children; - poor schooling but wide reading; - began to work at 12 in a warehouse; - a law clerk, then a newspaper； - reporter, and finally a novelist.,His life,He was
10、 one of the greatest critical realist writers of the Victorian Age and accomplished over twenty novels. Greatly with his efforts and accomplishments, Critical Realistic tradition was firmly established. He successfully portrayed a number of characters by presenting a lot of exact actions and words t
11、hat fit these characters in their positions and in their environments.,*contribution to English literature,*Writing Features,He offers a most complete and realistic picture of the English bourgeois society of his age in his novels. His novels tell much of the unhappy experiences of his own childhood
12、.,He is a great humorist and satirist. His novels are full of humor and satire. He is good at creating characters with black humor. He couldnt overstep the limits of his class and failed to see the necessity of a bitter struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors.,*Writing Features,His major
13、works The Pickwick Papers (1837) Oliver Twist (18371839) David Copperfield (1849-50) A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Bleak House (1852) Hard Times (1853-54) Great Expectations (186o1861),The Bronte sisters,Charlotte Bronte Emily Bronte Anne Bronte All talented writers All died young All lovers of litera
14、ture Received some education in Charity school with a bad living condition,*Jane Eyre,The criticism of the bourgeois system of education Position of women in the society Education is the key to all social problems,Charlotte Bronte ( 1816-1855),Emily Bronte ( 1818-1848) Wuthering Heights a powerful attack on the bourgeois marriage system the pure love was destroyed by class prejudice founded on wealth. a true love is impossible in a class society,