Riassunto sulla Victorian Age e Dickens

RIASSUNTO VICTORIAN AGE

The Victorian Age was a very complex age characterized by remarkable changes.

The phisycal aspect of Britain was changed by the Industrial Revolution which soon led to a rapid growth of wealth and prosperity.
The class that mostly benefited from the new situation was the middle-class, in particular merchants, manufacturers and bankers who gave birth to capitalism.
With the Factory System, industries became organized on capitalistic lines. Machinery speeded up production and increased capital. But this system had also negative consequences, such as the concentration of people in towns, causing lots of problems about sanitation and housing.
Moreover, there were a lot of social problems such as the misery, in which part of society still lived, and the employment of children in the factories, where they worked for hours without a break, with no schooling or time to play. Then the government passed an Act which forbade the employment of children under nine and limited to eight a days the working hours.

Victorian age: riassunto

RIASSUNTO VICTORIAN AGE INGLESE

Poverty was regarded  as a crime and penalized because it was considered the result of a bad behaviour and bad luck.
As for religion, the Oxford Movement was a reformist religious current which proposed a new approach to the Roman church and some reforms dealing with the Anglican church and its ceremonies
Moreover, in this period manners and speeches become very restricted and puritan, the term gentlmen is now connected with social behaviour and a polite way of dressing and speaking, instead of its previous meaning, which was noble.

Victorian age: periodo vittoriano, riassunto

VICTORIAN COMPROMISE RIASSUNTO INGLESE

The Victorian Compromise: It is the particular situation which saw prosperity on the one hand, and poverty on the other and which separated private life from public behaviour.
Victorian justice was repressive and severe. The sentences were heavy: debtors were still kept in jail, where they remained until their debts were paid.
The police force however, was still badly organized.
In this period William Booth founded The Salvation Army. His main purpose was to lead poor people back to God, but it was first necessary to save the body; so we can consider this movement as a soul welfare service.
In this atmosphere was founded the Fabian Society, a movement of socialists who advocated gradual reforms instead of drastic revolutionary measures. Its name derived from the Roman general Fabius Maximus.
The family was based on marriage, which was an indissoluble bond. The centre of family life was the father, while the mother was to be submissive.
The women were to adhere to a strict code of behaviour, which expected them to be frail and pure, confined within the family walls. Unfaithfulness was a crime.

Victorian age: riassunto in inglese

RIASSUNTO VICTORIAN AGE LETTERATURA INGLESE

In 1850 the Parlament passed the Married Women’s Property Bill which  gave married women absolute control over their property and earnings.
As for education, in countryside teaching was rudimentary. Many poor children did not go to school. By mid-century, however, the situation improved. The Elementary education Bill was passed, providing public elementary education supported by taxes. In 1902 the Education Act established a system of public secondary schools throughout country.