Rise of the Middle Class
Jyoti Rana
Research Scholar
Dept. of English
B.P.S.M.V, Khanpur
RISE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
The Victorian Era is named after the Queen of England, Queen Victoria. She ruled from 1837 to 1901 when she died. That era, which followed the Regency time period, is characterized by reforms in the government, industrialization in the factories, economic prosperity, and moral decline. It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century. It was a tremendously exciting period when many artistic styles, literary schools, as well as, social, political and religious movements flourished. It was a time of prosperity, broad imperial expansion, and great political reform. It was also a time, which today we associate with "prudishness" and "repression". Without a doubt, it was an extraordinarily complex age that has sometimes been called the Second English Renaissance. It is, however, also the beginning of Modern Times. Perhaps most important was the shift from a way of life based on ownership of land to a modern urban economy based on trade and manufacturing. By the beginning of the Victorian period, the Industrial Revolution, as this shift was called, had created profound economic and social changes, including a mass migration of workers to industrial towns, where they lived in new urban slums. But the changes arising out of the Industrial Revolution were just one subset of the radical changes taking place in mid- and late-nineteenth-century Britain — among others were the democratization resulting from extension of the franchise; challenges to religious faith, in part based on the advances of scientific knowledge, particularly of evolution; and changes in the role of women. The social classes of England were newly reforming, and fomenting. There was a churning upheaval of the old hierarchical order, and the middle classes were steadily growing. Added to that, the upper classes' composition was changing from
Research Scholar
Dept. of English
B.P.S.M.V, Khanpur
RISE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
The Victorian Era is named after the Queen of England, Queen Victoria. She ruled from 1837 to 1901 when she died. That era, which followed the Regency time period, is characterized by reforms in the government, industrialization in the factories, economic prosperity, and moral decline. It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century. It was a tremendously exciting period when many artistic styles, literary schools, as well as, social, political and religious movements flourished. It was a time of prosperity, broad imperial expansion, and great political reform. It was also a time, which today we associate with "prudishness" and "repression". Without a doubt, it was an extraordinarily complex age that has sometimes been called the Second English Renaissance. It is, however, also the beginning of Modern Times. Perhaps most important was the shift from a way of life based on ownership of land to a modern urban economy based on trade and manufacturing. By the beginning of the Victorian period, the Industrial Revolution, as this shift was called, had created profound economic and social changes, including a mass migration of workers to industrial towns, where they lived in new urban slums. But the changes arising out of the Industrial Revolution were just one subset of the radical changes taking place in mid- and late-nineteenth-century Britain — among others were the democratization resulting from extension of the franchise; challenges to religious faith, in part based on the advances of scientific knowledge, particularly of evolution; and changes in the role of women. The social classes of England were newly reforming, and fomenting. There was a churning upheaval of the old hierarchical order, and the middle classes were steadily growing. Added to that, the upper classes' composition was changing from
Bibliography: Daiches, David. A Critical History of English Literature.New Delhi:Allied Publishers,2000. Ford, Boris. From Dickens to Hardy: the Pelican Guide. Great Britain: Penguin Books,1960. Legouis & Cazamian’s. History of English Literature. Delhi: Macmillan,1998.