Essay from the year 2019 in the subject English - History of Literature, Eras, grade: 76, University of Greenwich (New York College), course: COML1061 The 19th century British Novel, language: English, abstract: This essay discusses how Capitalism, Colonialism and Gender inequality are depicted in Jane Eyre and Great Expectations. The era from the enthrownment of Queen Victoria in 1837 to her death and the end of her reign in 1901, namely the Victorian era, was a time where great changes in society, economy and politics occurred in Britain, which shaped both Britain and the world as we know it today and of course impacted the literature of the time. (Wukovits, 2013) At a large scale, the literary work developed and published in the Victorian era moved away from the romantic and chivalry genre to the realistic genre, which is a mode of writing, which appears as if it is faithfully representing reality, presenting characters who are ordinary people set in unremarkable circumstances and ordinary environments and are struggling with social complexities in their environment. The Victorian realistic novel functions as a fictional microcosm where through the social struggle of these imaginary characters, the sociopolitical changes of the real Victorian society and their adverse effects are reported, imbued with the hope of the author that eventually the social issues they brought about will be resolved if they are brought to the light. (Moran, 2006) This paper will present how the financial and industrial progress along with the political dominance of the British Empire inside of Britain and to the British colonies affected Charlotte Brontë in the writing of Jane Eyre and how the social adversities of industrialization affected Charles Dickens in the writing of Great Expectations.

The labyrinthine, ingenious plot of Bleak House focuses on the seemingly endless lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, an inheritance dispute that has been moving through the courts for years. Dozens of characters, including the innocent young narrator Esther Summerson, her friends Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, and the jaded aristocrats Sir Leicester and Lady Honoria Dedlock, are directly or indirectly caught up in the case. Written in bold and inventive language, Bleak House is Dickens’s epic vision of Victorian society. The critical introduction and extensive appendices to this edition focus on the novel’s social context and reception, Dickens’s treatment of his women characters and the working class, and the inequalities of the Victorian legal system.

Step into the industrial town of Coketown with Hard Times and Reprinted Pieces by Charles Dickens. This striking novel criticizes the industrial age's pursuit of progress at the expense of human values, drawing vivid characters who personify the social and personal effects of such a system. Enhanced with reprinted pieces, this book showcases Dickens' broad writing prowess beyond his renowned novels. His sharp social commentary, interspersed with humor and keen observations, brings the grim reality of the Victorian era to life. Explore the darker side of the Industrial Revolution with Hard Times and Reprinted Pieces. Order your copy today and witness Dickens' potent blend of storytelling and social critique. Step into the industrial town of Coketown with Hard Times and Reprinted Pieces by Charles Dickens. This striking novel criticizes the industrial age's pursuit of progress at the expense of human values, drawing vivid characters who personify the social and personal effects of such a system. Enhanced with reprinted pieces, this book showcases Dickens' broad writing prowess beyond his renowned novels. His sharp social commentary, interspersed with humor and keen observations, brings the grim reality of the Victorian era to life. Explore the darker side of the Industrial Revolution with Hard Times and Reprinted Pieces. Order your copy today and witness Dickens' potent blend of storytelling and social critique.

This is the first English translation of Le Roman social en Angleterre by Louis Cazamian, which is widely recognized as the classic survey of Victorian social fiction. Starting from the eighteenth century, Cazamian traces the ways in which rationalism and romanticism intertwined and competed, particularly in relation to radical political philosophy. He shows how industrialization polarized England, setting the industrial bourgeoisie in the van of progress in the first decades of the nineteenth century, until their political and economic triumph stirred up a passionate reaction against them. This reaction propelled novelists such as Charles Dickens who lies at the centre of his discussion. For this translation Martin Fido has provided a substantial foreword, and has revised and completed the bibliographical references and corrected the footnotes to assist the present-day reader.

In A Tale of Two Cities, French aristocrat Darnay and English lawyer Carton compete in their love for Darnay’s wife Lucie against the menacing backdrop of the French Revolution and the shadow of the guillotine. David Copperfield draws on Dickens's life to provide a vivid story mixed with comedy and sorrow. Born into poverty, young David Copperfield overcomes a cruel stepfather and frequent tragedies to enjoy success as an author. In Great Expectations, Dickens, creates a dark tale of suspense and satire around young orphan Pip, who longs for the life of a gentleman, and through a series of coincidences, a secret benefactor makes it possible for him to travel to London and chase his dreams. Dickens was a critic of the social stratification and poverty that was prevalent in Victorian society. Hard Times criticizes utilitarianism as it tells the story of a man and his children as they struggle with class conflict, and the horrible working conditions in Victorian factories.

Hard Times is the most "Victorian" novel among the others by great Charles Dickens. It is the novel where under an external sentimentality there is rough furiousness of the realist writer, to whom imperfection of a human nature and darkness of a human soul are not the news, but still provoke rejection. Friendship and betrayal, love and hate, opposition of the children of the fortune and forgotten men are just some plot lines of the novel. Hard Times is a truly all embracing epochal novel where the history of the whole country and era is depicted in the story of a small town.Hard Times is a novel by Charles Dickens, published in 1854. It is significant for being the shortest of his full novels. The book is one of a number of state-of-the-nation novels published around the same time, another being North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, which aimed to highlight the social and economic pressures some people were under. The novel is unusual, in that it is not set in London, as is Dickens' usual wont, but the fictitious Victorian industrial town of Coketown. It has met mixed critical response from a diverse range of critics, such F. R. Leavis, George Bernard Shaw, and Thomas Macaulay. This was usual for Dickens' treatment of trade unions, and the pessimism about the division between capitalistic millowners and the undervalued workers, after the Industrial Revolution, set in the Victorian era of Britain. This story of class conflict in Victorian England serves as a powerful critique of the social injustices that plagued the Industrial Revolution.

Hard Times illustrated Charles Dickens - Hard Times: For These Times (commonly known as Hard Times) is the tenth novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book surveys English society and satirises the social and economic conditions of the era. "Now, what I want is, Facts. . . . Facts alone are wanted in life." Thus begins Superintendent Mr. Gradgrind—a wealthy, retired merchant—addressing a group of young students at his school in the industrial town of Coketown, England. A rigid man of fact, rational self-interest and realities, he not only teaches his pupils according to the utilitarian principles, but also raises his children with the same philosophy. When they grow up, as their lives begin to turn chaotic, they reproach their father for their upbringing. Will Mr. Gradgrind realize his flaws and become a humble man? Satirizing the laissez-faire system, Dickens' Hard Times lays bare the wide gap between the rich and the poor. Criticizing the materialistic world, this Victorian novel throws light on the value of emotions and the human heart. It has undergone several film and theatre adaptations.

Our Mutual Friend illustrated Charles Dickens - Our Mutual Friend, written in the years 186465, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting from the character Bella Wilfer in the book, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life."[1]Most reviewers in the 1860s continued to praise Dickens' skill as a writer in general, though not reviewing this novel in detail. Some found the plot too complex, and not well laid out.[2] The Times of London found the first few chapters did not draw the reader into the characters. However, in the 20th century reviewers have found much to approve in the later novels of Dickens, including Our Mutual Friend.[3] In the late 20th and early 21st century, some reviewers suggested that Dickens was experimenting with structure,[4][5] and that the characters considered somewhat flat and not recognized by the contemporary reviewers[6] were true representations of the Victorian working class and key to understanding the structure of the society depicted by Dickens in this novel.

Barnaby Rudge is a story of a forbidden love in the time of great London riots in 1780. Both Edward's father, John Chester, and Emma's uncle, the Catholic Geoffrey Haredale – these two are sworn enemies – oppose their union after Sir John untruthfully convinces Geoffrey that Edward's intentions are dishonourable. Sir John intends to marry Edward to a woman with a rich inheritance, to support John's expensive lifestyle and to pay off his debtors. Edward quarrels with his father and leaves home for the West Indies.