The Impact of Morality on Victorian Literature: A Study of Tennyson, Browning, Stevenson, and Wilde

The Victorian era was a time in the history of Great Britain associated with the rule of Queen Victoria. It is a period in the 19th century between the years 1837 to 1901. This was a period in the country associated with great prosperity in many aspects of life such as politics, social movements and in this case it is literature. It was a period of political expansion and rapid changes in development. One of the major characteristics of the Victorian era is the social movements that influenced morality and other ethical aspects of the social life of the people of Great Britain. Some of the factors of morality included aspects of tolerance to crime and sexual repression. The strong ethics attributed to this era accompanied by a strong social class and an expanding empire spread the moral values to the rest of the world. Queen Victoria brought in her reign strong cultural morals as well as low tolerance to vulgarity and crime and became a new social standard of the nation. One of the main influences of Victorian morality was literature and there developed great change. One of the changes was a shift from poetry to novels. Novels grew popular during this ear and surpassed poetry. Victorian literature also surpassed the Romantic period. It was a period also characterized by reduced popularity in satire that was popular before. The literature of this period was also characterized by high levels of ethical and moral consideration that was characteristic of the period. The literature had various depictions of people who strived for social perfection regarding morals and thought.

Some of the aspects of the literature of the Victorian era also have common characteristics of that of the preceding Romantic era. One of the characteristics of the era was the aspect of change, and the literary aspect of the ear was also characterized by the change regarding content improvements. There were the aspects of social and moral improvements that formed the core aspect of the nation at the time it also reflected the literal aspect of the society. Other aspects of change can be characterized by technological advancements that brought a lot of prosperity and economic expansion of the country. These are all aspects of change and development that greatly influenced the literature of the country. Moral and ethical considerations brought about by the reign of Queen Victoria, also formed the basis of most of the literature of the time. The aspect of sexual repression and low tolerance to vulgarity become a core aspect of many of the popular literal works developed. These changes became very fundamental to most thinkers and writers of the time. For some the high level of strictness pushed by the social class of the nation coupled with the high levels of morals was a great motivation for change and improvements. The other important aspects were industrialization. This came as a result of political development and advancement in technology during the time. Industrialization led to great developments in the country, but some saw it as an illness because of the social problems it came with. High levels of poverty, pollution, and economic oppression all formed aspects of some of the writing of many. The other aspect is the position of women in society. This is a moral aspect that is greatly influential in many of the writing of the year. The Victorian period saw great divides in gender roles and women did not play any major role in the society. They were greatly marginalized and lived under the authority of men (Clark, 2002).

Later on in the Victorian era saw a great divide between industrialization and social ethics. Labor conditions and poverty were rampant. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a great poet, and her work had great influences in the social and literal world of the era. An example of her work that represented the negative social ethics of the time was The Cry of the Children which had great sentiments associated with the mining activities of the time. The conditions were horrific, yet the economic engine the industry was driving had to be turned. At the time women had very little powers and had a lot of limits in the ways they could change the world around them. As a result, the aspect of feminism began to take shape during the time and was influenced by the high level of marginalization women faced during the time. Poetry was still visible during this year but was slowly outshined by novels. Some of the popular poets of the time include Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning. Robert Browning was the husband of Elizabeth Barrett, and together they developed many poems. One of the characteristics of the poems of the era was the need to reclaim aspects that existed in the past. Victorians loved stories about heroes that depicted the social need for perfection and self-development. This was a characteristic of the moral development of the era.  There was a great emphasis in most of the poems on the need for nobility, and people strive to impress the public. These were based on the social construction of high level of morality and low tolerance to crime (Avery, 1998).

Charles Dickens became very popular, especially with his serial publications. Publications were previously based on episodes, but Dickens changed the culture and published more. He became a very popular novelist and pushed forward publication of novels as a very popular form of literature of the time.

Another important writer was Oscar Wild, and his work represented the Victorian perspective of society. His writing, the importance of being earnest brings out the aspect of being earnest in society. Being earnest is associated with a person trying to be good by improving aspects of their lives, living with a high level of moral values and moves towards perfection. This is a clear description of the Victorian way of life. People in Victoria strived to live like ladies and gentlemen and strived for perfection most of the activities (YILDIRIM, 2012).

The aspect of morality which is a great characteristic of the Victorian way of life had great influences in the literature of the period. The literature of the time was dominated by publications of novels, poetry and children’s literature. They all depicted the way of life of Victorian era that ranged from sexual repression, prudence, strive for perfection, industrialization and the social problems that came with it. The literal works developed during the Victorian period have grown to influence the literature of today. Many great writers and poets such as Charles, Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Browning were all great representations of the era. The greatest of all influences of the era was Morality, and it influenced almost all aspects of the society (Hartman, 2011).

Work Cited

Avery, Todd P. "Ethics Replaces Morality: The Victorian Legacy to Bloomsbury." English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, vol. 41, no. 3, June 1998, pp. 294-316.

Carline, Anna. "Sex, Crime and Literature in Victorian England." Legal Studies, vol. 35, no. 2, June 2015, pp. 369-373.

Clark, Emily. "Useful Knowledge: The Victorians, Morality, and the March of Intellect." English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920, vol. 45, no. 3, June 2002, p. 375.

Hartman, Mary S. "Murder and Morality in Victorian Britain: The Story of Madeleine Smith." Journal of Social History, vol. 45, no. 2, Winter2011, pp. 543-545.

YILDIRIM, Aşkın Haluk. "The Woman Question and the Victorian Literature on Gender." ["Kadın Sorunsalı ve Viktoryen Dönem Toplumsal Cinsiyet Edebiyatı"]. Ekev Academic Review, vol. 16, no. 52, June 2012, pp. 45-54.