Historical Connections to the Victorian Period
The Victorian Period: A Tale of Two Sentiments
Charles Dickens
Ebenezer Scrooge. Oliver Twist. Miss Havisham. David Copperfield. These are just a few of the famous characters created by one of the greatest British novelists of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens.
Born in 1812 and raised mostly in London, Dickens had an impeccable memory and incorporated observations and experiences from his own life into his writing. He often advocated for the rights of children and the downtrodden lower class. As a young boy, he once had to leave school to work in a factory, and he later had to quit formal education altogether to help support his family's income. In his early career, he worked as a newspaper reporter before publishing his first popular novel The Pickwick Papers. Dickens also wrote short stories and nonfiction, but his most famous works include novels such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations.
A Tale of Two Cities
Dickens published his successful novel A Tale of Two Cities in 1859. Set during the French Revolution, the novel refers to London and Paris in its title. Its first sentence is one of the most famous openings in the canon of English literature.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. . ."
In many ways, Dickens managed to capture in these words the difficult contradictions of the Victorian period in which he lived, an era that exuded the most optimistic progress yet gave way to pessimistic decline.
After learning about some of the major events and characteristics of the Victorian period, take a moment to reflect on Dickens' quotation above and explain how it connects to the Victorian Age. How did Britain experience both "the best of times" and "the worst of times"? What about the Victorian period made it a "season of Light" and "a season of Darkness"? And what changes in Britain brought Victorians both "hope" and "despair"?
Using at least three contradictions (lines) from the quotation, write your own interpretation of how Dickens' statement reflects the Victorian period by explaining how the contradictions connect to actual historical events of the 19th century. For example, perhaps the season of hope refers to the increased prosperity that imperialism brought Britain during the Victorian Age, and yet the season of despair refers to military conflicts that resulted in loss of life around the globe as a direct result of such imperialism.
You may need to use resources outside of this course to complete this assignment. If so, please submit a Works Cited document. If you need assistance, visit the Developmental Module for information on citing resources. Before you begin, review the Victorian Contradictions Checklist to make sure that you include all of the items required for full credit.
Once you have completed your written interpretation, please submit your work to the dropbox.