“英美文学选读”串讲资料
Chapter5 Victorian Period

　　1.age:1836-1901

　　2.background:(1)early years:rapid economic develpment as well as serious social problems

　　(2)the next twenty years:prosperity and relative stability.a national spirit of earnestness,respectability,modesty domesticity

　　(3)the last threee decades:the decline of the British empire and the decay of the Victorian values

　　3.idea:

     (1)Darwin‘s The Origin of Species;The Descent of Man shook the theoretical basis of the traditional faith

　　(2)Utilitarianism:whether it could promote the material happiness

　　(3)socially conscious writers criticized(2)‘s depreciation of cultural values,cold indifference towards human feeling

　　(4)literature:magnitude and diversity, romantically and realistically

　　4.critical realist writers:criticized the society,concerned about the fate of common people

　　Charles Dickens

　　1.theme:critical realist writers,criticize:poverty,injustice,hypocrisy,corruptness

　　2.works: Oliver Twist; The Pickwick Paper; David Copperfield; Domeby and Son; A Tale of Two Cities; Bleak House; Little Dorrit; Hard Times; Great Expectations

　　3.characteristics:

     (1)he is skillful in the dialect and have a large vocabulary

　　(2)character portrayal

　　(3)characters are mostly innocent,helpless,persecuted child characters

　　(4)a mixture of humor and sympathism

　　(5)bizarre figure,horrible

　　4.Oliver Twist:the cruelty and hypocrisy of the workhouse system and the dark criminal underworld life

　　The Bronte Sisters

　　1.scene:vast,rough,untouched moorland wilderness

　　2.Charlotte Bronte:Jane Eyre

　　Mr.Rochester and Jane Eyre.

　　Rochester:a grim-looking,energetic,quick-tempered,but an understanding middle-aged man

　　Jane Eyre:has a burning spirit and a longing to love and be loved

　　Jane Eyre:struggles for recognition of her basic rights and equality as a woman.It‘s an individual conscious struggle towards self-realization.She gets joy through
the sacrifice of herself or her weakness overcome