VICTORIAN ERA

 Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901. It was a period of great change in the country with the advancement of industrialism and the social reforms that ensued.

Social reforms made in Victorian Era:

- The Industrial Revolution: With industrialization, free trade economy rose and fell dramatically in a ‘boom and bust’ cycle. Desperately poor housing conditions, long working hours, food scarcities, the damage of infectious disease and premature death were the inevitable consequences.

 - The Crisis of Faith: Charles Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species” had a great impact on the faith of Victorians. They rejected modern ideas and clung onto their faith because of scientific and evolutionary advances.

- The Woman Question: Women were expected to be frail, innocence, pure and domestic. They lost all civil rights when they got married.

- British Imperialism: There was an interest in overseas holdings. While some criticized it, for some it was an obligation for Britain to expand its influence.

What were Victorian values?

- Family values were very important. The man’s role was to go out to work while the woman’s role was to stay at home.

- Religion was strongly emphasized, and most people were churchgoers.

- It was an age of strong sexual morality, but of course there was always a degree of hypocrisy in this.

- Education was thought to be extremely important. Elementary schooling became compulsory for all children up to the age of ten.

 Victorian Compromise

Victorian era was a complex and contradictory era. It was the age of progress, stability, great social reforms but it was also characterized by poverty, injustice and social unrest. The Victorians promoted a code of values that reflect the world as they wanted it to be, not as it really was, based on personal duty, hard work, respectability, charity and philanthropy. In this period, it was very important to work hard for improving the society. Respectability was a mixture of both morality and hipocrisy, severity and conformity to social standards. Charity and philanthropy was an activity involving many people, especially women. This code of values are known as “Victorian Compromise”.