VICTORIANLITERATURE(1837-1901)

NOVEL-was the most

important in the VICTORIAN PERIOD

Born: April 21, 1816,Thornton, West Yorkshire, United KingdomDied: March 31, 1855,Haworth, United KingdomNationality: EnglishSiblings: Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Branwell Brontë, Elizabeth Brontë,Maria BrontëMovies: Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who

survived into adulthood and

whose novels are English literature standards. She wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer

Bell. 

Born: July 30, 1818, Thornton, West Yorkshire, United KingdomDied: December 19,

1848, Haworth, United Kingdom

Siblings: Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, 

Branwell Brontë, Elizabeth Brontë, 

Maria BrontëMovies: 

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë's

Wuthering HeightsParents: Maria Branwell, Patrick

Brontë

Emily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet, best

remembered for her solitary

novel, Wuthering

Heights, now considered a

classic of English

literature.

Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846,[1]

 and published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was her first and only published novel: she died aged 30 the following year. The decision to

publish came after the success of her sisterCharlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death,

Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. 

Born: August 5, 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, United KingdomDied: October 6, 1892, Aldworth, United KingdomAwards: Chancellor's Gold Medal

IN MEMORIAM

By. Lord Alfred Tennyson

The poem begins as a tribute to and invocation of the “Strong Son of God.” Since man, never having seen God’s face, has no proof of His existence, he can only reach God through faith. The poet attributes the sun and moon (“these orbs or light and shade”) to God, and acknowledges Him as the creator of life and death in both man and animals. Man cannot understand why he was created, but he must believe that he was not made simply to die.

The Son of God seems both human and divine. Man has control of his own will, but this is only so that he might exert himself to do God’s will. All of man’s constructed systems of religion and philosophy seem solid but are merely temporal, in comparison to the eternal God; and yet while man can have knowledge of these systems, he cannot have knowledge of God. The speaker expresses the hope that “knowledge [will] grow from more to more,” but this should also be accompanied by a reverence for that which we cannot know.

The speaker asks that God help foolish people to see His light. He repeatedly asks for God to forgive his grief for “thy [God’s] creature, whom I found so fair.” The speaker has faith that this departed fair friend lives on in God, and asks God to make his friend wise.

Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.

Born: May 7, 1812, Camberwell, United KingdomDied: December 12, 1889, Venice, ItalySpouse: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (m. 1846–1861)Education: University College London, University of LondonMovies: The Pied Piper, The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Browning's Men and Women consists of fifty-one poems, all of which are

monologues spoken by different narrators, some identified and some not; the first fifty take in a very diverse range of historical, religious or European situations, with the

fifty-first - One Word More - featuring Browning himself as narrator and dedicated to his wife. The title of the collection came

from a line in her Sonnets from the Portuguese. Browning himself was very fond of the collection,

referring to the poems as "My fifty men and women" (from the opening line in One Word

More), and today, Men and Women has been described as one of Victorian England's most significant books.

Born:12 December 1821Rouen, France

Died: 8 May 1880 (aged 58)Croisset, Rouen, France

Occupation: Novelist, playwright

Nationality: French

Genres: Fictional prose

Literary movement: Realism, Romanticism

Madame Bovary (1856) is the French writer Gustave Flaubert's first published novel. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns. Flaubert was a notorious perfectionist and claimed always to be searching for le mot juste ("the precise word").

Madame Bovary became a bestseller when it was published as a single volume in April 1857. Flaubert's masterpiece is now considered a seminal work of Realism and one of the most influential novels ever written. In fact, the notable British-American critic James Wood writes in How Fiction Works: "Flaubert established for good or ill, what most readers think of as modern realist narration, and his influence is almost too familiar to be visible"

Born: Mary Anne Evans22 November 1819South Farm, Arbury Hall, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England

Died: 22 December 1880 (aged 61)4 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London, England

Pen name: George Eliot

Occupation: Novelist

Period: Victorian

Notable work(s): The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871–72), Daniel Deronda (1876)

Silas Marner:The Weaver of Raveloe 

is the third novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, it is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialisation to community.

In Silas Marner, Eliot combines symbolism with a historically precise setting to create a tale of love and hope. On one level, the book has a strong moral tract: the bad character, Dunstan Cass, gets his just deserts, while the pitiable character, Silas Marner, is ultimately richly rewarded, and his miserliness corrected. The novel explores the issues of redemptive love, the notion of community, the role of religion, the status of the gentry and family, and impacts of industrialisation. While religion and religious devotion play a strong part in this text, Eliot concerns herself with matters of ethics and interdependence of faith and community.

Born: Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky11 November 1821Moscow, Russian EmpireDied: 9 February 1881 (aged 59)Saint Petersburg, Russian EmpireNationality: RussianEducationMilitary Engineering-Technical University, St. PetersburgPeriod: 1846–81Genres: Novel, short story, journalismLiterary movement: RealismNotable work(s): Notes from UndergroundCrime and PunishmentThe IdiotDemonsThe Brothers KaramazovThe House of the DeadThe Gambler

Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступлéние и наказáние, Prestupleniye i nakazaniye) is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. Crime and Punishment is the first great novel of his "mature" period of writing.Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished ex-student in St. Petersburg who formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker for her cash. Raskolnikov argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. Several times throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by connecting himself mentally with Napoleon Bonaparte, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.

Born: 2 June 1840Stinsford, Dorchester, Dorset, EnglandDied:11 January 1928 (aged 87)Dorchester, Dorset, EnglandResting place:Stinsford parish church (heart)Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey (ashes)Occupation: Novelist, Poet, and Short Story Literary movement: Naturalism, Victorian literatureNotable work(s): Tess of the d'Urbervilles,Far from the Madding Crowd,Collected PoemsJude the Obscure

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic.Though now considered an important work of English literature, the book received mixed reviews when it first appeared, in part because it challenged the sexual mores of Hardy's day. The original manuscript is on display at the British Library, showing that it was originally titled "Daughter of the d'Urbervilles."In 2003, the novel was listed at number 26 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.

What is Gothic literature?

That which we classify as "Gothic" is a subgenre of the

Romantic movement of the 19th century. Beginning in

1764 with Horace Walpole'snovel The Castle of

Otranto, the movement quickly grew to encompass a large body of works in novel,

short story, poetic, artistic, dramatic, and (in

the present day) cinematic forms.

Virginal Maiden – young, beautiful, pure, innocent, kind, virtuous. Shows these virtues by fainting and crying whenever her delicate sensibilities are challenged, usually starts out with a mysterious past and it is later revealed that she is the daughter of an aristocratic or noble family.

Matilda in The Castle of Otranto – She is determined to give up Theodore, the love of her life, for her cousin’s sake. Matilda always puts others first before herself, and always believes the best in others.

Adeline in The Romance of the Forest – “Her wicked Marquis, having secretly immured Number One (his first wife), has now a new and beautiful wife, whose character, alas! Does not bear inspection.”As this review states, the virginal maiden character is above inspection because her personality is flawless. Hers is a virtuous character whose piety and unflinching optimism cause all to fall in love with her.

Older, Foolish WomanHippolita in The Castle of Otranto –

Hippolita is depicted as the obedient wife of her tyrant husband who “would not only acquiesce with patience to divorce, but would obey, if it was his pleasure, in endeavouring to persuade Isabelle to give him her hand”.This shows how weak women are portrayed as they are completely submissive, and in Hippolita’s case, even support polygamy at the expense of her own marriage.

Madame LaMotte in The Romance of the Forest – naively assumes that her husband is having an affair with Adeline. Instead of addressing the situation directly, she foolishly lets her ignorance turn into pettiness and mistreatment of Adeline.

HeroTheodore in The Castle of Otranto – he is witty, and successfully challenges the tyrant, saves the virginal maid without expectations

Theodore in The Romance of the Forest – saves Adeline multiple times, is virtuous, courageous and brave, self-sacrificial

TyrantManfred in The Castle of Otranto – unjustly accuses

Theodore of murdering Conrad. Tries to put his blame onto others. Lies about his motives for attempting to divorce his wife and marry his late son’s fiancé.

The Marquis in The Romance of the Forest – attempts to get with Adeline even though he is already married, attempts to rape Adeline, blackmails Monsieur LaMotte.

Vathek – Ninth Caliph of the Abassides, who ascended to the throne at an early age. His figure was pleasing and majestic, but when angry, his eyes became so terrible that “the wretch on whom it was fixed instantly fell backwards and sometimes expired”. He was addicted to women and pleasures of the flesh, so he ordered five palaces to be built: the five palaces of the senses. Although he was an eccentric man, learned in the ways of science, physics, and astrology, he loved his people. His main greed, however, was thirst for knowledge. He wanted to know everything. This is what led him on the road to damnation.”

The Stupid Servant – acts as comic relief by asking seemingly stupid questions, transitions between scenes, brings news, messenger, moves plot forward

Peter in The Romance of the Forest – whenever he brings information to people, he never gets to the point but prattles on and on about insignificant things. “The reader…eagerly follows the flight of LaMotte, also of Peter, his coachman, an attached, comic, and familiar domestic.”

Bianca in The Castle of Otranto – a gossip, helps characters get valuable news, provides comic relief

Clowns – break the tension and act as comic relief

Diego and Jaquez in The Castle of Otranto – they appear to talk about random things, and argue foolishly with each other in order to lighten the air of the novel.

Banditti ‑ RuffiansThey appear in several Gothic Novels

including The Romance of the Forest in which they kidnap Adeline from her father.

Clergy – always weak, usually evilFather Jerome in The Castle of Otranto –

Jerome, though not evil, is certainly weak as he gives up his son when he is born and leaves his lover.

Ambrosio in The Monk – Evil and weak, this character stoops to the lowest levels of corruption including rape and incest.

Mother Superior in The Romance of the Forest – Adeline fled from this convent because the sisters weren’t allowed to see sunlight. Highly oppressive environment.

The SettingThe setting of the Gothic Novel is a character in itself.

The plot is usually set in a castle, an abbey, a monastery, or some other, usually religious edifice, and it is acknowledged that this building has secrets of its own. It is this gloomy and frightening scenery, which sets the scene for what the audience should expect. The importance of setting is noted in a London review of the Castle of Otranto, “He describes the country towards Otranto as desolate and bare, extensive downs covered with thyme, with occasionally the dwarf holly, the rosa marina, and lavender, stretch around like wild moorlands…Mr. Williams describes the celebrated Castle of Otranto as “an imposing object of considerable size…has a dignified and chivalric air. A fitter scene for his romance he probably could not have chosen.” Similarly, De Vore states, “The setting is greatly influential in Gothic novels. It not only evokes the atmosphere of horror and dread, but also portrays the deterioration of its world. The decaying, ruined scenery implies that at one time there was a thriving world. At one time the abbey, castle, or landscape was something treasured and appreciated. Now, all that lasts is the decaying shell of a once thriving dwelling.”[51] Thus, without the decrepit backdrop to initiate the events, the Gothic Novel would not exist.

PULP FICTION

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American dark comedic crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who also co-wrote the screenplay along with Roger Avary.

The film is known for its eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humour and violence, nonlinear storyline, and a host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references.

The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay.

Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of “pulp”.

The plot, as in many of Tarantino’s other works, is presented out of chronological sequence.

Pulp Fiction’s influence has been felt in several other media, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.