Victorian Values as Reflected in the Writings of Oscar Wilde

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Essay aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 1,7, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: From today's point of view, the Victorian era seems to have been a paradoxical period in Britishhistory. On the one hand it is a time of revolutionary inventions, rapid industrialisation and furtherexpansion of the Empire. On the other hand it is also a time, when a huge number of people lived inpoorest conditions and crime and prostitution were daily fare. What is commonly understood by theterm 'Victorian values' today decency, chastity, diligence, godliness , was not a common placeneither in the working class nor in high society. One may say that the strong notion of morality,which was embodied most profoundly by the institution of marriage, was in fact systematicallytrespassed by all social classes. Hypocrisy was considered to be the worst vice by Victorians and yetit seems to have been prevalent by the end of the 19th century. It is also the late period of theVictorian era that saw comedies mocking the rigid and yet inconsequent morality. Most prominentplays are those by Oscar Wilde, but before we look closer at the way he satirised the Victoriansociety, it is first helpful to examine some of the characteristics of that society, which play animportant role in his works.The first aspect worth mentioning is the fact that Victorian England was a class society with strictlydefined roles of each class. The time is marked not only by the obvious dominance of thearistocracy that became even richer due to industrial development (e.g. coal mines), but also by theformation of a middle-class striving for profit and more power, which eventually led to so-calledReform Act. On the other hand, however, there was a vast majority of poor workers, which causedtremendous social problems and became also an important topic of English literature. [...]

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