Victorian Values as Reflected in the Writings of Oscar Wilde

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 British history. On the one hand it is a time of revolutionary inventions, rapid industrialisation and further expansion of the Empire. On the other hand it is also a time, when a huge number of people lived in poorest conditions and crime and prostitution were daily fare. What is commonly understood by the term 'Victorian values' today - decency, chastity, diligence, godliness -, was not a common place neither 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 systematically trespassed by all social classes. Hypocrisy was considered to be the worst vice by Victorians and yet it seems to have been prevalent by the end of the 19th century. It is also the late period of the Victorian era that saw comedies mocking the rigid and yet inconsequent morality. Most prominent plays are those by Oscar Wilde, but before we look closer at the way he satirised the Victorian society, it is first helpful to examine some of the characteristics of that society, which play an important role in his works. The first aspect worth mentioning is the fact that Victorian England was a class society with strictly defined roles of each class. The time is marked not only by the obvious dominance of the aristocracy that became even richer due to industrial development (e.g. coal mines), but also by the formation of a middle-class striving for profit and more power, which eventually led to so-called Reform Act. On the other hand, however, there was a vast majority of poor workers, which caused tremendous social problems and became also an important topic of English literature. [...]