Victorian Era Synthesis Asher2012.p2.t3

The Victorian Era largely stands for almost everything that the Romantic Era opposed. The Victorian Era was known for the embrace of technology, while the Romantic Era shunned it. People in the Victorian Era generally took a very pragmatic and prude outlook on the world, while the Romantic Era believed more in the power of mysticism. The Victorian Era displayed an emphasis on individuals, with several pieces of legislation passed in England to improve working conditions for workers, while people of the Romantic Era valued the metaphysical and natural aspects of the world. The differences between these era’s are obviously both stark and vast, and the Victorian Era can be seen as a direct response to the ideals of the Romantic Era. What we feel was a direct cause of the change in attitude was a gradual leading to acceptance of the new human condition. The paradigm shift between individuals working as craftsman and artisans (during the early Enlightenment), to masses working in factories, founded on new and innovative scientific principles, must have been a huge leap for many. People rebelled against a new world that they were almost afraid to face; they were afraid of the uncertain future that awaited them and wanted to turn back the clock of human history towards a time when humanity was more tuned to nature and mysticism. When people became more accepting of these changes, all the time living in a world that was expanding (through exploration of parts of the globe previously unbeknownst to Europeans and the English), and all the time led by a very pragmatic and prudent Queen Victoria, the collective though of the Era completely shifted.
Evidence of this shift can be seen in many aspects of Victorian Culture. The Architectural style of the time, Neo-Gothic (which can be seen in the renovated (1840) Palace of Westminster in London), looked back to previous styles displayed in the Medieval Era for inspiration instead of nature, displaying a more human focused mindset. Another example is the Novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens, which discusses the hardships experienced by the working class. In writing a novel about the trials of the lower classes, Charles Dickens truly displayed the turn towards a more pragmatic review of society, and a turn away from a more natural emphasis. The importance of the individual was only truly addressed in this era in a somewhat modern sense, and this is the major cultural shift between the Romantic Era and the Victorian Era.

August Mawn, Daniel Pon, Tom Allen, Zachary Gershman