Victorian Period Synthesis Question Period 6, Team 3, Wylie

The Victorian Period is known for the prudery and propriety greatly set by Queen Victoria. One can see that the Victorian Period is a clear reaction to the previous Romantic Period and it’s tendencies. A clear example is the Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Within the play, the entire plot and cast carries an unrealistic amount of social etiquette and upper class civility. Overall, such propriety within the play can be greatly contrasted when examining the Romantic novel Wuthering Heights, where the characters express raw emotion and a sense that they are untamed and more one with the chaos of nature. Further examination shows that prudery is also a firm contrast point. Within the Romantic period, emotion the characters’ sexuality were expressed greatly because of the style of the period. Yet when examining the Importance of Being Earnest, the characters are far more prudish and conceal their emotion and sexuality greatly. Further comparing Romantic writing with that of Victorian, the Victorian Period was more rooted in realism as compared to the Romantic’s use of imaginative fantasies. One can compare Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with Wilde’play; Frankenstein required the reader to suspend disbelief in order to attain the clear message of the novel in between the clash of Victor and his monster. Yet Victorian Period writing had clear realistic situations in which several overall messages were rather clear such as the concept of dandyism and how Jack and Algernon portrayed dandy qualities in The Importance of Being Earnest. (248 words)
Dylan Mulcahy
Jenny Zhan
Caleb Ong
James Jin
Amber Austin

Victorian Era Synthesis Question

Just as the Romantic era was a rebellious response against the Enlightenment era, the Victorian era grew out of a negative response to the free, naturalistic ideals of the Romantic era, clinging instead to morality and prudery. The Romantic period was characterized by loose restrictions on human behavior and instead giving into the natural tendencies of the human character. People became more connected with the world around them, seeking oneness with nature during the Romantic era. During this period there was much complexity seen in the arts especially literature. The Victorian era closed its doors to all of these principles and instead turned to religion, morality and classical art forms.

The Victorian era corresponds with the reign of Queen Victoria in England from 1837 to 1901 and is known for its morals, modesty, and proper decorum, as inspired by the Queen and her husband. This can be attributed to the growing class discrepancy between the rich and the poor due to urbanization and industrialization in addition to the opposite nature of the previous era. Wealth was abundant for the upper class, but the working class population often lived in poverty, though economic times during the Victorian era were relatively stable which allowed for prosperity and peace of mind. This enabled people to focus more on developing the arts whereas during the dark times of the Romantic era people sought for meaning within because of economic troubles. Music and literature returned to classical straight forward forms such as Charles Dickens’ easily relatable books on common situations.

The proprietary example Queen Victoria set for this time focused on self-control, social responsibility and returning to classical forms of art a reactionary response to the more relaxed previous period providing a deep contrast in social values.

~Victorian Era Synthesis!~

The Victorian Period in its entirety was a period well-known for its refined culture, its attention to high morals, as well as modesty and proper decorum. Queen Victoria alongside her husband, Prince Albert, brought an apparent sense of unity as well as prosperity to England during the mid1800’s. This unity was primarily centered on the growth of the country and the push into urbanization. As prestigious and elegant, Queen Victoria may have been, she based her ruling with strict guidelines in order to progress into future societal conditions. For example, Queen Victoria forced small towns to become overtaken by growing industries and businesses. As England began its journey into industrialization, many millions of workers lived in slums or in vacated, old upper class houses. Industrial workers who lived in slums had no means of sanitary water, paved streets or even school. In order to reach the mills where they exerted their daily labor, the workers had no choice but to walk miles on foot. It was because of Queen Victoria’s urgent demands and wants that England became a well-industrialized and booming country. Queen Victoria’s goal was perhaps to counteract all that occurred in the previous era, the Romantic Era. During this time period, people strayed away from the tight confines of right and wrong and instead chose to express themselves in other forms –music, art, and even writing. This freedom of self-expression also drove many to choose secularity over Catholicism and Christianity. Because of the lack of a core religion, people gained creativity and began to appreciate their unique individuality. Ultimately, establishing strict regulations and demands was - simply put - Queen Victoria’s method to attempt to restore the country into a proper and uniform society, in which everyone shared the same ideals and beliefs.

ASHER PERIOD 1 TEAM 8!! :P
Jessie Yen, Ruhi Sharma, Sidney Gerst, Rachel Clauss

Victoian synthesis Wylie P1 T5

In the Romantic Era mysticism and dark Gothic things were subjects of art and were part of everyday life. While in the Victorian era industrialization was starting in Britain which caused some of the lower classes were forced t live in slums and abandoned old houses. This created a greater and more obvious division between the upper and lower classes. Status is greatly valued in the Victorian culture. People of the upper class had to act so and keep their reputation strong so that they may have influence in the aristocracy. In the play The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde it creates this idea that the upper class had a harder life than the lower class because they had to worry about their reputation, how they were dressed, and how people perceive them. The character Algernon is over educated which causes him trouble in finding a job but must depend on his Aunt and must follow her every word in order to keep her support of him. In every situation he is overdressed because he must dress nice to fulfill his upper class appearance. The upper class of the Victorian era always was forced to keep their clothes proper and their pockets full with money because as a result of industrialization and the prosperous economy ready money was heavily valued. This contrasts with the Romantic Era because that was an era of free expression of the human spirit in which people came more in touch with themselves and the natural world around them. The Victorian era changed this because as industrialization started the focus on nature disappeared and as the class separation became more apparent morals and proper behavior were valued which in most cases put an end to free expression of ones feelings.

Wylie Period 1 Team 5
Bennett Kopperud
Nick Hudson
Evelyn Ashleigh
Anne Kitchens

The Victorian Era Synthesis

The Victorian Era, known for its peace, propriety and self-confidence, was under the rule of Queen Victoria from the year of 1837 to 1901. Under her rule, Queen Victoria’s subjects flourished and prospered. The Victorian Era is a reaction to the previous period, known as the Georgian Era. Unlike the Georgian Era, which was rational and realistic, Victorian Era leaned towards romanticism and mysticism in the form of religion, arts, and literature. Queen Victoria highly focused on the quality of literature that was imaginative, emotional, and simply romantic whereas reviewing upon the previous era, literatures were more concentrated on realism and morality. One of the famous Victorian writers is Charles Dickens and his novel A Tale of Two Cities; his figurative writing style depicting social reality made a great impact on future novel writing. Such writing style allowed different perspectives on different common life events. The elements of imagination and romanticism were also apparent in The Misanthrope by Moliere. Attacking the problem with social hierarchy and superficiality in the French community, Moliere simply used satire and humor to demonstrate the truth in everyday matters such as talking and interacting. Both A Tale of Two Cities and The Misanthrope focused on the lower to middle class and common life. The prudent Victorian Era is very unique, but it is definitely greatly impacted by the previous era.

Ms. Wylie

Period 5

Team 7

Dan Qi

Samudra Thio

Kevyn Fox

Victorian Era Synthesis Question Wylie 5 Team 9

Victorian Era Synthesis Question Wylie 5 Team 9

During the Victorian Period, many people acted in a civilized manner and knowledge was really expanding and taking its course. In previous years, learning was a big component to the social society and was very important if you wanted to fit in. During this era, everyone was starting to use that knowledge and expand them into new, bigger and better ideas. Since the working class was still bad, many people worked at political reform. The Victorian Era acted as a time of change to previous eras, to reform and fix what was necessary to succeed and become accomplished. In previous eras many people were excited to start fresh, but did not really know how and during the Victorian Era, people started to really take the time to understand what was needed in order to make life prosperous and fair to all. This meant serious discipline, which is why people acted in such a proper manner. Along with the discipline came along people who wanted to act out on that discipline which leads to the different forms of expression during this era, such as literature. Many writers used satire and sarcasm in their writing to apply their opinions of people and ideas and in this era, expression of one’s opinion was valued, as in many other eras before such as the Renaissance or Enlightenment eras. The Victorian Period stood out through many other periods simply because their growth of knowledge really guided other eras to their success.

Gus Shettleroe

Adrienne Quiles

Audrey Ford

The Victorian Era P.1 Team 1

The Victorian Period was the era of Queen Victoria’s rule from 1837 to 1901. It was a period of prudery, peace, propriety and the expansion of self-confidence for Britain. During Queen Victoria’s rule, Britain reached its peak as the largest empire in the history. It was also a time of great economic growth due to the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Under Queen Victoria’s reign, Britain became the first political and world power. As the monarch during this era, Queen Victoria was given credit for Pax Brittanica, which was the period of comparative peace in Europe. People began to imitate her image of woman prudery, moral propriety, and public rectitude because of her success in ruling the country. The Victorian Era is a reaction to the Romantic Era because it marks society’s evolution from the carefree concept of Romanticism to a condition of awareness and modification. Romanticism provides the concept of idealized look of the world, however, during the Victorian Era, people became conscious of inequality in the society. For example, Jane Austin, the author of Pride and Prejudice, had characteristics of Romanticism with some features of Realism. Charles Dickens, the author of A Christmas Carol, was considered as the most popular writer during this era, he wrote vibrantly about the struggles in London and the condition of the poor. The Victorian Era stressed on positivism and reason as a reaction to the Romantic Era. The artist, writers had the devotion of showing “life as it was” during the Victorian Era as an idea against the Romanticism.

Ashley Chang, Justin Park, Jenny Yu, Diana kim

Period 1 team 1

Victorian Era Synthesis

Team Dragon/Team 8
Clair Fuller
Yee-Lum Mak
Alex Tranquada
Laurel Kitada
Jodi Shou

Victorian Synthesis

In the Victorian Period, the tone and content of literature shifted from romanticism and the fantastic to realism that depicted ordinary circumstances, with examples including the works of Charles Dickens, in sharp contrast to the literature of the Romantic Era, which frequently presented supernatural, fantastic, or gothic subjects, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Because of the climate of change that so pervaded the era, much of the literature was concerned with social matters like reform, the success of the country, or providing a realistic and factually accurate depiction of life at the time. Though Romantic influences existed, such as in an enduring interest in the supernatural, themes of otherworldliness were then viewed as entertainment and sport instead of an acknowledged aspect of life on which significant symbolic and enlightening value was placed, as was the reverent view held during the Romantic Era. In addition, poetry like that of Alfred, Lord Tennyson formed a connection between the emotional expression of the Romantic era and the utilitarian zeitgeist engendered by the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. While Romantic thinkers and artists saw inherent value in the human condition and expression of emotions, the popular view during the Victorian Era was that worth should come from function and usefulness, creating an emphasis on efficiency and production despite the feelings of the people involved. In art, the subjects of paintings moved away from the supernatural or subjects that offered a reflective view of the human condition, clearly demonstrated the strict, almost Puritanical morality and sensibilities of the time. Examples include Richard Redgrave's The Outcast or William Holman Hunt's The Awakening Conscience, both violently denouncing sexual sin.

Victorian Era Synthesis-Asher. p2.t8

Every era is a response to the events and thoughts of the previous time period; it ignites ideas that propel society into a new way of living. Under the reign of Queen Victoria, society flourished and was able to reach new heights because of the change in life styles and customs.
The most apparent way to view the changes that were cause by the Romantic era is through comparing the literature, both novels and poetry, which demonstrates how society evolved. Like the Romantic era that was highly centered on literature, the Victorian Era appreciated the importance and quality of literature. Because of the wide spread wealth in society, people could embrace their desires to read. As literary works evolved and became focused on realism and evaluating morality, they retained some romantic aspects such as high emotion and use of strong imagination. One Victorian author, who depicted the struggles of the working class’ survival, was Charles Dickens in his novel Hard Times is an example of the realism that writers began to use. Because of the Romantic era’s reliance on fantasy and supernatural, it opened the gate for the Victorian era to change the style of writing and focus on the harsh realities of everyday common life. For example, the romantic piece of work Misanthrope focuses on the life of high society, even if it is satirical and criticizing of it, while books that arose during the Victorian age such as A Tale of Two Cities revolves around power shifting to the lower or middle class workers. The Victorian era, known for its tone of propriety and prudery, changed the way people thought and acted based on the influence of the Romantic era and a reaction to it.

Victorian Era Synthesis, Wyl. T.3.P5

            The tone of the Victorian Era directed by Queen Victoria brought forth a slightly more conservative approach to humanities, a reaction to the Romantic Era’s limitless fascination of nature and the supernatural. Although the Gothic Art saw resurgence during this era, many other forms of humanities, for example literature, took a drastic turn that often depicted the harshness arising from the working class.  Charles Dickens’s Hard Times grimly portrayed the life of poverty of the Industrial Era. Instead of the novels linking nature and mankind man, novels were either raw and reflective of the Victorian Era’s highly conservative society or satirical like Oliver Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde’s stories highly satirized the high society of the Victorian era using “bunburying” to switch identities time to time. This was a divergence from the Romantic era where the boundaries between man and nature were limitless. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a classic depiction of man defying nature and the monster seeming almost man like.  Another change that stirred much controversy was the release of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The very idea that there was evolution of the human species and the God might not have simply created humankind highly distressed the religious society of the era. This was also a mild reaction to Romantics Era fascination for imagination and free flow rather than definite laws and restriction. The Victorian Era was highly influenced by the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution which brought forth cultural changes especially in the humanities from the previous Romantic Era.

Karen, Emily, Paulina, Angela

Synthesis Question

In the Romantic era, the main focus transformed from religious aspects to secular ideas. Romantic literature basically dealt with themes of human rights, folk traditions, nostalgia for the past especially the Gothic, and the emphasis on the beauty of nature. Romanticism does not entirely disappear in the Victorian Period, but there was a movement emphasizing social or moral themes over artistic values. The Victorian age saw the significant rise of prose writing with remarkable writers such as Charles Dickens who wrote about the degenerating condition of society. Charles Dickens’s work has been highly praised for its realism, mastery of prose, and the reward to noble virtues: kindness, courage, humility, and selflessness. Due to his intense human sympathy, unsurpassed emotional and dramatic power, and his aggressive humanitarian zeal for the destruction evil, he enhanced the Victorian ideal of improving nature with central moral lessons at heart. This idea is also enhanced in Hardy’s Jude: The Obscure. Another significant writer, Arthur Conan Doyle, wrote himself into history by creating the eccentric and brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes' stunning powers of deduction rest on an astute logic which is a direct reflection of the pragmatism of the nineteenth-century Victorian mind. Moreover, Thomas Hardy also reflected his stoical pessimism and harshly conflicted with the Victorian standards of morality through his novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Overall, although both periods emphasized human rights and nature in general, Victorian era focuses on high morals, modesty and proper decorum.

Victorian Synthesis

Claire West

Danny Shapiro

Ivy Arbolado

Edward Tyler

The Victorian Era Synthesis Question

The Victorian era, ranging from 1837-1901, was a time period focused on prudery and propriety. The obvious cause of this change came from their ruler Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria transformed common thought and morals from imaginative and dreamy from the Romantic period and replaced them with social and sexual restraint. Aside from her influence on the era though, the main cause for this drastic change was the peoples’ reaction from the previous period, the Romantic era.

The most profound difference between the two eras is the advancement of technology. During the Romantic era, technology and communication was very limited. In order to solve this inconvenient problem, the people during this time period worked hard and invented stagecoaches, canals, steamships, and railways to transport goods and people. Also, with time, Public Health Acts were passed encouraging better hygiene and cleanliness. These changes in technology and development promoted and supported the general public in becoming more clean, pure, and proper.

Another example of how the Victorian period was a reaction to the Romantic era was relapse back into Gothic design. This could be seen in the architecture and buildings, which had the classic pointed roofs, arches, and strong shapes. The people from the Victorian era respected and appreciated both the effectiveness and the beauty in houses built in the Gothic style.

Overall, the idea of abandoning rationalism, formality, and reason became too uncivilized and thus Queen Victoria brought her people into a new era, with stricter morals and beliefs. She was the catalyst that caused the anxious and unorganized people to evolve into the time period referred to as the Victorian era.

Wylie Team 4 Period 1

Asher.P4.T6: Victorian Era Synthesis Answer #2

One aspect of the Victorian Era’s reaction to Romanticism was to embrace realism – and see things for what they really were in the midst of the Romantic era’s blurred lines of reality and fantasy. Charles Dickens’ novels, for instance, conveyed the truth behind urban life for all classes during the era. Novels like Hard Times, which emphasized poor conditions or child labor for the lower class were able to catalyze the world around him to react to social problems with tools like labor unions and an increased focus on education. Anthony Trollope’s novels did the same, exploring and questioning England’s social, political, and ecclesiastical life. Jane Austen’s novels like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility opted to reveal the truth behind people – the situations they face, the humor they produce, and the thoughts in their minds. Victorians did react with realism, but they also were undoubtedly inspired from the sentiments that the remnants of Romanticism left behind. In the humanities, the Victorians tried to combine Romantic ideals like emotion, the individual, and imagination in a way that would distract from the lasseiz-faire capitalistic mindset that drove the era forward, and decreased quality of life. Many novels circled in on teaching lessons of morality in the time period, like Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, which teaches the lesson that physical appearances are minimally important – borrowing imaginative Romantic methods by utilizing a special painting to teach the internally hideous man a lesson. Also, Lewis Carroll’s famous story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, for example, reflected that the Romantic era’s imaginative qualities had trickled down into the Victorian era, to help create distraction and fun in the midst of Queen Victoria’s “prudish” rule, which centered around a low crime rate, sexual restraint, and heightened morals. The literature of the extensive Victorian era, overall, showed that authors embraced Romantic ideals to fit their advancing culture and society.

Victorian Era Synthesis Ash.P4.T1

The Victorian Period is known for its tone of prudery and propriety, which was influenced greatly by Queen Victoria. The Victorian era broke the previous era’s philosophical way of thinking and put an emphasis on social structure and wealth. The Romantic era was focused on deep emotional ideas about nature and life, novels like Frankenstein by Mary Shelley forced people to change their way of thinking, to question nature and personal as well as moral problems. In 1837 the Victorian era began to emerge with new ideas and beliefs that clashed with the ideas of the Romantic era. The Victorian era had a very strong social code of conduct and very proper beliefs. They focused less on mans development on the inside and focused more on mans development on the outside, how the world perceived him. Art and architecture shifted in this era as well from a Gothic style to a more put together, well-designed form. Buildings went from Gothic cathedrals to more appealing rich elegant structures. Literature shifted quite suddenly between these two eras. During the romantic period, authors wrote to encourage a more deeper way of thinking, to get the reader to question their humanity and nature. In the Victorian period however, authors wrote to entertain and to impress the readers.

Victorian Era Synthesis Question--Wylie Per. 6, Team 1

      The previous era, the Romantic era, was a time when people revolted against the norms of aristocratic society and politics. People also reacted against the scientific rationalization of nature. Because the Romantic era was surrounded by war, such as the Seven Years’ War and the French and Indian War, strong emotions such as horror, fear, and terror were validated. When the Victorian era came to be, many of the values and attitudes of the people changed. Queen Victoria was a very prim and proper lady who reigned over Britain. Therefore, she created such a sense of propriety and prudery among the people. Queen Victoria had an elaborate set of rules and she ruled on her own as a monarch. She greatly emphasized good morals and family. Victoria had a large family and through her actions she showed how important family was to her. This was clearly a reaction to the Romantic era because during the Victorian era, Queen Victoria made a shift back to following rules, and being morally right. There was much more sensibility within the people of the Victorian era after the Romantic era, where horror and revolt were valued. People became much more sensitive to emotions. When Queen Victoria’s husband passed away, she spent a great amount of time mourning for him. This also contributed to the sensibility within the people because they saw how devastated that their queen was.

Jennifer Suh Charles Negrini Sid Vyas Sophie Resnick 

Victorian Era Synthesis Question - Asher Period 4 Team 7

The age of Romanticism was a reaction to the Enlightenment in that it refuted the over-rationalization of nature and emphasized visual and emotional aspects that could not be quantified. The literature of the period consisted of works like Wuthering Heights, which revolves around the intense but flawed relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, and Frankenstein, the story of a man whose search for companionship backfires horribly. Both novels examined the imperfect nature of people and the importance of interpersonal relationships.

This philosophy did not continue in the Victorian era. It favored sexual restraint, did not tolerate crime, and perhaps most importantly, had a strict set of social rules. Whereas the Romantic period focused on the significance of the creativity of individuals and their interaction with nature, the subsequent era prioritized a stringent morality that individuals were supposed to adhere to.

The novels of Charles Dickens, probably the most famous author of the era, featured strong moral component in several of his novels. In A Christmas Carol, Dickens harshly criticizes those with means who are not charitable, and in Hard Times, he critiques the society brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

Hard Times also features a story line about education that implicitly criticizes the way teachers trained students to learn a series of facts but did not encourage them to think critically. The Enlightenment brought a long many of the facts those students are trying to learn, and the Victorian Period favoring the era that Romanticism was reacting to shows clearly the contrast between the two periods.

Wylie. Period 5. Team 5. Victorian Synthesis Question

Lorena Huang Liu

Diana Huang

Rachel Yeo

Period 5

During the Victorian Era, authors such as Charles Dickens became prominent. These authors focused more on literature for the working class, normal people. In previous eras, the literature would be intended towards aristocratic people and noblemen. However, this was a time of change, around the time of the Industrial Revolution and reality started to become worse and worse as working conditions became more inhumane. Because the works of literature were more aimed at working class people who had less education, the authors turned to simpler, or at least easier to understand, forms of writing. Novels became very prominent during this era because narratives and prose are much easier to grasp, especially for the working class that lacked education. These new novels portrayed working class men and women and their daily lives. For example, in Charles Dicken’s Hard Times, he writes about the struggle of the working class and the injustices in their lives. The book addresses bad factory conditions, working children, poverty, etc. However, Dickens always adds a comical twist to the novel. Oscar Wilde also adds elements in his works that elicit thoughtful laughter. In this manner, the writers of the Victorian Era mocked society and its flaws. Irony and sarcasm were heavily employed to create satirical works. One of the main reasons why the works were funny were so that the people who read them would be able to get away from the despair of their life and have some comical relief; however, the settings and characters were still realistic and feasible. This era contrasted with the Romantic era because the romantics recurred to fantastic elements that would require a suspension of disbelief, but Victoria works were realistic to the point that the readers were able to put themselves in the characters’ lives.

Victorian Era Synthesis Wylie.P6.T2

The Georgian which occurred before the Victorian era was a time of great transition. Although the Georgian period was known for its flourishing culture, it is also known as a time in which the gaps between the rich and the poor widened. With the new technological developments of the time, the population boomed and the size of the lower class increased. As the royalties and upper class of the time lived extravagant lives, many in poverty were left to fend for themselves relying on prostitution and child labor as a source of income. While the poor struggled to make ends meet, they had to witness the upper class flourish. With a large portion of the population unhappy with their lifestyles, it was inevitable for a revolt against the tragic lifestyle of the poor. The Romantic Movement which emphasized emotions helped fueled this revolt against the social norms of the Georgian era. It focused on originality and imagination and as people began to reject realism, they were able to reassess their lives in a new light and see the faults of their lifestyles. The romantic era gave people of the Georgian era a new point of view and help jump start the revolt against the social hierarchy as well as the search for individuality. This search for individuality led to the belief of a better life in the middle class and helped lead into the strong morals held during the Victorian era in which people valued a strict social morality.

With the combination of the Georgian era and Romanticism, the Victorian era emerged. In contrast to the Georgian period, people in the Victorian period valued a strong moral efficacy in which people had low tolerance for transgressions and valued those who had sexual restraints. This is because after the Georgian and romantic era, people began to accept realism and realize the tragedies in their lives. The Romantic era helped bring about the belief in a better life; that if one is morally correct, good things will happen to them. This is evident in a lot of Victorian literature which focused on the tragic lives of the poor and the injustice of the social system of the time, but ultimately ended with a happy ending for those who worked hard. Charles Dickens, for instance, often used satirical irony to portray the tragic lives of the poor but would show that one could find love and happiness if one just works for it and is morally good. For instance, in his novel A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens portrays Charles Darnay as a kind and moral man, who denounced his aristocratic status because of his disgust with the social system of the time. At the end of the novel, Darnay who lived a moral path all his life was able to escape his execution and be with the love with his life. The moral beliefs in the Victorian era were created in revolt against the crude social norms of the Georgian period and the strong sense of individuality which developed in the Romantic era. In the end, the Victorian era focused on strong moral ethics because it was a backlash of the Georgian and Romantic period.

Wyl. P5. T6 (Victorian Era Synthesis)

The Victorian Era is portrayed as a more realistic and moral era of time. This is a reaction to the gothic like behavior in the Romantic Era. During the Romantic Era, art seemed to be something that had to do with nature and almost represented something abstract with feelings. An example of this is Emily Bronte’s writing in Wuthering Height, throughout the story there holds a strong sense of mystery and darkness. This shows the gothic side of the Romantic Era, but also in the story there was no real plot or story line that drew it to a conclusion. The Romantic Era also portrayed many mystical creatures that were unreal and weren’t really realistic. The Victorian Era is pretty much stopping what “imagination” this ear has and is bringing the abstract art into a sense of real art. An example of putting a halt on the imagination is in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Things were not taken through emotions but through what was seen through observations. The theory of evolution was a time period where people either accepted the facts or argued against it. This showed the transition between the period of feelings to the period of believing facts. The next generation of the time wanted to take things outside of how people felt. The Romantic Era and the Victorian Era show a strong transition of morals and ethics. The Victorian Era was an overreaction to the Romantic Era because of its drive to keep moving forward.

Nancy Lai, Janelle Li, Zachary Lindecamp, Kelsey Nakamura

Wyl.p6.t7 victorian synthesis

Christine Yi

Aashrita Mangu

Tiffany Show

Elaine Hong

The Victorian era was a time of immense scientific progress, a product from the Romantic era. During Queen Victoria's reign, thinkers were challenged with new ideals. Charlnes Darwin developed his theory of evolution and published The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. This book is extremely crucial because it introduced a new concept called evolution and natural selection, that humans and other life forms evolved from simpler life forms over millions and millions of years. This was a product of the previous era because during the Romantic period, people were extremely aware of the environment and that environment included animals. In developing a new idea and challenging what was originally thought, Darwin contributed to the Victorian era by providing a pivotal theory that shaped the rest of history. In addition, the Victorian period was based on logic and less of creativity. Essentially, the Victorian era is the Romantic era and Enlightenment combined. Proof is presented in the role women played during Queen Victoria's rule. Women like Mary Wollstonecraft realized, reflected, and actively participated during this era because they were empowered with a sense of logic and reason. Women became more than just a child-bearer or housewife and started taking on voices of their own. The Victorian age was a time where biblical ideals of existence was challenged by Charlnes Darwin and when women became evident and passionate owners of strong voices, reason, and logic.

wyl.p6.t4 Victorian Synthesis

The Victorian Era was a time period exemplified by the standards of prudence and propriety set by Queen Victoria. The time period was a reaction to the Romantic Era because Queen Victoria wished for her citizens to be more focused on reality and the importance of manners. Romanticism had often left its followers without morals, and Queen Victoria wanted a more consistent and fashionable society. This is exemplified by the contrasts between the Victorian painting A Dream of the Past: Sir Isumbras at the Ford by John Everest Millais and Mary Shelley’s romantic Frankenstein.
In the picture, painted in 1857, a knight is seen helping two peasant girls to safety from an overflowing river. The knight looks very chivalrous and is neatly dressed in shining armor. The peasants also appear well-dressed. The one girl looks towards God. All of these actions and appearances help portray the image that the society is very mannered and that religion has helped steer the citizens of the country in the right direction. Queen Victoria would have enjoyed the sense of morality depicted.
However, this contrasts with Mary Shelly’s romantic novel because it lacks a sense of dreaminess and mystique. Shelly’s novel revolves around the impossible scenario of creating a monster. Her main character treats this creature poorly and then the monster kills the creator’s family. This is much different from the picture because it shows a lack of nobility.
The Victorian Era was centered on manners and restraint. This was a large deviation from the Romantic Era.

Works Cited

"A Dream of the Past: Sir Isumbras at the Ford." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 25 Dec. 2011. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .

Harrison, Ainsworth. "The Victorian Web." The Victorian Web: An Overview. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. .
Team 4: Cody Dunn, Stephen Hwang, Tyler Wong, Carlton Lew

Victorian Era Synthesis Question Period 1 Team 3

Having great modesty was different in the Victorian era than it was in the Romantic era. Yet, the Victorian era was a reaction created by events, writers, and those who pointed out society's views. At first in Romanticism, views were more liberal and expressive as it become an artistic movement. As for the Victorian era, things changed giving people a new reaction towards society, people become more aware of having a high status in life. Being someone with good standards. As Queen Victoria and the Reform Act of 1832 came to the start of the era, many changes were made from being freely expressive to acting in a more fashionable manner of the time giving all nearly the same amount of respect and ability to choose. Representing a more steady reign, Queen Victoria achieved to change human perspective to become more realistic towards life. Still, ideas from the past were brought into this era to create knowledge that was gained in the Romantic era to help new thinkers of the Victorian era. And then, civilization evolved through the change.

By: Misael Navarro, Hyrum Judkins, Michael Abelev, Marc Yu

Asherp4t3 Victorian Synthesis #2

2. As the Romantic Era came to a close, the Victorian Era eased into effect as the sensibility of a new time took over. Just like all the eras before it, the Victorian Era was a reaction to its previous period. During the Romantic Era, expression was emphasized through music in the use of extravagant dynamics and lyrical melodies. Literary works also stressed freedom of expression in works such as Frankenstein and Wuthering Hights which introduced the gothic novel and cut any remaining ties to the Church. However, after three periods of discovery in the Renaissance, Enlightenment, and Romantic Eras, this form of expression in the search for one’s self reached its climax in the Romantic Era and the masses reverted to a highly prudish lifestyle. There are a couple of factors that led to this change, one of which was the crowning of Queen Victoria. Because she was widely popular and influential, many followed her styles of prudishness. Another factor was that great writers such as Charles Dickens focused more on society in novels such as Hard Times and A Tale of Two Cities instead of expressiveness.

Victorian Era Synthesis

The Victorian Era was truly a time period of extreme diversity. The Victorian Era succeeded the Romantic Era which influenced the culture, sciences, and religion. Although the Victorian Period was known for its prudish, repressed and old fashioned tone, the era was also associated with the expansion of inventions and wealth. The kick off of the Victorian Era was clearly the reign of Queen Victoria, however the Reform Act of 1832 also led to the Victorian Era. This bill gave the middle class the political power it deserved. Social changes occurred swiftly, including literature, industry, and commerce. The arts was an obvious clue that directed people to the Victorian Era after the Romanticist period The Victorian’s tried to combine the emphasis on self and imagination of the Romantic era with the public roles of art and artist from the Neoclassical Era. The Romantic Era included the well known event, the Industrial Revolution. As the Industrial Revolution slowed down, the Victorian era began to evolve. The Victorian’s were the first to truly “invent” the idea of modern inventions. Although this era was defined by being old fashioned, it is deemed as the start of the modern times due to the changes in culture and sciences.

Period 5 Team 1 Victorian Era Synthesis Question

The Romantic period was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement of the late 1700’s. This period was a precursor to the following Victorian period because the knowledge and art gained and created during the Romantic period helped educate and influence the thinkers and writers of the Victorian era. As the common people also became enlightened by the values and philosophies of the Romantic era, they were thus more receptive and encouraging of the new ideas presented during the Victorian period, such as Darwin’s theories on human evolution. Also, the Victorian period was a prosperous era, due mostly in part to the Industrial Revolution that began during the Romantic period. This new found wealth allowed these artists, writers and thinkers the freedom, ability, and funds necessary to take their respective crafts to the next level. As a result of the standards set by the Romantic period, a much more sophisticated, cultured, and proper era, which was exemplified by the ruling monarch Queen Victoria, began to take root at the forefront of British life. The precedent set by the Romantic era allowed for the Victorian artists, writers, and thinkers to pick up right where the Romantics left off and expand and evolve even further.

By John Farnworth, Fedor Kossakovski, Justin Cornford and Charles Salumbides

Victorian Synthesis t9.p4 asher

The Victorian Era was predated by the Romantic Era so naturally there are elements from the Romantic Era that people saw fit to carry over into the Victorian Era and then there are others that were decidedly dropped. One characteristic that carried over would be Gothic architecture; for example, the Palace of Westminster was damaged and rebuilt using a Gothic style as described in Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution: A History and Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities. John Rusk, a prominent figure of the time praised Gothic as the embodiment of societal values while Classicism, a literary movement from the Romantic Era, was the embodied a conformity to mechanical standardization. The supernatural factor of Gothicism became a rather popular past time for some of Britain’s citizens. An interest in nature that sprouted from the previous era led to the hobby of amateur collections of birds, butterflies, flowers, and other miscellaneous collectable “trinkets” one may find in nature. However as stated there are elements that were rejected and abandoned from the previous era. The propriety and prudery may have resulted from more sensual literature like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There was a disapproval of such literature that grew in magnitude as Queen Elizabeth disapproved such characteristics of Romantic literature. Also, whereas the Romantic Era was slightly inclined toward the unconventional life, it seems the Victorian Era encouraged people to cultural norm that should not be broken.

Gary Choi

Fenghua Yang

Alex Deng

Isaac Lee

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

Victorian Era Synthesis Question Wylie Period 6 Team 8

In its origination, the Victorian Period was principally regarded as a reaction against the Romantic era’s culture, aesthetic, and literature. Fundamentally, the Victorian Period revolved around Queen Victoria’s political career and because England underwent significant change during this turbulent, albeit transcendent period, it’s not surprising that Victorian literature encircles social reform. Although the Victorian Period and Romantic era lie on separate spectrums, both periods shared sentiments on how the Industrial Revolution ignored addressing growing and pressing social problems. Nonetheless, the Victorian Period bore witness to a time of cultural and literary development in which writers’ tones shifted from the Romantic period’s undertones of flouting religion and embracing nature, freedom, and creativity to pragmatically charged voices. Ushering in quintessential literature and poetry from writers including Joseph Conrad, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, and Rudyard Kipling, Victorian literature emphasized a significantly different consciousness from that of the Romantic era in that Victorian literature idealized a sober philosophy of utilitarianism.

While the Romantic era championed self-worth by way of individualism, hearty imagination, and uninhibited emotion, the Victorian Period hailed nationalism and realism. Morality became Victorian literature’s defining trait. By frequently referencing the downtrodden and being equated with prudishness and associated with a Victorian Period persuasion of moral righteousness and public decorum, Victorian literature has also been associated with the classic Victorian fiction formula in which virtue would receive reward and alternately, wrongdoing would be a punishable offense. Like its predecessor, the Victorian Period was a powerhouse of literature — most notably, Charles Dickens’ popular novels of social commentary criticizing the Industrial Revolution’s storehouse of problems, social stratification included. Regarding poetry, the Victorian age’s foremost poet was Alfred, Lord Tennyson whose poetry that combined the then-popular mode of thought of social rectitude and religious incertitude doubtlessly mirrored the seemingly puritanical and moralistic Victorian age. In retrospect, the Victorian era maintains its foothold as a testament to the blossoming of the English novel that transformed to portray raw, real-life paintings of contemporary Victorian life.

Trent Kajikawa, Naomi Krieger, Daphne Liu, Wilson Muller

Asher.p2.t1.Victorian Era

Asher.p2.t1.Victorian era

by Jane Lu, Christina Yang, Calvin Chan, Brianna Loo

In the previous period, the Romantic era, there was a huge turn towards imagination as the people “revolted” against reason and sense. But in the Victorian Era, people rebelled against such thoughts and were much more realistic, as evidenced by any typical Victorian novel such Hard Times (circa 1854) by Charles Dickens. While the novel does have a dramatized plot line and humor incorporated in it, but Dickens bluntly and truthfully portrays what urban life was like for those living during that time period. Not only that, Dickens uses the novel to demonstrate and highlight the economic and social pressures of the era.

The Romantic Era was also known for its heavy emphasis on the idea that nature is transformative and has the power to change people. But, the Victorian Era reacted to such ideas with realism and focused on the notion that a person, not nature, can create solutions to better a problem, and improve the individual lives of the people via those solutions. Mary Ann Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, wrote novels well-known for their realism and insight into how to solve the social problems of the era. Similarly, another famous writer, Anthony Trollope wrote a series of novels that analyzed the social and political life of England during that era. Later, at the close of the Victorian Era, it was commonly understood that a primary method of analyzing problems and proposing solutions was through the novel.

ash.p2.t2 Victorian Era

The Romantic Era preceded the Victorian Era, and even a cursory look at both periods of time shows how different they are from one another. The Romantic Era was a time when emotions and fantasy were prized, and the rigid logic of industry was disdained. In contrast, the Victorian Era was known for its faithfulness to the hierarchy between classes and high moral values. The Victorian Era relied on etiquette and social pressure to maintain an expected standard of ‘civilization’ that was lacking in the Romantic Era.

An examination of literature from these periods immediately shows how much the Victorian Era was a reaction to what was seen as the immoral excesses of the era preceding it. Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley during the Romantic period, contains a plot fueled by the question of what man’s true relationship to nature and science should be. The characters are filled with powerful emotions and commit acts of rage and passion, but are not so concerned with propriety. In contrast, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is filled with characters whose troubles are caused by their social standing and their poverty. Their problems are real-world ones and require no suspense of disbelief. The humans are concerned not with their standing with nature, but with their standing with each other. When the stories written by Shelley and Dickens are compared, it is clear the Victorian Era, led by Queen Victoria herself, was a reaction against the ideals of the period in time before it.