The Victorian novel

• Why is fiction so important during the Victorian Age? List at least four reasons.
Fiction is so important during the Victorian Age because it treats about social changes which happen at the time. People could identify in the situation related and they could reach a better understanding of society. In addiction the typical happy-ending of Victorian novels is suitable to support the idea that good triumphs on evil: which is appreciated by the Victorian reading public.

• Who was the ideal reading public of the Victorian novel?
The ideal reading public of the Victorian novel was middle class.

• Why were novels published in installments?
Novels were published in installments to create curiosity in the reader, who is motivated to buy the following installment. In this way the publishers could obtain more profits.

• What are the main contents of the Victorian novel?
The main contents in Victorian Age are the problems of relationship between the working class and the middle class, the desire to rise and the fear of falling down the social ladder, the exploitation of children, the inadequacy in the social services, the conditions of women and education.

• With reference to the industrial revolution process explain why class was one of the most important topics of the novel
Class was one of the most important topics of the novel because after the industrial revolution the new emergent class gained understanding of his importance and assumed a central role in the society, while a new social class came to life: the working class.

• Illustrate the most important stylistic choices in Dickens's fiction
Dickens uses the third person intrusive omniscient narrator, which steps into the text and involve the reader acting as a filter. One of the most important stylistic choices is the juxtaposition of two elements: pathos and the grotesque; the stylistic choices creates a tragic comical effect thanks an hyperbolical use of the language, the use of sense impression, the exaggeration and the repetition. Dickens used the parodic effect to criticize determinate figures reducing their importance.

• Explain what pathos is and how it works
Pathos is the sense of pity and sadness provoked by the imagine of the persecuted and defenseless victim. It works on people capitalizing on the sense of guilt and fears of the middle classes.

• The grotesque is one of the main ingredients of Victorian fiction. Explain what it is and how it works
The grotesque is an effect created by the exaggeration and the hyperbolic language. It deforms the shapes of a character ridiculing it (the character becomes a caricature) with the consequently loss of the character's importance and credibility.

• Explain how philanthropy worked as an alibi for people
People used philanthropy to suffocate the sense of guilt, because the poor rough it due to the exploitative attitude the middle class adopted toward them.

• Explain why the Victorian novel played a fundamental role on legislators and opinion-formers
The Victorian novel played a fundamental role on legislators and opinion-formers because it reflects social changes and in a period in which England had reached a state of generalized crisis the novel was helpful to represent and analyze the situation.

• Characterization in Victorian fiction is one of the features the intelligent reader cannot forget. Discuss
Characterization is built up using many stylistic devices: the use of sense impression, the exaggeration, the grotesque effect to create a character not at all realistic, but which is suitable to represent a determinate kind of persons.

• Explain the role of caricature
The caricature in the novel has the role to work as a filter giving the reader the possibility not to recognize his own image, so the representation can raise horror and disgust, but also laughter. In this way the writer could criticize indirectly.

• Say why the Victorian novel mainly reproduces the contradiction of the middle class
The Victorian novel mainly reproduces the contradiction of the middle class because in the novel it is represented the riches' desire to appear in their humanistic role as philanthropists, but also the evil treatment they reserve to the lower class (workhouse).

• Try to say what in contemporary culture is very much similar to the Victorian production in the world of the media
The subliminal language was used in literature during the Victorian Age as it is used in contemporary culture on television and advertizing.

• Facts is a key-word in Dickens's production. Discuss
Facts is a key-word in Dickens's production because he wanted to represent what are the consequences of the Utilitarian philosophy on society.