Line #9 UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain


1	[[quoteright:280:[[PimpedOutDress https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Crown_Princess_Victoria_002.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:280:Everything was prim and proper, even when [[ErmineCapeEffect looking grand]].]]
3
4	->''"...Because, with all our faults, we love our Queen."''
5	-->-- '''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'''
6
7	Ah, Victorian era Britain (1837-1901). A place of tumultuous social, political, cultural, and technological change that is unfairly remembered today as the embodiment of Medieval traditionalism with an anti-sexual moral conservatism that borders on fascism. Victorian Britain (named after UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria) is significant for being the birthplace of the modern middle class, for the rapid and jarring transformation to a highly industrialized nation, for many social reforms (anti-slavery, prison reform, etc) the massive expansion of UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, some [[ElegantGothicLolita truly fantastic fashions]], and, yes, an anxious over-emphasis on morality and propriety... that only barely masked a dark and seedy underbelly of society (gambling, crime, liquor, opium and TheOldestProfession).
8
9	Victorian Britain produced some of the finest literature of the English language canon, and also some of the [[ItWasADarkAndStormyNight most famous turgid and overwrought prose in history.]] In ClassicalMusic, this was the era of passionate Romantic music played by huge orchestras. It was also a [[FanOfThePast time of nostalgia]] for a period in history that essentially never existed - the Myth/ArthurianLegend. In a similar vein, aristocrats loved historical ruins so much that some had fake ruins built on their estates.
10
11	Frequently, but by no means [[BritainIsOnlyLondon always]], overlaps with VictorianLondon.
12
13	Like other eras in British history, it is named for [[UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria the Sovereign]].
14	----
15	!!Industrial Revolution
16	The Victorian Era overlaps greatly with the period historians call the Industrial Revolution, and this influenced society and culture of the day. The Industrial Revolution was a period starting the previous century, greatly advancing progress in machinery, especially related to manufacture of goods, and mining of coal - which of course, was self-perpetuating, the greater mining of coal creating further ability to improve and increase use of steam engines. Other advantages, such as easy transportation about the island, and the increasing use of trains, led to the industrial revolution completely changing the economy of Britain, and then eventually continental Europe and the United States.
17
18	However, this also was responsible for the switch between the "cottage industries" and the factory economies. Instead of jobs being mostly based in at-home businesses, production began to occur more and more in factories, leading to most people moving to cities and working for very little in dangerous and long positions. On the other hand, it was the beginning of class mobility in some ways; the Victorian Era was the first time that there was a real middle class, rather than the feudal division of common and aristocracy. The corporation developed into its modern form, creating a new kind of rich person who was still "common" -- the corporate executive -- along with the tropes [[CorruptCorporateExecutive associated]] [[HonestCorporateExecutive therewith]]. Industrialisation also created the beginnings of modern consumer culture. The aforementioned movement of work from at-home business to factories and (by the end of the Victorian Era) offices turned the household from a unit of production to a unit of consumption -- and with the factories turning out all sorts of goodies by 1900, ordinary people were starting to buy them.
19
20	!!Fashion
21	If you know anything about the Victorian Era, you are probably thinking of those tailored dresses with corsets and men in top hats. Fashion was constantly changing, from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1840s_in_Western_fashion#/media/File:Fashion_Plate_La_Mode_1848.jpg this in the 1840s]], to [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__czwCf07jhw/SQKIZOy0b2I/AAAAAAAAA4o/T6RkO_18YJg/s400/getimage4.jpg this in the 1880s]], as it does these days, and was very important to the new middle class. Where the aristocracy didn't have to worry, and the working class didn't have time to worry, the middle class was very interested in looking wealthy and fashionable.
22
23	The improvements in the textile industry allowed for fabrics to be experimented with more, and eventually industrial chemistry led to the invention of new dyes. If you think of the Victorian Era as black or white, or sepia toned, blame cameras - bright colors were usually fashionable, and often times in impressive patterns, too (like paisley!), many of which were made possible by the new technology. For instance, paisley could only be mass-produced because of the new [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom Jacquard looms]], the precursor to computer-controlled manufacturing; the same was true of the fancy new tartans associated with the Romantic "revival" of supposedly-ancient Scottish traditions.
24
25	Make-up in those days, and [[OldTimeyAnkleTaboo raised hemlines]], were considered taboo and inappropriate for a woman of virtue.
26
27	[[UsefulNotes/GeorgianEra The Georgian Era]] and TheEdwardianEra are the eras before and after the Victorian Era
28	----
29	!!Famous authors from Victorian Britain include:
30	* Creator/MatthewArnold
31	* The Sisters Bronte: Creator/CharlotteBronte, Creator/EmilyBronte, and Creator/AnneBronte. Most notably Emily's ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' and Charlotte's ''Literature/JaneEyre''. Anne's ''Literature/TheTenantOfWildfellHall'' was also wildly popular at the time.
32	* Creator/RobertBrowning
33	* Creator/ThomasCarlyle
34	* Creator/LewisCarroll, author of ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''
35	* Creator/MarieCorelli
36	* Creator/CharlesDickens
37	* Creator/ArthurConanDoyle, author of ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''
38	* Creator/GilbertAndSullivan
39	* Creator/ThomasHardy
40	* Creator/GerardManleyHopkins
41	* Creator/RudyardKipling, author of ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', among others.
42	* Creator/JohnHenryNewman
43	* Creator/JohnRuskin
44	* Creator/RobertLouisStevenson, author of ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde''
45	* Creator/BramStoker, author of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''
46	* Creator/AlgernonCharlesSwinburne
47	* Creator/AlfredLordTennyson
48	* Creator/OscarWilde, author of ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray''
49
50	!!Works of fiction set in Victorian Britain include:
51	* Anything about UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper
52	* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate''
53	* "Literature/BarberBlackSheep" by Ann Neville.
54	* ''Literature/TheDifferenceEngine'' and many {{Steampunk}} works in general.
55	* ''Manga/EmmaAVictorianRomance''
56	* ''VideoGame/TheExcavationOfHobsBarrow''
57	* ''Manga/GoodbyeMyRoseGarden''
58	* ''Literature/HowGreenWasMyValley''
59	* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' (comic books)
60	** ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' (film)
61	* ''Series/TheNevers''
62	* ''Literature/OliverTwist'' and most of its adaptations
63	* ''Series/PennyDreadful''
64	* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' stories set before 1901
65	* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' (musical)
66	** ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' (film)
67
68	!!Tropes as portrayed in fiction
69
70	* SpringHeeledJack: As a figure ultimately derived from Victorian horror fiction, Spring-heeled Jack often features in works set in or derived from this period.
71	* SteamPunk: As this was the time in which the steam engine became prominent, many Steam Punk works are based in Victorian Britain.
72	* VictorianLondon
73	** TheArtfulDodger
74	** BakerStreetRegular
75	** TheFagin
76	** AFoggyDayInLondonTown
77	** JackTheRipoff
78	** MysteriousWaif
79	** OpiumDen
80	** SherlockHomage
81	** StreetUrchin

Context UsefulNotes / VictorianBritain