Chartism political english literature

Introduction

The battle of good and evil in literature of the xix century

Conclusions

 

Having analyzed the critical sources and historical background of literature of the XIX century we may undoubtly say that great literature and poetry does not illuminate clearly the good and evil in the world, but rather, it shows how in good there is almost always some evil, and in the most evil deeds, good intentions can often be found. The goal of literature should be to help people to understand the human endeavors, not to arbitrarily classify them into one category of another. Understending of good and evil helps us to grasp the world we live in. In life, we are in a constant limbo between good and evil.

Having explored the issue of good and evil in English literature of the XIX century, we can conclude that authors most widely used this notion of optimism (good) against pessimism (bad) to teach a moral lesson, to make opposite viewpoints evident to the reader, or to show a transformation of a character whether it is from an optimistic perspective to a pessimistic one or vice versa.

As we have discovered, this period of fierce class struggle was mirrored in literature by the appearance of a new trend, that of «Critical Realism». The greatest novelists of the age are Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell. These writers used the novel as a means to protest against the evils in contemporary social and economic life and to picture the world in a realistic way. Although the Chartist Movement failed to directly achieve its aims, a good case can be made that the movement itself was not a failure at all, but a powerful force that resulted in an increased awareness of social issues and created a framework for future working-class organisations. Many of the demands of the Chartists were eventually answered in the electoral reform bills of 1867 and 1864. It also seems likely that the agitation for reform that the Chartist Movement helped bring to the forefront of British society was responsible for the repeal of the Corn Laws <http://www.britainexpress.com/History/victorian/corn-laws.htm> and other social reforms. All pros and cons of that movement were clearly shown in literature of those times, especially in the works of Charles Dickens.we have discussed, because of Dickens's moral outrage and his attacks on society’s institutions and values, later critics, who were often Marxists, hailed him variously as subversive, rebellious, and even revolutionary. His attacks on society were based on traditional moral beliefs and humanism rather than on social or political theories and programs. He urged a secular ideal of human brotherhood.

Talking about the theme of money, we may say that in the XIX century money came to represent and make accessible to human ambition the means to satisfy vanity and selfish materialism, to gain advantage, power, and luxury. Throughout Dickens’s creations the language and metaphor of money, the terms of indebtedness, lending, borrowing, rates of payment and return tell us what money can do, how it can change distinctions of class, how it can completely alter the conditions of life.

The greatest difference between Great Expectations and Dickens’ earlier novels is the introduction of dramatic psychological transformations within the lead characters, as opposed to characters that are changed only through their circumstances and surroundings. The story of Pip is a Bildungsroman - a story that centers on the education or development of the protagonist - and we can follow closely the things that Pip learns and then has to unlearn. All in all, Great Expectations is considered the best balanced of all of Dickens’ novels, though a controversy still persists over the ending, as it had been changed. Dickens had originally written an ending where Pip and Estella <http://www.gradesaver.com/character.html?character=9719> never get back together. Many critics, including George Bernard Shaw, believe that this rather depressing ending was more consistent with the overall theme and tone of the novel, which began, continued, and perhaps should have finished with a serious, unhappy note. Nevertheless, Dickens published the ending where all is forgiven and Estella and Pip walk out of the Satis House garden together. It was, perhaps, an ending that Dickens would have like to have had for his own life.

References

 

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.Bloom, Harold; Jones, Jason. B. Charles Dickens. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008.

.Bloom, Harold. Beowulf. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008.

.Chesterton, G. K. Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens. London, DoDo Press, 1911.

.Clayton, Jay. Charles Dickens in Cyberspace: The Afterlife of the Nineteenth Century in Postmodern Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

.Collins, Philip. Charles Dickens: The critical heritage. London: Routledge, 2005.

.Gort, Jerald, D.; Jansen, Henry; Vroom, Hendrik, M. Probing the Depths of Evil and Good: Multireligious Views and Case Studies. New York: Rodopi, 2007.

.Dailey, Donna. Charles Dickens. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005.

.Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. London: Penguin Classics, 2003.

.Jones, Colin; McDonagh, Josephine; Mee, Jon. Charles Dickens, a Tale of two cities and the French Revolution. NewYork: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

.McParland, Robert. Charles Dickens’s American audience. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2010.

.Miller, Arthur G. The social psychology of good and evil. New York: The Guilford Press, 2004.

.Nietzsche, Fridrich. Beyond good and evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. New York: Random House, 1966.

.Ogilvy, J. D. A.; Baker, Donald, C. Reading Beowulf. New York: FastBook Publishing, 1998.

.Paroissien, David. A Companion to Charles Dickens. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008.

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.Sanders, Mike. The Poetry of Chartism: Aesthetics, Politics, History. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 2009.

.Schilling, Bernard Nicholas. The rain of years: Great expectations and the world of Dickens. Suffolk: The University of Rochester Press, 2001.

.Scully, Jackie. L.; Dandelion, Pink. Good and Evil: Quaker Perspectives. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2007.

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Introduction

chartism political english literature

Despite the pedants and the precious among the aesthetes, literature is either profoundly moral in its implications, or it is mere trivial entertainment and the secret of its power to express and even dominate whole ages must remain a mystery.values of books cannot be understood unless set in a framework of good and evil in life; if our experiences themselves cannot be felt as important, neither can the words which reflect them.our purposes, «good» will be understood as a generic term covering all elements which make for the free growth of personality; «evil» those which prevent such growth.boundaries of good and evil were once neatly and thoroughly drawn by religious doctrines, and the questioning of such doctrines has been accompanied by deterioration and relativism of standards which, for many, has seemed to make all criticism impossible; the skeptic today echoes Hamlet: «Neither is either good or bad but thinking makes it so».this term-paper, we will compare and contrast the themes of good and evil in different works of Charles Dickens and other authors. Through fighting for what they believe in, these individuals achieved their goals for society to change, for the better.Dickens once wrote, «It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness…in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only».Dickens’ works highly regarded him as a social reformer with the power to influence society. During the Victorian Period, Charles Dickens’ work played a major role in how the poor class, the criminal underworld, and the industrial revolution were viewed. With the help of Charles Dickens, the poor class was viewed in a different way during the XIX century.more deeply Charles Dickens’ Great expectations we will be able to see how there can be both good and evil in most people and that even a good person will do evil things when exposed to evil. The setting can tell many characteristics about the character that lives within. Charles Dickens creates settings that are like subtle characters. Though not named, these «characters» have a big impact on the story.object-matter of the research is Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations.subject-matter of the work is the examination of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations through the prism of good and evil.aim of the term paper is to show the impact of Chartism, social transformations and political instability on Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations.order to achieve the aim we have to solve the following objectives:

Ø to emphasize the impact of constant limbo between good and evil on English literature;

Ø to explore the issues of good and evil and their display through Chartist movement in the works of English authors of the XIX century;

Ø to retrace Dickens’s unique place in social novels and to observe his representations of good and evil in different characters;

Ø to investigate Dickens’s Great Expectations as a sample of evil power of money;

Ø to make analysis of the novel Great Expectations and find out how the themes of good and evil are represented in it.

The methods used are the analysis of critical sources about good and evil manifestations in social life and literature, the analysis of the authors’ works, viewpoints, social positions and contributions into literature.value of this term paper is that it investigates the influence of the themes of good and evil on English literature in the beginning of the XIX century and their impact on Charles Dickens’s ideology and works.