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2.4 Social Changes in Victorian Age
Victorian age in England history was the reign of Queen Victorian period which lasted from June 20
th
, 1837 until January 22
nd
, 1901. This period was marked by a long period of reconcilement, prosperity, and glory of England in international
region and also the national confident of England citizens were quite high. This period was named “Victorian Age” because there was much advancement which had
been done by Queen Victoria in which England reached its prosperity at that time. Also, in this era, the development in England was quite fast. It was marked by the
alteration of economic system into modern economic system and the fast growth of population which developed from 2 million until 6.5 million citizens. According to
Greenbalt in his book entitled The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Major Authors Edition,
“London, a city which expanded from about 2 million inhabitants when Victoria came to the throne to 6.5 million at the time of her
death. The rapid growth of London is one of many indications of the most important development of the age: the shift from a way of life
based on the ownership of land to a modern urban economy based on the trade and manufacturing.” Greenbalt, 2001: 1363
England had a great transformation in politic and economy during Victorian age. Many kinds of invention were invented in this period as well as there were many
kinds of social alteration. The kinds of alteration which happened during Victorian age are,
2.4.1 Moral and Behavior
In Victorian age, there was a moral and behavior code that was quite strict. According to Miller 2016 in his article entitled Victorian England that Etiquette
is the one word that aptly describes life during the reign of Queen Victoria. Kids were not allowed to speak loudly and they could not spend much time with their
17 parents. Women were not allowed to go out with a gown that exposed their tarsus.
Men were not allowed to call a single woman by her first name except they had already engaged. Miller 2016 also said that young ladies were constantly
chaperoned. To be found alone with a gentleman who was other than family was tantamount to social death.
2.4.2 Social Structure
In Victorian age, the social class was divided into three classes, high class, middle class and worker class. A family who had the most wealth could have a slave
in this age. Industrial revolution which happened during Victorian age had made the class division were not too big. Especially, middle class got much more income after
industrial revolution and was considered as rich people. The population had grown by two-fold during Victorian age. Foster 2005 said in his book entitled Class
Struggle and the Industrial Revolution that there was a burst of population growth in the first three decades, then a slight lull, and finally from the 1760s an uninterrupted
period of expansion.
2.4.3 Hospital, Surgery and Healthiness
Tuberculosis was the main causes of many deaths during Victorian age. Those people who suffered that disease were sent to “Workhouse”, or in literal meaning, it
meant a house for homeless or a kind of poorhouse. Haley said in Douglas’s article 1991 entitled Medical Developments In Britain During The Nineteenth Century that
the nineteenth century was also a notable period in the identification, classification, and description of diseases. When a people had a surgery, he did not get any
painkiller. They also did not use any anesthesia so that a people who had surgery
18 would have to suffer unbearable pain for hours. During Victorian age, people ate
their food in basement. They thought that their food would be digested better in the dark so that dinner room was place in basement.
2.4.4 Novel Became More Developed
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