The Return of the Native (Historical Context)

Historical Context

The Victorian Age

Today, Victorianism is thought of as another word for sexual repression. Yet the Victorian Age (1839 – 1901) was also a period of profound social commentary and social developments. The literature of the time addressed such significant issues as the growth of English democracy, the education of the masses, and the impact of industrialization on the working class.

One constant of the Victorian Era was that it was a time of an increased sense of social responsibility. In her early days on the throne, Victoria was viewed as liberal in her beliefs. A marked change came in 1840, when she married Albert, her mother's nephew and prince of Saxe-Colburg Gotha. Albert was conservative, moralistic, and prudish; Victoria adopted similar attitudes. After his death in 1861 she reigned for another forty years and never remarried. Her personality influenced all of society and set the tone for the age. In a way it provided a moral compass that provided a sense of constancy in a turbulent time.

Politically, the era was characterized by a prolonged economic boom. England reigned as a prosperous and dominant world superpower. In 1853, England, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and France fought a military conflict against Russia, in what was known as the Crimean War. It was fought to keep Russia from widening their influence in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. The conflict ended with the Treaty of Paris, signed on March 30, 1856.

The novelist most commonly associated with the Victorian Age is Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870), whose books were modest about sexual relations; yet, they are aggressive in portraying the wretched social conditions of urban life. Thomas Hardy is also associated with the era, even though his works were considered controversial and even prurient according to Victorian standards. Hardy's sexual openness in portraying Eustacia's and Wildeve's lust for each other even when they are married to others was viewed as shocking. It certainly violated the sensibilities of the time, and earned Hardy a legion of detractors who looked on his works as a form of pornography.

Compare & Contrast

• 1840s: Milk production in dairy farming is all done by hand.
  1878: The first commercial milking machines are produced in Auburn, New York.
  Today: Dairy farming is automated. Cows are kept in small enclosures that allow no room to move and seldom come into contact with humans.
• 1840s: The typewriter is a new invention. Patented in 1843, it uses the concept of the moving carriage to make letters strike evenly.
  1878: The typewriter is greatly improved when the Remington Arms Company added a shift key that would allow the same document to include lower — and upper — case characters.
  Today: Typewriters are practically obsolete. Word processing makes any desktop system capable of professional-quality graphics.
• 1840s: The first rail lines are just beginning to connect major urban areas, with passenger train travel starting in the 1830s. The only transportation available to inhabitants of Egdon Heath is primitive, such as horse-drawn carriages.
  1878: Railways are common across the English countryside. They link cities and allow travel to even isolated areas.
  Today: With automobiles providing convenient personal transportation, travel to any point in England is quick and easy.
• 1840s: Human behavior is a matter for speculation by philosophers and fiction writers.
  1878: The first laboratory for experimental psychology is opened by Wilhelm Max Wundt, making a science out of the study of the mind.
  Today: The latest developments in psychology have been in the area of treating depressions and violent behavior with mood-altering drugs.