What were the Victorians' attitudes towards life and death?

Answer 1

It depends what you mean by the question. If it is towards the poor then theVictorians thought the poor were the scum of the earth, they were considered lowest of the low and the rich Victorians believed the poor were poor because it was their own fault. They also hated the army and they were not heralded as heroes but you were considered desperate if you joined the Army. Another social suicide was going to the workhouse this was the ultimate disgrace in those days, you were frowned upon and were seen to be the lowest of the low as it was admitting you needed help and couldn't afford to feed yourself or a family if you had one.

Answer 2

There was a lot of prejudice and stereotying. Look, for example, at the character of Fagin in Oliver Twist, which appeared in serial form in 1837-1839. (See link) Note, too, that Charles Dickens toned down the antisemitism in successive editions of the novel, in keeping with changing public attitudes.

The period from c. 1850-1890 also saw the legal emancipation of the Jews. A bill to this end, proposed in 1833, failed to become get a majority in Parliament, and the process of emancipation was piecemeal.

In Victorian times, prejudice against Jews was still primarily religious, not racial. If a Jew converted to Christianity, the discrimination largely abated, unless he/she still 'made a big thing' of his/her Jewish origins, as Disraeli sometimes did. (He had a bit of a rough time, but became leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister ...)

For the first time a tiny number of Jews were awarded knighthoods, baronetcies and peerages.

For much of the Victorian period there were not that many Jews in Britain. It was, above all, the intensified persecution of the Jews in Tsarist Russia from 1881 on that brought a largish Jewish population to the East End of London and to Leeds. In these areas there was tension and sometimes worse, too. For example, at the time of the 'Jack the Ripper' murders in 1888 the police dreaded the prospect of having to deal with anti-Jewish riots in addition to hunting for the murderer.

In 1903 some Conservative MPs succeeded in reducing Jewish Immigration, and openly campaigned on an anti-Jewish platform. However, in 1907 the Liberal party in Parliament changed the law to allow asylum to those fleeing from religious or political persecution.