1. Victorian Age
1. Victorian Age 2.D.H.Lawrence 3.Chrysanthemums 4.Analysis 5.Optical illusions

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Industrial Revolution
Victorian art
Fashion
Etiquette

Lesson plan

  1. Netsearch: Victorian Era (20 minutes)

Students use search engines to find information about their topic. They collect interesting text fragments (select/copy/paste) and illustrations (click with right mouse button/copy/paste), which are saved in a temporary file.

bulletThe numbers 1 concentrate on "The Industrial Revolution"
bulletThe numbers 2 concentrate on "Victorian Art"
bulletThe numbers 3 concentrate on "Victorian Fashion and Etiquette"
  1. Group assembly and exchange of information (15 minutes)

  2. Completion group document (10 minutes)

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Info

Period of Queen Victoria’s reign: 1837-1901.

The term "Victorian" refers to the typical life-style in Great-Britain in this period, which was thoroughly supported by the Queen herself. During her life already Queen Victoria had become the symbol of progress and power in the British Empire.

Elements of Victorian attitude are conservatism, self-complacency, good manners, dead seriousness without a glimpse of humour. The wealthy middle class set the tune: devoutness and modesty were virtues expected from everyone. Sexuality was to be publicly ignored. The result was omnipresent hypocrisy and the flourishing of secret pornography. Typical are double sexual morals, different for men and women.

The bourgeoisie’s wealth depicted itself in the "Victorian Style": colossal neo-classical buildings with a lot of wrought ironwork.

The Victorian Era is characterized by turbulent economic developments (Industrial Revolution), which, combined with the colonization policy, made the British Empire the mightiest nation in the then world. Irrational behaviour was loathed, emotions banned, pragmatism favoured, discipline enforced. These were psychologic preconditions to maintaining and strengthening the position of the economically most thriving: employers, factory-owners and merchandisers, who had become rich in a very brief period of time.

(Abridged from J. Harrison, Late Victorian Britain, 1991)

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Useful links

General

bulletThe Victorian Web
bulletVictorian sites
bulletVictorian Web Sites

Industrial revolution

bulletThe Industrial Revolution, a trip to the past
bulletThe Life of the Industrial Worker in 19th-Century England
bulletChild labour

The arts

bulletThe arts in Victorian Britain

Fashion

bulletVictorian fashion pages
bullet19th century women's undergarments
bulletLa crinoline
bulletDressing the Victorian lady from the 1850's

Etiquette

bulletPurity, intellect and puberty: advice for the middle classes
bulletEtiquette
 

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