19th Century Ideals (1 Viewer)

[dingusmagee]

Most of what we've done at school has been focused on the role of women and the institiution of marriage so i was just wondering how religion and education affected 19th century society. What are the main concerns for each of these? And how did they affect the writing of the 19th century composers?

thanks

 

[Rainelk]

The Victorian Web is a very useful place for brief and more detailed views on the various 19th century paradigms as well as how the authors used these in their texts.

In brief, religion was still an important part of society but was coming into conflict with an increasingly strong movement towards scientific rationalism (eg. the evolution vs creation debate began here with Darwin's theory that humans were descended from apes being highly repugnant to many). Although there is ideological tension, centuries of control and social shaping by the church don't just disappear overnight and was still the centre of society in many places, especially away from the cities.
The creation and increase of the middle class and a growing awareness of children meant a rise in education, which leads to things ranging from increased readership leading to the golden age of the novel and accessible books/serials to more reflective thinking about the way society works.

In terms of how they affect the authors, nearly the entire module is about the individual coming into conflict with their society because of ideas that they have that are new or different.

 

[shazran]

well if you think about it.. education was heavily promoted in the 19th century.. with new theorys and what not being presented to society.. the 19th century had a thrist for knowledge and there was also a large economic factor that drove indiviaduals as well, like thornton in north and south