Broad 01: Discuss Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy as Victorian novelists.

(14,19)

Or: What are the Salient features of Victorian novel with reference to Dickens and Hardy(15)

Ans: Victorian period (1832-1901) is one of the remarkable periods of English literature. It is named
according to Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It is said that the Victorian period is the second renaissance of
England. We get some characteristics of this era such as the conflict between science and religion,
imperialism, industrialization, materialistic outlooking, adventure, presence of women in all sectors, the
domination of novels but fluency of poetry, and so on.

19th century contributed much to the emergence and evolution of novel as a literary genre. Great
novelists like Dickens, Hardy, Thackeray, the Brontes were the product of the age. The writers in their
writings tried to focus the struggle of the age between intellect and spiritual crisis. Their novel seems to
be a panorama of the whole age. Class consciousness,the struggle between the rich and poor became
apparent during the Victorian age. As a result, elements like horror, bloodshed, revenge, fear etc
became the integral parts of Victorian novel.

The salient features of Victorian novel are as follows:

#The novel of the time was easier to be read and understood by common poeple,

#Its plot was long and complicated,

#The characters portrayed by the authors are life-like,

#The setting is the city (symbol of industrial civilization),

#Retribution or punishment in the final chapter.

#Thus, the novel was a kind of mirror which reflected the then society.

Charles Dickens (1812 – 70) is the first of the Victorian novelists both in point of time and quality. He
made use of novels as an instrument of social reform. His novels are novels with a purpose. His task was
to make the ruling classes aware of the social problems. He had a direct personal knowledge of the
streets, workshops, factories and slums of London.Therefore, he could superbly narrate the complex life
of London.

As a social critic, he attacks child labour, poor law, Reform act, educational system, industrial slums etc
in his novels. In “Oliver Twist”, he shows the dark underworld of the poor. “Nicholas Nickelby” exposed
the true picture of private schools. One noticeable thing in Dickens’s criticism is that he is never radical
or revolutionary. Even he is not very much bitter in his criticism. Rather, a bit of humour runs through his
criticism.

Dickens is the great master in his art of characterization. He has introduced a great variety of characters
in his novels. Humour and satire are the two distinct qualities of his art of characterization. In the most
famous novel of Dickens, “Great Expectations”, Mr. Pickwick and Miss. Havisham are the two immortal
comic characters. He is also considered the greatest novelist in the English language because of his
graphic and powerful descriptions of life and character ever attempted by a novelist.

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) is perhaps most famous for his powerful visual novels. His writings is full of
beautiful images and striking language. The most popular of his novels are “Under the Greenwood
Tree”, “Far from the Madding Crowd”, “The Return of the Native”,“Tess of the D'Urbervilles” etc. His
subject matter is almost the same in his novels. He saw little hope for human being. He is a serious
novelist and presents a fictionalized view of life.

In Hardy’s work “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”, a poor country woman undergoes a series of heart breaking
situations, but cannot change or prevent them because of her fixed destiny. Here, Hardy's idea is that
each human being is forced by his birth to live his whole life in a certain social condition. It is not
possible for him to escape from destiny with all sorts of effort he can make. That is why Hardy’s
characters frequently experience pains and sufferings.

As a master in the art of characterization, Hardy, portrays his characters as human beings, with common
human weaknesses and virtues. His characters may have some faults; they may sin but they are never
mean. We never hate them; we love them despite their faults.Some of his characters are among the
immortal figures of literature.

We may conclude saying that Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, with their wonderful pieces of
writings, made significant contribution to English literature, specially In the form of novel.