Victorian Era In Novels Of Charles Dickens And Oscar Wilde’s

Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde’s perspective helps critique ideas of happiness and the good life of Victorian England. They have the ability to change the readers’ perspective through their writings. Their works like A Christmas carol or The picture of Dorian Grey told the people around the world and in Victorian England about how the poor and the miser used to live during this era.

A Christmas Carol is one of the best works of Charles Dickens, and it illustrated how the poor used to eat whatever they found drink whatever they saw in liquid form and stole whatever they wanted to steal. The poor were either jobless and stole or worked in the workhouses. “Dickens felt strongly that Victorian society ignored the poverty of its underclass. On the one hand, were the rich who enjoyed comfort and feasting at Christmas, and on the other were children forced to live in dreadful conditions in workhouses.” Dickens refers to this as Social Injustice.’Every person has a right to take care of themselves. He always did.’ said Dickens in A Christmas Carol. Then comes the middle class who are always trying to save every penny they earn and live as simple and humble as they could, and they were not he part of the high society like Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, who never donated money or was a part of the high society. Most of them either worked under the rich or did jobs as professors or accountants. At the end comes the Rich class who get the best of everything because they have inherited all their fortune from their ancestors or they have earned much money and made their fortune. If one goes back to the time of ghost of the past one could remember how the rich used to celebrate Christmas.

Additionally, Dickens critiqued Victorian England by his other work of Oliver Twist six years ago which will also tell about this era and how it gave all the readers how the poor class used to live during that era. This book only focuses on the lower class which was filled with filth and hunger for more who never got the basic needs. People like Fagin who cannot afford his livings depend on others who steal money and valuables from others which also shows us how many people used to prefer stealing than earning by themselves. Fagin is described as a ‘receiver of stolen goods.’ He is the leader of a group of children whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities, in exchange for shelter. It has also described the lives in workhouses for orphans that how they were kept hungry like Oliver was punished because he asked for more food. “ Please sir, I want some more.” is the most famous quote from Oliver Twist which tells the readers that how the poor kids were treated in the workhouses.

After Dickens, it is Oscar Wilde who shared his perspective on high class in the Victorian Era and how Egotastic, selfish and greedy they were and why weren’t they the perfect class out of all. The author teaches us many things by reviewing the Victorian Era and the code and ethics of it. He tells us how people in rich class use to care about their looks and how they are pictured to the rest of the world. They want to show how perfect they are and that nothing is wrong in their life. “As he spoke, Dorian felt new influences at work within him; the words touched a secret chord which had not stirred before. Lord Henry spoke to him of his beauty-

told him Beauty is a form of Genius.” This quote tells us how Lord Henry influence Dorian to believe that how handsomeness makes one a genius in the Victorian Era. Also, it shows how people of rich class use to influence others and always covered their imperfections with someone whom they find easy to target on.

In conclusion, the Victorian era was filled with people who divided others on based on their social status and earnings. People of different classes were restricted to various things which were only available to the one percent of the rich class who were always partying of working. The division of classes was an act of Social Injustice as mentioned but gradually the Era came out of this act and became more civil and democratic with equal rights.