THEMES OF JUSTICE AND CONTROL IN VICTORIAN ENGLISH NOVELS

Abstract

The eighteenth century was the height of the novel's popularity as a literary form. The writers Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne made major contributions to the development of the English novel. They had an impact on authors who followed them. The industrial revolution, which included the development of the printing machine, coincided with the 18th century and greatly aided in the birth of the novel. The industrial revolution's knock-on consequences raised people's standards of living. The morals of the Victorian age and Victorian society were accurately reflected in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. Knowing that the Victorian period was characterised by virtue, strength, economy, manners, cleanliness, honesty, and chastity, among other things. Victorians used to hold these principles in the highest regard. Dickens developed many Victorian characters in Great Expectations, who we have seen both in fine operating order and not at all. Next, we may go on to the middle-class household, where Pumblechook served as the regime's representative. Last but not least, in the book Great Expectations, Miss Havisham served as a symbol and flag of the wealthy and cultured Victorian lady who represented the upper class society. Thus, we may conclude that Great Expectations discussed and illustrated the Victorian England class structure, and that the book's characters upheld the authentic portrayal of the Victorian age.