The Features of Middle Class in Victorian Era

【Abstract】Victorian Era is a historical period in England when classes begin to spring up. And it witnessed the rising of middle class. This thesis mainly discusses the features of middle class， referring to their political state， economic situation and their consciousness.

【Key words】Middle class; Features; Politics; Economy; Consciousness

【作者簡介】張蒙蒙（1988-），女，河南開封人，陜西服裝工程學(xué)院，講師，文學(xué)碩士，研究方向：英語語言文學(xué)。

1. Introduction

Victorian Era witnessed the rising of middle class. In 19th century， middle class not only become the major group of Victorian Era， but the important characters of Victorian novels. As a new rising bourgeois class， middle class show their existence everywhere. They don’t enjoy privileges like nobility and can not issue orders to control the authority. This union makes use of their ability to affect this society. They take up various occupations， working in different departments. What’s more， no matter they are poor or not， most of middle class then have opportunities to learn at school and enjoy different education. That’s why the state of consciousness of this union is unified. But in the whole， they are of several common features.

2. Features of Middle Class

Compared to other classes， middle class take on a different appearance. Their own common features have come into being.

2.1 Passivity in Politics

In terms of political right， though have a close relationship with the upper class， middle class are not so active in politics like the nobility who enjoy some political privilege. they are between upper class who have privileges and working class who directly take up production. They can not issue an order like nobility by means of their rights at hand， but usually take up different kinds of concrete jobs. In fact， they come to control production and cultural facilities through economy， administration， culture as well as education. Strictly speaking， middle class is obedient in politics; they pay little attention to political right but resort to such a generally political status to concern the development of culture and economy.

2.2 Stability in Economy

Generally speaking， middle class refer to working bourgeois class who own considerable property. Among them especially the bourgeois class who get the future of economy at their hands， play an essential role in society. As the major group， middle class take up various occupations with fixed functions and almost exist in every corner of society. That’s why their income are stable. What’s more， middle class at the same time usually have opportunity to accept higher education， and have more money and time to learn cultural knowledge and productive skills. Different level of middle class has distinct standards in economy， and they are loyal to their own occupations and devote themselves to keep their current economic status， and of course they have the ambition to pursue further wealth， but they usually do their own jobs well in priority.

2.3 State of consciousness

Though middle class represent the value of freedom and democracy， the obviously common advocacy may not reach an agreement in such a social environment. However， the whole consciousness is vigorous and positive. There are three kinds of consciousness， including evangelicalism， ideal of gentlemen and utilitarianism， which gets through the valuable concepts of middle class in Victorian Era. In terms of features of behavior， middle class can be divided into two groups， either advocating instrument or admiring gentleman manner of nobility. While they are creating huge material wealth， they have been becoming of the instrument of earning money. On the other hand， another group of middle class who try to get rid of this instrument tend to become moralizers. They propagate evangelicalism and ideal of gentleman， especially the irrational pastors. What they want to be is the hypocritical embodiment advocating gentleman manner. In spite of giving priority to the morality， they have to serve for their economic interest due to the social reality.

3. Conclusion

While we conform the realistic features of middle class， the writer hopes the readers can observe the negative influence of middle class who satisfy with things which in fact hinder the progress of society. To some degree， this thesis is only the personal view of the writer， and there must be more aspects of middle class deserved to research.

References：

[1]Andrew Sanders. The Short Oxford History of English Literature[M]. Oxford： Oxford University Press，1994.

[2]Charles Dickens. Great Expectations[M].Oxford： Oxford University Press，1992.

[3]Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.Shanghai： World Publishing Corporation of Shanghai[J].2006.

[4]Charlotte Bronte. Shelly. Shanghai： World Publishing Corporation of Shanghai[J].