Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, Ruhr-University of Bochum (Englisches Seminar), course: Victorian Britain, language: English, abstract: From today’s point of view the society of 19th century Victorian Britain is ei-ther regarded as having been secular or, indeed, very religious. Both claims have their shortcomings and neither conveys the whole and true complexity of Victorian society. The former claim that it must have been a secular society seems to be highly influenced by contemporary – i.e. secular – views on society focussing mainly on scientific progress. The latter claim concerning the reli-giousness of Victorian society is especially popular among scholars studying that period who often focus strongly on religious aspects. However, the majori-ty accepts the view that it is a combination of both aspects. Yet, it remains un-clear or vague and hard to grasp what the people in Victorian Britain thought about their own times. There are quite a few books which deal with the state of mind of certain individuals. However, there are only few books which connect the different notions of the Victorian mind on a broader level. Further research on this specific field of study seems to be necessary. This paper will focus on the Victorian frame of mind at the beginning of the 19th century and will to answer the question what the Victorian mindset actually looked like. I will examine whether it was in a stable condition or whether it was not and what people were concerned with. Therefore, the paper will mainly deal with questions about religious aspects and its opposites. In doing so, the role of religion, the state, and the industrialisation have to be tak-en into account as they had the biggest effect on the Victorian mind. I will show how the different classes of British society reacted towards new ap-proaches of critical thinking about the world and whether they embraced or rejected them. Furthermore, I will look at one possible explanation for the emergence of a critical mindset. The French Revolution will serve as an exem-plary case which heavily influenced the thinking of British liberal intellectuals. Finally, the conclusion will summarise the major findings on the Victorian state of mind and answer the question of its stability.

The emotional and intellectual attitudes of the Victorian era are carefully scrutinized.

Religion permeated almost every aspect of Victorian life and culture, from Parliamentary politics to issues of marriage and sexuality, from class relations to literature and the life of the imagination. In order to understand Victorian culture and writings, modern readers need to understand Victorian religion in its public and its private aspects. But much in Victorian religious life can be baffling for modern readers. The sheer diversity of Victorian religious experience is one source of confusion. Also, doctrinal disputes and discoveries in science or textual criticism that loomed so large for Victorian Christians are now hard for most people to appreciate. The Anglican Church, its hierarchy, and its enormous range of ecclesiastical titles open up further opportunities for confusion. Here, Melnyk offers a lively, thorough introduction to Victorian religious life, including the period between 1828 and 1901. Making sense of the diversity of religious thought and experience in Victorian Britain, she provides readers with a clear understanding of its role in the family and for the individual, the community, and society at large. This entertaining, readable introduction to Victorian religious life and controversies is ideal for anyone interested in Victorian life, literature, and culture.

This book vividly recovers the lost world of the Victorians in which everyone thought, spoke, and argued through scripture. Larsen presents lively individual case studies of well known figures from different religious and sceptical traditions, including Florence Nightingale, T. H. Huxley, C. H. Spurgeon and Catherine Booth.

Examines the ways in which religion was constructed as a category and region of experience in nineteenth-century literature and culture.