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Victorian literature
Stage 5, Year 9
Rationale
The English novel has a relatively short history compared with the
development of other written texts, with the first novels appearing
around the early 18th century: Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719)
and Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740). The novel form proliferated
during the nineteenth century, when rivalries emerged among its
emerging Gothic, Romance, realist and naturalist genres. This unit aims
at introducing students to describing, analysing and exploring the values
and contexts of Victorian literature. The unit also provides the
opportunity for teachers to use Victorian literature as entry to
investigating other sub-genres, such as Gothic, Romance and social
realism. The focus text for the unit is the play Jane Eyre, adapted by
Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore. This is a very accessible text which
is true to the main elements of the narrative and characters in Charlotte
Bronte’s novel. Teachers could easily substitute the play Great
Expectations (from the same series as Jane Eyre), which might be more
interesting for boys. There is also a range of film versions of both texts.
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Professional reading
Fuery, Patrick and Mansfield, Nick, 1997, Cultural Studies and the New Humanities, Oxford,
Melbourne, (p. 102–109: has a brief introduction to realism).
Davenport-Hines, Richard, 1998, Gothic, Fourth Estate, London. The Prologue is very useful if you
don’t have time to read the whole book.
Stevens, David, (1995), The Gothic Tradition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html – introduction to genre theory.
Other useful resources
http://members.aol.com/franzpoet/intro.html
Web site on Gothic literature in England 1764–1840
http://www.engl.virginia.edu/~enec981/Group/title.html
Web site: The Gothic: Materials for study
http://members.aol.com/franzpoet/Gothicres.html
Notes on features of Gothic literature
http://www.litGothic.com/Authors/authors.html
List of resources; information on authors
http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/2F55/romance.html
Romance genre
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/books/genre/romance/novelromance/
Features of the Romance novel
Focus text
Barlow, Steve and Steve Skidmore (adapt.) 1999, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Oxford Play Scripts,
OUP, London.
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• the role of context in shaping
meaning in response to and
composition of texts.
Students learn about
• relate their responses to texts to
their developing moral and ethical
stances on issues.
• respond to … more sustained texts
Students learn to
1. A student, through wide and close
study, responds to and composes
increasingly demanding texts for
understanding, for critical analysis
and for pleasure in increasingly
demanding ways.
• the ideas, information and
perspectives presented in texts.
Students learn about:
• recognise the situational and
cultural elements that shape texts.
Students learn to:
1. A student, through wide and close
study, responds to and composes
increasingly demanding texts for
understanding, for critical analysis
and for pleasure in increasingly
complex ways.
Outcomes
Read the play, Jane Eyre,
around the class
Cultural and historical
context of the story
Content
Teaching and learning sequence
Class reading of the play. Students should make
notes at the end of each act to demonstrate
understanding of what is read and for quick
reference when completing responding activities
later.
Students work on a social and political timeline
for Victorian times
Students make notes, using the research guide
Internet: The Victorian
Web
http://65.107.211.206
Students to undertake library research on
Victorian life, including fashion, social mores,
role of women, marriage, class structures, English
politics, education, poorhouses, daily lives of
members of different social classes
Appendix 2 Reading
journal
Appendix 1 Research
guide
Library
Resources
The Victorian Age
Activities/student products
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• Mary, Diana
and St John Rivers
• Grace Poole
• engage with the details of a text to
respond and compose from a range
of social and critical perspectives.
• identify cultural elements
expressed in the language,
structure and content of texts
Students learn to:
9. A student questions, challenges
and evaluates assumptions in texts
and their effects on meaning.
• the ways bias, stereotypes,
perspectives and ideologies are
constructed in texts, including the
codes and phrasings that signal
them.
Students learn about
• compose texts to present
information, ideas and arguments.
• recognise and explain differences
in shades of opinion
• Miss Temple
• Mrs Fairfax
• Mr Briggs
• Mr Brocklehurst
• Bertha Mason
• Adele Varens
Individual students write a journal entry for that
character involving any event from the play.
Explain your opinion / argue your point of view as
that character about your chosen event.
Quotes should be collected from the characters
themselves, what others say about them and
stage directions.
Still in groups, students compose a
representation of one of the above characters
through drawing and a collection of quotes from
the play which portray that character.
• Helen Burns
• Hannah
• Jane Eyre
• Blanche and
Lady Ingram
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• infer and interpret text
Appendix 3 Character
study
Resources
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• select and outline main ideas
• Mrs Reed
and children
• Mr Rochester
Introduction to bias, argument In groups, students profile the characters of Mr
Rochester and Jane Eyre THEN
and opinion
Students learn to
Character study
Learning activities
in pairs choose a character or character group:
Close study of characters
Content
7. A student thinks critically using
information, ideas and increasingly
complex argument to respond to
and compose texts in a range of
contexts.
Outcomes
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4. A student selects, describes and
explains appropriate language,
forms, structures and features to
shape meaning with clarity and
coherence in a range of contexts.
1. A student, through wide and close
study, responds to and composes
increasingly demanding texts for
understanding, for critical analysis
and for pleasure in increasingly
complex ways.
The development of the
relationship between Jane and
Mr Rochester
4. A student selects, describes and
explains appropriate language,
forms, structures and features to
shape meaning with clarity and
coherence in a range of contexts.
Imagine you are Mr Rochester. Jane has been gone
for over a month and you have discovered she is at
Marsh End. Write a letter persuading her to return.
Use reason as well as expressing your emotions in a
way that is consistent with Mr Rochester’s character.
Letter writing
Imagine you are Jane and you have just received Mr
Rochester’s plea to return. Write a letter replying to
his invitation to return.
Letter 2: Jane’s reply
Letter 1
Write director’s notes for one scene.
Act II Scene 4 p. 43–49
Act III Scene 2 p. 63–67
Act V Scene 2 p. 101–106
Selection of other scenes:
Students (in pairs) use the play to explore details
of the first meeting of Jane and Rochester (Act II
Scene 2, p. 35–37) and act out this scene.
Explore the relationship by experimenting with voice
and action according to the scripted dialogue and
stage directions. How will you represent emotion
through tone of voice, facial expression and
movement?
Close study of Jane and Rochester
Relationships and love
Learning activities
Character study
Evaluation of that
relationship
Content
Outcomes
Use ideas and
information from
previous two activities
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• the ways in which modern
technologies of communication
are used to inform.
Students learn about
2. A student shapes meaning through
different technologies.
• the ways in which particular texts
relate to their cultural experiences
and the culture of others.
Students learn about
• identify, explain and challenge
cultural values, purposes and
assumptions.
Compose a speech on one aspect of Victorian
values that you find interesting. The purpose of the
speech is to inform your audience about this
particular aspect of Victorian culture and society and
argue for or against the appropriateness of this
cultural value in your own contemporary society.
Students evaluate the web site to determine its
reliability.
Library lesson using the Web (check Victorian
Web http://65.107.211.206/ and other library
resources to explore these values further).
Students have already researched the historical
and cultural context of the text’s content and its
original form as a novel.
Values arising in the play
Learning activities
Appendix 4 Evaluating a
web site
Resources
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• identify cultural elements
expressed in the language,
structure and content of texts
including texts of cultural heritage
Content
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Students learn to
9. A student questions, challenges
and evaluates cultural assumptions
in texts and their effects on
meaning.
Outcomes
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• draw conclusions about their own
values in relation to the values
expressed and reflected by texts,
and their response to them.
• relate the content and ideas in the
text to the world beyond the text
Students learn to
8. A student demonstrates
understanding that texts are
reflections of personal and public
domains.
7. A student thinks critically using
information, ideas and increasingly
complex argument to respond to
and compose texts in a range of
contexts.
Outcomes
Learning activities
Autobiographical elements in
the story
Refer back to author’s note, pp. 108–109
Divide the class into 6 groups and research
elements of Charlotte Bronte’s life to add to the
portrait of Bronte on pp. 108–109 of the play Jane
Eyre.
What incidents in Jane Eyre could be based on
Charlotte Bronte’s real life? Groups present their
findings to the class orally.
What changes did Bronte make? Why might she have
made these changes?
Creative writing
Students write a one-page piece (story, diary entry
for publication) on a past event in their lives.
Students write a reflective piece explaining what
changes they made to the actual events and why.
OR:
Imagine the character of Jane is modelled on Bronte’s
own life. What changes did Bronte make to the
character and why might she have done this?
Marriage in the Victorian age Read the picture books and work on the
activities in pairs.
The play ends with Jane’s
marriage to Rochester.
Should Jane have married Mr
Rochester? Argue your opinion
with close reference to the text
(including quotations and
examples).
Write an EDITORIAL for
either a Victorian or
contemporary newspaper. Make
sure that your language choices
are consistent with the era of
publication of your newspaper.
Content
See p. 119 of the play
Jane Eyre for ideas:
• Is Mr Rochester a
good or bad man?
• Can his behaviour be
excused?
• What options are
open to Jane?
• Why does she make
the choices that she
does?
• Are her reasons
valid?
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Realism:
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Great Expectations
Jane Eyre
Oliver Twist
For pleasure and
extension
Gothic / romance:
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
Victorian book box
Wide reading
A range of reading and discussion activities for students
to explore the use of a range of literary sub-genres in
Jane Eyre. What aspects of these genres are evident in the
play Jane Eyre? What do they add to the story and the
reading process?
Learning activities
Appendix 6
Victorian wide reading
Appendix 5
Introduction to genre
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Realism
Romance genre
Gothic genre
Content
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1.
Outcomes
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Appendix 1
Research guide
Use the resources of the library to research the following questions.
1. When did Queen Victoria reign?
2. Describe how society was organised in the time of Queen Victoria.
3. How important was marriage for women at the time?
4. How was England ruled during Victorian times?
5. What were the major changes to Victorian society during this period?
6. How important was education ? Who was actually educated and why?
7. Outline a typical day in the life of the following :
(a) an upper-class woman or man
(b) a middle-class woman or man
(c) a working-class woman or man.
8. Identify the main political changes of the time.
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Appendix 2
Guide to reading journal
You will read the play Jane Eyre around the class. As you finish reading each act, make notes, using the
following questions as a guide. These notes will help you with tasks later in the unit.
ACT 1
• What is Jane’s position in the Reed family?
• Why does Jane dislike the Red Room?
• Why do you think Mrs Reed is so eager to send Jane away?
• What is your opinion of Mr Brocklehurst? Give reasons and examples.
ACT 2
• How is mystery created in Scene 1?
• What was your reaction to Mr Rochester in Scenes 2 and 3? Give examples and reasons.
• Look at the last four exchanges between Mrs Fairfax and Jane on page 41, then re-read pages 46
and 47. What do you think is going on in this house?
• Comment on the relationship between Jane and Mr Rochester. What do you think will happen to
them?
ACT 3
• What is your opinion of Mr Rochester disguising himself as a gypsy? Why does he do this?
• Explain in your own words how Bertha Mason came to live in the attic at Thornfield.
• What is your opinion of Mr Rochester at the end of this act? Explain.
ACT 4
• What do we learn about Jane’s character in this act? Give examples.
• Do you think Jane and Mr Rochester will be happy together? Why?
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Appendix 3
Character study
When exploring your chosen character(s), consider the following:
• Create a profile of your character which includes physical characteristics, beliefs, attitudes,
behaviour – give examples and quotes.
• To what social class do they belong and how does this affect their behaviour?
• In what scenes do they appear in the play? Look at when they first appear - what are your first
impressions? Do these impressions change?
• What role do they play in the plot?
• What role do they play in relation to Mr Rochester and Jane Eyre? What aspects of the charaters
of Jane and Mr Rochester are made clearer through their interaction with your character? give
examples and quotes.
• What is your opinion of this character? Give reasons?
Compose a visual representation of this character which includes a collection of quotations. Your
representation can be a collage, a mind map, a graphic, a drawing, or any combination of these.
Choose a moment in the play that interests you and which involves your character and either Jane or Mr
Rochester or both. As your character, write a journal entry about that event. Make sure you use your
character’s voice and express the opinions and feelings that belong to your character. You should
incorporate some quotations into your piece of writing. Write about 300 words (one A4 page).
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Appendix 4
Evaluating a web site
Log on to the Victorian Web: http://65.107.211.206/
Click on any icon that appears to relate to the topic you have chosen to research and view the
information on the screen. Where does it lead you? How useful is the information you find? Are there
any further links you can pursue? How useful are these in helping you find information about Victorian
England?
What graphics appear on this web page? Describe them in your notes. What purpose do the graphics
serve ? Do you like the inclusion of graphics? Explain.
How much time did you spend searching this web site for information relevant to your needs? Do you
think you could have found this information elsewhere? If so, where? Would it be quicker to get the
information from other sources apart from the web?
How reliable is the information on this web site? How do you know whether it is accurate? Who
composed the site? What are his or her credentials? Would you have thought to question its reliability if
you had not been asked to? Why / why not? Would other sources of information be more or less accurate?
Explain your opinion.
List the strengths and weaknesses of this site for the purposes of research on Victorian Literature.
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Appendix 5
Introduction to genre
Genre is a French term for a literary type or class. Whilst the novel itself constitutes a genre, as distinct
from poetry or drama or the short story, novels can also be divided and classified into sub-genres. These
might include the fantasy novel, the realist novel, crime fiction, science fiction, the thriller, Gothic
fiction etc, all of which employ specific generic devices. In other words, these sub-genres conform to
patterns in content, style, structure, characterisation, atmosphere, and so on, which enable us to
categorise them into separate groups. Of course, this practice is somewhat false, since most texts would
include features from a range of sub-genres. For example, Jane Eyre contains elements of Romantic,
Gothic and Realist fiction.
These activities require you to research the elements of different genres – Romance, Gothic and Realism.
These genres were popular during the nineteenth century (as they are today), and it was during this time
that the novel developed as a literary form. The activities below can be undertaken in groups or
individually. Each group or individual should research one genre then report the findings back to the
class.
A. What you already know
Spend about 20 minutes on this activity.
• As a class brainstorm all the different genres you can think of.
• Allocate a different genre to each group. Each group must create a visual representation, on a large
sheet of paper, of as many elements of that genre as they can think of. For example, a western
might contain drawings of horses, hand guns, cowboys, saloon bar doors, a cactus etc.
• Each group show their creations to the rest of the class and briefly explain what each item
represents and where they think their knowledge of the genre comes from.
• Pin the sheets to the classroom wall.
B. Researching features of genre
Find out what you can about the literary genres of Realism, Gothic or Romance. Here are some notes to
get you started:
1. Realism
(see Fuery and Mansfield, 1997, pp. 102–109)
Realism is probably the most widely read and understood form of writing in English literature. Realism
purports to represent the world as it is and the daily life experiences of ordinary people. Realism rose to
prominence in the nineteenth century and was often set in contrast to the extraordinary experiences of
extraordinary characters in romance fiction. Realism reflects the dominant intellectual beliefs and
influences of the nineteenth century.
(a) Realist texts focused on the social. This is founded in the belief that we are defined by our social
group, which is determined by money, class, power, and often gender and ethnicity. The rise of
capitalism in the nineteenth century saw a concurrent rise of a monied middle class whose access
to political and economic power gradually increased. Nineteenth century realist texts tended to
present a middle class view of the world – that is, the ordinary lives represented in texts were
those of the middle classes.
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(b) Realist narratives are often set against the background of broader historical events, such as
colonialism, the rise of certain classes and war.
(c) Realist texts are grounded in the idea that the world can be understood and analysed by
systematic, objective observation and description. Realist texts are seen to present a truthful
record of reality.
Find out what else you can about nineteenth century Realism.
2. Gothic
The first Gothic novel in English was probably The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764), which
was characterised by sensationalism, melodrama and the use of the supernatural. It was most popular
between 1764 and the mid-nineteenth century. Gothic novels usually include:
• creepy landscapes, for example dark, misty moors, windswept hillsides with craggy trees, darkness
and storms, isolation
• ruined castles or old, stately homes with spires or turrets, winding staircases, dark passageways,
attics, locked sections of the house
• a sense of unrestricted space juxtaposed with claustrophobic confinement
• extreme and often sensational situations and characters - obsessions, heightened awareness,
unnatural fears
• a hero with a dark, mysterious past which seems to haunt him
• a heroine who is often passive and persecuted
• links between love and death
• a plot which often involves melodramatic aspects of romance where the heroine is forced apart
from her true love in extreme circumstances
• something supernatural, mysterious or inexplicable which is happening in the background and
impacts directly on the situation of the heroine and her true love.
Find out what else you can about the Gothic genre. The following web sites might be useful:
http://members.aol.com/franzpoet/intro.html
Web site on Gothic Literature in England, 1764–1840
http://www.engl.virginia.edu/~enec981/Group/title.html
Web site on the Gothic: Materials for Study web site
http://members.aol.com/franzpoet/Gothicres.html
Notes on features of Gothic literature
3. Romance
Romance fiction usually involves two people meeting, falling in love then something forcing them apart.
Eventually they reunite and live happily ever after. Of course, romantic novels are more complex than
this; for example, the main characters are usually extraordinary in some way (very beautiful, rich, famous,
engaged in unusual careers etc.) and settings are often exotic.
Find out what else you can about Romance fiction. These web sites might be useful:
http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/2F55/romance.html
Romance genre
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/books/genre/romance/novelromance/
Features of the Romance novel
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C. Genres in Jane Eyre
(a) You will have worked out by now that Jane Eyre contains elements of all three literary genres.
The next step is for you to provide evidence from the play or novel for as many of the features of
each genre as you can. Create a grid or mind map to record your evidence for each feature.
(b) In groups or as a class, discuss the following questions.
• In what ways does the text represent reality?
• Whose reality does it reflect?
• What purposes do the different generic components serve? For example, what is the purpose of
the Gothic and Romance elements?
• What cultural assumptions and values are imbedded in the text? How do the generic
conventions help reinforce these assumptions?
• Did the text fulfil your expectations of the genres it includes?
• Did you find you resisted or criticised any aspects of the text? Why?
• Which parts of the text seemed obvious because of your knowledge of the genres at play?
• What predictions were you able to make as you were reading the text? Were your predictions
accurate? If you had been told the text was a Gothic romance, would your predictions have
been more accurate? What sort of reader does the text assume you are (class, gender, ethnicity,
age)?
• What language features did you notice? For example, what vocabulary do you associate with
Romance, Gothic or Realism?
• What knowledge does the text take for granted?
• Of what other texts does it remind you?
(c) There are lots of theories about the purpose and effect of genre. Many suggest that our
understanding of genre, our familiarity with the various conventions of the different genres, are a
shortcut form of communication. We know how to read a text, what to expect from it, how to
respond to it, as soon as we recognise the genres within it. Genre analysis, like that which you
have been doing in this section of the unit, can help us to recognise and understand the ways in
which events in the world are reduced, by the mass media, to rigid formats of news, itself a genre,
so that we fill in the gaps or make links between cause and effect that might not necessarily be
there.
Select a news story from a daily newspaper or TV news report.
•
Create a list of features of the news story genre.
•
Analyse the news story by asking the questions listed in activity (b).
•
Rewrite the news story as a Gothic or Romance story. Keep all the “facts”.
•
Each group now pass their story on to another group for generic analysis (using the questions
in activity (b) again.
•
As a class talk about how your knowledge of genres influences the way you read and the
meanings you gain from your reading. Write your thoughts about the purposes of genre in
your learning log.
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Appendix 6
Victorian literature: Wide reading
Choose a novel from the book box (or select your own from the library and check with your teacher).
After you have read the novel, choose one of the following ways of responding to it.
1. Monologue
Choose a protagonist from your selected novel and compose a monologue outlining the dilemma facing
you at the climax of the novel. Present your monologue to the class.
2. Writing
Write another chapter, to be included in your chosen novel, that may or may not change the plot. Your
chapter can be added at any point in the novel. Make sure you keep the writing style consistent with the
rest of the text and do not introduce any new characters.
3. Review
Write an review of your novel for a specific publication (e.g. Spectrum section of the weekend Sydney
Morning Herald, a book of reviews for teenage readers, Who magazine etc. )
4. Design
Design a cover for a new edition of the novel. Your design (including the blurb, author information and
visuals) is aimed at teenage readers.
5. Interview
Construct either a radio or television interview involving two minor characters from your novel. Have
them talk about some of the issues or the behaviour of the main characters.
6 . Letter
As the author of your novel, write a letter to your publisher outlining the value of your work and why it
deserves to be published.
7. Comic strip
Construct a comic strip of a chapter of the novel you have chosen.
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