Page 189 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature

Notes

Notes As a picture is an invention of line and colour, so are these brilliant inventions of
scene and action.

Humour

This creative imagination is also seen in the humour of the Victorian novelists. Each of the great
Victorian novelist is a humorist, and each is a humorist in a style of his own. They have created a
number of immortal figures of fun, each comic in his own different way. They are hundreds of fine
jock and witty remarks spread all over The Victorian novel.

Characterisation

The most important expression of this creative imagination is to be seen in the most important
part of the novel, i.e., in the characterisation. The Victorians are all able to make their characters
live. Their characters may not always be real, there may be much in them that is improbable and
false, but they are amazingly and indomitably alive. They are wonderfully energetic and vital.
They are ail individuals, living their own existence, and lingering long in the memory once we
have formed an acquaintance with them. They act in their own characteristic way; they have their
own tricks of speech, their own way of saying and doing thing. A Victorian novel is a crowd of
breathing crying, living, laughing people. For example, Vanity Fair has a crowded canvas, crowded
with living, breathing individuals.

Lack of High Artistic Standards

The Victorian novel lacks uniformity. It is extremely unequal; it is an extraordinary mixture of
strength and weakness. It is teachnically faulty. This is so because it is still in its infancy, it is still
considered as a light entertainment, and not a serious work of art and the laws of its being have not
yet evolved. In this connection David Cecil observes, “Because it was in its first stage, it was bound
to be technically faulty. It had not yet evolved its own laws; it was still bound to the conventions
of the comic stage and heroic romance from which it took its origin, with their artificial intrigues
and stock situations and forced happy endings. Because it was looked on as light reading its
readers did not expect a high standard of craft, nor did they mind if it had occasional lapses;
especially as they themselves had no traditions of tastes by which to estimate it.” On the other
hand, they strongly objected to spending their hours of light reading on themes that were distressing
or put intellectual strain on them.

Lack of Liberalism

Then again the Victorian prudery comes in the way of a free and frank treatment of the animal side
of life. In this respect the Victorian novel shows a definite decline from the earlier English novel.
Any lapse from virtue as that of little Emily in David Copperfield is shrouded in an atmosphere of,
“drawing the blinds and lowering the voice.” Free and uninhibited treatment of sex is lacking.
Becky’s relationship with Lord Steyne is left ambiguous for this reason.

Conclusion
For these reasons, the Victorian novelists cannot be ranked wit the very greatest, yet they have
greatness in them. They have their imperfections. Their plots are improbable and melodramatic,
their endings arc conventional, and their construction is loose. They do not have any high artistic
standards. But their merits also arc many. They are very entertaining, they can capture and hold
the attention, they have creative imagination, and they have incomparable gift of humour. And
these are qualities which only the great have.

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