Disparities In Victorian Era Essay

Victorian society is marked by the period of Queen Victoria’s rule in England. This was a period in history where people were prosperous and constantly finding new ways in which to refine themselves and their lives. The literature of this time period reflected both aspects of society – the well-to-do that were consistently trying to find ways in which to elevate their status as well as conditions that were more challenging for many other aspects of society. Authors like Charles Dickens and William Blake (Victorian-era writers) called attention to the challenges present in Victorian society that were not as well publicized as all of the positive attributes of this time period.

There were significant disparities throughout the Victorian era. These disparities were present economically as well as societally. There were factions of society that were prosperous and enjoyed all of the trapping of their upper-class lives. They had access to plenty of food, enjoyed music, art and literature and

This was not unlike the way that things are now in that the upper portions of society have much of the wealth and the working class was struggling. The poor class was not even a thought and this led to widespread challenges from health to education. Even with all of the positive aspects of Victorian society, these issues persisted. Children were especially affected as Blake covered in his poetry, because they had little say as to whether they would get to attend at least some semblance of school or if they had to work in factories and at other jobs to make enough money for the family to at least have a place to live and food to eat. Children were easy to exploit, and Blake utilizes this fact in his poem about child chimney sweeps to underscore the notion that this vulnerable population was at such a disadvantage even during Victorian