Victorian Era

Question 1

Time Period

Answer 1

Mid to late 19th Century (1850s-1900)

Question 2

Style and structure

Answer 2

• Elaborate descriptions of setting and characters creating a vivid immersive atmosphere
  -Begins with a murder ad the main crime and the investigation of the crime makes up the bulk of the narrative.
• Piece together evidence , has a red herring.
  In the end the perpetrator is finally revealed and restores social order.
• Provides a summary or reflection of the events related to the crime.

Question 3

Setting

Answer 3

• Often vividly described providing a backdrop of Victorian urban environments
  -Often reflecting the social and moral issues of the time
  -Contributes to a mood of suspense and foreboding.
  -The city itself becomes a character in the narrative.

Question 4

Detectives

Answer 4

-Central to a Victorian crime fiction is the detective figure
-Often an amatuer ot professional sleuth who solves intricate puzzles
-Famous example is Sherlock Holmes

Question 5

Criminals

Answer 5

-Villians often depicted as morally degenerate/inherently evil.
-Physiognomy is the study of facial features/expressions to infer character traits or criminal tendencies.
- Criminal were depicted with a sinister physical trait
- Example : Mr Hyde animalistic and repulsive appearance in dr jekyll and hyde.

Question 6

Victims

Answer 6

• Served as a plot devices
  -To incite the investigation and to highlight the detectives skills
  -Victims were secondary to the puzzle and often depicted in sensational,dramatic ways to shock and captivate readers.
  -Emphasise on the gruesome details of the crime than on the victims themselves.

Question 7

Female Character

Answer 7

• Women often portrayed as innocent and virtuous victims.
  -Women suffer from the actions of male villains and their suffering often serves as a moral lesson for both characters and the readers.
  -Used to comment on social issues. including the limitations placed on women’s lives and the societal expectations that constrain them.

Question 8

Themes

Answer 8

-Addresses social issues such as class disparity,poverty and the justice system
- Often critiques the moral and societal norms of the era.
- There’s often a clear distinctive between good and evil.
-The detective represents moral integrity, while the criminal embodies vice and corruption.

Question 9

Context

Answer 9

• Advances in forensic sciences such as fingerprinting & ballistics start to play a role in solving crimes .

-Reflecting the growing importance of science and tech in crime-solving.

Question 10

Famous texts

Answer 10

Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conon Doyle
Bleak House - Charles Dickens

Question 11

From ‘Edgar Allan Poe - The murders in Rue Morgue.”

From ‘Edgar Allan Poe - The murders in Rue Morgue.”
1) Setting used to create foreboding and tension : use of pathetic fallacy
2)Urban environments
3)Graphic description regarding female victims
4) Police is ineffective, police in the victorian era was a new establishment that were often very corrupt.

Answer 11

Links To WWTBGN?
1) “The heat rising up from the tarmac seemed to get trapped”
2) Edinburgh, but subverts it with a rural setting.
3) Atkinson subverts this by using the graphic description as an emotive and places emotive emphasises their humanity. Focus on psychological trauma.
4) Reggie Chase, an amatuer detective, does the most detective work. Police (Louise) is not entirely effective and is dismissive.

Question 12

Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist

1. Setting= darkness in urban enviroments and oppurtunity arise in this atmosphere
2. Female victim - Nancy
3. Use of gore
4. moral justice is restored in the end.

Answer 12

Links to WWTBGN?

1. Confroms: when Johanna blows up the house - darkness and confusion in the atmosphere. But also subverts as alot of the crimes take place in daytime. Atkinson emphasises how no one is safe, societal critique.
2. Almost all the victims in Atkinson are also female. Confroms
3. Conforms and subverts as there is a stronger focus on the victims perpective.
4. Conforms: Andrew Decker conveniently killed himself. End of Johanna’s trauma.

Question 13

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

1. Detectives solve intricate puzzles
2. Detatched from victims, dont seem included , treats the crimes in a cold unemotional manner
3. Detection is the detective’s main role

Answer 13

1. Subverts intricate puzzles : crimes are also conforming with Joanna’s disappearence
2. Detectives dont feel detatched from the victim, they care about them about them and are protective over them eg Reggie and Johanna , Louise and women.
3. Detection is not their main role: Both J.B/Reggie and Sherlock Holmes are both unofficial and do not work for anyone. Yet they both are viechles of the restortion of the novel.