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Essay / The Impact of Industrialization on Literary Characters
The Industrial Revolution was a period in which Britain experienced advances in technology, agriculture and transport. These changes have strongly influenced the country economically and socially. The creation of unskilled factory workers emerged and a movement began from rural to urban areas. With the rise in wages of factory work, the country's population also increased. Overall, Britain became smaller during this period. The industrial revolution did not only bring positive results. The interactions that humans once enjoyed despite their social status gradually deteriorated as values began to shift. The ongoing industrialization in Britain was very present in current and future literature. Over the years, authors such as Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, and DH Lawrence have created characters whose morals have been altered due to the evils of industrialization, despite their social class. Over the course of literary eras, characters began to change their morality, which caused relationships with other characters to break down. The presence of industrialization and its unrest across the class spectrum is present in Frankenstein, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Lady Chatterley's Lover. When Mary Shelley began writing her first novel, she was well aware of the studies being done to animate the dead. She knew that the experiments carried out were only possible thanks to the scientific advances made by industrialization and that they were simply impossible before her time. In Frankenstein, Shelley introduces Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who becomes obsessed with pushing the boundaries of his study, no matter the cost. Victor wanted... middle of paper... permission to have an affair, the only person in his life who paid attention to him was Mrs. Bolton. He began to feel a real connection with her, but from his perspective, she despised everything Clifford stood for because of her husband's death. Hoping to change Clifford's interest in the miners, she began sharing gossip about the town and hoped that Clifford would begin to feel entitled to help her. Unfortunately, this backfired, as it reinforced the fact that Clifford had always had the power. “Clifford began to take a renewed interest in mining. He started to feel like he belonged. A new kind of self-affirmation appeared in him. It was a new sense of power, something from which he had hitherto shrunk in fear” (Lawrence 110). With industrialism there can never be two people from two distinct opposing classes who can get along, there is always one who has more power..