The Victorian fascination with death : exploring the obsession with death in the 19th century using the novels 'The old curiosity shop' by Charles Dickens, 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley and 'Jude the obscure' by Thomas Hardy

Abstract

Death can be found in many novels from the 18th century, up until the present 21st century. After having read many novels from these different centuries throughout my educational years and in my spare time, I came to realise that the theme of death seemed to be more prominent in Victorian works than those from other centuries. One comes to realise that death is a frequent occurrence in Victorian novels. This dissertation attempts to discover why the Victorians and Victorian writers possessed this fascination with something as morbid as death. In other words, what was it that caused great Victorian writers to include deaths so freely in their works? This may be down to the fact that every Victorian had faced the loss of loved ones and could fully relate to deaths in novels. This dissertation will focus on three Victorian novels which deal with death. These novels are The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. The introduction to this paper aims to give an idea of how hard life was during the 19th century. It discusses the way of life in the 19th century to give a clear idea of the social life and social changes that people had to put up with during this period. This was the age of the Industrial Revolution which brought about major changes and contributed to outbreaks of deadly diseases such as Cholera. It was also a period of great religious change which influenced the way Victorians thought about death. Chapter one, two and three all aim to give an insight into what may have caused their respective authors to write novels full of death. Their religious views and any losses they suffered during their lives are taken into account to help provide reasons for their obsession and personal views about death. What these authors were trying to portray to their readers about death is looked at closely. The conclusion aims to sum up the main points made in the previous chapters regarding the notion of death, life in the 19th century and the views these authors aimed to show to their readers. By the end of this paper, I shall hopefully have spread some light on why the Victorians were so fascinated with death.