Category: Cultural and Literary 18th-19th Centuries

How does the following representative quotation from Brontë’s Jane Eyre reflect on Victorian social conventions? “You have nothing to do with the master of Thornfield, further than to receive the salary he gives you for teaching his protégée, and to be grateful for such respectful and kind treatment as, if you do your duty, you have a right to expect at his hands” ?

A. It reiterates the class divisions that kept both men and women from social mobility.
B. It suggests that women were increasingly accepted as professionals.
C. It indicates that British society had become much more egalitarian.
D. It reveals the stern consequences of the Industrial Revolution.

Which of the following most accurately describes the relationship between Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and Victorian society and its ideals ?

A. Darwin’s work echoed Victorian thought with its emphasis on struggle while disrupting Victorian faith by decentering humans.
B. Darwin’s work was almost universally accepted from its first appearance.
C. Darwin’s work had little initial influence on Victorian society and culture.
D. Almost all religious authorities rejected Darwin’s work completely.