Unit II: Late Nineteenth Century Voices

Overview of the Late Nineteenth Century Context

The final decades of the nineteenth century were marked by rapid industrial expansion, imperial ambition, and a growing tension between traditional Victorian morality and emerging modernist sensibilities. Writers responded to these contradictions in diverse ways: some embraced aestheticism and the doctrine of “art for art’s sake,” others turned to imperial rhetoric to justify Britain’s global dominance, while a third group used literature to expose social inequities and advocate for reform. This unit brings together representative works that embody these intersecting discourses, allowing students to trace the period’s ideological fault lines.

Oscar Wilde: The Critic as Artist and De Profundis

The Critic as Artist

In “The Critic as Artist,” Wilde argues that criticism is not a subordinate activity but a creative art form in its own right. He contends that the true critic must transcend mere description and instead produce an original work that reveals the hidden harmony between the artwork and the viewer’s inner life. Wilde famously writes:

“To the critic, the work of art is simply a suggestion for a new work of his own.”

This perspective challenges the Victorian belief that art should serve moral instruction. Instead, Wilde proposes a formula for artistic value that separates beauty from didactic purpose:

By minimizing the denominator (moral instruction), the critic maximizes the artwork’s intrinsic aesthetic power.

From De Profundis

Written during Wilde’s imprisonment, De Profundis shifts from the playful paradoxes of his earlier essays to a profound meditation on suffering, love, and spiritual transformation. The letter to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, reveals a Wilde who confronts the limits of aesthetic indulgence and seeks redemption through honesty and self‑examination. Key passages illustrate his evolving philosophy:

“Where there is sorrow there is holy ground.”

“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”

These reflections invite students to consider how personal crisis can reshape artistic theory, turning the earlier celebration of artifice into a quest for authentic emotional truth.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: “The Speckled Band”

Doyle’s celebrated Sherlock Holmes story exemplifies the rise of the detective genre as a cultural response to Victorian anxieties about crime, rationality, and social order. The narrative follows Holmes and Watson as they investigate the mysterious death of Julia Stoner, ultimately uncovering a sinister plot involving a venomous snake and a stepfather’s greed.

Several thematic strands emerge:

• Rationality vs. Superstition: Holmes’s methodical deduction dispels the apparent supernatural elements, reinforcing faith in scientific reasoning.
• Gender and Vulnerability: The victim’s helplessness highlights the limited agency of women in a patriarchal society, while Helen Stoner’s courage points to emerging female resilience.
• Social Class and Justice: The story critiques the abuse of power by the aristocratic Dr. Grimesby Roylott, suggesting that legal institutions must protect the vulnerable.

Doyle’s tightly plotted narrative also offers a formula for suspense that later writers would emulate:

By maximizing the unknown and time constraints while minimizing the detective’s immediate knowledge, Doyle creates a tension that drives the plot forward.

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge: “The Other Side of a Mirror”

Coleridge’s lyric poem presents a haunting meditation on identity, duality, and the inner self. The speaker gazes into a mirror and perceives not only her reflected image but also an alternate self that embodies repressed desires and fears. The poem’s structure—alternating between concrete description and introspective speculation—mirrors the psychological split it explores.

Key interpretive points include:

• The Mirror as Symbol: The mirror functions as a liminal object, bridging the conscious and unconscious realms.
• Voice and Silence: The poem shifts from a confident declarative tone to a hesitant, questioning mode, suggesting the difficulty of articulating inner experience.
• Feminine Subjectivity: Written by a woman poet in a male‑dominated literary field, the work subtly critiques the constraints placed on female self‑expression.

Coleridge’s use of enjambment and subtle rhyme creates a musical quality that enhances the poem’s dreamlike atmosphere. A representative stanza illustrates this:

“I look into the glass and see / Not only what is shown to me, / But something else, a shadowy shape, / That whispers of a hidden escape.”

Students can compare this introspective focus with Wilde’s aesthetic detachment and Doyle’s external problem‑solving, noting how each author negotiates the relationship between inner life and outward representation.

Rudyard Kipling: “The White Man’s Burden” and “If—”

The White Man’s Burden

Kipling’s infamous poem, originally subtitled “The United States and the Philippine Islands,” articulates a paternalistic ideology of empire. The poem urges Western nations to accept the moral responsibility of governing colonized peoples, framing imperialism as a noble, albeit burdensome, mission.

Critical readings often highlight:

• Imperial Ideology: The poem encodes the belief that non‑Western societies require guidance from a supposedly superior Anglo‑Saxon race.
• Rhetorical Devices: Repetition of the phrase “Take up the White Man’s burden” functions as a rhetorical imperative, while the poem’s regular meter reinforces a sense of solemn duty.
• Contradictions: Despite its celebratory tone, the poem reveals anxieties about the cost of empire—both financial and moral—through lines such as “The blame of those ye better, / The hate of those ye guard.”

Students should examine how Kipling’s vision contrasts with the anti‑imperial sentiments emerging in contemporaneous socialist and feminist writings.

If—

In stark contrast to the imperialist fervor of “The White Man’s Burden,” Kipling’s “If—” offers a stoic code of personal conduct applicable to any individual, regardless of nation or class. The poem’s conditional structure (“If you can…”) enumerates virtues such as patience, integrity, humility, and resilience.

Notable lines include:

“If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,”

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same.”

The poem’s didactic tone reflects Victorian ideals of self‑mastery, yet its universal applicability allows it to be read as a timeless guide to ethical living. Instructors may juxtapose “If—” with Wilde’s aestheticism to discuss differing conceptions of the purpose of literature: moral instruction versus artistic autonomy.

Bernard Shaw: Major Barbara (Acts I and II)

Act I

Shaw’s play opens in the West Ham shelter of the Salvation Army, where Barbara Undershaft, a major in the organization, confronts the moral complexities of poverty and philanthropy. Her father, Andrew Undershaft, a wealthy munitions manufacturer, arrives and challenges the notion that charitable work can be truly altruistic when it is funded by the profits of armaments.

Key dramatic tensions include:

• The Conflict of Ideals: Barbara’s belief in spiritual salvation clashes with her father’s pragmatic view that economic power underpins all moral action.
• Satire of Philanthropy: Shaw critiques the tendency of charitable organizations to serve as moral veneers for exploitative industries.
• Gender and Authority: Barbara’s position as a female leader in a religious institution highlights both her agency and the patriarchal structures she must navigate.

Shaw’s witty dialogue exemplifies his belief that drama should provoke intellectual debate rather than mere emotional sentiment.

Act II

The second act shifts to the Undershaft munitions factory, where Barbara confronts the reality of her father’s empire. She discovers that the very workers she sought to uplift are employed in producing weapons that perpetuate violence. This revelation forces her to reconsider the relationship between means and ends.

Important developments:

• Materialist Critique: Shaw presents a Marxist‑tinged analysis showing how economic infrastructure determines ideological superstructure.
• Transformation of Barbara: Her initial idealism gives way to a more nuanced understanding that moral improvement requires engagement with economic realities.
• The Role of the “Holy Devil”: Andrew Undershaft’s self‑description as a “holy devil” encapsulates the paradox of using destructive means to achieve purportedly good ends.

The act concludes with Barbara’s tentative acceptance of her father’s worldview, suggesting that genuine social reform may necessitate a synthesis of spiritual and material strategies.

Comparative Themes and Critical Approaches

Although the texts examined in this unit span different genres and ideological positions, several recurring themes invite comparative analysis:

Students can apply various critical lenses—formalist, feminist, postcolonial, Marxist, and psychoanalytic—to uncover how each work both reflects and resists the dominant discourses of its time.

Conclusion

Unit II offers a panoramic view of the late nineteenth century’s literary landscape, revealing how aesthetic experimentation, imperial ideology, detective rationality, lyrical introspection, and social drama intersected to produce a rich, contradictory cultural moment. By engaging with these texts through close reading, historical contextualization, and theoretical critique, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the period’s enduring legacies and the ways in which its voices continue to inform contemporary debates about art, empire, gender, and ethics.