THIS WORK BOOK WILL PROVE TO BE AN INVALUABLE TOOL IN TERMS OF YOUR STUDY OF THE TEXT “JANE EYRE”; PLEASE MAKE IT YOUR MISSION TO USE AND REFER TO IT ON A REGULAR BASIS!
PLEASE USE THIS WORK BOOK TO:
WRITE UP REGULAR SUMMARIES OF EACH CHAPTER OF THE NOVEL (YOU WILL NEED TO DO THIS FREQUENTLY FOR HOMEWORK AND IT ALSO HELPS WITH REVISION)
MAKE NOTES ON ASPECTS SUCH AS CHARACTER & THEMES (AGAIN USEFUL FOR REFERENCE AND REVISION)
GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING INTO THE CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND OF “JANE EYRE” (SEE OPENING SECTIONS)
REVISE KEY TERMINOLOGY (A LIST OF ALL THE KEY TERMS WE WILL BE COVERING ON THIS PART OF THE COURSE ARE LISTED AT THE BACK OF THE WORK BOOK).
PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR WORK BOOK TO EVERY LESSON!
Context
The Victorian era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the apex of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had the longest reign in British history, and the cultural, political, economic, industrial and scientific changes that occurred during her reign were remarkable. When Victoria ascended to the throne, Britain was primarily agrarian and rural (though it was even then the most industrialised country in the world); upon her death, the country was highly industrialised and connected by an expansive railway network. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, Britain had a very rigid social structure consisting of three distinct classes: the Church and aristocracy, the middle class, and the working class.
The top class was known as the aristocracy. It included the Church and nobility and had great power and wealth. This class consisted of about two percent of the population, who were born into nobility and who owned the majority of the land. It included the royal family, lords spiritual and temporal, the clergy, great officers of state, and those above the degree of baronet. These people were privileged and avoided taxes.
The middle class or bourgeoisie was made up of factory owners, bankers, shopkeepers, merchants, lawyers, engineers, businessmen, traders, and other professionals. These people could be sometimes extremely rich, but in normal circumstances they were not privileged, and they especially resented this. There was a very large gap between the middle class and the lower class.
The British lower class was divided into two sections: "the working class" (labourers), and "the poor" (those who were not working, or not working regularly, and were receiving public charity). The lower class contained men, women, and children performing many types of labour, including factory work, seamstressing, chimney sweeping, mining, and other jobs. Both the poorer class and the middle class had to endure a large burden of tax. This third class consisted of about eighty-five percent of the population.
Industrialisation changed the class structure dramatically in the late 18th century. Hostility was created between the upper and lower classes. As a result of industrialisation, there was a huge boost of the middle and working class. As the Industrial Revolution progressed there was further social division. Capitalists, for example, employed industrial workers, who were one component of the working classes (each class included a wide range of occupations of varying status and income; there was a large gap, for example, between skilled and unskilled labour), but beneath the industrial workers was a submerged "under class" sometimes referred to as the "sunken people," which lived in poverty. The under class were more susceptible to exploitation and were therefore exploited.
The government consisted of a constitutional monarchy headed by Queen Victoria. Only the royalty could rule. Other politicians came from the aristocracy. The system was criticised by many as being in favour of the
