Society: High and Low, Reflections and Woe

From the very beginning of our class discussions up until the last week of real classes, I have noticed a common theme that has been tied to class in society.  The topic of social classes, and its’ problems, seem to be something each generation of literature is able to relate to in some way, shape, or form. I also found it personally interesting to see all the different interpretations of this topic that we read throughout the entirety of the semester. For example, “Why shouldna the poor folk mowe?”, “Songs of Innocence and Experience”, “The Importance of being Earnest”, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde” all reveal parts of how British society operated, along with the “rules and regulations” of the time period as far as class in society goes.

“Why shouldna the poor folk mowe?” is an obvious stab at the issue of social hierarchy. Like mentioned in class, Robert Burns intended this to be a “drinking song”. This simple “drinking song” sure made it out of the Pubs and into history. The poem was also often published under the more “polite” title “When Princes and Prelates” later on down the road. “Why shouldna the poor folk mowe?” strongly hints at the idea of reproduction being the lower-classes most powerful weapon.  Power, sexuality, and human reproduction are being symbolized by the success of the French Revolution. The European monarchy has often been criticized for their sexual and political indecency that seemed to follow them around, which seems to portray them as impotent. Through this tune, I felt like power comes as a result from common folks and their sexuality. I think Burns was trying to advocate the victory of sex over social class; the common man has been painted as content alongside his miserable monarchy companions, and their unsuccessful battles with the French republic.

William Blake, to me, was probably one of the more complex people we talked about. I honestly enjoyed the complexity of his poetry in “Songs of Innocence and Experience” though, and I felt like he really reflected the values and morals of his society in this collection of poems. Through “Songs of Innocence”, political and social corruption can be found surrounding a child who seems blissfully unaware of what is really going on.  I personally felt like both “The Lamb” and “The Chimney Sweeper” shows the political and social corruption of the Romantic era, and what morals were valued in society at the time. For example, the child in “The Lamb” is innocent, but is also being indirectly subjected to “experience” with incorrect ideas of the Christian religion (“For He calls Himself a lamb. He is meek, and He is mild, He became a little child. I a child, and you a lamb. We are called by His name”). In one of our class discussions, we talked about “The Lamb”. To me this shows that the idea of being in the Christian faith was very important to society; this little child was even trying to “teach” a lamb what he “learned” after all.“Songs of Experience” to me very clearly trace the ideas of where corrupt lies in society, and the surrounding text is not as vague, "flowery" or naive. “The Chimney Sweeper” I felt also captured the current trends and norms of the Romantic society at the time. In both versions of “The Chimney Sweeper” the reader is able to see the abusive and twisted side of child labor. Child labor was a growing concern at this time, but socially and politically acceptable.  Both versions show the corrupt ugly side to society, and both show children that are subjected to “experience” (or the withering of the human spirit) at a very young age.

“The Importance of being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde was probably one of my favorite things we touched on for this semester. All of the characters are so over the top too that it is hard to not see the satiric elements of Victorian society being mocked at. The three main female characters, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn, and Cecily, really stood out to me the most. As I mentioned in one of my earlier blog posts (The Importance of Being Earnest), earnestness in Victorian society dealt with the jumping between lower and upper classes, including the spread of religion; the title of the play itself is a pun. All of the characters seem to either attempt this or try to hinder it from happening. Lady Bracknell’s character is also representation in the extreme with the hypocrisy, traditions, structure, and standards held by the aristocratic society. She is very materialistic, stubborn, and unbelievable with her demands in regards to potential suitors for Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn Fairfax represents the exact opposite. She is the arbiter of high fashion and society; the “it” girl.  Sophistication and intelligence roll off her tongue, and Gwendolyn has a rebellious strike to her that clashes with Lady Bracknell’s “by-the-book” set of rules for her. Morals are also high on Gwendolyn’s character as well which can be seen through her obsession with the “virtuous-sounding” name of Earnest.  On the other extreme of Gwendolyn and Lady Bracknell, there is Cecily. Cecily is painted out to be this sweet “country- bumpkin” type of girl, more innocent then Gwendolyn. Much like Gwendolyn, however, Cecily also has a rebellious side to her; the idea of wickedness holds her fascination. The idea of “wickedness” and rebellion is that draws her to the name of Earnest; this can be seen in the medieval fantasies she images between her and “always in trouble” Earnest.

“We’re all a little mad”, is right on the dot! The mockery of class and society take a twisted ride with Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Wonderland, as I assume many of you lovely people are aware of, consists of mad people (not just the angry kind), and backward ideas. Like “The Importance of Being Earnest”, the characters are also over the top but in extremely different ways. I found both Alice’s character and the Cheshire Cat especially interesting with how the morals and values of Victorian society are mocked and represented in different ways. Alice is a good representation of the “small adult” motif Victorian children were identified as. She is very logical, curious, and tries her best to morph and inject her experiences

into a world that has been literally flipped upside down. She enters Wonderland with a strong sense of nobleness, and confidence in her education, social standing, and manners, which immediately shows the part of class and society Alice is from.  Over all, Alice tends to act in an almost superior like attitude where ever she goes, and looms her “superiority” over those she finds “less privileged” than her. She is the only character that appears “normal” in this strange world of Wonderland. The Cheshire Cat, however, is unlike any character found in Wonderland. He seems to be immune to the rules and madness of Wonderland; he kind of does what he wants when he wants. The Cheshire Cat very clearly appears to have insight to the inner workings of Wonderland too, and is the only character that I able to point out Alice’s own sense of madness in Wonderland. Since Wonderland is ruled by the insane, Alice’s behavior of “sophistication” and “superiority” becomes inconstant and mocked as a result. He turns her classic Victorian behavior into utter madness, morphing her into the newest addition of Wonderland.

Where best to begin with The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.. This is one of those stories, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, that a child kind of seems to grow up knowing (at least I did). As a kid, all I knew of the original story was that Dr. Jekyl was the good guy, and when he drank a potion he somehow transformed into Mr. Hyde: the rude and ugly bad guy. I never really thought of how both Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde represented and reflected the morals and values of their society until this

semester though. One of our fellow classmates pointed out in their blog post (Cricket’s Hidden Hyde bog post), that Mr. Hyde was the result of one needing to escape the Victorian lifestyle of propriety and etiquette. I completely agree with this idea. Dr. Henry Jekyl is an outward representation on how a person of the Victorian society should be: neat, proper, well-mannered, and respectable. Mr. Edward Hyde, however, is the complete opposite. He is rude, cruel, violate, and language in general almost seems to disappear around him entirely; he is the death and corruption that hid inside poor Dr. Jekyl, and opposition of what was socially acceptable in society: high class versus low class. Both “people” also, in a way, become individually addicted to life in society, and fight to stay in it whether good or bad results.

                All of these works of literature show that no matter what era of time you are in, one can always find history within texts. Values and morals of society, along with class, can be found even through satires, and complex poems like that of William Blake if you look hard enough.

Works Cited

"Songs of Innocence and of Experience." (1789, 1794 1789 (objects 2-29, 34-37 as Arranged in This Copy), 1794 (objects 1, 30-33, 38-55 as Arranged in This Copy).): Electronic Edition. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2013.

Damrosch, David, Susan J. Wolfson, and Peter J. Manning. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Boston: Longman, 2010. Print.

"Impossible, Perverse & Strange." Impossible, Perverse & Strange. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.