Social Issues Of The Nineteenth Century example essay topic

The social issues of the renaissance to romantic era are directly reflected to, and directly influence the social issues of the nineteenth century. This is evident by studying past works of English literature from important time periods. In early renaissance times, the social issues dealt with power struggle, and class difference influenced many plays, and poems written by Shakespeare. By expressing these social issues through his plays, he was able to communicate to the public in a passive, assertive manner without outright conveying his views. Class difference and power struggle between societies unmistakably found themselves in the nineteenth century as well. This instance, however; government parties, such as the Whigs, and the Tories struggled to achieve a commanding grasp on a political standpoint.

Class difference in the nineteenth century had ruled out the classic feudal system, and was progressing towards three main social classes. During the restoration period, works written by Pope, such as a modest proposal, dealt with the poverty stricken lower class Irish families, and a simple, but drastic solution. Although Alexander Pope provides a great example of a solution moving towards a more 'classless's society, his means of doing so were fairly obscene. Using children as a source of food, and a way for the public to earn a source of income wasn't exactly a realistic solution. Nonetheless, something had to be done, and as mentioned earlier, the nineteenth century was gradually making progress.

Almost ruling out the dominant boundaries of either extremely wealthy or extremely underprivileged, the middle class emerged. Driven mainly by factory jobs, middle class citizens worked, long hard hours in dangerous environments. The middle class had now officially become the affluent class of the modern Victorian times. William Wordsworth's views, expressed in his poem, "The World is Too Much with Us" explained how man has become out of touch with nature, and how society puts great emphasis on technology and materialism.

This was another great social issue which greatly effected the romantic time period as well as the Victorian era. Once again, reflecting on the now dominant middle class, and the beginning of the industrial revolution, came the beginning of consumerism / materialism. With the ability to afford various products, a hunger was born unlike no other that has carried on to present day. An addiction would be the idealistic way to describe it. The more 'toys' the public acquired, the more they longed for excess. This social issue was answered, but not solved by numerous authors, and poets.

The human race had begun to fall away from the beauty and simplicity of nature, and began to rely on sophisticated, material objects to satisfy our entertainment needs. The question still remains today. Will we look towards our past and realize the world has so much more to offer, other than synthetic products? Or will we simply progress further into our addiction of greed?

It's the age of a technological revolution. Heading into the future presents it own social issues. Just as quickly as class system had changed, we find more and more unemployed families raising children in poverty. Our government desperately attempts to help these people by providing welfare, but this on its own is a social issue. The unemployed are immediately ruled out of the rest of society. As time moves on I expect to see social issues dealing with how the earth is being governed.

A group that continues to burn 'dirty' fossil fuels, and a new breed. A society which protests the use of petroleum will bring a new issue to play. Perhaps it has already started with the beginning of the hybrid automobile, and the hydrogen fuel cell. Only time will tell..