Degeneration and criminality in Victorian fiction

Actor Richard Mansfield as Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde, 1887

The theory of degeneration: a great concern for the Victorians

Nineteenth century England was the century of modernity and industrialisation, but with great advances comes great concern over the future. People started to wonder what society would look like in a few years as criminality and mental illnesses seemed to be on the rise.

The concern for evolution and what could happen to mankind in the future surely did not come to life during the Victorian era, but was somewhat emphasised throughout the century by the spread of theories such as degeneration. Degeneration is the idea that evolution could go backwards and that unwanted traits or behaviours such as mental illness, criminality, lack of morality or cretinism were hereditary and could be easily explained and detected. This theory was very much widespread and could be found in the works of many scientists and psychologists at the time, but was also explored in popular culture and literature.  

The roots of criminal atavism: the “born criminal”

The theory of degeneration finds its main sources in mid-nineteenth century from the works of many psychologists and biologists, but what is of interest to us is a particular branch later developed by famous Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso.

Lombroso believed in criminal atavism, or the “born criminal”; that is a criminal who could be defined by a set of physical and psychological traits reminiscent of “savages” or even animals. The “born criminal” is above all else born this way, and can be easily recognised as such among populations, according to Lombroso.

In his book Criminal Man, Lombroso wrote a very detailed description of the “born criminal”: “thus were explained anatomically the enormous jaws, high cheek-bones, prominent superciliary arches, solitary lines in the palms, extreme size of the orbits, handle-shaped or sessile ears found in criminals, savages, and apes, insensibility to pain, extremely acute sight, […] and the irresistible craving for evil for its own sake, the desire not only to extinguish life in the victim, but to mutilate the corpse, tear its flesh, and drink its blood”. The “born criminal” does not possess morality, nor is he able to feel any remorse.

First illustrated edition of Dracula, 1901

Dracula and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: criminal atavism at its best

From there, it is very easy to draw a parallel between Lombroso’s most famous theory and Gothic fiction. The concept of an atavistic criminal seemed to inspire many Victorian writers as we can find striking elements in works of fiction that are still well-known today. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the count himself is the embodiment of criminal atavism: he is wicked and evil, drinks the blood of his victims and lacks any form of morality whatsoever. He presents physical features that are similar to the rather animalistic criminal as he is described as being hairy, having sharp teeth as well as an extraordinary strength for someone as old as he is.

Robert Louis Stevenson offers us a dual representation of Victorian society in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Dr Jekyll is shown as the perfect and decent Victorian man, while his alter ego is very much so the embodiment of criminal atavism. Mr Hyde is described as a primitive being, driven by urges to do evil deeds around him, such as trample on a young girl or beat an old man to death. Like Count Dracula, he lacks morality and presents dreadful physical features. Just like criminal atavism, which is said to have no effective treatment, Dr Jekyll is unable to fight Mr Hyde and is progressively overcome by him.

Morals and lack thereof: the Time Machine and the Picture of Dorian Gray

As Lombroso explains in his book, the intellect of the “born criminal” is not damaged by his degeneration, but he does not possess any sense of morality. He is mainly driven by his instincts, and can make use of his intellect to achieve his goals. In the Time Machine, the Time Traveller encounters two different peoples when he visits a very distant future. Both present degenerated characteristics, one being excessively idle, deprived of intellect but agreeably peaceful, the other being more cunning, deprived of morality and outrageously barbarous. The latter, called the Morlocks, have a rather dreadful and animalistic physical appearance and mercilessly feed on the peaceful people, the Eloi, as if they were cattle. Never in the novel they seem to show any sign of remorse.

Early illustrated edition of the Picture of Dorian Gray, 1910

The Picture of Dorian Gray approaches the concept of degeneration and criminality in a different manner. Unlike the Morlocks, Dorian Gray is not a distant humanoid creature but a man very much of his time. He lives a life of pleasure, influenced by Lord Henry Wotton, regardless of morality and decency, although he does seem to be horrified by his actions at some point, which is not the case of Count Dracula, Mr Hyde or the Morlocks. Nonetheless, Dorian is responsible for the suicide of a young girl, and the death of one of his friends, whom he kills in a fit of anger. But what makes him truly “atavistic” is the fact that although he remains young and handsome until the end of the novel because of his curse, his portrait bears the stain of every crime, every misdeed he committed. When Dorian dies, he appears a very old and ugly man, a man whom the lack of morality and decency has made him physically degenerate.

In looking at these four most famous late-nineteenth century novels, each exploring the themes of degeneration and criminality in their own way, it is quite clear that the Victorians were very much concerned about these issues. While scientists and criminologists like Cesare Lombroso issued books and articles on the matter, artists and particularly writers got inspired by this concern anchored in late Victorian popular culture. Whether they were arguing about the existence of a “born criminal” altogether evil or feared a degenerated future in which criminality thrived and morality did not exist anymore, the Victorians were certainly fascinated by the human mind and its strange ways. 

Links to images:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mansfield#/media/File:Jekyll-mansfield.jpg
• https://honors480nikki.wordpress.com/2012/02/
• http://bookanista.com/terror-wonder/

Works cited:

• Cesare Lombroso, Criminal Man, 1911
• Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897
• Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1886
• H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, 1895
• Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

Child labour in Victorian Britain (Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens)

Child labour in Victorian Britain (Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens)

The Industrial Revolution appeared at the end of the eighteenth century in Britain and later in the rest of European countries. At that time, Britain witnessed an incredible economic progress thanks to the development of industries amongst other things. However, this revolution also affected social classes, intensifying the social inequalities. Therefore, families of Victorian England had to work harder to earn more money, but sometimes it was not enough and they had to send their children at work.

I.                    The different kinds of child labour in Victorian Britain

There were two kinds of child labour. The first one included children who worked for their parents needed them to do so. They were considered as free workers, since the factories owners could not force them to do things they did not want to do. Those children were still under the protection of their parents, and if they thought the working conditions of their children were unacceptable, parents could protest in order to protect their children.

On the other hand, children of the poorest families or abandoned children had to live in workhouses and were under the responsibility of the parish. Those children were the ones to be subject to mistreatment and abuse. The Poor Law of 1834 was one of the principle factors of child labour in Victorian Britain. This law stipulated that the poor were to live in workhouses and in exchange, they had to work every day, for several hours. Many testimonies of that time showed that poor people living in workhouses received bad treatments, especially the children. Most of the workhouses’ children were orphans or abandoned, thus they did not have any protection from a relative. Those children were then under the custody of the parish. Child labour was emotionally and physically unbearable, as they were working in atrocious conditions. They worked for more than ten hours each day, and were paid a pittance. They were subject of multiple injuries due to their work. 

A young boy working in a mine. [source]

Children were employed in factories because they cost nothing, compared to adults. Moreover, they were small and could reach areas grown men and women could not. In comparison to middle-class children, working-class children did not have access to a proper education. They spent their time working in factories. It was also frequent to see children die whilst working. In an interview, a young boy named John Cawthorpe, fourteen, describes a day at work for him: “[I] work one week on days and the other on nights. Sometimes start at 6 on Friday morning and do not give over till 2 p.m. on Saturday. That is the only time that I work night and day together. Sometimes I work a quarter (of a day), i.e. three hours over; sometimes a half. When I have been working three turns I get tired. Get some sleep in the dinner hour, and sometimes in the breakfast half hour. When tired I fall asleep in working time, not when standing up, but many a time when I am sitting down. When it (the hot steel) comes through it wakens me.”[1]

II.                 Charles Dickens’ portrayal of child labour in Oliver Twist (1837-1839)

Dickens worked in a factory when he was twelve. [source]

The main protagonist of the semi-biographical novel, Oliver Twist, was born in a workhouse. His mother was unmarried when she gave birth to him, and being a single mother was considered as a shame, especially when you were poor. The number of abandoned children during the Victorian era was high, and that can be explained by the fact that having a child cost a lot of money and the poorest families could not take care of them. Another reason was that many abandoned children were born out of wedlock and purity and honour were two essential virtues in the Victorian society.

In Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens depicted well the terrible living conditions of those children. Through the whole novel, the readers witness the violent behaviour of the workhouses’ officials. Mr Bumble and Mrs Mann, both officials for the workhouses where the main protagonist of the story was raised, are the perfect examples of the parish officials of Victorian Britain. Indeed, in the novel, they do not hesitate to mistreat the children under their care, by abusing or half-starving them. In chapter two, Dickens compares the fact of starving in the streets and starving in the workhouses, saying that whatever happens, poor people were destined to starve[2]. This chapter also provides information about the living conditions of children in workhouses. They are so hungry that one child says at some point that he could eat one of the boys. The next days, Oliver is chosen by the other boys to ask for more food at dinner. The officials are so shocked that they decide to get rid of Oliver by offering five pounds to whoever is willing to take him. “Selling” children, instead of freeing him, was quite common during the Victorian period, as it was a source of income.

Oliver Twist asking for another portion of food. [source]

In his novel, Dickens associates workhouses with slavery. For him, the way children were treated in those workhouses was similar to slavery, as children did not have proper clothes, and were not well fed. The nineteenth century saw life expectancy of working-class children falling at approximatively eighteen years old, and that was due to their terrible working conditions. Between 1819 and 1946, numerous laws were introduced in order to protect children and prohibit child labour, such as raising the cost of employment of children for instance. The consequences of those laws were that children were dismissed, but since they needed money to survive, they had to find other ways to earn money. They ended up working in worse conditions, in dilapidated factories with bad sanitary system and a minimal security; or they ended up as criminals, just like in Oliver Twist, where Oliver meets a group of children-thieves, all under the control of Fagin. 

Factories and mines were inspected by people called “Commissioners”, who witnessed the bad conditions children were working in. In 1874, a Factory Act was established and prohibited the employment of children under the age of ten in factories. Moreover, numerous laws about child protection began to appear during the second half of the nineteenth century and nowadays, child labour is prohibited in Europe.

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[1] http://www.mylearning.org/victorian-voices/p-1562/

[2] “So, they established the rule, that all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they), of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it.” – ch. 2, Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens. [source]

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children and Charles Dickens

GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN

“Of this great city of London which, until a few weeks ago, contained no hospital wherein to treat and study the diseases of children – more than a third of the whole population perishes in infancy and childhood” Charles Dickens’ Drooping Buds published in Household Worlds Magazine, 5:106,1852.

Life in Victorian Britain was perilous. The conditions, especially in the poverty stricken areas in the East End were horrific. People lived in slums and had a basic lack of sanitation. Due to this many children were never expected to make it past childhood. Without hygiene and access to proper medical care, many children lived up to this poor expectation.

Alleyway in Slum District www.jantoo.com/slums

Britain was part of the Great Empire. She ruled countries all over the world. Her great capital, London, however was lacking. As pointed out by Dickens she lacked a hospital for children, those who would grow up to continue the legacy of the Empire. Luckily in 1852 this changed and Great Ormond Street Hospital, found at no.49 Great Ormond Street, Queen’s Square, London was founded. The hospital is now not only one of London’s most treasured landmarks but also is synonymous with outstanding medical care and research for Sick Children.

Dr Charles West founded the hospital in 1852. “West’s belief that sick children needed dedicated, inpatient care led him to open the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street” (gosh.org). Here children could receive the medical care they needed in a safe environment that supplied them with food, shelter and clean surroundings.

Dr Charles West  www.gosh.org

Inside the hospital

When the hospital first opened it contained only 10 beds. However the founders had already realised the importance of milk for the hospital. Twelve days before it opened the Godmanchester Milk Company became the official supplier to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Before 1914, patients of the hospital mainly consumed condensed milk. However this had little nutritional value and was a major contributor to infantile digestive problems and TB. (HHARP.org)

By 1866 ‘The Milk Room’ saw the consumption of 250 quarts (62.5 gallons) a week! The importance of the milk room demonstrated the correct nutrition that the children received during their stay at the Hospital. (HHARP.org) Many of the patients came from the surrounding slum areas and lived in poverty. One such case is chronicled on the HHARP website. The address given at the time of his admittance contained, “11 families, totalling at least 43 individuals” Willie had contracted tubercular disease and this was probably a direct action of his living conditions.

As with modern hospitals Great Ormond Street Hospital had a busy pharmacy although it was known as the Dispensary. The hospital spent £42 (HHARP) on drugs and surgical instruments in 1852. After signing it’s first drug contract they became one of the leading hospitals in medicinal trials. This is work that continues today.

As listed on the HHARP website these are some of the medications given:

Eggs,

Beer,

Wine, (a surprisingly large quantity of alcohol was consumed on alcohol premises!)

Arsenic,

Purgatives,

Bleeding.

J Wycliffe Peck, pharmacist (seated) with staff of the pharmacy. Wycliffe Peck was pharmacist to the hosptial from 1894-1936.  www.hharp.org

Dickens and medicine

Charles Dickens is one of Britain’s most iconic authors. His work is celebrated all over the world for his championing of the poor and their quest for bettering themselves. Dickens charts the life of Pip in Great Expectations, the orphan boy brought up by his sister until an unknown benefactor wishes for him to become a gentleman. He is also crated the iconic Oliver Twist, another orphan who found wealth. As a man from humble beginnings Dickens always took a keen interest in London’s poor and weak. 

In many of his novels Dickens includes hospitals, doctors and nurses. Donald Hawes writes, “Given the uncertain nature of medical care compared to what we expect today and given the number of illnesses that were accepted as part of everyday life, it is not suprising that Dickens, like other Victorian novelists, presents us with a number of cases of physical and mental incapacity and suffering” (58)

Dickens used his journalism skills to spread news of Great Ormond Street Hospital and to gain support for it. He wrote Drooping Buds in ‘Household Worlds Magazine’ in 1852. In the article he emphasizes the importance of the hospital in “this great city of London” (p45). Dickens also uses powerful images of children’s graves, “those little graves two or three feet long, which are so plentiful in our churchyards” (45) to conjure up public sympathy and interest.

The article also enables the reader to see the interior of the hospital and gain an idea of its environment. He describes the “neat and new appearance of the hospital walls” and a “woman with a child in her arms was finding ready admission in the great hall” (46). The opening description of the hospital allows the reader to imagine the new hospital ready to serve its purpose of helping sick children.

Dickens continues to describe his journey within the hospital and describes what he sees in the wards.

‘little eyes looked up from little beds, was quite a cheerful sight. The walls were painted, in panel, with rosy nymphs

and children; and the light laughter of children was our entrance. Nothing was sad here.’  P.47

The repetition of ‘little’ emphasises that the hospital is for children. The tone of the article changes here, it becomes more light-hearted and cheerful, which echoes the tone of children. An ideal scene is depicted of the children through the sounds of their laughter. This would appeal to any mothers reading the magazine and therefore is a good way of drumming up support and therefore financial contributions to the hospital.

 In the article the reader gets a sense of what the ward looked like,

“Light iron cribs, with beds made in them, were ranged, instead of chairs, against the walls.” (47) By saying cribs are against the walls instead of chairs, Dickens is implying that the hospital could easily be extended.

Engraving of the Hospital’s original ward. From The Penny Illustrated Paper (1863)

www.hharp.org

One Christmas, as a way to raise funds for the hospital, with the hospital facing bankruptcy and with more patients than there was room, Dickens read passaged from his celebrated work, A Christmas Carol. The character of Tiny Tim could well have been a patient of the hospital. This act meant that all the funds needed to not only save, but expand the hospital were met. The HHARP website writes, “the words of Charles Dickens supported the hospital in the difficult early years of its life. Without his commitment, there may not have been a Great Ormond Street Hospital”. Therefore it is evident that the literature of Charles Dickens, among others, helped to secure the future of The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children.

Works cited:

Dickens, Charles and Morley, Henry, Drooping Buds. Household Worlds. V:106. 45-47. 1852. Online http://www.djo.org.uk/household-words/volume-v/page-45.html

Hawes, Donald. Charles Dickens. London, GBR: Continuum International Publishing, 2007. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 23 March 2015.

www.gosh.org

www.HHARP.org