Quest for Identity in the Victorian Era Essay -- Literature Essays Lit

need for Identity in the square-toed Era Who are you? say the caterpillar to Alice (Carroll 60). This was a interrogate she could non answer. Why doesnt Alice know what constitutes her being? Humans desire completeness, and a steady identity. Up to the age of Darwinism, that subvert was filled by religious faith. only if with the emergence of Charles Darwins theories on innate selection and survival of the fittest, nices were reevaluating their paths to righteousness. Without God as a foundation, what were lifes rules? Peter derby argues in Charles Darwin The military personnel and His Influence that the experient road to salvation had been change by one of Darwins greatest triumphs - being the catalyst for the transformation of Victorian thought (150). Darwin made man question his belief system and, as Richard Altick presents in Victorian People and Ideas, revisions of mans stack and place at heart the cosmea had to take form (232). Since no foretell agency co uld be relied upon to break his condition, man must turn himself to shamble whatever he faeces of his life (235), thus helping himself. This base of self-help brought Victorians in search of mens sana in corpore sano, or total health or wholeness, in which they adopted the strong body as their model for uncanny health, the harmony of the self with outside principles of growth and order (Anderson). Through this model, they seek to identify their purest and most in demand(predicate) form through the use of drugs and a yearning for eternal youth. They prize Grecian characteristics as well, which was the exact foe image Darwin placed within the Victorian mind - that man was a descendent of a puberulent quadruped. All of these goals were sought after ... ...York Cambridge University Press, 1990. Carroll, Lewis. Alices Adventures In Wonderland. 1866. untested York HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four. New York The Berkley Publishing Gro up, 1994. Gardner, Martin. The Annotated Alice. New York W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. Haggard, H. Rider. She. 1887. New York Oxford University Press, 1998. Man or Beast? The undestroyable Effects of Darwin. Florida Gulf Coast University. unpublished essay, 2001. Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. Westport, Connecticut Greenwood Press, 1996. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange campaign of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 1886. Mineola, New York Dover Publications, Inc., 1991. Wilde, Oscar. The indicate of Dorian Gray. 1891. Mineola, New York Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. Quest for Identity in the Victorian Era Essay -- illumineerature Essays LitQuest for Identity in the Victorian Era Who are you? said the caterpillar to Alice (Carroll 60). This was a question she could not answer. Why doesnt Alice know what constitutes her being? Humans desire completeness, and a solid identity. Up to the age of Darwinism, that void was filled by religious faith . But with the emergence of Charles Darwins theories on natural selection and survival of the fittest, Victorians were reevaluating their paths to righteousness. Without God as a foundation, what were lifes rules? Peter Bowler argues in Charles Darwin The Man and His Influence that the old road to salvation had been damaged by one of Darwins greatest triumphs - being the catalyst for the transformation of Victorian thought (150). Darwin made man question his belief system and, as Richard Altick presents in Victorian People and Ideas, revisions of mans destiny and place within the universe had to take form (232). Since no divine agency could be relied upon to ameliorate his condition, man must turn himself to make whatever he can of his life (235), thus helping himself. This idea of self-help brought Victorians in search of mens sana in corpore sano, or total health or wholeness, in which they adopted the well-knit body as their model for spiritual health, the harmony of the self w ith external principles of growth and order (Anderson). Through this model, they attempted to identify their purest and most desirable form through the use of drugs and a yearning for eternal youth. They admired Grecian characteristics as well, which was the exact opposite image Darwin placed within the Victorian mind - that man was a descendent of a hairy quadruped. All of these goals were sought after ... ...York Cambridge University Press, 1990. Carroll, Lewis. Alices Adventures In Wonderland. 1866. New York HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four. New York The Berkley Publishing Group, 1994. Gardner, Martin. The Annotated Alice. New York W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. Haggard, H. Rider. She. 1887. New York Oxford University Press, 1998. Man or Beast? The Lasting Effects of Darwin. Florida Gulf Coast University. Unpublished essay, 2001. Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. Westport, Connecticut Greenwood Press, 1996. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 1886. Mineola, New York Dover Publications, Inc., 1991. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1891. Mineola, New York Dover Publications, Inc., 1993.