What did the Victorians believe about colonialism? Colonialism in Victorian English Literature Critical Essay

 Colonialism in Victorian Literature

The Victorian period in British History marks the high point of British imperialism. Though the British policy of colonial expansion had begun earlier, during the nineteenth century Britain not only consolidated its existing empire but also experienced unusual expansion in its colonial possessions. This process began after the 1857 rebellion in India when India was placed under the direct control of the Crown and continued for the scramble for Africa in the late 1800s so that by the end of the century it could be proudly announced that “the sun never sets on the British Empire.”  the tremendous upsurge of imperial activity during the nineteenth century, though physically taking place in areas distant from British shores, had a broad and widespread impact on British Culture. The literature of the period is thus totally entangled in the imperialist project. According to many critics, the overall shape of Victorian literature was heavily influenced by colonial ideology, which was ingrained in the British public's collective unconscious throughout the period. Even though individual literary works may not have been directly involved with the colonial enterprise, they were still affected by this pervasive influence.

Influence of Colonialism on Victorian Literature

The most evident impact of colonialism on Victorian Literature is observed in the colonial novels authored by writers like H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, and Joseph Conrad. These novels which include works like Haggard’s She (1889) and Kipling’s Kim (1901) are usually set in distant lands where the British were colonized and attempt to expose the insular domestic public to the foreigner strangeness of their country’s colonial possessions. The texts use colonialism as a necessary background for their narratives of adventure and romance. The genre of romantic adventure stories during colonialism is linked to children's fiction works by Robert Louis Stevenson and R. M. Ballantyne. While using Britain's colonial scheme as the setting of their stories (novels), such novels also propagate colonial ideology by taking as justifying British imperialism. Colonial novels use colonialism as both a backdrop ( a large piece of cloth with a painted scenery used for a background in a stage or theater) and an ideological framework that provides the raison d'etre ( reason or justification for existence. In French, raison d'etre means "reason for being," and in English, it means about the same.) of the action.

the impact of colonialism, however, is not restricted to the so-called colonial novels. The dominant genre of domestic fiction in the 19th century reflects colonial ideology. Although novel writers like Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot focus on domestic British society, Britain’s overseas possessions(colonies) frequently play an important role in the action.

It's worth noting that some novels contain ideas that portray natives as savages and imply that “the white man must bring civilization to them”. While these works may not intend to promote negative racial and colonial beliefs, they unconsciously contribute to the spreading of these ideologies.

Conclusion

Though awareness of the colonial presence in Victorian literature is evident in critical studies during the first half of the twentieth century, such criticism is usually restricted to an examination of colonial novels and an evaluation of the authors’ different attitudes to the colonial enterprise as reflected in their writings. It is only latter half of the twentieth century, in the so-called postcolonial period, that critics have explored the pervasive influence of colonial ideology throughout 19th-century British culture and society. Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978) is an influential and groundbreaking work in this respect, providing an exhaustive analysis of the West’s construction of the Orient as its “other.”

According to Said, the construction of colonized cultures and people is not an attempt to accurately represent reality. Rather, it serves as a means of ideological control that enables the West to create a simplistic binary relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. This oversimplification makes it easier for the West to manage the colonized peoples, while also providing a moral justification for the colonial enterprise.

Even literary works such as Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1902) that overtly question the validity of colonialism are informed by a Manichean aesthetic. This aesthetic problematizes their critique of imperialism. In these cases, the colonized "other" serves as a viewpoint for the self-critique of Western civilization, yet it is not allowed to express its unique subject position.

The critique of the literary output produced in the nineteenth century shows its relevance to the present day. Victorian literature's examination of ideological partnerships and resistances offers an understanding of the intricate ideological structures of neo-colonialism that are an inevitable part of contemporary culture and politics.