The Negative Effect Of Industrialization On Social Classes In Charles Dickens’ Hard Times

The Industrial Revolution, which took place in Victorian Britain as well as in Europe, had both a positive and negative influence upon society. The negative effect of industrialization is considered in this thesis through discussion of the social classes as described in Charles Dickens’s novel, Hard Times.The question as to whether industrialization could be the major reason for the destruction of individuals, society and their environment is important to consider. Three classes of society are said to exist in the Victorian Britain portrayed in Hard Times. Considerable differences existed between different classes, with members of the aristocracy, wealthy landowners, government officials, clerics, statesmen and nobles not paying taxes. Bank officials, lawyers and professionals, factory and shop owners formed the middle class, with the working class, the poor who worked in coal mines, or cleaning the chimneys of houses that burned coal forming the lower class. The lower classes represented 85 per cent of the population and were the people who had to pay most taxes.In addition, this thesis will discuss the extent of differences between social classes portrayed in Hard Times and other Dickens’novels, which will be examined through the following areas of discussion:characterisation, environmental pollution, the criminal environment, and theft and injustice relating to all classes of society. There is also a focus upon vulnerable people, including children and the elderly, the lack of justice, mercy and education, and the prevalence of hunger and disease. An examination of the past can draw important lessons about how society can be improved in the future.