| As is known to all, the Victorian literature is featured by the realistic portrayal of the British society of that period, especially the depiction of the people's moral condition. Taking the Victorian middle class characters as the focus of the study, this thesis holds the idea that, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the Victorian middle class underwent a period of uprising in economy and politics, but was tested in the choices of moral values. Under the influence of the Industrial Revolution, some of the male middle class got prosperous in economy but degraded in their moralities, while others, poor lives though they led, they still possessed pure and upright moral values. Taking the male middle class characters in the Victorian novels as researching subjects, this thesis aims to find out the relationship between their moral values and their social conditions.This thesis comprises three chapters along with an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction not only introduces a general review on the study of the Victorian novels with a focus on the middle class characters, but also presents the central argument, theoretical foundation and significance of the thesis. Chapter One introduces briefly the process of the Industrial Revolution and social status of the middle class as well as its moral discourse. Chapter two classifies the male middle class characters according to their occupations, concluding the nature and characteristics of the class. Chapter Three explores four representative moral values of the male middle class characters and the differences in the value inclination of each. At the same time, the causes of the different moral values among the middle class characters are analyzed. The conclusion summarizes the argument of the paper, pointing out that the industrialization not only brings fortune to the middle class, but also a twist in their moralities, which are largely decided by their class status, and manifest the class characteristics. |
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