Question

How did british colonialism influence english literature of the victorian period ?

Answer 1

In an attempt to advance the British Empire’s trading, as well as material and monetary gains, the end of the 19thcentury saw a vast expansion of the British Empire. Another primary concern of colonialism and imperialism was to help the natives (of the lands being colonized) by civilizing them. Victorian literature is deeply aware of the colonialism and imperialism that the Victorians encountered. This paper seeks to explore the ways in which many Victorian authors created narratives of Empire that introduced colonialism as a civilizing mission that sought to help natives of colonized lands. In particular, I will be focusing on William Gladstone’s speech “Our Colonies.” I then want to complicate the British view of colonialism by introducing Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden.” In contrast to (most) current understanding of colonialism, Kipling shows that although the Victorians supported colonialism, they did so because they truly believed they were helping the native people.

William Gladstone was an extremely political figure; he served as the Prime Minister four times and was the leader of the Liberal Part in Great Britain (Bebbington, vii-viii). During his earlier life in parliament, one of Gladstone’s main concerns was colonial policy and he was appointed Colonial Secretary in 1845 (Bebbington, 105). Gladstone was in opposition to military expansion of the Empire, but believed that the Empire should expand based on agreement and good relations with the natives of the land. He believed that colonies should be placed around the world in order to advance civilization (Bebbington, 106). Gladstone thought Brittan should partake in this advancement because he viewed Great Brittan as an exceptional country, government and civilization with good moral values (Bebbington, 107).