British society
British societyThe nineteenth (19th) century was a period of great change and accompanying social unrest in the British Isles. Most outstanding among the changes was the industrial revolution. As everything in life, it brought good, but it also brought evil. The industrial revolution combined with the expansion of the British Empire made the United Kingdom, the richest and most powerful country in the world. Some of the islanders became unbelievably wealthy, but others, unfortunately, became unbelievably poor. Writers from this historical period cognizant of the human suffering, became social critics of what was taking place in England, of how the rich and powerful became more oppressive than before and how the very poor, were evenly more oppressed. Among these writers were Charles Dickens and George Eliot. In his novel, Felix Holt the Radical, Eliot (nee Mary Anne Evans) describes graphically the conflict and battle between these two groups.
In the novel, Eliot portrayed British society as having two types of people, the oppressors, who were the landowners who had the ability to vote and serve in government and then there the oppressed, who are the back breaking workers. The factory workers and miners (the oppressed) were denied basic human rights and their opinion and beliefs were discarded as being useless. These workers wanted change and reform, however they did not speak out against their masters or government because of fear of retaliation by the oppressors, of punishment and also because of the lack of leadership skill to organize a revolt. The leadership that was needed was that of Harold Transome, a radical, and of his political agents that began preaching the need for change and for equality among the workers.
Traditionally, two main political parties existed in Great Britain, the Whigs and Tories, which forced society to choose what side would represent them. The split in society caused conflict in which people would only associate with those individuals who supported the same party. Adding to these conflicts, political candidates gave false hopes and promises in order to sway the opinion of people. Nonetheless a rise of uncertainty for the two parties began when Harold Transome returned home and brought with him enough wealth to gain the support needed to back up his political movement. Transome had made his fortune trading in the Far East of the empire. Despite his vast fortune there was one vast obstacle in Transom's plan to rebuild his estate and build a political career, which was that he wasn't the actual heir to his family's estate. Long ago, the principal of the estate was sold off to the Baycliff family. Legally the estate belonged to Tommy Transome, an illiterate peasant who had been paid off to keep quiet. If anything were to happen to Tommy Transome, the rights to the estate would pass to any existing heir of the Baycliff family.
Harold Transome the...
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