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The 19th century had a significant impact in Europe. It is during this period that major discoveries were made, effectively transforming the scientific world. This included the discoveries made in the medical field as well as the publication of the controversial Darwin’s theory of evolution. Europe underwent major changes and this helped the Europeans to change what they believed about themselves. For example, there was the introduction of the state system that shaped their politics. In addition, the Europeans developed a strong belief in progress and change. The industrial revolution also helped change the movement of goods around the world and the issue of materialism was adopted as a result of arts and religion (Carlton 1941, 40). These changes led to intense competition between nations ultimately leading to the World Wars. Europeans were confident that they were superior in their institutions and culture. This led to imperialistic ideas and as a result they colonized most of the African states that were deemed inferior. The modern society is faced by many challenges as it tries to accommodate various changes that happened in the 19th century. One of the greatest challenges includes determining whether an action is good or evil and the criteria to be used in defining this. Various ethical bodies have been founded to provide guidelines that would help in determining the right from wrong but still various criticisms do arise. The intellectual, scientific and cultural changes that occurred during the last decades of the 19th century were instrumental in shaping the modern European society. This essay discusses the importance of these changes and how Stevenson in his novel reflected on these modern societal challenges.
Intellectual changes
The 19th century marked a period of diverse ideologies by various thinkers in major fields. Marxism, Darwinism, idealism, liberalism and communism are some of the ideologies of the century. The western intellectual life had its confines in the European continent. The thinkers became aware of ancient thought and developed new ideas and vocabulary. There was development of science especially in biology, geology and organic chemistry. This was due to change of interest towards organic and living things. After the publishing of Darwin’s theory, a concept of social Darwinism grew which viewed man’s culture, politics and economics as subject to the law of survival for the fittest. Capitalism evolved and it was viewed as a ‘dog-eat-dog’ society. The nations with strong military were proving their right of survival. They were above wrong or right and therefore, did not have to justify their deeds. Most nations viewed themselves as more evolved than some African countries and thus their justification of civilizing the Africans. As Dr. Jekyll, the nation’s morals are poor and lacking. They are hypocritical and are carefully concealing their sins in civilizations (Stevenson 1883, 10).
Another famous intellectual in the 19th century was Karl Marx. He developed a theory in communisms insisting that any society has its foundation on its economy. He believed that capitalism would lead to society’s destruction since there would be increased competition which leads to lowering of prices and ultimately reduced profits. During these times, a radical group of poor people, mainly those affected by industrialization became anarchists. They were opposed to colonialism by their states and many evils occurred as a result. The leaders of these states were assassinated as a result. These evils were committed in the name of liberation by the same people who claimed to be liberators. One side of them is viewed as a good deed in their struggle to end inequality, while the other side is evil in killing their leaders. In Stevenson’s novel this is illustrated by the character of Dr. Jekyll who although a doctor who assists his patients, he has another face as Mr. Hyde who is evil in his deeds.
During the end of the 19th century, art and poetry reached greater heights. The artists worked tirelessly to use light and color effects to express their messages. Poetry evolved to symbolism to denote a certain message. It is during this period that Stevenson wrote his book. He uses various elements of art to portray his characters and to describe the atmosphere they live in. According to his book, he has mastered the possible devices of images, intonation, word patterns and false scents to build up gradually a world in which the strange transformations will have the impact of satisfactory and artistic reality on the reader (Stevenson 1883, 14).
Scientific changes
The 19th century marked a great revolution in the scientific world. Several major discoveries in major fields like medicine, chemistry and physics occurred during this century (The Portsmouth Grammar School n.d., par. 4). Medical advances and proper understanding of human anatomy and the principles of disease prevention happened in this century. The germ theory of disease was discovered and various vaccines of killer diseases like cholera, anthrax and rabies were also discovered. It is during this period that malaria treatment and the wonder drug aspirin were discovered. This resulted into high increase in population growth in European world with population doubling in this century. The increase in population could not be accommodated by the industrial revolution, and more raw materials had to be sourced for the industries. This led to movement around the world and especially Africa which at the time was unexploited and therefore a rich haven for raw materials. The movement to Africa for search of raw materials needed a large manual work force. This resulted in commencement of inhumane treatment of the workers and slave trade came to be. This evil act continued until much later in the 20th century when it was abolished (Carlton 1941, 50).
Another scientific field of physics saw the discoveries of major things still in use to date. There were discoveries in electricity and magnetism, thermodynamic laws were established and major inventions happened like the invention of the telephone. These inventions added a great value to the human life by improving transport, communication, entertainment and other sectors.
Cultural changes
During the 19th century, there were major changes experienced as a result of the industrial revolution. It resulted in accelerated urbanization with major cities like London growing larger to accommodate the change in lifestyles of the people. This led to dense populations living in the town resulting in to cramped housing and deterioration of the living conditions of the inhabitants. The people had to adjust accordingly in order to fit to these changes or be eliminated from the bigger towns. The outgrowth of the factories resulted into development of a culture that is friendly to the working environment. The constitution of the family institution during the agrarian revolution had to be adjusted. The working spouse was forced to spend more time away from the family as they labored in the factories. These factory cultures also affected the peer groups in the cities. This period also saw a change in laws concerning protection of children from labor (Kreis.2000, 5).
The industrial revolution had increased the demand for labor; forcing even underage children to be employed to assist factories meet their production levels. Although the children received remunerations in form of wages, employing them was a vice disguised by their payment. The transport network had a lot of improvement. Better roads were constructed and the railway system had tremendous improvement. There was social change as peoples’ movement became more pronounced as they moved to towns in search of employment. Also, the working population could take long vacations to visit the seas and mountains around Europe. It is during this century that formal education was embraced and by the end of the century nearly all of Europe’s population was literate (Roberts 1996, 52). This changed the people’s way of life as modern living became the way of life. Finally, it is in this century that major changes in public health and working conditions occurred. The residents of big towns were faced by various issues of public health concern which required urgent intervention to prevent diseases. Issues of drainage and dumping of waste in the towns became a big problem. Due to this various laws were enacted to see to it that the towns were maintained in a hygienic state.
Conclusion
The 19th century marked an era of drastic changes in Europe. In this century, there was transformation from the agrarian revolution to the more modernized industrial revolution. There was rise of industries with London becoming the capital hub of factories. Due to this, there were great changes in the society living during those times. The society faced major intellectual changes as major discoveries were made. Many ideologists like Karl Marx postulated various ideologies which guided the people’s way of life. There were scientific discoveries as major fields like medicine modernized discovering cures for killer diseases like cholera. Due to a change to industrial revolution the society’s mode of living changed. They adopted a different cultural behavior in order to fit in the industrialized towns. Stevenson, in his book analyses the fictional story of this doctor, Dr. Jekyll, who has a double personality. On one side he is an honorable physician but at the same time he hides his wicked side on the character Hyde. Hyde is immoral and cruel and portrays the present day society. This can be reflected on the changes that occurred during the last decades of the 19th century. At one side they contributed to the well being of the society while at the same time they were used to justify immoral activities. For instance, in the name of liberalization and anarchism, several leaders were assassinated. The changes that occurred in the 19th century were very instrumental in shaping the present day world. Although, they had their negative effects they ought to be embraced.
Reference
Carlton, Joseph Hayes. A Generation of Materialism, 1871-1900. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1941.
Kreis, Stephen.2000. The history guide: lectures of modern European intellectual history. The age of ideologies. Web.
Roberts, John Morris. A History of Europe. St Albans, UK: Allen Lane Publishers , 1996.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York, NY: Signet Classic, 2003.
The Portsmouth Grammar School. Social change in the Mid-19th Century. 2010. Web.
Kreis, Stephen.2000
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