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00:02This rare film from 1897 shows Queen Victoria celebrating her diamond jubilee.
00:09It's the ultimate display of order and respect.
00:13But don't be deceived.
00:16Beneath the surface, Victorian Britain is in turmoil.
00:20In the 1890s, the modern world erupts.
00:30This is the decade that electrifies Britain, when science, entertainment, art and morality collide.
00:38And the Victorians have to make sense of it all.
00:42Now, in three films, Dr. Hannah Fry, Philippa Perry and I are travelling back in time to an era when
00:52anything seemed possible.
00:54To understand what was really on the Victorians' minds.
01:00Dear ones, if you can hear me, I'm already dead.
01:05And please don't forget to see the cat.
01:08Well, I'm shocked.
01:10Think how shocked they were in the 1890s.
01:13I've always been fascinated by the art and culture of this decade.
01:18The daring works of Oscar Wilde.
01:21I congratulate you on the great success of your performance.
01:25The fantastical tales of H.G. Wells.
01:27Now, I'm going to discover how they were shaped by fears of moral, social and racial degeneration.
01:37The whole sort of cultural idea is the improvement of people, improvement of the stock.
01:43And I'll see how the Victorians' anxieties provoked radical arguments for women's empowerment.
01:50And a pioneering campaign against imperial rule and its racist underpinnings.
01:57The British Empire will come to grief unless it changes its methods of dealing with the Aboriginal races.
02:06Welcome to the decade the future landed.
02:20It's 1894.
02:23And the novelist H.G. Wells is readying his new time machine for its maiden voyage.
02:34What strange developments of humanity the time travel upon us.
02:39What wonderful advances upon our rudimentary civilization might appear.
02:48And with that, he flings himself into futurity.
03:21The future that H.G. Wells showed us was one in which the human race had not evolved nor advanced.
03:28But rather decayed and degenerated.
03:33Wells was a student of science.
03:35And in his vision, society has divided into two species.
03:40The effete, childlike Eloi, who drift carefree on the surface of the earth.
03:47But then huddle in fear of the dark.
03:50And of being preyed upon by the ape-like Morlocks, who toil away underground.
04:01The time traveller's journey might be the stuff of science fiction, but it wasn't pure fantasy.
04:06This was a future all too recognizably rooted in the present.
04:10For H.G. Wells, writing at a time of widening social divisions, the Eloi represent the upper class, living in
04:19luxury upon the surface,
04:21only to be consumed by the workers, the Morlocks, massing ominously beneath them.
04:31The time machine is emblematic of the 1890s, a decade of invention and scientific discovery,
04:38but one in which conflicting visions of the future are at war in the Victorian imagination.
04:50On the one hand, the empire has never been so vast.
04:55Are the British destined to be the world's master race, robust, enduring?
05:03Yet, at home, industrialization has rapidly swollen the numbers of the urban poor.
05:12There's rising hostility to immigration.
05:15Perhaps Britain's future really is like that of the Eloi and Morlocks, one of decline and degeneration.
05:29These fantasies and fears have been brewing in the Victorian mind since 1859,
05:34when Charles Darwin challenged the assumption that species were fixed and immutable.
05:45Since then, other eminent thinkers have begun to argue that Darwin's theory of evolution
05:49might be given practical application to the human race.
05:55This social Darwinism, as it came to be called,
05:58held that human society should be governed by the survival of the fittest,
06:03and that with intervention, one could improve the genetic stock of the nation.
06:09Some believe that these measures might protect humanity from the kind of social decay
06:14prophesized in the time machine.
06:17One social Darwinist, no less than Darwin's own half-cousin, Francis Galton,
06:22sought to push these principles to what he saw as their logical conclusion.
06:27And the name he gave to his new project?
06:32Eugenics.
06:35Francis Galton's proposition combines social elitism with outright racism.
06:41Could not the undesirables be got rid of, and the desirables multiplied, he later asks.
06:48But first, Galton needed to gather data on the British people's physical characteristics.
06:54Lots of data.
06:58And in a way that anticipates today's tech giants,
07:02he encouraged people to supply their personal details,
07:05and even pay for the privilege.
07:08In a pioneering exercise, Galton set up what he called his anthropometric laboratory,
07:14where, for a mere threepence, he would take your measurements.
07:21So here I am, Galton's lab, got me threepence.
07:23What does it get me?
07:25So, this is the card that Galton used,
07:28and so you'd come into the lab and you'd be measured for various dimensions.
07:35Okay, so, you know, things like skull dimensions,
07:38so you'd use calipers to, you know, measure your temporal dimensions there,
07:43and across the sagittal plane there, it's...
07:46Come from a long line of big heads.
07:48There it is, yeah.
07:49So, you know, eye dimensions like that.
07:52I'm really conscious of poking you in the eye here.
07:56This astonishing piece of equipment is here to test your visual acuity.
08:03Oh, what do I do?
08:03You look through it, and you've got to see which of those cards you can still read
08:09in this slightly peculiar angle.
08:11Well, I keep seeing the word church.
08:14So, they're pages from the book of prayer.
08:18But wouldn't people know some of this text anyway?
08:21Do you know what?
08:22He pointed that out when he wrote the study up afterwards.
08:25He realized that the book of prayer was a poor choice,
08:28because people knew the text,
08:30and he actually suggested that a book of logarithms
08:33would be a better test,
08:35because they're so boring that no-one would actually know what they are.
08:37Yeah, so, one of them was blow of hand in feet per second.
08:40So, basically, it was punch strength,
08:42and we don't have the equipment to test that,
08:44but, you know, it's basically how hard can you hit?
08:46Shall I?
08:47Yeah!
08:49Oh, God, I almost...
08:50I almost glanced off there.
08:52Sorry.
08:53There you go.
08:54You get your little certificate,
08:56which says all of your biometrics on it,
08:58and I've got a carbon copy.
09:019,000 people did this over the course of a week,
09:03and I've got the biggest data set
09:05that's ever been compiled of human metrics, biometrics,
09:09and you paid me for it.
09:11It's brilliant.
09:13Galton hopes that by building up a long-term database
09:16of people's physical characteristics,
09:18he can identify which sections of British society
09:22should be encouraged to breed and which should not.
09:26The whole sort of cultural idea at this time
09:29is the improvement of people,
09:32improvement of the stock.
09:34We're now in the Darwinian era,
09:36so we recognise that people and all organisms change over time,
09:39and so there was a sense that,
09:41if you didn't breed well,
09:44that degeneration was the result.
09:46And so people were beginning to turn to these ideas
09:48that we could improve individuals through science.
09:51So this search for improvement,
09:53this is positive eugenics.
09:56Yeah, and eugenics is Galton's coinage,
09:59and the word itself means good genes,
10:01so it's not regarded as a sort of toxic concept
10:05that we think about when we talk about eugenics today.
10:08Back in the late 19th century and well into the 20th century,
10:13people across the political spectrum,
10:14both left and right,
10:15are talking about eugenics as a positive force
10:18for improving the quality of populations.
10:23Surely he'd be aware
10:25that he was straying into dubious territory, wouldn't he?
10:29He was definitely a racist.
10:32But we have to contextualise that,
10:34because everyone was more racist then than we are today.
10:38I think that Galton was particularly racist
10:42even for the 19th century,
10:44and that's documented in various things that he wrote.
10:47When he was younger, he travelled in Africa extensively,
10:50and he came back more assured
10:52of the natural hierarchy of people around the world.
10:54More convinced.
10:55Yeah, and these are all part of the ideas
10:57which are rooted in what we now call scientific racism.
11:00And they're also massively tied
11:03into the whole concept of European expansion
11:06and empire and colonialisation.
11:12Inevitably, the use of scientific racism
11:15to bolster imperial rule
11:17will come under attack
11:18from Britain's colonial subjects themselves.
11:23But the work of another scientific racist
11:26provokes a more unexpected response.
11:29Cesare Lombroso,
11:30is the founder of the Italian school
11:32of positivist criminology.
11:34He's convinced
11:35that the so-called born criminal
11:37is identifiable by certain anatomical features,
11:41such as handle-shaped ears,
11:44protuberant jaws,
11:46and even excessive tattooing.
11:50The notion that someone's moral character
11:53could be manifested in their features
11:55sparks the interest of a certain young writer,
11:58soon to become one of the 1890s' most iconic figures.
12:08An idea begins to form in the mind of Oscar Wilde.
12:12What if a painted portrait
12:14could capture its subject's moral decay
12:17and degeneration,
12:19while the sitter himself
12:20remain unblemished?
12:23The idea quickly becomes the basis
12:26for the picture of Dorian Gray,
12:28Wilde's first and only novel.
12:32The story revolves around
12:34the handsome title character, Dorian Gray,
12:36and the fashionable society painter,
12:39Basil Hallward,
12:40who paints Gray's portrait
12:42portrait and becomes infatuated with him.
12:49Gray soon embraces a life of hedonism.
12:52But to do so,
12:54he sells his soul
12:55in a Faustian pact,
12:58ensuring that the picture,
12:59not he,
13:00will bear all the physical signs
13:02of his immorality.
13:11He found himself at first
13:13gazing at the portrait
13:14with a feeling of almost scientific interest.
13:17That such a change
13:19should have taken place
13:20was incredible to him.
13:21Was there some subtle affinity
13:23between the chemical atoms
13:24that shaped themselves
13:25into form and color on the canvas
13:27and the soul that was within him?
13:31He shuddered
13:32and felt afraid
13:34and, going back to the couch,
13:36lay there,
13:37gazing at the picture
13:38in sickened horror.
13:43The novel divides opinion,
13:45condemned by critics
13:47as unclean and effeminate
13:49for its homoerotic undertones.
13:52Some people even begin to wonder
13:54whether Dorian Gray
13:56is, in fact,
13:57a portrait of Oscar Wilde himself.
14:04In a taste of things to come,
14:06Wilde is forced
14:07to defend himself.
14:09He states,
14:10there is no such thing
14:10as a moral
14:11or an immoral book.
14:13Books are well-written
14:15or badly written.
14:17That's all.
14:22Wilde's book
14:22is one of the first works
14:24to be feverishly discussed
14:25by a select gathering
14:27of self-styled
14:28Esthetes
14:29and self-proclaimed
14:30decadence.
14:32Embracing what others regard
14:34as affected,
14:35even offensive,
14:36they want to liberate
14:38art and literature
14:39from state Victorian convention
14:41and morality.
14:44Inaugurated by the poet
14:45W.B. Yeats,
14:47the Rhymers,
14:48as this group is called,
14:50often convene here
14:51at the old
14:52Cheshire Cheese pub
14:53on Fleet Street,
14:56tucking themselves away
14:57in an upper smoking room.
15:01And these Rhymers
15:03and the decadence
15:05and the Esthetes,
15:07were they,
15:08I mean,
15:08are they one and the same?
15:09Are they all the same people?
15:11The Esthetes
15:12had ideas
15:13of aestheticism,
15:14the love of beauty
15:15for its own sake.
15:16The important thing
15:17if you were painting pictures
15:18was not to tell a story
15:20but just to be beautiful.
15:22The idea
15:22if you were writing,
15:23it was to write beautifully.
15:25Decadence,
15:26I think,
15:26have sort of
15:27more of an idea
15:28of trying to,
15:29as it were,
15:31change things,
15:32undermine
15:33old and established
15:34and boring
15:35and stale ideas.
15:37So what did they
15:37actually publish?
15:39What was completely different
15:40was the yellow book
15:41which became
15:42the great symbol.
15:44This is,
15:44this is the first number
15:45of the yellow book
15:46with a cover
15:47by Aubrey Beardsley,
15:48the most significant
15:501890s decadent artist.
15:52The yellow book
15:52sort of became
15:53almost symbolic
15:54of the age.
15:55You know,
15:55we still talk about
15:56the yellow 90s
15:57even now.
15:58And why yellow?
15:58What was the significance
15:59of that colour?
16:01Yellow wrappers
16:02were the way
16:03in which
16:03lubricious French novels
16:04were published
16:05and I think
16:06it's certainly the case
16:07that they could
16:08suggest that
16:09here was something
16:10new and modern
16:11and slightly dangerous.
16:13And of course,
16:14in many ways,
16:14the yellow book
16:15was actually launched
16:16on the back
16:17of the notoriety
16:18that Beardsley
16:19had already achieved
16:20a few months earlier
16:21when he'd illustrated
16:22Oscar Wilde's play
16:23Salome.
16:23A set of illustrations
16:25which he made
16:26for the book
16:26which were
16:27absolutely scandalous.
16:29The publisher,
16:30John Lane,
16:30said that you have
16:31to look at
16:32all of Beardsley's drawings
16:33upside down
16:34and through a magnifying glass
16:35to make sure
16:36that he's not
16:37slipping in something.
16:38Sneaking something through.
16:39The wonderful thing
16:40is that half the time
16:40they did all miss
16:41these details.
16:42I can show you
16:43a typical example.
16:48Here's one of Beardsley's
16:51drawing of Herodias
16:52appearing
16:53with this very
16:54dubious,
16:55effete page.
16:56Here we see Oscar Wilde
16:58caricatured
16:58as though he's
16:59a sort of
16:59vulgar showman
17:00putting on
17:01this tawdry play.
17:03And then if you look
17:04across the bottom here
17:05you can see
17:05the candlesticks
17:06are all quite clearly
17:08indecent little penises.
17:10Well, I'm shocked.
17:12Think how shocked
17:12they were in the 1890s.
17:14Absolutely.
17:16Here's another example
17:17which we can see.
17:19This is called
17:20the Toilette of Salome.
17:22And he's got Salome here
17:23sitting at a very
17:25modern-looking
17:25dressing table.
17:27This is a little
17:27hermaphrodite.
17:28Yes, he's very clearly
17:29a hermaphrodite figure.
17:31But this figure here,
17:33this is the one
17:34that really upset people.
17:35Why?
17:36Because if you see
17:37this is sort of a strange boy
17:39who's got a curved spine.
17:41It's very vulnerable.
17:43Well, you see
17:43the curved spine
17:44at that time
17:45was an absolute
17:46indicator of degeneracy.
17:49And if you think about
17:50sort of the writings
17:51of sort of Lombroso
17:53and Gorton
17:53all those sort of people
17:54who were studying
17:56the decline of the race
17:58in a scientific way.
17:59The curved spine
18:01was supposed to be
18:02indicative
18:03of constant masturbation.
18:05So Beardsley's
18:06playing with
18:08current ideas
18:09that were quite coded.
18:11You mentioned
18:11Galton and Lombroso.
18:12So it's like
18:14you have art and science
18:16almost talking
18:17to one another.
18:18I think that's very much
18:19a thing of the time.
18:20The writers and artists
18:22thought that they were
18:23doing something
18:23interesting, clever.
18:25But at the same time
18:26scientists begin to look
18:29for signs within
18:31art and literature
18:32of the decline
18:33that they've been
18:33describing scientifically.
18:39But what if art
18:40isn't just a sign
18:42of racial decline
18:43but an actual cause
18:44like heredity?
18:46In early 1895
18:48one man
18:49drawing on the latest
18:50scientific thinking
18:52takes a vehement stand
18:54against art
18:55for art's sake.
19:03This is Degeneration
19:05by Austro-Hungarian
19:06physician Max Nordau
19:08and in it
19:09he argues that
19:10society is suffering
19:11a severe
19:12mental epidemic
19:13a kind of black death
19:14of hysteria
19:16and degeneration.
19:17and it's on
19:18the esthetes
19:19and the decadence
19:20that Nordau
19:22firmly pins the blame.
19:25Books and works
19:26of art
19:27states Dr Nordau
19:28exercise a powerful
19:30suggestion
19:31on the masses
19:31and it is from them
19:33that an age derives
19:34its ideals
19:35of morality
19:36and beauty.
19:38Degeneration
19:38goes down a storm
19:39this is the
19:40seventh edition
19:41printed just six months
19:42after the first
19:44English publication
19:45in February 1895
19:47and here
19:48you can see
19:49the dedication
19:50to his great mentor
19:51Lombroso.
19:54Nordau argues
19:55that Degenerates
19:56are not always
19:57criminals
19:57prostitutes
19:58lunatics
19:59or anarchists
20:00sometimes
20:01they're authors
20:02and artists
20:03and if their works
20:04are absurd
20:05or antisocial
20:06they exert
20:07a disturbing
20:08and corrupting
20:10influence
20:10on a whole generation.
20:13And there's one
20:14artist in particular
20:15who Dr Nordau
20:16singles out
20:17as the epitome
20:18of this corrupting
20:19influence.
20:21The egomania
20:23of decadentism
20:24its love
20:26of the artificial
20:26its aversion
20:28to nature
20:29and to all forms
20:30of activity
20:31and movement
20:31have found
20:33their English
20:33representative
20:34among the
20:35Esthetes
20:36the chief of whom
20:37is Oscar Wilde.
20:41It is asserted
20:43continues Nordau
20:44that he has
20:45walked down
20:46Pall Mall
20:46in the afternoon
20:47dressed in
20:49doublet and britches
20:50with a sunflower
20:52in his hand
20:52the quasi-heraldic
20:54symbol
20:55of the Esthetes.
21:08Nordau
21:09couches
21:10his attack
21:10in the scientific
21:12terminology
21:13of the time
21:15denouncing
21:16Wilde's attire
21:16as the
21:17pathological
21:18aberration
21:19of a racial
21:20instinct.
21:21But Nordau's
21:23stance
21:23is that
21:24of the stiff
21:24Victorian reactionary
21:26wild
21:27who'd lectured
21:28widely on fashion
21:29was forging a look
21:30a persona
21:32an identity
21:32and as he said
21:34himself
21:34a well-tied tie
21:36is the first
21:38serious step
21:39in life.
21:43For Nordau
21:44the sartorial
21:45aesthetic
21:46of the dandy
21:46is at odds
21:48with a natural
21:48instinct
21:49for sensible
21:49practical clothing.
21:53yet
21:54despite their
21:55differences
21:55he and
21:56Wilde agree
21:57that clothes
21:58maketh the man.
22:02I think for
22:03anybody that
22:03puts on a
22:04performance
22:04clothes
22:05costume
22:06help build
22:07a character
22:09or as my
22:10favourite
22:10Soho
22:11Taylor says
22:12it's your
22:13armour.
22:16and Wilde
22:17seems to be
22:18in a combative
22:18mood
22:19on the opening
22:20night of his
22:20first hit play
22:21Lady Windermere's
22:22Fan
22:23in February
22:231892.
22:26The play
22:27which explores
22:27the hypocrisy
22:28of Victorian
22:29attitudes to
22:29women and
22:30sex
22:30is the first
22:32in a series
22:32of popular
22:33social satires.
22:37I suppose
22:39Windermere
22:39you'd like me
22:40to retire
22:41into a
22:41convent
22:41or become
22:42a hospital
22:42nurse
22:43or something
22:43of that
22:43kind.
22:44That is
22:46stupid of
22:46you Arthur.
22:47In real
22:48life we
22:48don't do
22:49such things
22:50not as long
22:50as we have
22:51any good
22:51looks left
22:52at any rate.
22:53No
22:53what consoles
22:54one nowadays
22:55is not
22:56repentance
22:57but pleasure.
22:59Repentance
22:59is quite
23:00out of date.
23:04At the final
23:05curtain call
23:05comes rapturous
23:06applause
23:07and cries
23:07of author
23:08author
23:09Oscar Wilde
23:10steps out
23:11on stage
23:11and addresses
23:12his public
23:13in typical
23:14fashion.
23:15Ladies and
23:16gentlemen
23:16I have
23:17enjoyed
23:17this evening
23:18immensely.
23:20The actors
23:21have given
23:21us a charming
23:22rendering
23:23of a delightful
23:23play.
23:25Your
23:25appreciation
23:26has been
23:27most
23:27intelligent.
23:28I congratulate
23:29you on the
23:30great success
23:31of your
23:31performance
23:34which
23:34persuades
23:35me
23:35that
23:35you
23:35think
23:36almost
23:36as
23:36highly
23:37of
23:37the
23:37play
23:37as
23:38I
23:38do
23:38myself.
23:44The evening
23:45is a triumph
23:46but there
23:47are those
23:47who are
23:48outraged
23:48not by
23:49the play
23:50but by
23:51the playwright.
23:53Some find
23:54Wilde's
23:55impromptu
23:55speech patronizing
23:56and impertinent
23:57others are
23:58scandalized
23:59and a lit
24:00cigarette
24:00that Wilde
24:01puffs at
24:01in the presence
24:02of ladies
24:02but what
24:03really seems
24:04to get to
24:04them
24:05is the
24:05vibrant
24:06flower
24:06Wilde
24:07sports
24:08in his
24:08lapel
24:09a dyed
24:09green
24:10carnation.
24:14With its
24:15unnatural hue
24:16Wilde is
24:17playing with
24:17one of his
24:18most decadent
24:19ideals
24:19that life
24:20should imitate
24:21art
24:21and not the
24:22reverse.
24:24He's arranged
24:25for some
24:25of the male
24:25leads to
24:26wear them.
24:27He's out
24:28to provoke
24:28hoping
24:29this speck
24:30of mystic
24:31green
24:31as he calls
24:32it
24:32will annoy
24:33his critics
24:34and it
24:35does.
24:37That
24:38abnormality
24:39in the way
24:39of aestheticism
24:41recalls to
24:42mind
24:42various
24:42to the
24:43ghastly
24:43green
24:43carnation
24:44it is
24:45crude
24:45enough
24:45to set
24:46one's
24:46teeth
24:46on edge
24:47and affect
24:48the observer
24:48with
24:48colour
24:49more.
24:49Outrage
24:50public opinion
24:51and
24:51propriety
24:52of
24:52behaviour
24:53he
24:53would
24:54do
24:54anything.
25:02The
25:02green
25:03carnation
25:03may have
25:03caused
25:04offence
25:04but
25:05more
25:05subversive
25:05was Wilde's
25:07portrayal
25:07of the
25:08Victorian
25:08woman.
25:10Lady
25:10Windermere's
25:10fan and
25:11his plays
25:11that
25:11followed
25:12challenged
25:12the
25:12conventions
25:13of
25:14marriage
25:14and
25:15motherhood.
25:16Wilde
25:17seems to
25:17be in
25:17solidarity
25:18with
25:18the
25:18growing
25:18movement
25:19of
25:19female
25:19writers
25:20who
25:21are
25:21known
25:21as
25:22the
25:22new
25:22women.
25:25These
25:26writers
25:26such as
25:27Sarah
25:27Grand,
25:28Mona
25:29Caird
25:30and
25:30George
25:31Edgerton
25:31portray
25:32new
25:33ideas
25:33of
25:33femininity.
25:35Their
25:35heroines
25:36are
25:36independent,
25:37educated
25:38and
25:38sexually
25:39autonomous
25:39and
25:40reflect
25:41the
25:41newfound
25:41freedoms
25:42of
25:42the
25:42middle
25:42class
25:42woman
25:43such
25:43as
25:43cycling,
25:44practical
25:45or
25:45rational
25:46dress
25:46and
25:47even
25:47for
25:47some
25:48smoking.
25:50the
25:51new
25:51woman
25:51is
25:52endlessly
25:53discussed
25:53and
25:54debated.
25:55Some
25:56observers
25:56think
25:56she's
25:57but a
25:57passing
25:57fashion
25:58and
25:59like
25:59Oscar
26:00Wilde
26:00she
26:01quickly
26:01becomes
26:01an easy
26:02target
26:02for
26:02Punch
26:03magazine
26:03and
26:04its
26:04leading
26:04cartoonists
26:05such as
26:06Edward
26:06Lindley
26:06Sanborn
26:07who
26:08completed
26:08his
26:09drawings
26:09here
26:09at
26:10his
26:10London
26:10home.
26:12And
26:13here
26:13we have
26:13the
26:13caricature
26:14of
26:14the
26:15new
26:15woman
26:15and
26:16she's
26:16holding
26:16the
26:17key
26:17yes
26:18yes
26:18well
26:18this
26:19is
26:19George
26:19Edgerton
26:19and
26:20she
26:20had
26:20published
26:21keynotes
26:22a collection
26:22of short
26:23stories
26:23the year
26:24before
26:24and
26:25they
26:25were
26:26disruptive
26:26experimental
26:27stories
26:28with
26:28strong
26:29female
26:30protagonists
26:30but
26:31you
26:31can
26:32see
26:32around
26:32her
26:33the
26:33products
26:34of a
26:34riotous
26:35imagination
26:35so
26:36we
26:36have
26:36tyrant
26:36man
26:37slain
26:37decorum
26:38slain
26:39punch
26:40is
26:41expressing
26:41hostility
26:42to the
26:43intellectual
26:43woman
26:44and
26:44the
26:44quotation
26:44here
26:45from
26:45Don
26:45Quixote
26:46a
26:46world
26:47of
26:47disorderly
26:48notions
26:48picked
26:49out
26:49of
26:49books
26:50the
26:50suggestion
26:51that
26:51her
26:51ideas
26:52have
26:52come
26:52from
26:52her
26:52reading
26:53and
26:54that
26:54was
26:54considered
26:54a
26:54threat
26:55she's
26:56being
26:56lampooned
26:56because
26:57she's
26:57a
26:57threat
26:57so
26:58this
26:58is
26:59another
26:59one
26:59lampooning
27:00the
27:00new
27:01woman
27:01this
27:02is
27:02by
27:02different
27:02artists
27:03it's
27:03by
27:03George
27:04du
27:05maurier
27:05but
27:06you
27:06also
27:06see
27:06very
27:07mannish
27:07women
27:08here
27:08these
27:09two
27:09are
27:09wearing
27:10ties
27:10and
27:11they're
27:11smoking
27:12and
27:12they're
27:14repellent
27:14to a
27:14man
27:14of
27:15their
27:15own
27:15class
27:16Jack
27:16would
27:16rather
27:16take
27:17tea
27:17with
27:17the
27:17servants
27:18than
27:18spend
27:18time
27:19with
27:19them
27:19and
27:20who
27:20coined
27:20the
27:20term
27:21where
27:21did
27:21the
27:21term
27:21come
27:21from
27:22new
27:22women
27:22well
27:23Sarah
27:23ground
27:23introduced
27:23the
27:24phrase
27:24new
27:24women
27:25in
27:25her
27:25bestselling
27:26novel
27:26of
27:261893
27:27the
27:27heavenly
27:28twins
27:28by
27:29the
27:29end
27:29of
27:29the
27:29century
27:30over
27:30a
27:31hundred
27:31novels
27:31had
27:32been
27:32written
27:32by
27:32or
27:33about
27:33the
27:33new
27:33women
27:34but
27:34if
27:34they
27:34were
27:34only
27:35in
27:35novels
27:35why
27:35the
27:36perception
27:37of
27:37threat
27:37well
27:38they
27:38weren't
27:39only
27:39in
27:39novels
27:40and
27:40there
27:40was
27:40so
27:40much
27:40change
27:41in
27:41urban
27:41spaces
27:42in
27:42particular
27:42you
27:43had
27:43so
27:43many
27:43more
27:44workers
27:44and
27:45consumers
27:45that
27:46were
27:46women
27:46so
27:47even
27:47if
27:47you
27:47hadn't
27:48read
27:48any
27:48new
27:56is
27:56yes
27:56though
27:57she
27:57distances
27:58herself
27:58from
27:58the
27:58term
27:59and
27:59so
27:59she
27:59had
27:59meant
28:00something
28:00very
28:00different
28:01from
28:01the
28:01caricature
28:01of
28:02femininity
28:02that
28:03you
28:03see
28:03in
28:03the
28:03pages
28:03of
28:03punch
28:04what
28:04she
28:05meant
28:05by
28:05the
28:05new
28:05woman
28:06was
28:06a
28:07new
28:07type
28:08of
28:08duty
28:09she
28:09wanted
28:10a
28:10citizenship
28:11of
28:12contribution
28:13rather
28:13than
28:13entitlement
28:14and
28:15at
28:15the
28:15centre
28:16of
28:16her
28:16politics
28:16was
28:17a
28:17racial
28:18idea
28:18the
28:19idea
28:19of
28:19eugenic
28:20feminism
28:20meaning
28:21that
28:22she
28:22thought
28:23that
28:23women
28:24should
28:24play
28:25a
28:25leading
28:25role
28:26in
28:26regenerating
28:27the
28:27British
28:27imperial
28:28race
28:28the
28:29middle
28:29class
28:29should
28:30breed
28:30more
28:31and
28:31the
28:31working
28:32class
28:32should
28:33breed
28:33less
28:35this
28:36unsettling
28:36idea
28:37about
28:37the
28:37new
28:37woman's
28:38role
28:38in
28:38selective
28:39breeding
28:39runs
28:40through
28:40much
28:41of
28:41Sarah
28:41Grant's
28:41fiction
28:43it
28:44even
28:44inspires
28:44the
28:45heroine's
28:45name
28:45in
28:46her
28:46short
28:46story
28:47Eugenia
28:52she
28:52was
28:53in
28:53fact
28:53essentially
28:54a
28:54modern
28:54maiden
28:55richly
28:56endowed
28:56with
28:56all
28:57womanly
28:57attributes
28:58whose
28:59value
28:59is
28:59further
29:00enhanced
29:00by
29:01the
29:01strength
29:01which
29:02comes
29:02of
29:02the
29:03liberty
29:03to
29:03think
29:03with
29:05such
29:05women
29:05for
29:06the
29:06mothers
29:06of
29:06men
29:07the
29:07English
29:08speaking
29:08races
29:08should
29:09rule
29:09the
29:09world
29:12it
29:13comes
29:13of
29:13the
29:13liberty
29:14to
29:14think
29:14well
29:15this
29:16is
29:16progressive
29:16yes
29:17that's
29:17right
29:17she
29:18did
29:18have
29:18some
29:18progressive
29:19ideas
29:19but
29:20it
29:21coexists
29:22with
29:22a
29:23deeply
29:23repressive
29:24idea
29:25of
29:25eugenics
29:28Sarah
29:28Grand
29:29imagines
29:29a future
29:30where
29:30the
29:30health
29:30of
29:30the
29:30nation
29:31is
29:31secured
29:32through
29:32the
29:32sexual
29:33choices
29:33of
29:34middle
29:34class
29:34women
29:36such
29:36freedom
29:37is
29:37not
29:37for
29:38those
29:38they
29:38consider
29:38to
29:39be
29:39of
29:39lesser
29:39stock
29:49for
29:50eugenicists
29:51one
29:52way
29:52of
29:53keeping
29:53a
29:53degenerate
29:54working
29:54class
29:54in
29:55check
29:55was
29:56incarceration
29:57which
29:58in the
29:58victorian
29:59age
29:59meant
29:59either
29:59prison
30:00or
30:01increasingly
30:02the
30:03asylum
30:11when
30:11it
30:11opened
30:12in
30:121848
30:13denbigh
30:14asylum
30:15accommodated
30:15a mere
30:1570
30:16patients
30:16but
30:17by
30:18the
30:181890s
30:19the
30:19site
30:20had
30:20been
30:20expanded
30:20to
30:21serve
30:21the
30:21whole
30:21of
30:21north
30:22wales
30:22and
30:23houses
30:23over
30:24500
30:24patients
30:29according
30:30to
30:30records
30:31the
30:32most
30:32frequent
30:32cause
30:32of
30:33admission
30:33to
30:33denbigh
30:34during
30:34this
30:34period
30:34is
30:35hereditary
30:36influence
30:36which
30:37essentially
30:38meant
30:38that
30:39degeneration
30:39was
30:40inherited
30:43if
30:44left
30:44unchecked
30:45physical
30:46mental
30:46and
30:46moral
30:47defects
30:47would
30:48be
30:48passed
30:48down
30:49creating
30:50an
30:50increasingly
30:51unfit
30:52population
30:56the
30:56situation
30:57is
30:57critical
30:58overcrowding
30:59and
30:59severe
30:59staff
31:00shortages
31:00mean
31:02that
31:02in
31:02one
31:02women's
31:03ward
31:03there
31:04are
31:04but
31:04three
31:04nurses
31:05supervising
31:0546
31:06very
31:07troublesome
31:07female
31:08patients
31:15in a case
31:16that could
31:16have come
31:17from the
31:17pages
31:17of a
31:18new
31:18woman
31:18novel
31:20one
31:21female
31:21patient
31:22janet
31:22maude
31:22wise
31:23was admitted
31:23here
31:24having
31:25become
31:25so
31:26intent
31:26on
31:26doing
31:27doing
31:27the
31:27things
31:27that
31:27people
31:28do
31:28in
31:28books
31:30that
31:30she
31:30take
31:30into
31:31stalking
31:31young
31:32men
31:34janet's
31:35case notes
31:35describe her
31:36as deluded
31:37often abusive
31:39and they also
31:40state that at one
31:40point she asked the
31:41doctor to cut off a piece
31:42of her tongue
31:44because she said she
31:45could no longer
31:45control it
31:48but it isn't just
31:49female transgression
31:51that is treated here
31:53sexual intemperance
31:54and sexual
31:54self-abuse
31:55are listed as
31:56causes of
31:57male admissions
32:01and among the
32:02preventative devices
32:03used in
32:03asylums
32:04is one which
32:05can quite literally
32:06stem the flow
32:07of man's
32:08moral weakness
32:13now this
32:15might look like
32:16a pocket watch
32:16without its inner
32:17workings
32:18but it is in fact
32:19a device
32:20to prevent what
32:21many victorians
32:22saw as a symptom
32:23of degeneracy
32:24masturbation
32:25or self-pollution
32:27as they preferred
32:27to call it
32:29these anti-masturbation
32:30devices were often
32:31worn at night
32:32to prevent
32:33nocturnal emissions
32:35doesn't leave a lot
32:36of the imagination
32:36essentially the old
32:37chap was held in place
32:38by this inner ring
32:39and was quickly
32:40subdued by this
32:41outer barbed ring
32:42at the onset
32:43of an erection
32:48renouncing
32:49masturbation
32:50was one of the
32:50aims of new
32:51social purity
32:52groups
32:52who pledged
32:54sexual restraint
32:55among married men
32:56and chastity
32:57among unmarried
32:58ones
33:00but their crusade
33:02wasn't just
33:02victorian prudishness
33:04it reflected a
33:05growing belief
33:06that masturbation
33:07was highly
33:08injurious to health
33:09and could even
33:10be sapping
33:11the vitality
33:12of the nation
33:16doctors warn men
33:17to conserve
33:18their essence
33:19stating that
33:20the wanton waste
33:21of semen
33:21can lead to
33:22a range of
33:23disorders
33:23from nervousness
33:25to paralysis
33:25and ultimately
33:27the descent
33:28into madness
33:31the case
33:32the case notes
33:32for 19-year-old
33:33Norman Owen
33:34a vicar's son
33:35admitted here
33:36in October
33:361890
33:38refer simply
33:39to the insanity
33:40of masturbation
33:43his notes go on
33:44to describe him
33:45pacing the ward
33:46head hung down
33:48needing to be
33:50force-fed
33:50and even placed
33:52in strong clothing
33:53in a padded room
33:56after just a year
33:57in this place
33:58he was deemed
33:59incurable
34:01but perhaps
34:01the most telling
34:02document
34:02concerning poor
34:04young Norman
34:05is the copy
34:06of a letter
34:06that he wrote
34:07to his parents
34:09it says simply
34:11dear papa
34:12mama
34:13of course
34:13you know
34:14that I'm a devil
34:16and that I will
34:17go to eternal
34:18hell
34:44the asylum
34:46helps keep
34:47so-called
34:47degenerate
34:48behavior
34:48out of sight
34:50and out of mind
34:53but sexual
34:54transgression
34:55is about to
34:55intrude
34:56into the
34:56Victorian
34:57consciousness
34:57as never before
35:00it will take
35:01the form
35:02of one of the
35:02most infamous
35:03trials
35:03of the 1890s
35:09the opening
35:10of the importance
35:11of being earnest
35:12in February
35:121895
35:13sees Oscar Wilde
35:15at the height
35:16of his fame
35:17Victorian society
35:19is enthralled
35:19to him
35:21all except
35:22for one man
35:23the Marquess
35:25of Queensbury
35:25has become
35:26incensed
35:26by his son
35:27Bosie's
35:28intimate relationship
35:29with the playwright
35:32on the 18th of February
35:33he seeks out Wilde
35:35at his club
35:36to confront him
35:37but without success
35:40so Queensbury
35:42asks the staff
35:43to pass on
35:44an inflammatory message
35:48when Wilde arrives
35:50at the Albemarle
35:50club some two weeks
35:51later
35:52he's handed
35:52an envelope
35:53containing
35:56Queensbury's
35:57visiting card
35:58the message
35:59reads
36:00for Oscar Wilde
36:01posing as
36:01somdomite
36:02clearly meant
36:03as sodomite
36:04you can imagine
36:05Wilde staring
36:06at this little
36:07scrap of card
36:09wondering
36:09what his next
36:10move should be
36:11it's a defining
36:12moment
36:13and one that could
36:14have had a very
36:14different outcome
36:15if Wilde
36:16had simply
36:17done this
36:24but he does
36:25no such thing
36:28encouraged by
36:28Bosie
36:29who detests
36:30his father
36:31Wilde launches
36:32a criminal libel suit
36:33against Queensbury
36:34at huge
36:36personal risk
36:44to avoid conviction
36:46Queensbury
36:47need only prove
36:48his accusation
36:49of sodomy
36:49to be true
36:51his lawyers
36:52set about
36:52gathering evidence
36:53of Wilde's
36:54illegal assignations
36:55with young men
36:56many of which
36:57began here
36:58in Soho
37:04it was often
37:05here at Ketner's
37:06restaurant
37:06that Wilde
37:07would lavish
37:07his young lovers
37:08with dinners
37:09gifts of silver
37:11cigarette cases
37:11before plunging
37:12into an illicit
37:13sexual underworld
37:15it was like
37:16feasting with
37:17panthers
37:17he said
37:18the danger
37:19was half the
37:20excitement
37:23all of these
37:24encounters
37:25including
37:25when Wilde
37:26reportedly fed
37:27preserved cherries
37:28to rent boy
37:29Charles Parker
37:30here in the
37:31champagne bar
37:32would over the
37:33coming weeks
37:33be dredged up
37:34by Queensbury's
37:35legal team
37:35who seemed
37:37hell bent
37:37on destroying
37:45Wilde
37:47Queensbury
37:48is speedily
37:48acquitted
37:49and Wilde
37:50himself
37:50now put
37:51on trial
37:52his private
37:53life is exposed
37:54in salacious
37:55detail
37:55his work
37:57is used
37:58against him
37:58Dorian Gray
38:00cited as proof
38:01enough
38:01of unnatural
38:02vice
38:04it's not just
38:05Wilde in the
38:06dock
38:07but everything
38:09he stands
38:09for
38:09the judge
38:11describes it
38:11as the worst
38:12case he's
38:13ever tried
38:15found guilty
38:16of gross
38:16indecency
38:17Wilde is
38:18sentenced
38:18to two years
38:19with hard
38:20labor
38:22in his prison
38:24cell
38:24Wilde now
38:25looks to
38:25science
38:25to exonerate
38:26himself
38:27he composes
38:28a petition
38:29in which
38:30he states
38:30he's been
38:31suffering
38:32from the most
38:32horrible form
38:33of erotomania
38:34and that this
38:35sexual madness
38:36is a disease
38:37to be cared
38:39for by a
38:39physician
38:40rather than
38:41a crime
38:42to be punished
38:42by a judge
38:43and to
38:44to lend
38:44weight
38:44to his
38:45argument
38:46he even
38:46cites
38:47his great
38:47critic
38:48Max Nordau's
38:49damning
38:49attack
38:50on him
38:50in degeneration
38:52but it's
38:53a desperate
38:54plea for
38:54clemency
38:55and ignored
38:56by the
38:56home secretary
38:58Wilde is
38:59to be an
38:59example
38:59to all
39:01a vindication
39:02of all
39:02that Max
39:03Nordau
39:03had warned
39:04against
39:06once free
39:06though
39:08Wilde
39:08would have
39:09the last
39:09word
39:11on his
39:12release
39:12from
39:12Reading
39:13jail
39:13in May
39:131897
39:14Wilde
39:15told
39:15friends
39:16that the
39:17fact that
39:17he was
39:18a pathological
39:18problem
39:19in the eyes
39:20of German
39:20scientists
39:21was interesting
39:22only to
39:23German
39:23scientists
39:24I quite
39:25agree
39:26with Dr.
39:26Nordau's
39:27assertion
39:27he said
39:28that all
39:29men of
39:29genius
39:29are insane
39:31but Dr.
39:32Nordau
39:32forgets
39:33that all
39:34sane
39:34people
39:34are idiots
39:40fearing
39:41further
39:41persecution
39:42Wilde
39:43goes into
39:44exile
39:45travelling
39:46under the
39:46name
39:46Sebastian
39:47Melmoth
39:49never to
39:50see
39:50England
39:50nor his
39:51wife
39:51and children
39:52again
40:04Wilde's
40:05story as
40:05the most
40:06famous
40:06gay
40:06writer
40:07of the
40:07late
40:0719th
40:08century
40:08stands
40:09in sharp
40:10contrast
40:11to that
40:11of an
40:12altogether
40:12less
40:12ostentatious
40:13author
40:14one who
40:15draws on
40:15Victorian
40:16theories
40:16of sexuality
40:17in a
40:18quiet
40:18but genuine
40:19attempt
40:19to make
40:20sense
40:20of his
40:21own
40:21experience
40:21and who
40:22leaves
40:23a
40:23ground
40:23breaking
40:23legacy
40:24despite
40:25being
40:25all but
40:26forgotten
40:26today
40:29John
40:30Addington
40:30Simmons
40:31was a
40:32highly
40:32respected
40:33man of
40:33letters
40:33and an
40:35expert
40:35on the
40:36Italian
40:36renaissance
40:45Simmons
40:46was married
40:47with children
40:47but like
40:48his near
40:49contemporary
40:49Oscar Wilde
40:50he lived a
40:50double life
40:51since his
40:52youth here
40:53in Bristol
40:53he'd harbored
40:54strong desires
40:55for men
41:02but Simmons
41:03conducted
41:03his liaisons
41:04with far
41:05more discretion
41:06than the
41:06flamboyant
41:07Wilde
41:08there were
41:08no public
41:08displays
41:09of affection
41:10no preserved
41:11cherries
41:12no green
41:13carnations
41:17Simmons
41:17left behind
41:18an extraordinary
41:19document
41:19which could
41:21have seen
41:21him suffer
41:21the same
41:22fate
41:22as
41:22Wilde
41:23and which
41:24survives
41:24intact
41:25under lock
41:26and key
41:27at the
41:27London
41:28library
41:34so this
41:34is the
41:35actual
41:35memoir
41:35of John
41:36Addington
41:36Simmons
41:37it is
41:38the
41:38handwritten
41:39document
41:39itself
41:41of course
41:42this was
41:42all illegal
41:43the way
41:43he was living
41:43was illegal
41:44and writing
41:45about these
41:45things
41:46was illegal
41:47so if this
41:48was so
41:48dangerous
41:49and incendiary
41:50why did
41:50he write it
41:51it's either
41:52a very brave
41:52or a very foolish
41:53thing to do
41:54but I think
41:55it's brave
41:55so he writes
41:56he sets aside
41:57all his paid
41:57work in
41:581889
41:59and spends
42:00three to five
42:01months just
42:02writing this
42:03really feverishly
42:04and what he says
42:06is that he's
42:06writing it for
42:07a future
42:08audience
42:09a scientific
42:10audience
42:10that might
42:11use this
42:12as primary
42:12evidence
42:13of the
42:14development
42:14of sexuality
42:15he tracks
42:16his sexual
42:17development
42:17from very
42:18very young
42:18and starts
42:19with early
42:20sexual fantasies
42:21he says
42:22they're essential
42:23for a proper
42:24understanding
42:24of my vita
42:26sexualis
42:26my sexual
42:27life
42:28his earliest
42:30sexual experiences
42:31at school
42:31cultures of abuse
42:33and bullying
42:33and blackmail
42:34at Harrow
42:35and then at Oxford
42:36and this page
42:38is one of my
42:38favourites
42:39because it's
42:40got a hole
42:40in
42:40you can actually
42:42see a cut out
42:43hole in the middle
42:44here
42:44where a name
42:45has been
42:46removed
42:46the name
42:47is Vaughan
42:48and that was
42:49his headmaster
42:50at Harrow
42:50and he's at the
42:51centre of a
42:52sexual scandal
42:53so there might
42:54be a reason
42:55why he would
42:55remove his
42:56name
42:57look at that
42:59was homosexuality
43:01used
43:01then as a term
43:03it's
43:03it exists
43:04by this point
43:06the word
43:06homosexual exists
43:07and
43:08Simmons doesn't
43:09like it
43:09he doesn't like
43:10it because it
43:11mixes Latin
43:12and Greek
43:12and that's
43:13his reason
43:15he's very
43:16sniffy
43:17about it
43:17the term
43:18that he
43:19finds
43:20that he
43:21discovers
43:21in his
43:22reading
43:23and that
43:23he really
43:24latches onto
43:25is
43:25sexual
43:26inversion
43:27and what's
43:28actually meant
43:29by the expression
43:30what did he
43:30understand it
43:31to mean
43:31sexual inversion
43:33literally just
43:34means the
43:35normal sexual
43:36instinct
43:36the so-called
43:37normal sexual
43:38instinct
43:38the wrong way
43:39round
43:39but Simmons
43:41I think
43:42is interested
43:42in its
43:43vagueness
43:44that it's
43:44not naming
43:45a specific
43:46type of
43:47practice
43:47or type
43:48of person
43:49it's kind of
43:49poignant
43:50isn't it
43:50it hasn't
43:51stopped
43:51we're in
43:51this age
43:52where we
43:53have
43:53myriad
43:54names
43:54for
43:55sexuality
43:56it's like
43:56we're still
43:57looking for
43:58a term
44:00that's
44:00non-judgmental
44:04inspired by
44:05his research
44:06Simmons
44:07has a
44:07daring
44:08idea
44:08he approaches
44:10a leading
44:10physician
44:11Henry
44:12Havelock
44:12Ellis
44:13proposing
44:14that they
44:14collaborate
44:15on a
44:15scientific
44:16survey
44:17of
44:17homosexuality
44:20the
44:21resulting
44:21book
44:21gathers
44:2236
44:23anonymous
44:23case
44:24studies
44:24first-hand
44:26testimonies
44:27drawn from
44:27ordinary
44:28members
44:28of the
44:29public
44:31and
44:32what's
44:32really
44:32amazing
44:33is that
44:33Simmons
44:34includes
44:34himself
44:35he's
44:36case
44:36study
44:3718
44:37here
44:38Englishman
44:39independent
44:39means
44:40aged 49
44:41it's
44:42incredibly
44:43sexually
44:43explicit
44:44and it
44:45even
44:45includes
44:45a list
44:46here
44:46of the
44:47kinds
44:47of
44:48sexual
44:48activities
44:48that
44:49Simmons
44:49preferred
44:50in
44:51later
44:51life
44:52in
44:52particular
44:52so in
44:53the
44:53third
44:53period
44:54the
44:54gratification
44:55became
44:55more
44:56frankly
44:56sensual
44:57it
44:57it took
44:58it took
44:58every
44:58shape
44:58mutual
44:59masturbation
45:00into
45:00crural
45:01coitus
45:01fellatio
45:02irrematio
45:03always
45:04according to
45:04the inclination
45:05or concession
45:06of the
45:07beloved male
45:07and this
45:08book is
45:09very rare
45:10because most
45:11copies of this
45:12edition were
45:13bought up by
45:14Simmons family and
45:15friends and
45:16destroyed because
45:17they were very
45:17nervous about
45:19having his
45:20name on a
45:20title page
45:21next to the
45:22word sexual
45:23inversion
45:24they were
45:24trying to
45:25protect his
45:26posthumous
45:26reputation
45:28Simmons material
45:29his contribution
45:30remains in
45:32print but
45:32he's just not
45:33given the
45:34credit for it
45:34he becomes a
45:35footnote
45:36he actually
45:36becomes a
45:37footnote
45:37his material
45:38moves into
45:39the appendices
45:40and he gets
45:40written out
45:41of the history
45:42of this book
45:45published in
45:45britain in
45:461897
45:48sexual
45:48inversion
45:49is now
45:49acknowledged
45:50as the
45:50first english
45:51medical
45:51textbook
45:52on
45:52homosexuality
46:01questions of
46:02sex and
46:03gender
46:04also lie at
46:05the heart
46:06of a very
46:06different kind
46:07of book
46:14unleashed on
46:15an unsuspecting
46:16public that
46:16same year
46:18in a fashionably
46:19decadent yellow
46:20cover
46:22brand stoker's
46:24dracula
46:29when he
46:30leaves england
46:31for transylvania
46:32the main
46:32protagonist
46:32jonathan harker
46:34is portrayed as
46:35masculine
46:36rational
46:37but during his
46:39stay or rather
46:39imprisonment
46:40at castle
46:41dracula
46:41his gender
46:43becomes confused
46:44harker becomes
46:46slowly transformed
46:47not into a vampire
46:48but progressively
46:50feminized
46:51the count takes
46:52his possessions
46:53begins to control
46:54his every move
46:55and harker becomes
46:56hysterical
46:57and passive
46:58like the archetypal
47:00victorian woman
47:03this gender fluidity
47:05in dracula
47:05is just one of its
47:06many topical tropes
47:08stoker clearly has his
47:10finger
47:11or should that be teeth
47:12on the pulse of the age
47:14and infuses dracula with
47:16many of the decades chief
47:17preoccupations
47:18including
47:20the new woman
47:22lucy westernra
47:24is the racy
47:25young tempest
47:25toying with three suitors
47:27whose promiscuity
47:29or moral weakness
47:30enables dracula
47:32to prey on her
47:32then as one of the undead
47:34she becomes the monstrous
47:36antithesis
47:37of the ideal
47:38victorian mother
47:40leaving a tomb
47:41each night
47:42to prey on a succession
47:43of defenseless children
47:51with a careless motion
47:53she flung to the ground
47:54callous as a devil
47:56the child
47:57that up to now
47:58she had clutched
47:59strenuously to her breast
48:01growling over it
48:02as a dog
48:03growls over a bone
48:09lucy's friend
48:09mina
48:10on the other hand
48:11stands for everything
48:13stoker sees
48:13is morally upright
48:14and respectable
48:16she retains a job
48:17she's devoted to god
48:19and her husband
48:19and when she records
48:21her impressions
48:22of dracula
48:23she draws on the
48:24pseudo-scientific
48:25theories of the period
48:27the count is a criminal
48:29and of criminal type
48:31she tells professor
48:32van helsing
48:34nordau and lombroso
48:35would so classify him
48:37he is
48:38of imperfectly formed mind
48:47the count
48:48wishing to invade
48:50a new land
48:51makes for london
48:52there to satiate
48:54his bloodlust
48:55among its teeming millions
48:57and propagate
48:58his kind
48:59and he is
49:13and he's
49:13and he's
49:16and he's
49:27and he is
49:31The Count creates several layers across the metropolis.
49:36Six great wooden boxes filled with so-called mold are sent here to Chicxane Street in Whitechapel.
49:44The mold is in fact Transylvanian soil with which to line the Count's coffin bed and enable
49:52him to regenerate his powers.
49:56It's significant that the boxes are sent to Whitechapel, an area at the time predominantly
50:02populated by Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe.
50:06Bram Stoker is tapping into racial prejudice and a growing fear of immigration.
50:12Dracula is portrayed as a dangerous foreign intruder.
50:16He had to drain Britain of its imperial vitality.
50:26But whether in literature, society or the so-called social Darwinism of some scientists, racism
50:34is now being challenged together with the very idea of empire.
50:42Victoria Park in Hackney, which rivals Hyde Park as a center for political rallies, becomes
50:49the stage upon which a visionary campaigner imagines a new world.
50:53woman in Hackney.
50:55In the early 1890s, one speaker here began to draw increasingly larger crowds.
51:01Notable not only for the content of his speeches, but also for the color of his skin.
51:05His name was Celestine Edwards and he was on a mission.
51:11Originally from Dominica in the West Indies, young Celestine had stowed away, aged 12, travelling
51:18the oceans for several years before fetching up in Edinburgh in the late 1870s.
51:24As a temperance evangelist, he had ambitions to become a missionary in Africa.
51:29But instead, he came to London to study at King's College.
51:40Celestine worked as a builder's labor to fund his studies, but he also used the money to
51:45finance the printing of penny pamphlets, which he would hand out to people who gathered
51:49here to hear him speak.
51:54The British Empire will come to grief unless it change its methods of dealing with the
51:58Aboriginal races.
52:00The day is coming where the Africans will speak of themselves.
52:03The day is breaking and the despised African, whose only crime is his color, will yet give
52:09an account of himself.
52:11Powerful words.
52:12How much of a pioneer was he?
52:14I think he's one of the most inspirational people to come from the Victorian era.
52:18He was a solitary soldier.
52:20He is the epitome of someone who was on a mission, protesting, speaking, involved in
52:26campaigns.
52:27Did he too?
52:28Did he lecture?
52:28Oh, he did, yeah.
52:30It was a real accolade when he was given the moniker as the Negro lecturer, because he
52:35was the only one at that time in the 1890s that actually there, standing, whether here in
52:43Victoria Park or in the various halls around the country speaking against social Darwinism
52:49and imperialism.
52:50Wherever he spoke, hundreds would turn up to overspill.
52:56In 1892, he became the first ever black editor in this country.
53:00And that was through editing a journal called Lux.
53:03The remit was that black people would be able to speak for themselves in this newspaper,
53:09to kind of denounce all these theories of white superiority that came with social Darwinism
53:15and imperialism.
53:16He said that if people of African descent were given the same opportunities as white people,
53:24and were given time, they would be able to kind of raise their level the same as a white
53:29person.
53:30So he was basically saying there was a lack of opportunity, which then kind of relegated
53:36people of African descent to the lower levels.
53:40Celestine Edwards argues that racial theories are being used by the empire to justify a massive
53:46act of theft.
53:50We think that no crime for Africans to look with suspicion upon the European who have stolen
53:55a part of their country and delusion with rum and powder under the cover of civilization.
54:04Edwards' mantle is taken up by a fellow West Indian and graduate of King's College called
54:09Henry Sylvester Williams.
54:13In 1897, he forms the African Association.
54:17It aims to promote and protect the interests of all subjects claiming African descent.
54:25Whilst many expect the association to be short-lived, by 1900, it's ready to hold the first Pan-African
54:33Conference, here at the former Westminster Town Hall.
54:39And this is the invitation that was sent out, calling for the discussion of the native races
54:45question to be addressed by those of African descent from all parts of the British Empire,
54:51the United States of America, and several other countries too.
54:58Perhaps against all odds, the conference proves a huge success, reported widely in leading British
55:05newspapers.
55:07It's remarkable to think that here, right in the heart of the British Empire, a member
55:11of its native races had set in motion a public debate on the treatment of its oppressed subjects.
55:18As Williams said himself, this was the first occasion upon which black men would assemble
55:23in England and speak for themselves, and endeavour to influence public opinion in their favour.
55:31These black Victorians are imagining a world where they're seen not as subject peoples, or
55:36racial types, but as human beings.
55:41And their vision will reverberate throughout the coming century.
56:02The 1890s brought to the fore a range of social and cultural issues we still seem to be addressing, questions
56:09of race, gender, and immigration.
56:16The decade was in many ways one of extremes.
56:20While the interest in scientific racism and eugenics would lead to some of the worst horrors of the 20th century,
56:27the 1890s also saw the continued march towards women's emancipation, and sowed the seeds of anti-colonialism
56:36and gay liberation.
56:55And it's perhaps typical of this contradictory decade that one of its leading figures, Oscar Wilde,
57:02lingered largely forgotten in his Paris hotel room as the new century dawned.
57:14From his bed, despite great discomfort, Wilde still held court to a small coterie of loyal friends,
57:20remarking to one the immortal line,
57:22My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death.
57:31Wilde succumbed on the 30th of November, 1900.
57:35He was 46 years old.
57:39To the Victorian establishment, Oscar Wilde had been the hideous embodiment of moral degeneracy.
57:46To his admirers, the dazzling icon of a daring aestheticism, and an even more daring personal freedom.
57:57Before he died, Wilde told a friend,
57:59I have no doubt that we shall win.
58:02But the road is long and red with monstrous martyrdoms.
58:17Next time on Victorian Sensations,
58:20Psychotherapist Philippa Perry explores scientists obsessed with spirits,
58:28and communication with other worlds.
58:31It's amazing.
58:33And witnesses the birth of new mass media,
58:35using an extraordinary collection of rare Victorian films from the BFI National Archive.
58:41To be continued...
58:52To be continued...
58:59To be continued...
59:08To be continued...
59:09To be continued...
59:10to be continued...
59:12To be continued...