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영어

The aim of this paper is to review why humans became devalued and why humanistic crisis occurred in Charles Dickens's Hard Times. The Victorian society prospered in terms of economy and industry. On the other hand, the Victorian people could not but lose their valuable customs and traditions such as conventional concepts of home and marriage, and their idealism of education to cultivate human dignity and culture in their life. The dark aspects of the Victorian age are well described in Hard Times. In particular, there are three reasons for such corruption and devaluation of humanity in the industrial society. Firstly, the utilitarian education emphasized the value of ‘reason,’ depreciating that of ‘emotions.’ Secondly, Coketown, portrayed as a typical industrial city in Victorian England, was a filthy residential area of poor urban workers, eventually causing bodily and mental corruption of the workers. Thirdly, a family home was not safe from the symptoms of materialism and selfishness as well as from the great evils of capitalism. As well portrayed in the novel, even a marriage was naturally taken to be one of the materialistic and social strategies to raise one’s status or improve one’s wealth. To sustain human dignity and value and avoid humanistic crisis in the capitalistic society, the roles of education, living environment, and family home should be much valued.