Ключевое слово: «nineteenth-century literature»

This article examines the dynamic relationship between nineteenth-century societal evolution in Britain and America and its representation in contemporary literature. It argues that literary works serve as invaluable historical documents, capturing the complexities of their time beyond formal records. Through analysis of key texts, the article explores how literature mirrored significant developments: the ethical dilemmas of scientific progress in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; the psychological pressures of Victorian respectability in Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; the birth of systematic criminology in Edgar Allan Poe's tales; the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution in Charlotte Brontë's Shirley; and the nascent struggle for women's legal rights in Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The study concludes that these novels collectively function as a mirror, reflecting the profound scientific, industrial, and social transformations that characterised the era and shaped modern consciousness.