This in-depth study of Victorian literature and culture begins with the accession to the throne by Queen Victoria in 1837 to her proclamation as Empress of India in 1877 - the age of Dickens, Mill, George Eliot, Tennyson and Browning. It is a time of growing national self-confidence and of impressive industrial, scientific and literary achievements, yet it is also an age marked by dislocation and uncertainty, as familiar landmarks disappear, a world haunted by its own strategic silences and an undemocratic society driven by democratic rhetoric. Freedom of speech and openess of discussion were values on which Victorians ostensibly prided themselves, yet the actual prospect was one which high Victorian culture found troubling.