Context for Gothic literature: science and religion in the 19th century | English

Starter quiz

Which of the following is a date from the 19th century?
- 1706
- 1807 ✓
- 1909
- 2010
What is a century?
- a period of ten years
- a period of one hundred years ✓
- a period of one thousand years
- a period of ten thousand years
What does the word 'industry' mean?
- a person who owns a company
- the manufacture of goods ✓
- the centre of a community
- a person's place of work
A revolution is...
- an exact copy of something that already exists
- a place where people go to seek comfort
- a new way of doing things ✓
- the recycling of old materials and processes
What does 'to advance' mean?
- to become worse at something
- to improve at something ✓
- to move backwards away from something
- that something is extremely difficult
Which of the following can be considered a 'gothic' description?
- bright, clear and sunny
- ancient, noble and rich
- decaying, abysmal and wretched ✓
- soft, luxurious and expensive
- plain, dull and void

In which century did the first Industrial Revolution in Britain start to take place?
- 16th
- 17th
- 18th ✓
- 19th
- 20th
Which of the following inventions was not developed in the 19th century?
- the lightbulb
- the telephone
- the train
- the internet ✓
- the car
The ______ was a shift in thinking, whereby reason and rationale were celebrated. There was an emphasis on learning the ‘truth’ about things.
- 'Enlightenment' ✓
What did people in the Enlightenment era think that 'having the truth' would bring them?
- knowledge, happiness and freedom ✓
- wealth, goods and prosperity
- peace, kindness and love
- family, friendship and connections
What theory did Charles Darwins' book 'On the Origin of Species' present?
- the theory of time
- the theory of gravity
- the theory of galvanisation
- the theory of natural selection ✓
- the theory of Enlightenment
Why were some people fearful of theories like Darwin's?
- they were not proven properly by scientific evidence
- Darwin was a convicted criminal so people didn't trust him
- they contradicted existing prominent religious beliefs ✓
- some of Darwins' other theories had already been disproved
- People did not like to think of themselves as animals

Loading worksheet ...

Loading presentation ...

The Enlightenment period represents a philosophical shift in thought, whereby reason and rationale were celebrated.
There was an emphasis on learning the ‘truth’ about things; people thought this would bring them knowledge and freedom.
The Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain in the 18th century, and then again in the 19th century.
Galvanisation is the process of using electricity to try to create life.
Scientific advancements were contested by religious people, who dismissed them as heresy.

Students often think that scientific advancements have always been celebrated.

In reality, scientists faced a lot of backlash for their ideas, mostly because many of them contradicted the teachings of the Bible.

Innovation - the process of coming up with new ideas or inventions
Industrial revolution - the period in which industries began replacing manpower and physical labour with machinery/technology
The enlightenment - the period in which people began to value reason and rationale as a means to pursuing truth, knowledge and freedom
Rationale - a set of logical reasons for a belief or idea
Galvanisation - the process of using electricity to try generate life