Samuel Butler: A Rebel of the Victorian Age

Samuel Butler is, according to George Bernard Shaw, the greatest English satirist in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This paper intends to demonstrate the social function of literature by probing into Samuel Butler’s moral and ethical values. His works are a challenge against the Victorian values as well as a miniature representation of the Victorian society. As a rebel against the Victorian society Butler attacks many of its vested interests and accepted ideas. In almost all his books the shallow inconsistencies and dubious values of the English society are mercilessly exposed. The paper is an attempt to explore Butler’s treatment of the pernicious aspects of the Victorian family, religion, science and education in order to send some social message that Samuel Butler’s works may bring to the world today.