Morality and respectability were the corner-stones of Victorianism.
This emphasis on conventional morality was partly a reaction against the corruption of the earlier age, scandals of Byron and the radicalism of Shelley who did not hesitate even from depicting incest. “Moral duty remained for most Victorians a categorical imperative.” The Victorians expected the poets not only to amuse but also to instruct. Men of letters must show a sense of social responsibility in a high degree. It is reflected in the humanitarianism of Dickens, Kingsley and Charles Reade.