"A desire to look respectable in the eyes of strangers": The Victorian Press and the Figure of the Stranger at the Great Exhibition of 1851

This article examines how the press's descriptions of the figure of the stranger challenged the official rhetoric of the Great Exhibition's governing body. The Great Exhibition was a key moment for developing the stranger as an epistemological framework predicated on knowing the self through experiencing the other. While this approach includes prejudiced, fearful reactions and the imperialist attitude of superiority, it also reflects the Victorians' growing awareness that the stranger was a necessary part of forming individual and national identity and, moreover, that identity is fluid rather than stable. The strange other, whether made different by class, race, or some other category, became a part of many Londoners' lived reality during the months of the Great Exhibition. This article describes the growing power of the press to direct public opinion and then analyzes periodical references to strangers at the Great Exhibition.