A Class Dishonored: The Dishonored Franchise as a Critique of Victorian Idealism

Abstract

In “The Steampunk City in Crisis,” Catherine Siemann suggests that steampunk fiction is written as “a city in crisis, a place where the imagined, steam-powered technologies create or address social problems and environmental disasters that echo historical ones” (51). In the appropriation of Victorian culture for steampunk, however, one component of that culture is frequently ignored: religion. Unlike other steampunk works, Dishonored (2012-2021), a game series by Arkane Studios, develops its central thesis by paying careful attention to the religious culture of Victorian England, bringing their spiritual experimentation to its natural conclusion. By taking this approach, Dishonored presents a much darker “city in crisis,” one in which the technology and world events of this fictional universe —a regicide, a plague, and a coup—rather than spurring its citizens to action, leave them in a state of paralysis. In this portrayal, Dishonored presents a relevant critique of the Victorians in two ways. First, the Victorians are criticized for clinging to Christian virtues while also shedding that religious sentiment. Second, they are criticized for promoting empire, in the void left by the reduction of Christianity, as a bastion against the dangers of a changing global landscape. In this dual criticism, Dishonored, particularly through its gameplay, highlights how non-aristocratic Victorians may have coped with a disaster, exemplifying how the idealization of progress in both religious and imperial thought is steeped in privileged interests.