ABSTRACT
Reactions to opium addiction, by the habitus themselves and by observers, took many and various forms. But whether the ubiquitous use of the drug produced popular derision, fear, pity or disgust, it was the intensely personal experience of opium that was at the root of any representation or interpretation of its use. Much of Victorian popular fiction, particularly from the mid-century onwards, had a sharply topical content, and where melodramatic inflation was employed it was presented with reflective realism. Accounts of addiction, as an appeal to the imagination and as used overwhelmingly as a device to convey misery, loss, and degradation, are liberally scattered throughout the literature of the nineteenth century and were frequently based on the firsthand experiences of the writers. The reading public was becoming increasingly familiar with opiate addiction and with the obloquy or pity that accompanied it.
