Since the late 1700s, literature has progressively moved from the private to the public domain. As writers became less dependent
on patronage and started making a living selling directly to the public, their rhetoric began to reflect the changing attitudes of the public. Recognizing the mass appeal of their work, authors began writing for the purpose of illustrating a problem in the
society that needed to be addressed. Although the style of writing differed during the Romantic, Victorian and Modern periods, there remained a static interest in the corruptibility of
innocence. Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens, and William Yeats each wrote on the notion of innocence, but the manner in which innocence is corrupted in their works is directly related to the new ideas and problems of the society in which they lived.