What are the most significant differences between the early novel (e.g.,Robinson Crusoe) and the Victorian novel (e.g., Jane Eyre)?

It is believed that the circumstances that contributed to
the rise of the novel came from changes being experienced in the 18th Century, as well
as social concerns of that time. Population was exploding, for example, in London, as
more and more people chose to live in cities rather than the country. With this came the
spread of ideas and increased production of reading materials. Other characteristics of
the time included crime, poor living conditions and housing, excessive drunkenness and
still an alarmingly high incidence of infant and child mortality even as late as
1780.

The advent of the novel is often credited to books
like Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Saavedra, Robinson Crusoe and Moll
Flanders—both by Daniel Defoe, and Pamela by Samuel
Richardson. Two basic characteristics shared among the early novels were the presence of
a story and a storyteller. The novel is a "prose narrative form," along with epics and
romances. However, among the types of narratives, there are clear distinctions, in this
case between the novel and the romance. The novel concentrates on representing realistic
characters and experiences.

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...what distinguishes the novel from the romance
is its realistic treatment of life and manners. Its heroes are men and women like
ourselves, and its chief interest, as Northrop Frye said, is 'human character as it
manifests itself in
society.'

DeFoe may be
considered the father of "realistic" fiction. He was a small business man, a spy, a
productive writer (in a variety of genres), as well as a [religious] Dissenter,
etc.

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Defoe...represent[ed] nearly all the conditions
[needed] for the appearance and popular acceptance of the English
novel.

Defoe was one of the
first writers who did not base his characters on mythological or
historical figures, or legends. He did not engage in the retelling of old stories. He
presented a new kind of plot and protagonist—presenting exciting characters and their
grand adventures.

In terms of the novel during the
Victorian era, readership was leaning away from poetry and drama,
looking for stories that dealt with the lives of average people alive at that time. All
of a sudden, the stories were no longer primarily about the upper-classes, but about the
middle and working classes. More people were reading than at any time before. And the
focus of these novels, such as Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, now
included more women and even servants.

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Since the eighteenth century, and particularly
since the Victorian period, the novel, replacing poetry and drama, has become the most
popular of literary forms...The novel became increasingly popular as its social scope
expanded to include characters and stories about the middle and working classes. Because
of its readership, which included a large percentage of women and servants, the
novel...most addressed the domestic and social concerns of these
groups.

It is also important
to note that novels of the Victorian Age had more href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/angst">angst. In Victorian
England, although there was a superficial sense of optimism, beneath the facade, there
was a great deal of anxiety. According to Walter Houghton in The Victorian
Frame of Mind (1957):

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'Studies in this area have emphasized only a few
characteristics, notably moral earnestness and optimism, to the obscuring of others,
equally important, like enthusiasm and
anxiety.'

In light of this,
novels would have presented a valuable distraction for the Victorian
audience.