Miserable people and places as they were shown in Chrles Dickens' different novels.

Miserable people and places as they were shown in Charles Dickens' different novels. By :Sally Atef.

"That sort of half sigh, which, accompanied by two or three slight nods of the head, is pity's small change in general society." Charles Dickens.  

 Figure1: Hard times

Who was Charles Dickens? How was his age? How was the world during that era? How was novel in that age? How was he influenced by the social conditions in his society? What was the image of people and places portrayed in his novels?

Charles Dickens's life:

      Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth, England to John and Elizabeth Dickens. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. During his early life his family moved to different places as: Bloomsbury then when he was four to Kent till he was eleven. Dickens received little education first at Dame-school then at school ran by William Giles. After his father had imprisoned, little Charles -who was 12 years old- left school to work in a factory where he worked 10-hour days and was paid 6 shillings a week.

  Figure2: Charles Dickens

       Although he spent a very short time at school, Dickens made the best use of what he learned. He started his career as a journalist. He wrote in "the mirror of parliament" and "the true sun". Under the pen name "Boz" Dickens published a number of sketches. His cruel and unjust working conditions that he experienced during his childhood influenced him and were shown in his work. In 1851, he was married. He had 10 children. In 1870 he died of a stroke and was buried at Westminster Abby. He left 15 novels and 5 novellas and a number of short stories.        

The kingdom during the nineteenth century:      

       Napoleon's ambition had no limits and wished to conquer the world. He was fighting a trade battle against Britain. Then Wellington's army entered France from the south while the Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Sweden forces attacked from the Rhine. Napoleon was defeated and taken to the island of Elba but his escape in 1815 led to another battle. But a peace treaty had been made and Britain and France became friends.  

 Figure3: Napoleon Bonaparte

      Britain's industrial development demanded social and political changes. However the new government did not take into account the movement of population to the north. Although the new towns grew up around the factories, they had on schools, no water supply, no churches no court and no representative in parliament.

        It is noteworthy that Britain's agriculture suffered a lot however its industry became head and shoulders above the rest. That is because the upper class took car of science and discovery and endowed their wealth for new methods of production the middle class did so. The biggest trade was in cotton good and the import raw American cotton rose to 300,000 tons in 1860.  

 Figure 4: Queen Victoria

       That era witnessed many changes as:          

1.    The first steamship crossing the Atlantic in 1818.

2.    The first railway was opened to the public in 1825.

3.    The world's first proper postal system.

       Political reformation was also taking place:

1.    The Tory Party ended in 1830.

2.    The death of King George IV caused an election which brought the liberals to power.

3.    Robert Peel formed the first regular police force.

4.    Peel stopped the customs duty on foreign corn and began a system of free trade.

5.    Peel also stopped the use of women and children in the coal mines and improved their conditions in the factories.(Eyre,1971)

The nineteenth century novel and its outstanding forms and styles:

"I've always been a fan of the 19th century novel, of the novel that is plotted, character-driven, and where the passage of time is almost as central to the novel as a major minor character, the passage of time and its effect on the characters in the story." John Irving.

        The nineteenth century novel has various forms some of which sprung from the political and social conditions in England in that age.

         One of these styles is the novels of family life. The novels of Jane Austen represent that style. What distinguishes her writings is that her novels are not affected by the ugly outside world. She presented the actions of her novels as she had experienced them. 'She managed her characters with a master's touch. Miss Bates in "Emma", though herself uninteresting, is not allowed to destroy the reader's interest.'  (Robert, Gwyneth&G.C Thornely, 1954).

        The second form that appeared is the novels of terror. Mary Shelley wrote the very famous novel "Frankenstein" (1818) about the Genevan student Frankenstein who collected bones, built a human being and gave him life. That person was hated by the others because of its ugliness so it felt lonely then it kills Frankenstein's brother and his wife then Frankenstein himself is murdered by it. She wrote another novel called "The Last Man" (1826) in which she describes a disease that destroys the human race except one member. 

  Figure5 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

       Another novelist who was interested in that kind of novels is Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) his "tales of Mystery and Imagination" include "the Fall of the House of Usher"(1839), "The Masque of the Red Death "(1842) ," A Descent into the Maelstrom"(1841), "The Murders in Rue Morgue"(1841) and "The Mystery of Marie Roget "(1842).

        Adventure and The sea stories are another style. The stories of Frederick Marryat (1792- 1848) are significant examples of this style of writing. His novel "Peter Simple" (1834) describes a foolish boy who is sent to sea and fails but he shows himself as a great officer and is prison.

        Anthony Hope (1863-1933) was also interested in this style. In "the prisoner of zenda" (1894) and its continuation "Rupert of Hentzau "(1898), he shows the imaginary country Ruritania.

         Many women novelists appeared in the Victorian age. Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) was born in Yorkshire but she stayed in Brussels. In "Villette"(1853) she reflects her personal experiences when she was in Brussels.In her well known novel "Jane Eyre" (1847), she presents the life of a poor and unbeautiful girl who was brought up by a cruel aunt. She was sent to a miserable school then she moves to Thornfield Hall to teach Mr. Rochester's daughter. Mr. Rochester falls in love with her but she discovers that his mad wife is still alive and runs away. After that the Hall is burnt and the mad wife is killed and Rochester losses his eyesight but when Jane knows about that she returns and marries him.   

 Figure6: Charlotte Bronte

         Charlotte's sister Emily wrote one of the most outstanding novels," Wuthering Heights" (1847).George Eliot(1819-1880) was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. Her first novel was "Adam Bede" (1859) in which she hints for her childhood. She also wrote historical novel about Florence,"Romola"(1863).

          Historical novel flourished. The novels of Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) represent that kind. The scene of "Hypatia"(1853) was set in Alexandria in the fifth century. Another writer, Charles Reade(1814-1884), wrote Historical novels. His greatest work is "the Cloister and the Hearth"(1861) is set in the fifteenth century about Gerard's adventures through Europe. Dickens also wrote two historical novels:"Barnaby Rudge"(1841) and "A Tale of Two Cities"

         Detective stories were first presented and William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was the first novelist to write such novels. He wrote "the Woman in White"(1860) about Anne Catherick who is shut up as a mad. "The Moonstone" (1868) is about a precious stone from India appears and many people are searching for it.

        In Thomas Hardy's (1840-1928) novels nature plays a vital rule to the extent that it is considered a character. 'Hardy's scenes are set in Wessex among trees, farms, fields, and low hills.' He wrote a lot of novels such as:" Far from the Madding Crowd"(1874),"The Return of the Native" (1878) and "The Mayor of Casterbirdge" (1886). (Robert, Gwyneth&G.C Thornely, 1954:115-131)

  Figure7: Thomas Hardy

Charles Dickens and his miserable characters and unpleasant places:

       Spending years of his childhood working at Warren's blacking Warehouse; Charles Dickens' experiences affected his writings. 'Dickens’s novels are multifarious, digressive and generous. In an important way, they reflect the nature of Victorian urban society with all its conflicts and disharmonies, its eccentricities and its constrictions, its energy and its extraordinary fertility, both physical and intellectual.'(Sanders, 1994).

          In his various novels, Dickens portraits and attacks unpleasant persons and places. He attacks bad schools and dirty houses.' His characters include thieves , murderers , men in debt ,stupid and unwashed men and women ,hungry children , and those who do their best to deceive the honest.'  (Robert, Gwyneth&G.C Thornely, 1954:122).

         In fact Dickens was influenced in his writings by Henry Fielding (1707-1754), Daniel Defoe(1660-1731) ,Tobias Smollett(1721-1771) and Goldsmith.that is clear from his novel "David Copperfield"(1849-50). That doesn't mean that he used to copy eighteenth-century models into the nineteenth century as his first writings present' a writer with an acute ear for speech, and for aberrations of speech, and with an equally acute observation of gesture and habit, of London streets and London interiors, of spontaneity and of misery. '(Sanders, 1994:405).

         His beginning was with "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" (1836-7) (generally known simply as the Pickwick Papers). Its events happen in a London club and its protagonist Mr. Pickwick is a very kind man who is lucky to meet Mr.Weller who keeps him out of the troubles caused by his kindness.

       In "Oliver Twist" (1837-39) Dickens begins his novel by attacking the household system. . 'The scene of Oliver Twist asking for more, so graphically caught by Dickens’s illustrator, George Cruikshank, rapidly became, and has remained, the most familiar incident in any English novel.' (Sanders, 1994:405). Oliver's life in London and the feeling of insecurity compared with the comforts of bourgeois respectability made Dickens himself compared to streaky bacon.

   Figure8: Oliver Twist

      "David Copperfield"(1849-50) is based on his life. It is central to his career. It has a sad beginning. Although it is crowded of many events happy and unhappy and characters, it can be classified as satire because it criticizes social conditions.     

       The most important and outstanding novel of Dickens' novels is "Hard Times"(1854) which was set in industrial England. It explores the social and industrial conditions of the mid-Victorian England through Mr. Gradgrind's children who are brought up' among hard faces without any help for the spirit.' (Robert, Gwyneth&G.C Thornely, 1954:121). As a result of this his son robs a bank and his daughter is unhappy after an unhappy marriage. Fortunately, Mr. Gradgrind understands that he was wrong.