Dickens

Charles Dickens
William Powell Frith, Portrait of Charles Dickens, London,

Victoria and Albert Museum.
Charles Dickens
1. Dickens’s life
• Born in Portsmouth in 1812.
• Unhappy childhood: he had to work in a

factory at the age of 12 (his father went
to prison for debts).
• He became a newspaper reporter with

the pen name Boz.
• In 1836 Sketches by Boz, articles about

London people and scenes, were
published in instalments.
Evert A. Duyckinick, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
1. Dickens’s life
• Success with autobiographical
novels, Oliver Twist (1838), David
Copperfield (1849-50), Little Dorrit
(1857).
• Bleak House (1853), Hard Times

(1854), Great Expectations (1860-61)
set against the background of social
issues.
• Busy editor of magazines.
• Died in 1870.
Evert A. Duyckinick, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
2. The setting of Dickens’s novels

• Dickens was the great novelist of cities, especially London.
• London is depicted at three different social levels:
1.the parochial world of the workhouses  its inhabitants belong to the

lower middle class.
2.the criminal world  murderers, pickpockets living in squalid slums.
3.the Victorian middle class  respectable people believing in human
dignity.
Charles Dickens
2. The setting of Dickens’s novels
• Detailed description of
“Seven Dials”, a notorious
slum district  its sense of
disorientation and
confinement is clearly
expressed in Dickens’s
novels Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold, Dudley Street, Seven
Dials from London: A Pilgrimage, 1872.
Charles Dickens
3. Dickens’s characters
Dickens shifted the social
frontiers of the novel: the 18th-
century realistic upper middle-
class world was replaced by the
one of the lower orders.
He depicted Victorian society in

all its variety, its richness and its
squalor.
An unfinished painting by R.W. Buss (1804-75) variously known as A
Souvenir of Dickens and Dickens’s Dream. Painted 1875. Charles
Dickens Museum, London.
Charles Dickens
4. Dickens’s themes
• Family, childhood and

poverty  the subjects
to which he returned time
and again.
• Dickens’s children are

either innocent or A scene from Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist (2005)
corrupted by adults.
Charles Dickens
4. Dickens’s themes
• Most of these children

begin in negative
circumstances and rise
to happy endings which
resolve the
contradictions in their
life created by the adult A scene from Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist (2005)
world.
Charles Dickens
5. Dickens’s aim
Dickens tried to get the common intelligence of the country to alleviate
social sufferings.
He was a campaigning novelist and his books highlight all the great
Victorian controversies:
• the faults of the legal system (Oliver Twist)
• the horrors of factory employment (David Copperfield, Hard Times)
• scandals in private schools (David Copperfield)

Charles Dickens
6. Dickens’s style
Dickens’s style  very rich and original
The main stylistic features of his novels are:
1.long list of objects and people.
2.adjectives used in pairs or in group of three and four.
3.several details, not strictly necessary.

Charles Dickens
4.repetitions of the same word/s and/or sentence structure.
5.the same concept/s is/are expressed more than once, but

with different words.
6.use of antithetical images in order to underline the

characters’ features.
Charles Dickens
7.exaggeration of the characters’ faults.
8.suspense at the end of the episodes or introduction of a

sensational event to keep the readers’ interest.
Charles Dickens
8. David Copperfield (1849-50)
This novel is the most

autobiographical of all
Dickens’s novels.
In the preface the novelist wrote:
“… like many fond parents, I
have in my heart a favourite
child. And his name is David
Copperfield”. Advertisement for David
Copperfield by Charles Dickens,
1884.
Charles Dickens
8. David Copperfield (1849-50)

• Themes:
1. the struggle of the weak in

society.
2. the great importance given to

strict education.
3. cruelty to children.
4. the bad living conditions of the Advertisement for David

Copperfield by Charles Dickens,
poor. 1884.

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Charles Dickens

William Powell Frith, Portrait of Charles Dickens, London,

• Unhappy childhood: he had to work in a

• He became a newspaper reporter with

• In 1836 Sketches by Boz, articles about

• Bleak House (1853), Hard Times

• Busy editor of magazines.

2. The setting of Dickens’s novels

• London is depicted at three different social levels:

1.the parochial world of the workhouses  its inhabitants belong to the

2. The setting of Dickens’s novels

He depicted Victorian society in

• Family, childhood and

• Dickens’s children are

• Most of these children

• the faults of the legal system (Oliver Twist)

• the horrors of factory employment (David Copperfield, Hard Times)

• scandals in private schools (David Copperfield)

The main stylistic features of his novels are:

1.long list of objects and people.

2.adjectives used in pairs or in group of three and four.

3.several details, not strictly necessary.

The main stylistic features of his novels are:

4.repetitions of the same word/s and/or sentence structure.

5.the same concept/s is/are expressed more than once, but

6.use of antithetical images in order to underline the

The main stylistic features of his novels are:

7.exaggeration of the characters’ faults.

8.suspense at the end of the episodes or introduction of a

8. David Copperfield (1849-50)

This novel is the most

8. David Copperfield (1849-50)

1. the struggle of the weak in

2. the great importance given to

4. the bad living conditions of the Advertisement for David

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