Charles Dickens (1812 -1870)
Charles Dickens is much loved for his great contribution to English literature. He was a Victorian author: his epic stories, vivid characters and careful description of his life and times are unforgettable.
His own story is one of rags to riches. He was born in Portsmouth on February 7, 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens The good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived because his father was imprisoned for bad debt The entire family, apart from Charles, were sent to Marshalsea. Charles was sent to work in Warren's blacking factory and endured appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. After three years he was returned to school but the experience was never forgotten and was used in two of his better- known novels David Copperfield and Great Expectations.
Like many others, he began his writing career as a journalist. His own father became a reporter and Charles began with “The Mirror of Parliament” and “The True Sun!. Then in 1833 he became parliamentary journalist for The Morning Chronicle. With new contacts in the press he was able to publish a series of sketches under the pen name of 'Boz'. In April 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth. Within the same month came the publication of the highly successful Pickwick Papers, and from that point on there was no looking back.
As well as a huge list of novels he published an autobiography, edited weekly periodicals including “Household Words” and “All Year Round”, wrote travel books and managed charities. He was also a theatre enthusiast, wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in 1851. His energy was inexhaustible and he spent much time abroad—for example lecturing against slavery in the United States and touring Italy with companions, Augustus Egg and Wilkie Collins, a writer who inspired Dickens' final unfinished novel Mystery of Edwin Drood.
He was separated from his wife in 1858 after the birth of their ten children and died of a stroke in 1870. He is buried at Westminster Abbey.
Task - How many of the following statements are true or false?
1. Dickens lived while Victoria was queen of England 2. Dickens was born in Portugal
6. Some of his stories were written as weekly extracts in newspapers. 7. Charles had ten children with his wife.
8. Dickens was in favour of slavery 9. Dickens died of a heart attack. 10. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Now read the following information
Charles Dickens
Biographical notes
1812. Dickens born in Portsmouth. Father was a clerk in naval pay office: hard-working but unable to live within income. Several brothers and sisters.
1822. Family settles in Camden Town, London. Father gets into debt. Charles put to work in shoe-blacking factory (a disturbing event for a child). Father sent to prison for debt.
1827. Dickens becomes a clerk in Grays' Inn at a firm of solicitors. Studies shorthand and becomes a reporter. Praised for his speed and accuracy.
1830. Dickens meets Maria Beadnell and falls madly in love with her. She treats him coldly and calls him 'boy'.
1833. Dickens publishes his first story -'Dinner at Poplar Walk' in Monthly Magazine.
1836. Sketches by Boz successful, early fiction, he earns £150. Asked to write stories to accompany sporting prints. He invents Mr Pickwick for “Pickwick Papers” which is a big success. He marries Catherine Hogarth. Ten children follow.
1837. Writes his fiction as regular monthly instalments for magazine publication. Publication of Oliver Twist begins.
1838. Dickens and illustrator Hablot Browne travel to Yorkshire to see the boarding schools. Publication of Nicholas Nickleby begins.
1841. Publication of The Old Curiosity Shop begins. Travels in Scotland and United States. Disappointed by experience of the U.S.
1844. Dickens and family travel to Italy. Successfully treated Madame de la Rue with hypnotism.
1846. Family tours in Italy, Switzerland and France, returning to London the following year. Dickens involved in charity work. Publication of Dombey and Son begins.
1848. Dickens' sister dies.
1849. Publication of David Copperfield begins.
1850. Begins his own weekly magazine, Household Words. Heavy work both writing and editing it. Dickens a journalist with amazing energy.
1851. His wife Catherine Dickens suffers a nervous collapse. John Dickens, the father of Charles Dickens, dies. His daughter Dora Dickens dies when she is only eight months old.
1852. Publication of Bleak House begins.
1853. Dickens gives the first of what were to be popular public readings from his works.
1854. Publication of Hard Times begins.
1855. Secret meetings with Maria Beadnell, his first love, at her suggestion. Dickens disappointed by the experience. Family move to Gad's Hill, Rochester.
1857. Hans Christian Anderson visits Gad's Hill.
1858. Separates from wife with considerable publicity and bitterness. Begins new weekly, All the Year Round. Gives public readings and acts out dramatised scenes from his work which are very popular.
1859. A Tale of Two Cities published.
1860. Begins publishing Great Expectations in “All the Year Round” Death of Dickens' brother Alfred.
1863. Dickens' mother dies.
1864. Death of Dickens' son, Walter, in India. First instalment of Our Mutual Friend is printed.
which help to boost sales of his magazine and novels.
1869. Dickens ordered by his doctors to end the public readings. Begins writing Mystery of Edwin Drood.
1870. Further public readings as a 'farewell tour' in England. Private meeting with Queen Victoria. More amateur theatricals. Dies of stroke. Buried in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, with full public honours.
Task - Use the following headings to collect important facts about Dickens’ life.
(Try to collect at least five facts under each heading - your teacher will show you how to use bullet points)
Life as a child Life as a writer Family Life Other interests
Task – Share your points with the rest of the class
Task – You are now going to select ten important facts that everybody should know about Dickens
Tip:
1. Work with a partner and start by taking out the least important facts you have recorded 2. Make sure you include something from each of the headings above
Scrooge
In this section of the novel, “A Christmas Carol”, the reader meets Scrooge for the first time. Dickens wants us to know what kind of person he is. Read the extract and then complete the tasks that
follow.
Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self- contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office "In the dog-days”; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas.
External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn't know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often "came down" handsomely, and Scrooge never did.
But what did Scrooge care? It was the very thing he liked; To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call "nuts" to Scrooge.
Once upon a time--of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve--old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement-stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already: it had not been light all day: and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.
The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.
"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice.
It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!"
Task - Write down as many word as you can that describe Scrooge
Dickens’ Toolbox
Dickens uses a variety of different writers’ tools to let us know what kind of a character Scrooge really is. You are going to study how Dickens creates Scrooge.
You will be collecting evidence of how the following writers’ tools are used:
Words and Phrases
1. Find and make a note of at least 10 words and phrases that Dickens uses to describe Scrooge.
2. How do these words affect the way the reader thinks about Scrooge.
Dialogue
3. Collect examples of how Scrooge speaks to others.
4. Collect examples of how others speak to Scrooge or about him.
5. How do these examples affect the way the reader thinks about Scrooge.
Setting and Situation
6. Make notes about the setting for this part of the story and the situation (e.g. time of the year, weather conditions etc.) in this part of the story.
7. What do your notes tell you about the way Scrooge thinks and the kind of person he is.
Actions
8. Make notes about the way that Scrooge acts. How does he treat others?
9. Make notes about the way that others act towards Scrooge. How do they treat him?
Sample Character Studies: Scrooge
Read the following three extracts. They are taken from character studies written by pupils about Scrooge. Your task is to:
Decide on the order you would put them in if you had to give them
positions
Note the reasons for your decisions
Write a list of qualities that make a good character study
Pupil A
Scrooge is a mean character because he kept the door to his office open so that he could keep an eye on Bob in case he was not working or was building up the fire. It was Christmas Eve and still he was being so harsh.
Pupil B
Scrooge is an unpopular man. People know what he is like and they ignore him. Dickens says:
“Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, "My dear Scrooge, how are you?”
Pupil C
When Scrooge says, “Bah Humbug!” we know what kind pf a man he is. If you say something is “humbug”, you are making it seem wrong and
How
to write
about
a
Nicholas Nickleby Chapter 8 -Dotheby's Hall
'There,' said the schoolmaster as they stepped in together; 'this is our shop, Nickleby!'
It was such a crowded scene, and there were so many objects to attract attention, that, at first, Nicholas stared about him, really without seeing anything at all. By degrees, however, the place resolved itself into a bare and dirty room, with a couple of windows, whereof a tenth part might be of glass, the remainder being stopped up with old copy-books and paper. There were a couple of long old rickety desks, cut and notched, and inked, and damaged, in every possible way- two or three forms - a detached desk for Squeers; and another for his assistant. The ceiling was supported, like that of a barn, by cross-beams and rafters; and the walls were so stained and discoloured, that it was impossible to tell whether they had ever been touched with paint or whitewash.
young and healthy feeling flogged and starved down, with every revengeful passion that can fester in swollen hearts, eating its evil way to their core in silence, what an incipient Hell was breeding here!
Task – Read the first two paragraphs and, with a partner, find three short pieces of writing that create the impression that Dotheby’s Hall is a depressing place to be.
Task – Now share your ideas with your teacher.
Task – Now read the rest of the extract and, with your partner, find five phrases or sentences in which Dickens tries to make the reader feel sorry for the boys in the Hall.
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Carefully read the extract from Oliver Twist, which is a very descriptive piece about market day in London, then complete the tasks below.
It was market-morning. The ground was covered, nearly ankle-deep, with filth and mire; a thick steam, perpetually rising from the reeking bodies of the cattle, and mingling with the fog, which seemed to rest upon the chimney-tops, hung heavily above. All the pens in the centre of the large area, and as many temporary pens as could be crowded into the vacant space, were filled with sheep; tied up to the posts by the gutter side were long lines of beasts and oxen, three or four deep.
Countrymen, butchers, drovers, hawkers, boys, thieves, idlers and vagabonds of every low grade, were mingled together in a mass; the whistling of drovers, the barking of dogs, the bellowing and plunging of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the grunting and squeaking of pigs, the cries of hawkers, the shouts, oaths and quarrelling on all sides, whooping and yelling; the hideous and discordant din that resounded from every corner of the market; and the unwashed, unshaven, squalid, and dirty figures constantly running to and fro, and bursting in and out of the throng, rendered it a stunning and bewildering scene that quite confounded the senses.
Dickens often used the senses to create a vivid description of a scene.
Task – Use a senses chart to collect words and phrases Dickens uses to show us how lively the market was.
Great Expectati
MISS HAVISHAM
You are now going to study an extract from Great Expectations and analyse how Dickens influences the reader's feelings about the characters he describes. In this extract, Pip visits Miss Havisham, a wealthy lady he has never met before and who lives a very strange life, with only her ward, Estella, for company. Miss Havisham is responsible for bringing up Estella – they are not related. Although this invitation to the house is considered a great honour for someone like Pip, he is, nevertheless, nervous about meeting the old lady and not disgracing himself or his family.
I entered, therefore, and found myself in a pretty large room, well lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it. It was a dressing-room, and prominent in it was a draped table with a gilded looking-glass. In an armchair, with an elbow resting on the table and her head leaning on that hand, sat the strangest lady I have ever seen, or shall ever see.
It was not in the first few moments that I saw all these things, though I saw more of them in the first moments than might be supposed. But, I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone.
"Who is it?" said the lady at the table. "Pip, ma'am."
" Pip ?"
"Mr. Pumblechook's boy, ma'am. Come-to play." "Come nearer; let me look at you. Come close."
It was when I stood before her, avoiding her eyes, that I took note of the surrounding objects in detail, and saw that her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nille, and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine.
"Look at me," said Miss Havisham. "You are not afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since you were born?"
I regret to state that I was not afraid of telling the enormous lie comprehended in the answer "No."
"Do you know what I touch here?" she said, laying her hands, one upon the other, on her left side.
"Yes, ma'am." "What do I touch?" "Your heart."
"Broken !"
She uttered the word with an eager look, and with strong emphasis, and with a weird smile that had a kind of boast in it.
"I am tired," said Miss Havisham. "I want diversion, and I have done with men and
women. Play. I sometimes have sick fancies," she went on, "and I have a sick fancy that I want to see some play.
“There, there !" with an impatient movement of the fingers of her right hand; "play, play, play!"
"No, ma'am, I am very sorry for you, and very sorry I can't play just now. It's so new here, and so strange, and so fine-and melancholy-" I stopped, fearing I might say too much, or had already said it, and we took another look at each other.
Before she spoke again, she turned her eyes from me, and looked at the dress she wore, and at the dressing-table, and finally at herself in the looking-glass.
"So new to him," she muttered, "So old to me; so strange to him, so familiar to me; so melancholy to both of us! Call Estella."
As she was still looking at the reflection of herself, I thought she was still talking to herself, and kept quiet.
"Call Estella,'' she repeated, flashing a look at me. "You can do that. Call Estella. At the door."
When the girl appeared Miss Havisham beckoned her to come close, and took up a jewel from the table, and tried its effect upon her fair young bosom and against her pretty brown hair. "Your own, one day, my dear, and you will use it well. Let me see you play cards with this boy."
"With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring-boy!"
I thought I overheard Miss Havisham answer-only it seemed so unlikely
"Well? You can break his heart."
"What do you play, boy?" asked Estella of myself, with the greatest disdain. "Nothing but beggar my neighbour, miss."
'Beggar him,' said Miss Havisham to Estella. So we sat down to cards.
It was then I began to understand that everything in the room had stopped, like the watch and the clock, a long time ago. I noticed that Miss Havisham put down a jewel exactly on the spot from which she had taken it up. As Estella dealt the cards, I glanced at the
“He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy !' said Estella with disdain, before our first game was out. 'And what coarse hands he has !' And what thick boots'.
I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very indifferent pair. Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.
She won the game, and I dealt. I misdealt, as was only natural, when I knew she was Iying in wait for me to do wrong; and she denounced me for a stupid, clumsy labouring-boy.
'You say nothing of her,' remarked Miss Havisham to me, as she looked on. 'She says many hard things of you, but you say nothing of her. What do you think of her?'
'I don't like to say,' I stammered.
'I think she is very proud,' I replied, in a whisper. 'Anything else?'
'I think she is very pretty.' 'Anything else?'
'I think she is very insulting.' (She was looking at me then with a look of supreme aversion.)
'Anything else?'
I think I should like to go home.'
'And never see her again, though she is so pretty?'
'I am not sure that I shouldn't like to see her again, but I should like to go home now.' 'You shall go soon,' said Miss Havisham, alout. 'Play the game out.'
Saving for the one weird smile at first, I should have felt almost sure that Miss Havisham's face could not smile. It had dropped into a watchful and brooding expression- most likely when all the things about her had become transfixed - and it looked as if nothing could ever lift it up again. Her chest had dropped, so that she stooped; and her voice had dropped, so that she spoke low, and with a dead lull upon her; altogether, she had the appearance of having dropped, body and soul, within and without, under the weight of a crushing blow.
I played the game to an end with Estella, and she beggared me. She threw the cards down on the table when she had won them all, as if she despised them for having been won of me.
'When shall I have you here again?' said Miss Havisham.'Let me think.'
I was beginning to remind her that to-day was Wednesday, when she checked me with her former impatient movement of the fingers of her right hand.
'There, there! I know nothing of days of the week; I know nothing of weeks of the year. Come again after six days. You hear?'
'Estella, take him down. Let him have something to eat, and let him roam and look about him while he eats. Go, Pip.'
I followed the candle down, as I had followed the candle up, and she stood it in the place where we had found it. Until she opened the side entrance, I had
fancied, without thinking about it, that it must necessarily be night-time. The rush of the daylight quite confounded me, and made me feel as if I had been in the candlelight of the strange room many hours.
'You are to wait here, you boy,' said Estella; and disappeared and closed the door.
I took the opportunity of being alone in the court-yard, to look at my coarse hands and my common boots. My opinion of those accessories was not favourable. They had never troubled me before, but they troubled me now, as vulgar appendages. I determined to ask Joe why he had ever taught me to call those picture cards, Jacks, which ought to be called knaves. I wished Joe had been rather more genteelly brought up, and then I should have been so too.
She came back, with some bread and meat and a little mug of beer. She put the mug down on the stones of the yard, and gave me the bread and meat without looking at me, as
insolently as if I were a dog in disgrace. I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry - I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart - God knows what its name was - that tears started to my eyes. The moment they sprang there, the girl looked at me with a quick delight in having been the cause of them. This gave me power to keep them back and to look at her: so, she gave a contemptuous toss - but with a sense, I thought, of having made too sure that I was so wounded - and left me.
The following questions will help you to gather your thoughts about the story of Miss Havisham.
Task 1:
1. Give at least two reasons why Pip feels so uncomfortable during this visit?
2. What do you think may be the full explanation for Miss Havisham's strange behaviour? Look
at:-The setting
The way she looks
Information she gives Pip What she says to Estella The tone of what she says Task 2:
3. Why does Pip find it so hard to please Miss Havisham? Think
about:-His feelings
The situation in which he finds himself
4. What have you learnt about Estella from this extract? Give evidence to support your views.
Think
about:-The way she is described The way she behaves The tone of what she says
5. In separate paragraphs of up to 30 words each, describe your feelings for:-a) Pip
b) Estella
c) Miss Havisham
6. Discuss your answers with the rest of your class.
Evidence Scenario
Read the following statements:
1. More than fifty people in Blackpool were hurt when a tram crashed into a lorry.
2. The average height of boys in Year 8 in this school is one metre and fifty centimetres.
The Writers’ Toolkit
Now that you have clarified your views about the characters, you are going to work out how Dickens uses skills and devices to influence the way you think about them. Remember that writers, like Dickens, use a series of writers’ tools to make you feel something for the characters in their stories. These include:
Setting Voice Openings and endings
Dialogue Situations and events Sentences and vocabulary
Printed below are several statements about the passage you have read. Working in a group, you will be responsible for one of these statements. You should:
a) decide whether you agree with the statement;
b) collect evidence from the extract to support your view.
Setting
Miss Havisham’s home in this extract is important to our understanding of the events and the characters.
Voice
The fact that the story is told by Pip is not important. Openings
The opening paragraphs attract the readers' interest and are very important in helping us to realise that the old lady is unusual.
Dialogue
The way the characters talk to each other is not of any importance in this extract. Endings
The final two paragraphs of the are not important in building up sympathy for Pip. Situations and events
The description of the events in this extract help the reader to form a clear impression of Pip, Miss Havisham and Estella.
Sentences and vocabulary
Dickens’ use of vocabulary, sentence types and their punctuation help us to gain a better understanding of the characters involved.
Oliver Twist Ch2 -Oliver asks for more
The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper at one end: out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women ladled the gruel at meal-times. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer, and no more -except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon.
Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing (for his father had kept a small cook-shop), hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye; and they implicitly believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.
The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his cook's uniform, stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each other, and winked at Oliver; while his next
"Please, sir, I want some more."
The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear. -
"What!" said the master at length, in a faint voice..
"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "1 want some more."
The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.
The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said, "Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!"
Play Writing Prompt Sheet
Task:
You are going to write the and act out one of the following scenes:
a) The scene in the boys’ bedroom after Oliver asked for more
or
b) The scene in the Beadle’s office after Oliver has asked for more
Use this sheet to help you to plan your play script
How did the boys feel about all that happened?
How do the boys react to Oliver afterwards?
How does the beadle feel when it is all over?
How will you arrange the characters on stage?
5. How will you open the scene?
Scrooge: The Writer’s Toolkit
Device
Evidence
Effect on Reader
Words / Phrases
Dialogue
Setting and
Situation
Writing a Character Study (1)
Use this chart to help you to plan your character study of Scrooge.
Using PEE/Writing Frame
Working with your teacher:
Point:
Evidence:
Explanation:
Working on your own:
Point:
Evidence:
Comparison Grid
You are going to compare life for young people in Dickens time with life today. Use the grid to help you to collect your ideas.
Criteria Dickens’ Time Modern Times
Home Life
Education
Working Life
Social Life (Hobbies/ Interests)
Relationships With
Planning a description
Use the following planning frame to help you to gather your thoughts for your description.
The place I am going to describe is: ……… Complete the following senses chart
Sights Sounds Touch Tastes Smells
Complete the following paragraph plan, using ideas from the table above: Paragraph 1 will be about: ………. Ideas I will include are:
Paragraph 2 will be about: ………. Ideas I will include are:
Paragraph 3 will be about: ……….
Ideas I will include are:
Paragraph 4 will be about: ………. Ideas I will include are:
