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Written by: Angelia Greiner

Written by: Angelia Greiner. Who was Charles Dickens?. Considered by many as greatest Victorian writer Prolific author Writings: commentary on own life and Victorian society. It was the best of times….

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Written by: Angelia Greiner

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  1. Written by: Angelia Greiner

  2. Who was Charles Dickens? • Considered by many as greatest Victorian writer • Prolific author • Writings: commentary on own life and Victorian society

  3. It was the best of times… “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, …” — Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Single click speaker to hear audio clip >>>>

  4. Life and Times Best of Times Worst of Times • New inventions • Growth of cities • Opportunity for wealth • New ideas • Pollution • Disease • Strict social classes • Conflict within the individual and with others

  5. The Victorian Age 1837-1901

  6. Daily Life • Working conditions • Sanitation and disease • Social problems

  7. The Rain “In the country, the rain would leave developed a thousand fresh scents, and every drop would have had its bright association with some beautiful form of growth or life. In the city, it developed only foul stale smells, and was a sickly, lukewarm, dirt-stained, wretched addition to the gutters.” —Charles Dickens, from Little Dorrit Single click speaker to hear audio clip >>>>

  8. Crime and Consequences • Common Crimes • Pickpocketing • Murder • Common Consequences • Hanging • Prison

  9. Jack the Ripper • Represents classic whodunit • Ferociousness of murders • Suddenly disappeared

  10. Darwin Science and Philosophy • The Great Exhibition • Charles Darwin • Karl Marx and Frederick Engels

  11. Image of the Great Exhibition

  12. Prince Albert The Great Exhibition “Nobody…who has paid any attention to the peculiar features of our present era will doubt for a moment that we are living at a period of most wonderful transition, which tends rapidly to accomplish that great end, to which, indeed, all history points—the realization of the unity of mankind… The distances which separated the different nations and parts of the globe are rapidly vanishing before the achievements of modern invention, and we can traverse them with incredible ease…thought is communicated with the rapidity, and even by the power, of lightning.” —Prince Albert, banquet speech, 1850 Single click speaker to hear audio clip >>>>

  13. The First World’s Fair • Machinery • Sciences • Crystal Palace

  14. Science • Electricity • The telegraph • Other inventions and “toys”

  15. The Crystal Palace • Combination of art and industry

  16. Darwin Charles Darwin • Born in Shrewsbury, England • Degree in theology at Cambridge University

  17. Survival of the Fittest • Engaged in research on HMS Beagle • Developed theory of “natural selection” • Published Origin of Species

  18. Marx & Engels Karl Marx and Frederick Engels • Philosophers wanting equal access to resources for all • Capitalism creates class struggle • Communist Manifesto published in 1848

  19. Theoretical Rise of Proletariat • Peaceful solution to change capitalism impossible • Proletariat must have short term dictatorship • Would result in equal access to resources for all

  20. Portsmouth Charles Dickens • Born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England

  21. John Dickens Elizabeth Dickens Dickens: The Man • Born to John and Elizabeth Dickens

  22. Early Years • Educated at William Gile’s school • Family moved to Camden Town • Father imprisoned for debt

  23. Defining Times • Charles worked at factory to support family • Father rejoined family • Charles attended academy

  24. Other Defining Moments • Family evicted from home for non-payment of rent • Left school and became a clerk for Ellis and Blackmore • Became a freelance reporter

  25. Hogarth A Young Man • Became reporter for The Morning Chronicle • Published first story in 1833 • Met future wife, Catherine Hogarth

  26. 1836—A Time of Change • Published first bookSketches by Boz • Married Catherine Hogarth • Began serialization of The Pickwick Papers • Left The Morning Chronicle • Became editor of Bentley’s Miscellany

  27. Birth of Works and Children • Nicholas Nickleby • Old Curiosity Shop • Children: Charles, Mary, Kate, and Walter

  28. Mark Twain Dickens visits America • Dickens travels through United States • Published American Notes • Visited New England and western states

  29. A Christmas Carol • Published on December 19, 1843 • Instant success at its publication • Theme of redemption

  30. Sydney Dickens Traveling Abroad • Dickens traveled to Italy for a year • Traveled to Switzerland and Paris

  31. The Cricket on the Hearth The Prolific Writer at Work • 1844: The Chimes • 1845: The Cricket on the Hearth • 1846: Dombey and Son • 1848: The Haunted Man • 1849: David Copperfield

  32. The 1850s • Dickens created and edited a new journal • Dickens family moved to Tavistock House • Wrote novels emphasizing theme

  33. Final Years • Dickens sustained injuries in train crash • Began final tour in America • Died June 9, 1870

  34. Dickens’ Audience • Middle and lower classes of society • Had experienced poverty firsthand • Educated and successful writer • Lived a middleclass lifestyle

  35. Dickens and His Characters • Characters semi-autobiographical • Characters also composites of real people

  36. Early Works • Two main categories of novels • Plot • Theme

  37. List of Early Works • Sketches by Boz (1836) • The Pickwick Papers (1836-1837) • Oliver Twist (1837-1838) • Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839) • The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841) • Barnaby Rudge (1841) • Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844) • Dombey and Son (1846-1847) • David Copperfield (1849-1850)

  38. Character • Original • Composite • Flat or static

  39. Themes • Individual and his or her environment • Individual morality

  40. Fate or Society’s Rules? “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850) Single click speaker to hear audio clip >>>>

  41. Become One’s Own Hero “Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.” — Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843) Single click speaker to hear audio clip >>>>

  42. A Christmas Carol Video Single click screen to view video

  43. List of Later Works • Bleak House (1852-1853) • Hard Times (1854) • Little Dorrit (1855-1857) • A Tale of Two Cities (1859) • Great Expectations (1860-1861) • Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865) • The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)

  44. Themes • Power of institutionalized evil • People’s moral obligation to society

  45. Miss Pross Madame Defarge Moral Duality • One character’s moral duality “You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer,” said Miss Pross, in her breathing. “Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman.”

  46. Search for Identity “My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name being Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.” —Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1860) Single click speaker to hear audio clip >>>>

  47. Sydney Carton Charles Darnay Moral Duality • Moral duality between two characters “When Carton discovers Darnay, he is bitterly reminded of what he could have been.  Darnay is his better self.”

  48. Style • Style: what makes a person’s writing unique PUNCTUATION NARRATIVE VOICE VOCABULARY TONE SENTENCE LENGTH LITERARY DEVICES

  49. Dickens’ Style • Humor • Language • Syntax “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!” —Scrooge’s response to the visit of Marley’s ghost in A Christmas Carol

  50. Humor • Exaggeration • Description “A person who can’t pay, gets another person who can't pay, to guarantee that he can pay. Like a person with two wooden legs getting another person with two wooden legs, to guarantee that he has got two natural legs. It don’t make either of them able to do a walking match.” Little Dorrit “Miss Knag still aimed at youth, although she had shot beyond it, years ago…” Nicholas Nickleby “Some medical beast had revived Tar-water in those days as a fine medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard; having a belief in its virtues correspondent to its nastiness.” Great Expectations “ ... Waiter! raw beef-steak for the gentleman’s eye--nothing like raw beef-steak for a bruise, sir; cold lamp-post very good, but lamp-post inconvenient--damned odd standing in the open street half an hour, with your eye against a lamp-post . . .” The Pickwick Papers

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