Charles Dickens - A Biography - English Literature

There is something about Charles Dickens' imaginative power that defies explanation in purely biographical terms. Nevertheless, his biography shows the source of that power and is the best place to begin to define it.

The second child of John and Elizabeth Dickens, Charles was born on February 7, 1812, near Portsmouth on England's south coast. At that time John Dickens was stationed in Portsmouth as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. The family was of lower-middle-class origins, John having come from servants and Elizabeth from minor bureaucrats. Dickens' father was vivacious and generous but had an unfortunate tendency to live beyond his means. his mother was affectionate and rather inept in practical matters. Dickens later used his father as the basis for Mr. Micawber and portrayed is mother as Mrs. Nickleby in A Tale of Two Cities.

After a transfer to London in 1814, the family moved to Chatham, near Rochester, three years later. Dickens was about five at the time, and for the next five years his life was pleasant. Taught to read by his mother, he devoured his fathers' small collection of classics, which included Shakespeare, Cervantes, Defoe, Smollet, Fielding, and Goldsmith. These left a permanent mark on his imagination; their effect on his art was quite important. dickens also went to some performances of Shakespeare and formed a lifelong attachment to the theater. He attended school during this period and showed himself to be a rather solitary, observant, good-natured child with some talent for comic routines, which his father encouraged. In retrospect Dickens looked upon these years as a kind of golden age. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, is in part an attempt to recreate their idyllic nature: it rejoices in innocence and the youthful spirit, and its happiest scenes take place in that precise geographical area.

In the light of the family's move back to London, where financial difficulties overtook the Dickens's, the time in Chatham must have seemed glorious indeed. The family moved into the shabby suburb of Camden Town, and Dickens was taken out of school and set to menial jobs about the household. In time, to help augment the family income, Dickens was given a job in a blacking factory among rough companions. At the time his father was imprisoned for debt, but was released three months later by a small legacy. Dickens related to his friend, John Forster, long afterward, that he felt a deep sense of abandonment at this time; the major themes of his novels can be traced to this period. His sympathy for the victimized, his fascination with prisons and money, the desire to vindicate his heroes' status as gentlemen, and the idea of London as an awesome, lively, and rather threatening environment all reflect these experiences. No doubt this temporary collapse of his parents' ability to protect him made a vivid expression on him. Out on his own for a time at twelve years of age, Dickens acquired a lasting self-reliance, a driving ambition, and a boundless energy that went into everything he did.

At thirteen Dickens went back to school for two years and then took a job in a lawyers office. Dissatisfied with the work, he learned shorthand and became a freelance court reporter in 1828. The job was seasonal and allowed him to do a good deal of reading in the British Museum. At the age of twenty he became a full-fledged journalist, working for three papers in succession. In the next four or five years he acquired the reputation of being the fastest and most accurate parliamentary reporter in London. The value of this period was that Dickens gained a sound, firsthand knowledge of London and the provinces.

Dickens was very active physically. He loved taking long walks, riding horses, making journeys, entertaining friends, dining well, playing practical jokes. He enjoyed games of charades with his family, was an excellent amateur magician, and practiced hypnotism. One tends to share Shaw's opinion that Dickens, in his social life, was always on stage. He was like an eternal Master of Ceremonies, for the most part: flamboyant, observant, quick, dynamic, full of zest. Yet he was also restless, subject to fits of depression, and hot tempered, so that at times he must have been nearly intolerable to live with, however agreeable he was as a companion.

In view of his very strenuous life it was not surprising that he died at fifty-eight from a stroke. At his death on June 9, 1870, Dickens was wealthy, immensely popular, and the best novelist the Victorian age produced. He was buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey, and people mourned his death the world over.

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Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - English Literature Essay

Charles Dickenn's Great Expectations is a story about a boy, Philip Pirrip, who comes to a point in his life where his life changes drastically from the way it was when he was growing up. Whenever this change occurs, he does his best not to let people know about his past life where he was just a common boy. Throughout the novel, Dickens points out how people sometimes lead two lives that they want to keep separate.

The change in Pip's life is characterized in several ways. First of all, there is a physical change, when he moves to London. That just accentuates the difference between the two ³lives. Before, he lived in a small town that was near some marshes, both of which reflect the common side of his life. London is seen by Pip as a great and wonderful city which symbolizes his expectations of what is to come in his future. Another change in his life is that he is treated better by others. Mr. Trabb, the tailor, takes exception to Pip after he hears that he has come into a fortune. He measures Pip very quickly, and gets angry at his son for not showing the same respect of Pip's wealth. Then, when he next sees Pumblechook, he repeatedly asks Pip if he may shake his hand, as if it is some great honor. Before the news, he hardly treated Pip any differently than any other common boy. Pip also looks to the way his new acquaintances are treated, most notably Mr. Jaggers. He is treated with a great deal of respect by everyone, and even invokes fear in some. Pip had never seen this level of respect for someone that was his direct acquaintance before, except for Miss Havisham, who he knew had great wealth.

This dual lifestyle is paralleled in Mr. Wemmick, the clerk for Mr. Jaggers. Mr. Wemmick, when at work, only thinks about his work, and doesn't let his personal life affect how he goes about his business. The flip side of the coin is also true, as when he goes home, he forgets about anything that happened at work, and concentrates on making his deaf father happy. The scene when he takes Pip to work shows the change that he goes through on his way to work: By degrees, Wemmick got dryer and harder as we went along, and his mouth tightened into a post-office again. Just like Pip, he changes how he acts according to which role he is playing.

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English Literature: Charles Dickens's Narrative Technique

A critic wrote: 'Every writer of fiction, although he may not adopt the dramatic form, writes in effect for the stage.' When considering the statement in relation to Dickens we cannot take the word 'stage' too literally. Much of Dickens's writing involves the evocation of landscapes, such as the marshes in 'Great Expectations' or Yarmouth beach in 'David Copperfield' which could not be accommodated on the stage. Nor could the stage accommodate the numerous changes of scene which occur in Dickens's novels. The 'stage' Dickens refers to is the stage of the reader's imagination, and his narrative technique plays upon that 'stage' to grip and hold our imaginations.

Dickens's dramatic technique has more in common with the cinema than with theatre; but the cinema is essentially a dramatic medium in that it functions through character, action, dialogue, and setting, and only minimally through literary techniques. In this essay I will look at some of the dramatic, and literary, techniques found in Dickens's writing, and consider their effectiveness and their limitations.

When we think of a Dickens novel it is pictures and dramatic events which spring first to mind. In pictures we see, for example, Peggoty's boathouse at Yarmouth in 'David Copperfield', the interior of Fagin's den in 'Oliver Twist', and the frozen wedding feast in Miss Havisham's room in 'Great Expectations'. Among the dramatic events we might recall Magwitch threatening Pip in the churchyard, Oliver asking for more, and Uriah Heep being unmasked by Micawber.

Dickens's 'pictures' are an integral part of the fabric of the narrative, conveying meanings in themselves, and unlike, for example James Joyce's descriptions, we are not required to interpret the images looking for symbolism, but to see them vividly. It is through conjuring images on the stage of our imagination that he draws us into the story. For example:

'She was dressed in rich materials - satins, and lace, and silks - all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table.' (Great Expectations. Ch.8.)

The words of this passage serve only one purpose, that we should see the scene in our imagination. The writer's stance is that of an objective reporter, and the short factual sentences, packed with detailed observation, do not in themselves convey any response or judgement. The reader responds not to the words, but to the picture. In fact the passage is notable for the total absence of emotive words. Nowhere do we see words such as 'decay', 'horror', 'stagnation' or 'death', and yet we can feel, or at least understand, Pip's horror at finding himself in this room where the only sign of life is the movement of the dark eyes looking at him.

As an example of a dramatic event, using action and dialogue we can take this passage from 'Oliver Twist'.

'Before Oliver had time to look round, Sikes had caught him under the arms; and in three or four seconds he and Toby lay on the grass on the other side. Sikes followed directly. And they stole cautiously towards the house.

. . . He clasped his hands together, and involuntarily uttered a subdued exclamation of horror. A mist came before his eyes; the cold sweat stood upon his ashy face; on his limbs failed him; and he sank upon his knees.

'Get up!' murmured Sikes, trembling with rage, and drawing the pistol from his pocket; 'Get up or I'll strew your brains upon the grass.'

Here the movement of the dramatic action is so powerful that we do not really need the dialogue; we would understand perfectly what was going on if the scene were presented as a silent film. Oliver is being forced, against his will, in a certain direction, and he is resisting with all his might, both physically and morally. The dramatic scene reflects the way Oliver has been forced into roles against his will ever since he was born in the workhouse. This is Dickens at his most dramatic, placing characters and actions vividly on the stage of our imaginations.

Much of Dickens's writing functions in this way, but there is also much which is non-dramatic which functions on a verbal, literary level.

'She was most noticeable, I thought, in respect of her extremities; for her hair always wanted brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel. This description must be received with a weekday limitation. On Sundays she went to church elaborated.' ('Great Expectations' Ch.7.)

The reader might create a visual picture of Biddy from these fragments, but the passage really conveys ideas rather than images, and makes its impact through the use of language, achieving an effect which has no direct parallel in film or drama.

A more subtle literary technique, which also goes beyond the limitations of drama, is illustrated near the opening of 'Great Expectations':

As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father's gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. ('Great Expectations' Ch.1.)

This passage conveys an intimate and complex process in which an individual's thoughts mingle with his perception of the outside world. The activity here is purely conceptual, illustrating the strength of literature over theatre or film - its ability to communicate concepts and intangible thought processes.

'David Copperfield' is perhaps the least dramatic of these three novels. Like 'Great Expectations' it is a fictional autobiography in the first person, but unlike Pip, David has become a writer and is consciously interested in his craft. Thus in reading 'David Copperfield' we are far more aware of the fact that we are being told a story that we are in 'Great Expectations'.

My school days! The silent gliding on of my existence - the unseen, unfelt progress of my life - from childhood up to youth! Let me think, as I look back upon that flowing water, now a dry channel overgrown with leaves, whether there are any marks along its course by which I can remember how it ran. ('David Copperfield' Ch.18.)

This is the work of a self-conscious artist primarily interested in his own imagination, and again there is an intimacy between author and reader which cannot be achieved in a dramatic medium.

One could not talk about Dickens's drama without mentioning his characters. The variety and memorability of Dickens's characters is perhaps his greatest achievement as a writer. Often they are caricatures, but caricatures which capture something which is present in life. Every public school must have its Steerforth, criminal circle its Bill and Nancy, fishing community it Peggoty. These are the characters Dickens puts upon his 'stage'.

I should like to conclude with a passage whose relevance to the theme of this essay is self-evident. Perhaps it is reasonable to suppose that it gives us an insight into Dickens's creative mind as well as Pip's.

'what he did say presented pictures to me, and not mere words. In the excited and exalted state of my brain, I could not think of a place without seeing it, or persons without seeing them. It is impossible to overstate the vividness of these images' ('Great Expectations' Ch. 53.)

Copyright Ian Mackean. Read the full version of this essay at:

http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/dickens.html

Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, which features a substantial collection of Resources and Essays, (and where his site on Short Story Writing can also be found,) and http://www.Booksmadeintomovies.com. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, ISBN 0340882689, which was published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com

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