Celebrating the 200th birthday of
CHARLES DICKENS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT- IES ICARIA
Eva Gómex
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GREAT EXPECTATIONS
By Charles Dickens
INTRODUCTION
Read the power point presentation about Charles Dickens
(in the wiki or in the link http://www.slideshare.net/tlhahn/charles-dickens7763734) _________________________
READ THE TEXT AND DO THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES (you can look
up information in the Internet if you need to)
Great Expectations
By 1860, although most people in Britain could read and write, books were well beyond
the income of ordinary people. Because of this, Dickens' novels were serialised. Great
Expectations was published in 36 weekly parts, priced 2d (two pence in old money).
The story is written in first person. The title Great Expectations refers to the 'Great
Expectations' Pip (the worker class orphan boy) has of becoming an upper class
gentleman.
Some of the major themes of Great Expectations are crime, empire, ambition and
social class. Great Expectations explores the different social classes of the time.
Throughout the book, Pip becomes involved with a broad range of classes, from
criminals like Magwitch to the extremely rich like Miss Havisham.
Great Expectations is also a book about growing up (and growing wiser)
The reader meets Pip when he is seven, and follows his life until he is 35. The proper
term for this kind of story is the German word bildungsroman (meaning 'instruction
novel').
The fact that Pip is also the narrator of the story makes it more instructive, because he
is able to interpret the meaning of what is happening, as well as see it through a child's
eyes. At the same time, he looks back from a mature perspective and comments
(sometimes critically) on his conduct.
The reader lives Pip's life with him, and we see:

the way contact with rich upper class people makes him dissatisfied.
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
how coming into money makes him shallow and selfish, and unhappy.

how trying to find love with a beautiful, yet cruel, girl makes him unhappy - the
plain, good girl would have been better.

how disappointments change his character for the better.

how Pip is happier when he settles down to a decent middle class living through
hard work - this is one of the main messages of the novel.
In Great Expectations Dickens tells us the conclusions of an older, wiser man with
experience of setbacks - that happiness is not about being successful, but being good.
ACTIVITY 2
Dickens' style of writing
Episodic writing
Most of Dickens's major novels were first written in monthly or weekly chapters in journals such
as Master Humphrey's Clock and Household Words, later reprinted in book form. This made the
stories cheap, accessible and the series of regular cliff-hangers made each new episode widely
anticipated. American fans even waited at the docks in New York, shouting out to the crew of an
incoming ship, "Is little Nell dead?" referring to a character in the novel “The old curiosity
shop”.
Dickens's technique allowed him to witness the public reaction and alter the story depending on
those public reactions. Part of Dickens's great talent was to incorporate this episodic writing style
but still end up with a coherent novel at the end.
From the early 1850s, Dickens gave public readings of his novels. His writing is rhythmic and
designed to be read out loud. He loved to make young women in his audience laugh or weep, so
many of his characters are either hilariously comic or heart-breakingly sentimental.
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"Charles Dickens as he appears when reading." Wood engraving from Harper's Weekly,
December 1867
Dickens' style of writing
Autobiographical elements
All authors might be said to incorporate autobiographical elements in their fiction, but with
Dickens this is very noticeable, even though he took pains to mask what he considered his
shameful, lowly past. David Copperfield is one of the most clearly autobiographical but the
scenes from Bleak House of interminable court cases and legal arguments are drawn from the
author's brief career as a court reporter. Dickens's own father was sent to prison for debt, and this
became a common theme in many of his books.
Childhood sweethearts in many of his books may have been based on Dickens's own childhood
infatuation. Poor children having to work at an early age to be able to survive or help their
families.
Dickens may have drawn on his childhood experiences, but he was also ashamed of them and
would not reveal that this was where he gathered his realistic sources for his stories. Very few
knew the details of his early life until six years after his death when John Forster published a
biography on which Dickens had collaborated.
An original illustration from the novel "David Copperfield" Widely regarded as Dickens's most
autobiographical work.
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Dickens’ vision of Social Class
Dickens's novels were, among other things, works of social commentary. He was a fierce critic
of the social stratification of Victorian society. In Victorian times, society was strictly layered not only into rich and poor, or even upper, middle and lower class, but hundreds of 'grades'.
People were expected to 'know their place', and the Church taught them to be content in their
'station'. Dickens did not like the effects of social class.
There were three distinct main classes and people rarely married out of their class.
1. The upper class were rich, aristocratic families with servants.
2. The middle class were businessmen or professionals. They had a few servants. (Upper
working class could be included in this group).
3. The lower class were very poor. Children began work as young as seven years of age. Many
children worked up to 14 hours a day in factories and mines in very dangerous conditions.
Dickens usually shows 'high' social class characters with significant weaknesses, and people
from other social classes are 'better' human beings. On the other hand, violent and surly lower
working class people are to be feared and distrusted.
Dickens' message is that the middle class values of godliness, hard work, temperance and the
gentleness of a 'gentleman' are - with sufficient income - the way to happiness.
This message would appeal to his middle class/upper working class readers.
Dickens’ vision of Crime and Law.
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For many poor people, crime was the only way to survive. Crime was abundant and punishments
were severe. Murderers were sentenced to public hanging and thieves were sent to prison. Men,
women and children were put together in the prisons and they had to work hard for very long
hours. People with large debts were sometimes put into prison until their debts were paid.
Prison ships: When prisons became overcrowded, the government sent criminals by ship to
Australia to isolate them from society. Although some of the prisoners were given short
sentences, they had no way of returning to England. Some convicts worked hard and were able
to start a better life.
Dickens had a social conscience and was deeply critical of the existing system of law and justice.
(Remember that his father was imprisoned for debt.) Issues relating to crime and the law run
throughout most of his novels, including Great Expectations.
Dickens' shocking conclusion is that, in Victorian England, some criminals were good men
trapped by an unfair system, that punishment missed the guilty, that lawyers were rotters, and
that prison was an inhuman place - in short, that England's system of justice was wholly unjust.
OTHER RESOURCES:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/prosegreatexpect/
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ACTIVITY 1
Great Expectations, was first published in serial form in the British literary
magazine All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. What
do you know about the story, the author and the society at that time…?
ACTIVITY 1: SOCIAL and HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.
Find out information about the novel, the author and the society of that time and
take notes…
Facts about the author:
Facts about the time ( Period, economy, social and political situation..)
Facts about the novel:
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ACTIVITY 2: BIOGRAPHY of CHARLES DICKENS.
Work in pairs to complete Dickens’ biography.
STUDENT A
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was born to a poor family in (2)___________________.
When he was 12 years old his father was imprisoned for debt. His family had to move into
prison and Dickens was sent to work. Eventually, (4) __________________ received a
small inheritance, paid debts and sent Charles to a private school. When he was 15, Dickens
got a job as a clerk in a solicitor’s office. He then worked as a reporter. At this time, he
began writing articles for magazines about (6)________________________. His first novel,
The Pickwick Papers, published in serial form, became very popular and Dickens became a
celebrity.
In 1836, Dickens got married. They had ten children. But his marriage wasn’t a happy one.
In 1837, his story (8)________________________, changed his career.
His stories, printed in newspapers, were a great success both in England and the USA.
Some of his most popular stories were Oliver Twist (1837- 1839), Nicholas Nickleby (1839),
David Copperfield (1848-1849) and Great Expectations (1860-1861).
Dickens lived an extraordinarily active life; besides writing his novels and editing magazines,
he championed a variety of social causes, among them the abolition of slavery and capital
punishment, and the reform of prostitutes. He travelled through England and America,
giving public readings of his novels.
Dickens died suddenly in 1870, a writer who had achieved admiration and acclaim in a
way no other novelist had done before.
Write the questions you need to ask to know fill in the gaps
2.____________________________________?
4.____________________________________?
6.____________________________________?
8.____________________________________?
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ACTIVITY 2: BIOGRAPHY of CHARLES DICKENS.
Work in pairs to complete Dickens’ biography.
STUDENT B
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens (1) ( _________-1870) was born to a poor family in the south of England.
When he was 12 years old his father was imprisoned for debt. His family had to move
(3) _____________________ and Dickens was sent to work. Eventually, Dicken’s father
received a small inheritance, paid debts and sent Charles to a private school.
When he was (5) _________________, Dickens got a job as a clerk in a solicitor’s office. He
then worked as a reporter. At this time, he began writing articles for magazines about the
life and evils of Victorian Society. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, published in serial
form, became very popular and Dickens became a celebrity.
In 1836, Dickens got married. They had (7) _______________ children. But his marriage
wasn’t a happy one.
In 1837, his story The Pickwick Papers, changed his career.
His stories, printed in newspapers, were a great success both in England and the USA.
Some of his most popular stories were Oliver Twist (1837- 1839), Nicholas Nickleby (1839),
David Copperfield (1848-1849) and Great Expectations (1860-1861).
Dickens lived an extraordinarily active life; besides writing his novels and editing magazines,
he championed a variety of social causes, among them the abolition of slavery and capital
punishment, and the reform of prostitutes. He travelled through England and America,
giving public readings of his novels.
Dickens died suddenly in 1870, a writer who had achieved admiration and acclaim in a
way no other novelist had done before.
Write the questions you need to ask to know fill in the gaps
1.____________________________________?
3.____________________________________?
5.____________________________________?
7.____________________________________?
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ACTIVITY 3: THEMES in DICKENS’ NOVELS
Get the information to answer the questions below. Work in groups.
Style of writing
Episodic writing:
- What does “Episodic writing” mean in the context?, Can you find an equivalent in nowadays society
Autobiographical elements:
- Which autographical elements can we find in Dickens’ novels?
- Was Dickens happy about his childhood? How do we know?
Social Class
- What were social classes in England in Dickens’ times like?
- How did Dickens show that in his stories?
- Who were most of his readers?
Crime and Law
- What were prisons like in Victorian times?
- Why did some English convicts end up in Australia?
- What was Dickens’ opinion about this issue? How did he show it in his novels?
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ACTIVITY4: PRACTICE LISTENING
a) Get into the following website: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/dickens
- Read the introduction “The brillance of Dickens” and watch the video.
- What do they say about Charles Dickens?.
Complete the sentences and add two more ideas you got from the video.
Dr. Laura Peters (University of Roehampton)

Dickens was very concerned about the .............................................................. both at
home and abroad.

He had at his time global interests and today he has .......................................................
Lucinda Hawsley (writer and a descendant of Charles Dickens).

To be a hero in Dickens’, you just have to be ..................................................................

He was an editor because he wanted ..............................................................................

He wrote about .................................................... that he saw in the world in which he
lived.

Dickens was careful to make sure that his girls received ................................................
as his sons.
b) Go to the following website:
http://www.5min.com/Video/Charles-Dickens-From-Books-To-Film-516958458
- Watch the video “Charles Dickens: From Books To Film”
- Match the titles with the plot summaries (in the next two pages).
Two of the stories are not mentioned in the video. Use the wikipedia if you need it.
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TIMELINE :
1775
1812
1833
1836
1837
1843
The
The first period of the Industrial Revolution started in England and spread throughout
Industrial
Western Europe and North America.
Revolution
Queen
Queen
Victoria
Victoria
started to
reign, being
the monarch
of the
United
Kingdom
of Great
Britain and
Ireland and
the Head of
the British
Empire until
her death.
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1859
1860-1861
1870
1901
Other Events
Slavery
Gold
Darwin’s “Origin of
abolished
discovered in
Species” is published
throughout
California
British
and
Empire
Austrralia
Charles
Born in
First number
“Oliver
“A
“A tale of two cities”
“Great
Dies in
Dickens
Portsmouth, in
of “Pickwick
twist”
Christmas
appears weekly
expectations”
June
the south of
Papers”
begins to
Carol” is
England
appears
appear
published in
monthly
december
15
appears weekly.
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