Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
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Annual income twenty pounds,
annual expenditure nineteen six,
result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds,
annual expenditure twenty
pound ought and six, result
misery.
----- Charles Dickens
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Dickens Life Experience
Born into a lower middle class withgenteel
pretensions ( his father being fond of living beyond
his means, was imprisoned);
child labour at a blacking warehouse
The strenuous – and often cruel – work conditions
made a deep impression on Dickens, and later
influenced his fiction and essays, forming foundation
of his interest in the reform of socio-economic and
labour conditions.
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Dickens’ Life Experience
Junior clerk in a lawyer’s office at 15
(familiarity with lawyers & criminals);
journalist at the age of 20 (better knowledge
of the society)
Pickwick Papers seralized in 1836- 37
death out of overwork in 1870
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Dickens’ Major Works
Oliver Twist , 1838
 The Old Curiosity Shop, 1840-1841
 Dombey and Son, 1846-1848
 David Copperfield, 1849
 Bleak House, 1852
 A Tale of Two Cities, 1854
 Great Expectations, 1860
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Three Phases of Dickens’ Writing
a. Early period (1836- 45):
spontaneous flow of imaginative power
•Exaggeration in character portrayal
(innocent, kind, honest, ready to help)
• Exposure of social evils;
• Coincidences (Oliver Twist);
• Vigour & humour– rewarding the good &
punishing the bad
•Life of Children in Cities
•Poisoning of the soul by money/ selfishness
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b. The middle period (1846- 57):
Integration of experience & imagination
Dombey and Son (1846- 48): criticism of
arrogance & coldbness (money)
David Copperfield (1849- 50): autobiographical,
child’s psychology, character portrayal;
Bleak House (1852- 53): delay of law, gloomy
tone
Hard Times (1854): class struggle– mutual
help;
Little Dorrit (1855- 57): bureaucracy
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c. The later period (1858- 70):
exploration of man’s inner conflicts
A Tale of Two Cities (1859): selflessness;
Great Expectations (1860- 61): praise of
honest labour;
Our Mutual Friend (1864- 65): criticism of
corruption & selfishness in the society
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Features of Dickens Novels
a. Character sketches & exaggeration
-- vivid outward portrayal (1,900 characters
in his novels);
b. Broad humour & penetrating satire
(Qian Zhongshu learned from him in this)
c. Complicated & fascinating plot
-- major plots+ minor plots// parallel major
plots, suspense & mystery, happy ending
(esp. earlier works);
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Features of Dickens Novels
d. The power of exposure
novel as instrument of morality & justice
The publication of Oliver Twist helped improve
the living conditions of the workers in London)
e. Advocation of humanism (love, tolerance
mercy & romantic realism )
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Significance of Dickens’ Novels
a. Dickens was praised for having described
London “like a special correspondent for
posterity”.
b. Dickens’ role in the development of Victorian
novel:
he was more dramatic than realistic (his
heightening & stylization)-- “Every writer
of fiction, although he may not adopt the
dramatic form, writes, in effect, for the
stage.”
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• Controversy over Dickens as a novelist

a revolutionary writer?

a proletarian writer?

a middle-class writer?
(Actually Dickens is mainly concerned with the
middle class. He is not radical, and his social
criticism is confined to moral and ethical issues.
His wish for social reform is more related to the
improvement of social morality than the change
of social structure – and the middle class plays
the major role. Dickens is rather dubious about
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Dickens is rather dubious about the labour
union and revolution. He emphasizes
education, but does not propose any concrete
plans.
• Dickens’ political, racial thought:
Some believe that Dickens pays no
attention to politics, and does not have racial
and imperialist ideas, but it’s not true.
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• Novelists in early 20th C. mostly followed George
Eliot & led the current – underestimation of the
Victorian novels;
• Thackeray’s comparison of himself with
Dickens at death:
“I am played out. All I can do now is to bring
out my old puppets… But, if he live to be
ninety, Dickens will still be creating new
characters. In his art that man is marvelous.”
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Great Expectations
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Great Expectations
Great Expectations is
a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first
publishedin serial form in the
publication All the Year Roundfrom 1
December 1860 to August 1861.
It has been adapted for stage
and screen over 250 times
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Pip as an Orphan
Parents passed away.
Pip was raised up by his sister and brother-in-law
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Pip’s Sister
She is not satisfies with her marriage with a
blacksmith, so she hoped Pip might lead a more
decent life.
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Joe, Pip’s brother-in-law
blacksmith
Silent and Kind-hearted man
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Magwitch and Pip
Pip is an orphan while Magwitch is an convict
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Pip’s benevolence towards Magwitch
Pip took some food from his sister’s house and
brought it to Magwitch in the graveyard. 21
Magwitch was caught by the police and sent away.
22
Miss Havisham
a lady abandoned by her fiancee
She asked Pip to visit her house with the hope
of favoring him
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Pip as Blacksmith
Pip was not favored by Miss Havisham, and
became a apprentice to Joe.
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A Magical Change
Pip was funded to become a gentleman by one who
would not like to reveal his name.
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Empire and Convict
Convicts
were
considered
dangerous for the society, so they
were sent away to overseas colonies,
never to be back to the home
country.
Austrilia, as a colony for the
settlement of convicts
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An English Dream to be Gentleman
Orphan
blacksmith
gentleman
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Pip as a disillusioned man
In the novel, Pip asended the rungs of
social ladder, it seemed that he had little
chance to better his life.
 Without the financial support from the colony,
he would never be a gentleman.
Pip’s dream was broken when Magwitch
returned to England and was arrested by the
police.
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