“In all of English literature, his creativity is rivaled only by Shakespeare's.”

Charles Dickens• Charles Dickens

was the son of John and Elizabeth Barrow Dickens.

• John was a navy paymaster and couldn’t manage money.

Debtor’s Prison

• In 1824, John Dickens was thrown into a debtor’s prison.

• His whole family had to work off his debt.

Debtor’s Prison• Had Joe not paid

Pip’s debt, he would have been sent to prison.

• Irony: consider how much Pip disdains prison system.

Warren’s Blacking Factory

• In 1824 at age 12, Dickens was pulled from school so that he could work to help pay his father’s debt.

Warren’s Blacking Factory

• The experience in the factory was very traumatic, and Dickens resented his parents greatly.

• This is reflected in almost all of his works.

• With Dickens, there are few happy, complete families.

Charles Dickens

• In the factory, he makes shoe polish and vows to NEVER be poor again.

• His kids never knew that he worked in a factory.

Maria Beadnell• In 1830, he meets

Maria Beadnell, whom he loves.

• She is very wealthy and thinks that he will amount to nothing.

• They date briefly, but she breaks up with him in 1833.

Maria Beadnell• Critics often say

that Estella in Great Expectations is modeled off this ex-girlfriend.

Maria Beadnell• In 1850, Dickens is

the most famous person in the world.

• Maria writes to him– but he is married with kids.

• They meet, and she is fat, ugly, and immature.

Catherine Hogarth• In 1836, Dickens

married Catherine Hogarth.

• She is described as a “modestly intelligent, unimaginative, and young woman when he was twenty-four and she twenty-one.”

Catherine Hogarth• However, after

having ten children, Catherine became fat and clumsy.

• She began to remind Dickens of his mother.

Ellen Ternan• In 1857, after

being married 20 years, he blames his wife for always being fat and pregnant.

• He separates from her after meeting 18 year old actress Ellen Ternan.

Great Expectations• Great Expectations

was published in 1860-1861

• Autobiographical• Dickens’ darkest

work• Well-received by

public

Autobiographical • Poverty of a young

boy• Mistreated by

family• Unrequited love• Discomfort with

rise to gentleman status

Characteristics • Written in 1st

person (this was a new technique—Jane Eyre).

• Had two endings (more on that later).

• Serialized

Serialized Novels• Victorian novels

were serialized- published a few chapters at a time in newspapers or magazines.

• Mudies- like Blockbuster for books.

Charles Dickens • Dickens dies at the

age of 58 from a stroke.

• He was in the middle of a novel– The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

• Pip’s sister tells her that “Hulks are prison-ships, right ‘cross the marshes” (14).

An old forge and cottage believed to be the inspiration for the home of Joe Gargery, that simple, gentle giant of a village blacksmith, who is such a friend and ally to Pip in Great Expectations.

• Restoration House was so called because Charles II stayed here in 1600 on his way to reclaim England's throne.

• In Great Expectations Dickens used it as the model for Miss Havisham's Satis House and has Pip describe it thus: "I had stopped to look at the house as I passed, and its seared red-brick walls, blocked windows, and strong green ivy clasping even the stacks of the chimneys with its twigs and tendons, as if with sinewy old arms, had made up a rich attractive mystery, of which I was the hero.”

Chapter 20-21Pip Meets London

“I was content to take a foggy view of the Inn through the window’s encrusting dirt, and to stand dolefully looking out, saying to myself that London was decidedly overrated”

(174).

PopulationPopulation YearYear

1 million1 million 18001800

1.75 million1.75 million 18311831

2.4 million2.4 million 18501850

4.54.5 Before 1900Before 1900

The River Thames (TIMS)- was 800-1500 feet wide and flowed through the city.

Pip and his friends attempt to help Magwitch escape on the River Thames.

At 8:00 am the sky turned black.

Lamps had to be lit during the day.

The smoke extended 4 miles beyond the city.

People would wander into the Thames and drown.

Streets were full of horse waste and mud.

No sewage system- chamber pots were thrown into street, and waste was dumped in river.

No one wore light colors.

In 1832, 445 were killed per week

Total- 6,700Later killed 15,000From dirty water

and waste

Amount SoldAmount Sold AnimalAnimal

180,780180,780 CattleCattle

1,360,2501,360,250 SheepSheep

254,672254,672 PigsPigs

22,50022,500 CalvesCalves

In the middle of city- only way to get fresh meat

Tons of animal waste and guts flowed into street- no drainage…

“So, I came into Smithfield; and the shameful place, being all asmear with filth and fat and blood and foam, seemed to stick to me. So, I rubbed it off with all possible speed by turning into a street where I saw the great black dome of Saint Paul's bulging at me from behind a grim stone building…” (165).

Alcatraz of the day; Hard core criminalsWemmick and Pip visit one of Jaggers’

clients there in chapter 32.