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Victorian novelist
Charles Dickens and his five major works
M.K Bhavnagar University
Department of English
Sem 2
Name – Hema Goswami
Roll no. 12
Enrollment no.
2069108420180020
Paper 6: The Victorian
literature
Topic: Victorian novelist Charles Dickens and his
five major works
Introduction
Victorian age
was begins with the reign of Queen Victoria from 20 june 1837 and lasted until
her death on 22 january 1901. In Victorian age there is increasing turn towards
Romanticism, mysticism with regard to religion, social values, and arts. The
Victorian era is a period that possessed sensibilities and characteristics
distinct from the adjacent age. Victorian period was interested in literature.
There were many prominent figure rise, such as Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan
Doyle, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, Robert Louis Stevenson, and William
Mackepeace Thackeray. (wikipedia the free encyclopedia)
Novelists
The
literature of this era is mainly written in English. Novel was most important
in Victorian era just like poetry most important in romantic era.
There are
many important novelists who reflect the characteristics of Victorian
literature of the age:-
1.
Charles
Dickens
2.
William
Thackeray
3.
Three
Bronte Sisters
4.
George
Eliot
5.
Thomas
Hardy
6.
Joseph
Conrad
7.
Rudyard
Kipling
8.
Arthur
Conan Doyle
9.
H.G.
Wells
10.
Oscar Wilde
Charles
Dickens
Charles
Dickens is most famous British Novelist who dominated the first part of
Victorian age. Dickens was born on 7th February, 1812 at Postsmouth,
Hampshire, England and died on 9th june 1870 at Gad’s Hill, near
Chatham, Kent. Dickens is very much popular than other novelists of the age.
The qualities of his work enabled his fame to spread worldwide very quickly. (Collins)
Popular
works
i.
Pickwick
Paper (1836)
ii.
Great
Expectations (1861)
iii.
Nicholas
Nickleby (1839)
iv.
David
Copperfield (1850)
v.
A
Tale of Two Cities (1859)
i) Pickwick
Paper
Charles Dickens first novel is Pickwick Paper.
It was published in 1836. It is a sequence of loosely relayed adventures. Dickens satirized the case of George Norton
in The Pickwick Papers.
Samuel
Pickwick is the main
character of the novel and the founder of Pickwick club. He extent his research
in finding other members of club along with other “Pickwickians” their travels
throughout the English countryside by coach provide the chief theme of the
novel. In this novel there is accurate description of the old coaching inns of
England. Each character in this novel is drawn comically. The character like Alfred
Jingle provides as aura of comic villainy, with his devious tricks
repeatedly landing the Pickwickians into trouble. Through humor Dickens is able
to capture quintessential aspects of English life in the mid-nineteenth
century. (wikipedia the free encyclopedia)
ii)Great
Expectations
It is the
thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens, a bildungsroman that depicts the personal
growth and personal development of an orphan nicknamed Pip. On Christmas eve
Pip encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard, while visiting the
graves of his parents and siblings. He is living with his elder sister and her
husband. The convict scares Pip into stealing food and file.
One day Pip
is taken by his uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, there Pip falls in
love with Estelia, the adopted daughter of Miss Havisham and started dreaming
of becoming a wealthy gentleman, but his hopes are dashed when Miss Havisham
decides to help him become a common laborer in his family’s business. With her
guidance, Pip is apprenticed to his brother in law- Joe. Joe is the village’s
Blacksmith. Pip works in the forge unhappily; there he encounters Joe’s
malicious day laborer. Pip’s sister Mrs joe is viciously attacked and Pip
suspects Orlick for the attack.
A lawyer Mr. Jaggers brings strange news that
a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune. Pip happily assumes that his
previous hopes have come true. Pip went to London and there he befriends a
young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Wemmick (Jagger’s law clerk). Pip
furthers his education by studying with the Tutor Matthew Pocket, Herbert’s
father.
One night a
familiar figure barges into Pip’s room- the convict, Magwitch, who stuns Pip by
announcing that he is the source of Pip’s fortune. Before the revelation, Pip
assumes that Miss Havisham, is the source. A complicated mystery begins to fall
into place when Pip discovers that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter.
Before
Magwitch’s escape attempt, Estella marries an upper-class lout named Bentley
Drummle.
Pip decides
to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Pip works eleven years in Egypt and afterwards
returns to England and visits Joe, Biddy and their son. He also encounters
Estella in the ruined garden at Satis house. There are too many characters in
this novel which confuses the readers. Drummle, her husband treated her badly,
but he dead now. Pip finds that
Estella’s coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and they
meet again. (editors of sparknotes)
iii)
Nicholas Nickleby
Nicholas
Nickleby is the central character of the novel. He sets off to be a
schoolmaster in the north England, after the death of his father. His garrulous
mother finds hard to bear the death of her husband. Nicholas, his sister Kate, and their mother set
out for London. Squeers, is the evil headmaster of Nickleby, whose reign of
terror has resulted in the abuse and deaths of his cringing charges, orphans
and unwanted children. Nicholas leaves the school. When he arrives in London,
he seeks out Newman Noggs, his uncle’s clerk, who hasd promised to help him and
remove the false charges of being a thief that had been brought against him by
Squeers and Ralph Nickleby.
At
Bristol Nicholas meet Vincent Crummles, a theatrical producer. Nicholas becomes
an actor in touring company of Mr. Mrs. crummies. Nicholas rescue a handicapped
boy, the boy revealed to be the illegitimate son of Nicholas’s uncle Ralph
Nickleby, who has also plotted against the innocence of Nicholas’s sister Kate. (kellman)
At the end
of the novel there is happy ending, Nicholas married to Madeline, Kate married
to Frank Cheeryble.
iv)
David Copperfield
It is the
eighth novel by Charles Dickens. The novel’s full title is “The Personal
History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the
younger of Blunderstone Rookery.” It was Dickens’s favorite among his own
novels. The novel describes the journey
of the protagonist David Copperfield. It
also contains disturbing description of child abuse. From childhood to
maturity, it describes all the life events of Copperfield.
After the
death of his father, mother married to Edward Murdstone, During the marriage
David is sent to lodge with Peggotty’s family( housekeeper) in Yarmouth. On his
return David is given a good reason to dislike his stepfather. Soon afterwards
David was sent away to a boarding school, Salem house, under a ruthless
headmaster, Mr. Creakle. There he befriends an older boy, James Steerforth, and
Tommy Traddles. After the death of his mother, he was sent to work for a wine
merchant in London- a business for which Murdstone is a joint owner. There at London David’s landlord is areested
for debt and no one remains to care for David, so he decides to run away.
David’s aunt
helps him a lot and also sends him to a far better school than he last
attended. During term, David Lodges with the lawyer Mr. Wickfield, and his daughter
Agnes, who becomes David’s friend.
After
completing school, David learns to be a proctor. David marries to Dora Spenlow,
but their marriage proves unhappy, because Dora dies early. Afterwards Agnes
encourages David to return to normal life, and then David realizes that he
loves Agnes. They quickly marry and in this marriage, he finds true happiness. (wikipedia the free encyclopedia)
v) A Tale of Two Cities
It is a
historical novel, set in London and Paris before and during the French
Revolution. It is the story about the French Doctor Manette. He is imprisoned
18 year long in Paris. He is released to life in London. He has a daughter
Lucie, whom he never met. She does manage to bring Dr. Manette back into the everyday world. It
is against the condition of French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. Darney
marries Lucie, and on the day of his wedding, he tells Dr. Manette a secret: he
is actually a French Nobleman in disguise.
Long ago, Dr.
Manette scribbled down the history of his own imprisonment and secreted it in a
wall of Bastille. The history tells a sordid tale of rape and murder- crimes
committed by Darnay’s father and brother. Darney and his family head back to
England in safety. Carton (looks exactly like Charles Darnay) takes Darnay’s
place in Prison and dies on the guillotine. (shmoop editorial team)
Conclusion
Charles Dickens was much more than a
great entertainer. The range, compassion, and intelligence of his apprehension
of his society and its shortcomings enriched his novels and made him both one
of the great forces in 19th century Literature and an influential
spokesman of the conscience of his age.
Works Cited
Collins, Philip. Charles Dickens. 2018. 2
february 2018
<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Dickens-British-novelist>.
editors of sparknotes.
"great expectations summary." 2017. www.sparknotes.com.
<www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/summary/>.
kellman, steven g.
"nicholas nickleby summary." 2009. eNotes.com. 3 april 2018
<http://www.enotes.com/topics/nicholas-nickleby>.
shmoop editorial team.
"a tale of two cities summary." 11 november 2008. www.shmoop.com.
3 april 2018 <http://www.shmoop.com/tale-of-two-cities/summary.html>.
wikipedia the free
encyclopedia. "Victorian era." wikipedia the free encyclopedia
28 march 2018.
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