Charles Dickens

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Biography of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English Victorian era author wrote numerous highly acclaimed
novels including his most autobiographical David Copperfield(1848-1850);

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station
will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the
beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and
believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock
began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.
As a prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non, during
his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of
prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, mores and values of his
times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much
awareness to their plight, the downtrodden and the have-nots. He had his share of critics
like Virginia Woolf and Henry James, but also many admirers, even into the 21st Century.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote numerous introductions to his works, collected in his Appreciations
and Criticisms of the works of Charles Dickens (1911) and in his highly acclaimed
biography Charles Dickens (1906) he writes: He was the voice in England of this humane
intoxication and expansion, this encouraging of anybody to be anything. Critic John Forster (18121876) became his best friend, editor of many of his serialisations, and official biographer after his
death, publishing The Life of Charles Dickens in 1874. Scottish poet and authorAndrew
Lang (1844-1912) included a letter to Dickens in his Letters to Dead Authors (1886). Elbert
Hubbard (1856-1915) in his Little Journeys (1916) series follows in the footsteps of Dickens
through his old haunts in London. George Gissing (1857-1903) also respected his works and
wrote several introductions for them, as well as his Charles Dickens: A Critical Study (1898) in
which he writes: Humour is the soul of his work. Like the soul of man, it permeates a living fabric
which, but for its creative breath, could never have existed. While George Orwell (1903-1950) was
at times a critic of Dickens, in his 1939 essay Charles Dickens he, like many others before, again
brought to light the author still relevant today and worthy of continued study: Nearly everyone,
whatever his actual conduct may be, responds emotionally to the idea of human brotherhood.
Dickens voiced a code which was and on the whole still is believed in, even by people who violate
it. It is difficult otherwise to explain why he could be both read by working people (a thing that has
happened to no other novelist of his stature) and buried in Westminster Abbey.
Charles John Huffman Dickens was born on 7 February, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire,
England (now the Dickens Birthplace Museum) the son of Elizabeth ne Barrow (1789-1863) and

John Dickens (c.1785-1851) a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. John was a congenial man,
hospitable and generous to a fault which caused him financial difficulties throughout his life. He
inspired the character Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield (1849-1850). Charles had an older
brother Frances, known as Fanny, and younger siblings Alfred Allen, Letitia Mary, Harriet,
Frederick William known as Fred, Alfred Lamert, and Augustus Newnham.
When Dickens father was transferred to Chatham in Kent County, the family settled into the
genteel surroundings of a larger home with two live-in servantsone being Mary Weller who was
young Charles nursemaid. Dickens was a voracious reader of such authors as Henry
Fielding, Daniel Defoe, and Oliver Goldsmith. When he was not attending the school of William
Giles where he was an apt pupil, he and his siblings played games of make-believe, gave
recitations of poetry, sang songs, and created theatrical productions that would spark a lifelong
love of the theatre in Dickens. But household expenses were rising and in 1824, John Dickens
was imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea Prison. All of the family went with him except for
Charles who, at the age of twelve, was sent off to work at Warrens Shoe Blacking Factory to help
support the family, pasting labels on boxes. He lived in a boarding house in Camden Town and
walked to work everyday and visited his father on Sundays.
It was one of the pivotal points in Dickens education from the University of Hard Knocks and
would stay with him forever. The idyllic days of his childhood were over and he was rudely
introduced to the world of the working poor, where child labour was rampant and few if any adults
spared a kind word for many abandoned or orphaned children. Many of his future characters like
Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Philip Pirrip would be based on his own experiences. The
appalling working conditions, long hours and poor pay typical of the time were harsh, but the
worst part of the experience was that when his father was released his mother insisted he
continue to work there. While he felt betrayed by and resented her for many years to come, his
father arranged for him to attend the Wellington House Academy in London as a day pupil from
1824-1827, perhaps saving him from a life of factory work and setting him on the road to
becoming a writer.
In 1827 the Dickens were evicted from their home in Somers Town for unpaid rent dues and
Charles had to leave school. He obtained a job as a clerk in the law firm of Ellis and Blackmore.
He soon learned shorthand and became a court reporter for the Doctors Commons. He spent
much of his spare time reading in the British Museums library and studying acting. In 1830 he
met and fell in love with Maria Beadnell, though her father sent her to finishing school in Paris a
few years later. In 1833, his first story of many, A Dinner at Poplar Walk was published in
the Monthly Magazine. He also had some sketches published in theMorning Chronicle which in
1834 he began reporting for and adopted the pseudonym Boz. At this time Dickens moved out
on his own to live as a bachelor at Furnivals Inn, Holborn. His father was arrested again for debts
and Charles bailed him out, and for many years later both his parents and some of his siblings
turned to him for financial assistance.
Dickens first book, a collection of stories titled Sketches by Boz was published in 1836, a fruitful
year for him. He married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of the editor of the Evening Chronicle on 2
April, 1836, at St. Lukes in Chelsea. A year later they moved into 48 Doughty Street, London,
now a museum. The couple would have ten children: Charles Culliford Boz (b.1837), Mary
(Mamie) (1838-1838), Kate Macready (b.1839), Walter Landor (b.1841), Francis (Frank) Jeffrey
(b.1844), Alfred Tennyson (b.1845), Sydney Smith (b.1847), Henry Fielding (b.1849), Dora Annie

(1850-1851), Edward Bulwer Lytton (b.1852). Also in the same year, 1836, Dickens became
editor for Bentleys Miscellany of whichPickwick Papers (1836-1837) was first serialised.
Thus began a prolific and commercially successful period of Dickens life as a writer. Most of his
novels were first serialised in monthly magazines as was a common practice of the time. Oliver
Twist between 1837 and 1839 was followed by Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839), The Old Curiosity
Shop (1840-1841), andBarnaby Rudge (1841). Dickens series of five Christmas Books were
soon to follow; A Christmas Carol (1843), The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the
Hearth(1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man (1848). Dickens had found a
readership who eagerly anticipated his next installments.
After the death of Catherines sister Mary in 1837 the couple holidayed in various parts of
England. After Dickens resigned from Bentleys in 1839, they moved to 1 Devonshire Terrace,
Regents Park. Further travels to the United States and Canada in 1842 led to his
controversial American Notes (1842).Martin Chuzzlewit was first serialised in 1843. The next year
the Dickens traveled through Italy and settled in Genoa for a year of which his Pictures From
Italy (1846) was written.
Dombey and Son (1846) was his next publication, followed by David Copperfield(1849). In 1850
he started his own weekly journal Household Words which would be in circulation for the next
nine years. From 1851 to 1860 the Dickens lived at Tavistock House where Charles became
heavily involved in amateur theatre. He wrote, directed, and acted in many productions at home
with his children and friends, often donating the money raised from ticket sales to those in need.
He collaborated with Wilkie Collins on the drama No Thoroughfare(1867). Novels to follow
were Bleak House (1852-1853), Hard Times (1854), and Little Dorrit (1855-1857). In 1856
Dickens purchased Gads Hill, his last place of residence near Rochester in Kent County. He
continued in the theatre as well, acting in Wilkie Collins The Frozen Deep in 1857 with actress
Ellen Ternan (1839-1914) playing opposite him. The two fell in love and Dickens would leave
Catherine a year later.
By now Dickens was widely read in Europe and in 1858 he set off on a tour of public readings. A
year later he founded his second weekly journal All the Year Round, the same year A Tale of Two
Cities (1859) was first serialised. Great Expectations (1860-1861) was followed by Our Mutual
Friend (1864-1865). In 1865, traveling back from Paris with Ellen and her mother, they were
involved in the disastrous Staplehurst train crash, of which Dickens sustained minor injuries, but
never fully recovered from the post-traumatic shock of it. Two years later he traveled to America
for a reading tour. His farewell readings took place in Londons St. James Hall. Charles Dickens
died from a cerebral hemorrhage on 9 June 1870 at his home, Gads Hill. He is buried in Poets
Corner of Westminster Abbey, London, his tomb inscribed thus: He was a sympathiser to the
poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of Englands greatest writers is lost
to the world. Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish historian and author, upon hearing of his
death said: The good, the gentle, high-gifted, ever-friendly, noble Dickensevery inch of him an
honest man.Unfinished at his death, The Mystery of Edwin Drood was published in 1870.

My father had left a small collection of books in a little room upstairs, to which I
had access (for it adjoined my own) and which nobody else in our house ever
troubled. From that blessed little room, Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle,
Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, the Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Blas,

and Robinson Crusoe, came out, a glorious host, to keep me company. They
kept alive my fancy, and my hope of something beyond that place and time, they, and the Arabian Nights, and the Tales of the Genii, - and did me no harm;
for whatever harm was in some of them was not there for me; I knew nothing of
it. It is astonishing to me now, how I found time, in the midst of my porings and
blunderings over heavier themes, to read those books as I did.Ch. 4, David
Copperfield
Biography written by C.D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2006. All Rights Reserved.
The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission.
Forum Discussions on Charles Dickens

Recent Forum Posts on Charles Dickens

An Accomplished writer
I'm reading Little Dorrit, and I find it fascinating. I've read 3 other books by Dickens: Oliver Twist,
The Pickwick Papers, and A Tale of Two Cities. He was such an accomplished writer. I'm
marveled at his delicacy in conveying his characters' feelings and thoughts. When I read him I
find myself pausing and thinking: 'Oh Charles, how wonderful you were at describing and
portraying.' Have you read any of the books I mention here? How did you like them?...
Posted By Carmilla in Dickens, Charles || 36 Replies

The letter
SPOILERS: I was slightly puzzelled by Dr Manette's letter that was read out in Charles Darnay's
second trial. When I checked back to the chapter in which the Bastille was stormed, it seemed like
M Defarge never found any letter. He sook out the tower in which Dr Manette had been
imprisoned, but didn't find anything. So, was the letter a forgery? Why wasn't it produced at
Darnay's first trial? OTOH, how is it that the story matched up with Mme Defarge's family history,
and how come Dr Manette's face used to cloud over when he saw Charles Defarge?...
Posted By kev67 in Dickens, Charles || 2 Replies

Dickens' meeting with Dostoevsky

I was disappointed to read that the meeting between Dickens and Dostoevsky never happened.
They were supposed to have met in 1862 when Dostoevsky was in London, but it seems the
article in which the meeting was first referred to was a fraud. Still, it led to quite an amusing article
in the TLS....
Posted By kev67 in Dickens, Charles || 3 Replies

Dickens' influence on society

How influential was Charles Dickens on society in the countries in which he was read? He
seemed to be more than a popular author. He was a campaigner on social issues. The 19th

century was one of great change and great social reform. For example, at the start of that century,
you might be executed for dozens of not particularly serious offences. By the end of the century,
you would only be hanged for premeditated murder. I don't think that had much to do with
Dickens, but perhaps there were others issues in which he was more influential. For instance,
children started to get some rights, including state provided education by the 1870s. Divorce laws
were loosened just a little bit. Dickens wa...
Posted By kev67 in Dickens, Charles || 2 Replies

Essays about Dickens

I recently read George Orwell's long essay on Charles Dickens, in which he referred to George
Gissing's essay on the famous author, written in 1898. Gissing was a big Dickens fan too, at a
time when Dickens' stock had fallen. When I searched for it, I noticed there was yet another essay
about Dickens, written by G.K. Chesterton in 1906. Being a philistine and an ignoramus, I cannot
remember having heard of G.K. Chesterton before, but he is esteemed enough to have his own
forum on this site. Wouldn't it be a really great assignment to inflict on some English literature
students to write an essay about essays on Dickens?...
Posted By kev67 in Dickens, Charles || 4 Replies

Is it true quote by charles dickens about "imam Hussain"

I would like to know if this quote by Charles Dickens about "Imam Hussain" is real or fake ?? If
this is real,in which book he mentioned this quote?? If Husain had fought to quench his worldly
desiresthen I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to
reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam....
Posted By Alirez in Dickens, Charles || 2 Replies

Holy Literary Reference,Batman!

The Dark Knight Rises is, as rumored, full of references, both visual and verbal to Dickens "A Tale
Of Two Cities" including: Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon reading the final words of
Syndey Carton at the funeral for Bruce Wayne/Batman. Hey ,any tool to get kids to read the
book.......
Posted By dudalb in Dickens, Charles || 0 Replies

Dickens or Bulwer-Lytton
Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton gets a bad rap these days. There is the Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest
for the worst opening sentence in a book. That's a little unfair. "It was a dark and windy night..."
was not so much of a clich when he wrote it. He is often blamed for persuading Charles Dickens
to change the ending of Great Expectations. Well, why did Dickens ask him for his opinion if he
was so sure of it? Anyway, someone called Mikhail Simkin has set up a quiz in which extracts of
some of Dickens' and Bulwer-Lytton's best work is reproduced, and you have to guess who wrote
which. I scored...
Posted By kev67 in Dickens, Charles || 8 Replies

What is wrong with Charles Dickens?

Now I am a puny figure to to say this as there is pun intended here (earnestly requesting people
here to take it not very seriously). So I will bring in other giants whom I love. Oscar Wilde, Henry
James and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein
of saccharine sentimentalism. I started reading Great Expectations and my expectations were
betrayed. :-D I could no go past 50 pages. So... what is wrong with Charles Dickens? Will people
better acquainted with Charles Dickens shed some light here? Well developed fierce responses
are most welcomed. Please avoid venting frustration here, that is not going to make any point
here....
Posted By dark desire in Dickens, Charles || 9 Replies

Dickens and school

Do you think schools do Dickens many favours by using his books so much in English Literature
classes? I remember doing bits of A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities and Great
Expectations at school. We never did the whole book, just sections. Maybe we were supposed to
read the rest for homework. My impression of Dickens' work back then was that it was turgid,
wordy, dense, difficult to read and old fashioned. It put me off Dickens for about thirty years before
deciding to give him another chance on his 200th anniversary. When I read some of the
comments by school pupils, I suspect he is having the same effect on them....
Posted By kev67 in Dickens, Charles || 19 Replies

Charles Dickens Describes My Home Town . . . What a Douchebag.

Since it is ol' CD's 200th birfday this year, my local newspaper, the Belleville News Democrat
(named after the town I live in) wrote an article about a visit Dickens's made to Belleville and other
surrounding towns. He wrote about it in his book American Notes. Suffice it to say he was not
impressed. Here are some of the highlighted quotes from the article: "The journey to Belleville
was described as one of "nothing more than slimy, stagnant, filthy water and log houses in a
squalid state. ... It is a small collection of wooden houses huddled together in the very heart of the
bush and swamp.' " "At the time of his visit to Belleville, the Mansion House at Main and High
stree...
Posted By Mutatis-Mutandis in Dickens, Charles || 29 Replies

The best of times and the worst of times

There is a similarity in my writing to the works of various artists in the last century: Picasso's
revolutionary paintings, T.S. Eliot's verse with its strange juxtapositions and odd perspectives,
Igor Stravinskys music and its clashing sounds. Even if one accepts these similarities, readers
may find that their natural reaction to my work is to want to throw it into the dustbin of
autobiographical history. I would anticipate this response given the conventional, the natural,
reaction to literary works of this type on the part of many a student I have taught and got to know
over the years. The desire for an orderly impulse, a simple, an exciting, narrative sequence may
produce in many...

Great Expectations
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Introduction
Oprah picked Great Expectations for her Book Club in December 2010. You may read it for
free here on our website.

First published between 1860-1861.

Great Expectations is a very old story, so interesting. From the cover you think "what's the point of
reading this?" then when you look at the pages you think I will never finish this. Well for a matter
of fact this story has words that will improve your literature skills to a very high level; it may have
some high standard words but that is only to help improve your English. Great Expectations is
about love, family, and rejection as Pip and Miss Havisham have both been rejected in certain
ways. Pip is the main character, a boy around 13 years old, easy to fright, and goes through his
life suffering lots of sadness. He is in love with a girl named Estella and wants her to find his love,
but for him being shy and not showing himself to her, it makes it very hard for him.

Pip meets an escaped convict, Magwitch, and gives him food, in an encounter that is to haunt
both their lives. When Pip receives riches from a mysterious benefactor he snobbishly abandons
his friends for London society and his 'great expectations'. He grows through misfortune and
suffering to maturity in the theme of Dicken's best-loved novels. Dickens blends gripping drama
with penetrating satire to give a compelling story rich in comedy and pathos: he has also created
two of his finest, most haunting characters in Pip ans Miss Havisham.--Submitted by Louis Kisitu

This is the story of Pip, an orphan boy adopted by a blacksmiths family. Pip learns how to find
happiness. He learns the meaning of friendship and the meaning of love and he becomes a better
person for it.--Submitted by Anonymous

This novel is about a boy named Pip. He is an orphan who lives with his sister and his father-inlaw Joe, his best friend. Joe is the local blacksmith who may not be the sharpest crayon in the
box, but he is kind to Pip. The story begins at a graveyard and the reader sees Pip looking at the
gravestones of his mother and father. Then suddenly a convict appears and tells Pip to steal food
and a file to free him. The story only gets crazier from there. After Pip gets apprenticed to Joe, a
mysterious benefactor comes and gives Pip the chance to become a gentleman, which he
accepts in order to impress Estella, a noble young girl.--Submitted by Anonymous

Great Expectations is one of the most important novels of its time. It follows the life of young Pip,
from his awakening to life. This first chapter is worth memorizing for you or to impress your
friends. Great literature! It goes on to tell the story of a young working class lad in England, who
inherits a fortune from an unknown source and becomes a gentleman. In this process, he meets
the beautiful Estelle and falls in love. The fact that he feels unworthy and the truth about his
benefactor loom large. It is the answers to these questions that leave us thinking about this novel,
these characters and what it means to have status. The great author Dickens wrote this such a
long ago, yet it rings true; though I wonder how many self-made men can call themselves
gentlemen?--Yours Truly, Lisa Hobbs

Great Expectations is a dramatic novel; we are prepared for this by the drama of the opening
chapter. Charles Dickens uses an advanced language that plants a clear insight of the setting, the
character profiles, and the novels' historic aspects. Pip, the main character of this novel is
orphaned from the start. The opening chapter shows this vulnerable child visiting his family; cold
and alone standing in front of the seven graves of his mum, his dad, and his five brothers. Pip's
situation is desperate, like his view on life, and challenged. This creates a dramatic entrance for
Magwich, the escaped convict who threatens Pip with his life for the return of three unimportant
items of food, water, and a file for his irons. By the end of this chapter Pip is left fleeing for his life
in dramatic blur.--Submitted by Nikki Howick

This may be one of the most impressive books I have ever read. It tells the story of a young boy
who becomes a man; it shows our Pip (his name) as he truly was. I mean, the author never
justified his behaviour, not even when he was weak and offensive. Pip is not a hero, he is just
human being. He is not a criminal either, you can say he didn't do anything extraordinary such as
save the world nor invent the light bulb. In change, he grew in compassion and gratitude. With
him we learn the "worst sides of the human nature"; he loses his fortune, but at the end he
accomplishes his "Great Expectations".--Submitted by Anonymous

This was for me a study book for GCE exams in about 1960. I didn't like it. Ten years later and in
my own time I read it again and again and loved it. I still do. I must read it again.--Submitted by
Bernard Gajewski
Fan of this book? Help us introduce it to others by writing a better introduction for it. It's quick and
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Recent Forum Posts on Great

Expectations
An article into which Joe's destiny led him.
In the following sentence in chapter 4 of Great Expectations, Dickens wrote : "Mrs. Joe was
prodigiously busy in getting the house ready for the festivities of the day, and Joe had been put
upon the kitchen door-step to keep him out of the dust-panan article into which his destiny
always led him, sooner or later, when my sister was vigorously reaping the floors of her
establishment." Please explain what Dickens implied when he said the dust-pan was an article
into which Joe's destiny always led him.
Posted By noumenon52 at Mon 29 Jul 2013, 4:06 PM in Great Expectations || 3 Replies

Some explanations needed.

In chapter 3 of Great Expectations, when Pip wondered that the convict didn't hear the cannon
the previous night. The convict said: Why, see now! said he. When a man's alone on these
flats, with a light head and a light stomach, perishing of cold and want, he hears nothin' all night,
but guns firing, and voices calling. Hears? He sees the soldiers, with their red coats lighted up by

the torches carried afore, closing in round him. Hears his number called, hears himself
challenged, hears the rattle of the muskets, hears the orders Make ready! Present! Cover him
steady, men! and is laid hands onand there's nothin'! Why, if I see one pursuing party last night
coming up in order, Damn 'em, with their tramp, trampI see a hundred. And as to firing! Why,
I see the mist shake with the cannon, arter it was broad dayBut this man; he had said all the
rest as if he had forgotten my being there; did you notice anything in him? I don't quite
understand what the convict tried to tell Pip. Did he just imagine what another convict might have
heard and seen? Did he himself see the pursuing soldiers and hear the cannon? What did he
mean when he said ".. and is laid hands onand there's nothin'! Why, if I see one pursuing party
last nightcoming up in order, Damn 'em, with their tramp, trampI see a hundred. And as to
firing! Why, I see the mist shake with the cannon, arter it was broad day---" ? Please explain.
Posted By noumenon52 at Sat 27 Jul 2013, 3:51 AM in Great Expectations || 2 Replies

New perspective on Great Expectations

In 1858 Dickens wrote six letters (five unpublished) to Patrick-Allan Fraser of Arbroath who
wished to gift Hawkesbury Hall near Coventry to Dickens' Guild of Literature and Art. As writer-inresidence at Hospitalfield, I've just read the letters and have reflected on how Pip's Great
Expectations may have been inspired (in part) by the author's, as the book was conceived around
this time, though not written until 'All the Year Round' needed an injection of quality writing in
1860/61. Anyway, to read more about the research, the link is patisback.co.uk though you'll have
to add the w bits as well. Let me know if it's of interest! Duncan McLaren
Posted By duncanmclaren at Sat 6 Jul 2013, 6:14 PM in Great Expectations || 0 Replies

Do character ages and timelines match?

Do the ages and timelines of the characters in this book add up? In the first chapter, Pip seems
about eight years old. Then, according to the book, he first visits Miss Havisham a year later. Here
he meets Estella, who Pip thinks is about his own age, although she seems older. The way she
talks about the brewery and what 'satis' means makes her sound older than nine. Pip seems
somewhat older too. For example, he uses the word melancholy instead of sad. I would say they
were both at least eleven. In most films and TV series, the young Estella looks about thirteen.
Reading the book I imagined her being prepubescent, although Pip does say that one of the
reasons she appeared older was that she was a girl. I am sure the book says he only visited the
house for about ten months before he was apprenticed to Joe. Apprenticeships usually started at
about age fourteen, so some more years seem to have disappeared from Pip's childhood. Pip
learns of his Great Expectations four years later, when he would be eighteen. This just about
gives Magwitch time to be transported to Australia, serve his seven years forced labour and to
start making lots of money. I also wondered about the ages of the older characters. Magwitch was
described as about sixty when he comes back to see Pip, and he is still quite an active man. That
makes him about forty-five when he first terrorises Pip in the graveyard, which is plausible. He
would have been thirty-seven when he fathered Estella with Molly, which is plausible too. I am
pretty sure he said Compeyson was described as being a younger man than Magwitch.

Compeyson was supposed to marry Miss Havisham, so presumably they are about the same
age. If anything, Miss Havisham would probably be a bit younger. If Compeyson is five years
younger than Magwitch, and Miss Havisham is one year younger than Compeyson, that makes
her fifty-four when things come to a head, and only thirty-nine when she first meets Pip. That
seems far too young. When Pip first meets her, she already seems like an old crone; she leans on
his shoulder to exercise around her dining room. However, she does not seem to have aged any
fifteen years later. In addition, Herbert tells Pip that Compeyson jilted Miss Havisham twenty-five
years before they were born, which would make that forty-three years previously. If Miss
Havisham was twenty when she was jilted, that would make her between fifty-three and fifty-six
when she first met Pip, and sixty-eight when she died. Jaggers usually appears quite old in the
TV and film adaptions, but his defence of Molly was the case that made his name as a lawyer.
Say he was twenty-five at the time. That would make him forty when he meets Pip in the Jolly
Bargemen and forty-five when everything goes badly wrong.
Posted By kev67 at Sun 20 May 2012, 3:18 PM in Great Expectations || 2 Replies

Physical abuse
Do you think there is a disturbing message in GE that domestic abuse made Estella a better
person? Evidently, Estella was damaged by Miss Havisham, but that was by psychological abuse,
not physical. Miss Havisham would never allow anyone else to chastise Estella; hence her
impertinence to adults like Mr Pumblechook and Miss Camilla. Pip's male role model as a child
was Joe. Joe never retaliates against his wife's beatings.Therefore Pip learns not retaliate when
he is abused, either by his sister or Estella. Pip does not believe even Bentley Drummle would be
scoundrel enough to beat his wife, when Jaggers suggests it. Evidently, Estella's experience of
Pip was not good preparation for a life with Drummle. In the last chapter, Estella says she has
been bent and broken, but hopefully into better shape. That is not a very edifying message.
Posted By kev67 at Mon 14 May 2012, 10:28 PM in Great Expectations || 0 Replies

Best TV or film adaption?

I finished watching the 1981 BBC twelve part (or is it thirteen) series yesterday on YouTube. The
production values weren't brilliant, but it was reasonably faithful to the book. Some of the
meetings and events are compressed or occur in the wrong place or out of order, no doubt due to
time and budget constraints. A lot of Dickens' lines survive though. I thought Joan Hickson was
great as Miss Havisham, Stratford Johns was just as good as Magwich, and Derek Francis good
as Jaggers. I thought Phillip Joseph was excellent as Joe Gargery, although he did not look much
older than Pip. The actors who played Orlick and Bentley Drummle were appropriately
unpleasant. I thought Sarah-Jane Varley's performance as Estella was odd. She seemed rather
glassy. Maybe she was trying to portray her as clinically depressed. Actually, Patsy Kensit who
played young Estella also seemed rather sullen and depressed, not something I got from the
book. A lot of the cast seemed a bit too old, particularly Pip, Herbert and Biddy. They're supposed
to be teenagers when Pip leaves for London, but they all look in their mid to late twenties. Even
Jaggers and Miss Havisham seem a bit older than they should be. The only one who is too young

is Joe. Except for being a tad too old, I thought Gerry Sandquist, who played Pip, was pretty
good. However he wasn't quite a good enough actor to deliver some of those speeches well
enough. The series is slightly plodding, but each episode is only 25 mins, which is about as much
as I can take at a time anyway. I may give the 1946 David Lean version a go. The clips I've seen
on YouTube look excellent. John Mills and Alec Guiness were way too old to play Pip and Herbert,
but I suppose I will have to crank up the suspension on my disbelief. The recent BBC adaption
with Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham looks like an utter abortion from the clips I've seen.
Totally miscast with all Dickens' lines replaced by inferior ones. BBC drama output is useless
these days. I have some reservations about the new film that's coming out this year, although it
does have the lovely Holliday Grainger as Estella.
Posted By kev67 at Thu 10 May 2012, 10:14 PM in Great Expectations || 6 Replies

Weddings
One thing that surprised me a bit in Great Expectations were the descriptions of the weddings.
Apart from the one that did not happen, which caused all the problems, and the other disastrous
wedding that took place off screen, there were two others: those between Mr Wemmick and Miss
Skiffins, and Joe and Biddy. They seemed to be so low key. Mr Wemmick does not even tell Pip
he's taking him to his wedding. He just leads him to a church. Apart from the Aged P, there do not
seem to be many guests. Then they head off to an inn for a wedding breakfast. At the end of the
book, Pip goes back home intending to propose to Biddy, only to discover the school and the
forge are shut because Biddy and Joe are at the church getting married. Again, apparently very
few guests. They did not even tell Pip. These days when the average wedding seems to cost
10,000 that seems very strange. These weddings seem more like Las Vegas weddings, or
registry weddings between middle-aged couples on their second or third time around. I seem to
remember that divorce was virtually impossible back then. It took an act of parliament and could
only be granted for a limited number of reasons: infidelity, cruelty or dissertion, I think. I am not
sure, but I don't think you were allowed to re-marry once you did divorce. You could escape a bad
marriage if your spouse died, and that happened often enough, but otherwise you were stuck with
your choice. In addition, sex outside marriage was frowned upon. No doubt it went on, but if you
were a single man and you made a girl pregnant, you were expected to marry her. Marriage was
far more economically and socially important to women then. I would have thought for all these
reasons weddings would be even more socially important occasions than they are now. Even the
wedding between Estella and Bentley Drummle seems to have taken place quite quickly once the
proposal was accepted and I don't suppose there were very many guests (I wonder what the
atmosphere was like at that one).
Posted By kev67 at Tue 8 May 2012, 7:59 PM in Great Expectations || 6 Replies

Miss Havisham's payment of 25 to Joe

One of the things I wondered about in the earlier chapters was why did Miss Havisham request to
see Joe about Pip's apprenticeship? Surely, I thought, it was none of her business. Pip and Joe
come to Satis House and there is an embarrassing episode where Joe cannot bring himself to

speak directly to Miss Havisham. No doubt if Pip's sister or Pumblechook had been allowed to
come, they would have taken charge. Pip may have been almost as embarrassed by them, but he
does not like either of them so at least he would not have felt guilty and ashamed about it.
Anyway, after that, Miss Havisham tells him that Pip has earned a premium and counts out 25.
25 was a lot of money back then, especially as, so far as I can make out, Pip only went there on
alternate afternoons for ten months. (I am rather confused about exactly how long Pip used to
visit Miss Havisham as a child because the time periods and the ages do not seem to add up.
The BBC Great Expectations timeline says he went there for seven years, but I cannot find in the
book where is says that and it does not seem right.) I think the 25 was supposedly to pay for
Pip's indentures, which he needed to become an apprentice. However, according to this link, Joe
would only have needed to pay about 5. I always had the impression that Miss Havisham quickly
came to like Pip. It sounds like she wanted to compensate him well for inflicting Estella on him, as
well as for being such a good guinea pig.
Posted By kev67 at Tue 1 May 2012, 7:14 PM in Great Expectations || 0 Replies

Orlick
Did anyone else get the impression that Orlick was an afterthought? In the first few chapters he is
not mentioned, although apparently he has always been around the forge throughout Pip's
childhood. Then all of a sudden he in introduced and his history is outlined. It seems to me he
was brought in to get Mrs Joe out of the way. I gotta say that the rescue of Pip from Orlick towards
the end of the book was rather weak. That Compeyson-Orlick plot to lure Pip away to the
sluicehouse and kill him is inconsistent with Compeyson's plot to have Magwitch arrested on the
river. If Pip is killed, the Magwitch escape plan is hardly likely to be put in action. At least Dickens
explains things from his view, which he doesn't bother for a lot of the bad guys. The most
interesting thing to me is that if Pip had never gone to Satis House and met Miss Havisham and
Estella, Orlick may still have murdered him for marrying Biddy.
Posted By kev67 at Sun 29 Apr 2012, 1:55 PM in Great Expectations || 4 Replies

What was Jaggers playing at?

What is Jaggers up to? First, why does he keep Molly the murderess and Estella's birth mother as
his housekeeper? Does she do more than keep his house? Does he have feelings for her similar
to Pip's feelings for Estella? Or perhaps she is an exhibit, a trophy from his first big case win?
Then there is an odd exchange between Wemmick and the turnkey at Newgate Prison referring to
Pip: Turnkey: 'Is this young gentleman one of the 'prentices or articled ones of your office?'
Wemmick: '...Well, supposing Mr Pip is one of them?' Turnkey: 'Why then, he knows what Mr
Jaggers is.' I wondered whether he was hinting Jaggers was gay; however I did not think
homosexuality was acknowledged in nineteenth century British fiction. However, when Mr Jaggers
invites Pip and his three associates to dinner, he takes a shine to Bentley Drummle. That made
me wonder whether Bentley Drummle was an attractive man, something that Pip could not see.
However, at a later meeting after the marriage Jaggers says, "So, Pip! Our friend the Spider has
played his cards. He has won the pool.' It was as much as I could do to assent. "Hah! He is a

promising fellow - in his way - but he may not have it all his own way. The stronger will win in the
end, but the stronger has to be found out first. If he should turn to, and beat her --' After that I
wondered whether Jaggers had seen from the first that Estella would marry Drummle. When I
discovered on the internet that Drummle had died by the end of the book, I wondered whether
there was a second phase to the revenge mission against men and that Jaggers was aware of it.
The first phase would be the breaking of hearts that we all knew about. The second phase would
be to destroy a man. I wondered how she would do it. Maybe she would drive him to suicide. I
found that very depressing because that would mean Estella was a psychopath. However, it did
not turn out that way, so maybe Jaggers just approved of the marriage because he did not want
Estella to continue her cruelty on any man who was not as unpleasant as Bentley Drummle.
Lastly, what type of lawyer is Mr Jaggers? Is he a