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Charles Dickens' Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist
Western Oregon University Digital Commons@WOU Academic Excellence Showcase Proceedings Student Scholarship 2018-06-02 Charles Dickens’ Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist Ellie Phillips Western Oregon University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/aes Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Phillips, Ellie, "Charles Dickens’ Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist" (2018). Academic Excellence Showcase Proceedings. 150. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/aes/150 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Digital Commons@WOU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Excellence Showcase Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@WOU. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Byrd 1 Ellie Byrd Dr. Lange ENG 218w Charles Dickens’ Corruption and Idealization Personified in Oliver Twist In Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the depictions of corruption and virtue are prevalent throughout most of the novel and take the physical form in the city and the country. Oliver spends much of his time in London among criminals and the impoverished, and here is where Dickens takes the city of London and turns it into a dark and degraded place. Dickens’ London is inherently immoral and serves as a center for the corruption of mind and spirit which is demonstrated through the seedy scenes Dickens paints of London, the people who reside there, and by casting doubt in individuals who otherwise possess a decent moral compass. Furthermore, Dickens’ strict contrast of the country to these scenes further establishes the sinister presence of London. -
London, Radical Culture, and the Making of the Dickensian Aesthetic
London, Radical Culture, and the Making of the Dickensian Aesthetic London, Radical Culture, and the Making of the Dickensian Aesthetic Sambudha Sen The Ohio State University Press / Columbus Copyright © 2012 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sen, Sambudha. London, radical culture, and the making of the Dickensian aesthetic / Sambudha Sen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8142-1192-2 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8142-9293-8 (cd) 1. English fiction—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Dickens, Charles, 1812– 1870—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811–1863— Criticism and interpretation. 4. Literature and society—Great Britain—History—19th century. 5. Radicalism—Great Britain—History—19th century. I. Title. PR861.S46 2012 823'.809—dc23 2012007257 Cover design by Greg Betza Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Adobe Sabon Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 Dickens, Thackeray, and “The Language of Radicalism” 13 CHAPTER 2 The Aesthetics and Politics of Caricature: Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Vanity Fair in Relation to “Radical Expression” 36 CHAPTER 3 Re-Visioning the City: The Making of an Urban Aesthetic from Hogarth to the Stereoscope 65 CHAPTER 4 Novelizing the City: Bleak House, Vanity Fair, and the Hybridizing Challenge 94 CHAPTER 5 Radical Culture, the City, and the Problem of Selfhood: Great Expectations and Pendennis 116 CHAPTER 6 Working with Fragments: Our Mutual Friend as a Reflection on the Popular Aesthetic 141 Notes 163 Bibliography 177 Index 184 IllUSTRATIONS 1. -
THE PICKWICK PAPERS Required Reading for the Dickens Universe
THE PICKWICK PAPERS Required reading for the Dickens Universe, 2007: * Auden, W. H. "Dingley Dell and the Fleet." The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays. New York: Random House, 1962. 407-28. * Marcus, Steven. "The Blest Dawn." Dickens: From Pickwick to Dombey. New York: Basic Books, 1965. 13-53. * Patten, Robert L. Introduction. The Pickwick Papers. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972. 11-30. * Feltes, N. N. "The Moment of Pickwick, or the Production of a Commodity Text." Literature and History: A Journal for the Humanities 10 (1984): 203-217. Rpt. in Modes of Production of Victorian Novels. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. * Chittick, Kathryn. "The qualifications of a novelist: Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist." Dickens and the 1830s. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. 61-91. Recommended, but not required, reading: Marcus, Steven."Language into Structure: Pickwick Revisited," Daedalus 101 (1972): 183-202. Plus the sections on The Pickwick Papers in the following works: John Bowen. Other Dickens : Pickwick to Chuzzlewit. Oxford, U.K.; New York: Oxford UP, 2000. Grossman, Jonathan H. The Art of Alibi: English Law Courts and the Novel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. Woloch, Alex. The One vs. The Many: Minor Characters and the Space of the Protagonist in the Novel. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2003. 1 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Compiled by Hillary Trivett May, 1991 Updated by Jessica Staheli May, 2007 For a comprehensive bibliography of criticism before 1990, consult: Engel, Elliot. Pickwick Papers: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1990. CRITICISM Auden, W. H. "Dingley Dell and the Fleet." The Dyer's Hand and Other Essays. New York: Random House, 1962. -
Fiction Excerpt: from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Fiction Excerpt: From Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist was the second novel written by Charles Dickens. It was first published as a serial, with new chapters printed monthly in the magazine Bentley’s Miscellany over the course of two years (1837–1839). The novel tells the story of an orphan named Oliver Twist, who was born in a workhouse and later escaped to join a gang of thieves. This excerpt takes place during Oliver’s time in the workhouse. The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper [a large, heated copper pot] at one end: out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel [a watery cereal like very thin oatmeal] at mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer [small bowl], and no more—except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously [diligently], with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. -
Dombey and Son: an Inverted Maid's Tragedy
Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 6 No. 3; June 2015 Flourishing Creativity & Literacy Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Dombey and Son: An Inverted Maid's Tragedy Taher Badinjki Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Al-Zaytoonah University P O box 1089 Marj Al-Hamam, Amman 11732, Jordan E-mail: [email protected] Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.3p.210 Received: 14/02/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.3p.210 Accepted: 29/04/2015 Abstract Ross Dabney, J. Butt & K. Tillotson, and others think that Dickens revised the role of Edith in the original plan of Dombey and Son upon the advice of a friend. I tend to believe that Dickens's swerve from his course was prompted by two motives, his relish for grand scenes, and his endeavour to engage the reader's sympathies for a character who was a victim of a social practice which he was trying to condemn. Dickens's humanitarian attitude sought to redeem the sinner and condemn the sin. In engaging the reader's sympathies, Dickens had entrapped his own. Both Edith and Alice are shown as victims of rapacious mothers who sell anything, or anybody for money. While Good Mrs Brown sells Alice's virtue and innocence for cash, Mrs Skewton trades on Edith's beauty in the marriage market to secure fortune and a good establishment. Edith and Alice's maturity and moral growth and their scorn and anger at their mothers' false teaching come in line with public prudery. -
Industrial Relations: Carlyle's Influence on Hard Times
Industrial Relations: Carlyle's influence on Hard Times Graham Law I. Introduction The aim of the present paper is the strictly limited one of presenting detailed internal evidence of the nature and extent of the influence of the writings of Thomas Carlyle on Charles Dickens's anti-utilitarian novel of 1854 Hard Times. The principal works of Carlyle in question here are: Sartor Resartus (1833-4, cited as SR), Chartism (1839, cited as CH), Past and Present (1843, cited as P&P), and Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850, cited as LDP), three works which return explicitly to the 'Condition-of-England question' first raised in the 1929 essay 'Signs of the Times' (cited as SofT), plus the History of the French Revolution (1837, cited as FR), a book less explicitly connected to the theme of industrialism but with which Dickens appears to have been especially familiar.1 Specific citations in the extensive exemplification which follows refer to the Centenary Edition of Carlyle's works, published in thirty volumes by Chapman & Hall in 1898, using the abbreviation CE. Citations from Hard Times refer to the 'Charles Dickens' edition published by Chapman and Hall in 1868, using the abbreviation HT. Citations from the weekly family journal Dickens conducted during the 1850s, Household Words, are indicated by the abbreviation HW. The wider implications of this material, in particular with regard to Dickens's contribution to the early Victorian genre of the industrial novel and the debate on industrialisation which Carlyle called 'the Condition-of-England question,'2 are here only briefly outlined but are discussed in greater detail elsewhere.3 The relative literary status of Carlyle's social criticism and Dickens's novel is now almost precisely the reverse of that pertaining when they were first received by the Victorian reading public. -
Seman 1 Dickens Against the Grain Gendered Spheres and Their Transgressors in Bleak House, Hard Times, and Great Expectations A
Seman 1 Dickens against the Grain Gendered Spheres and Their Transgressors in Bleak House, Hard Times, and Great Expectations A Thesis Presented to the Honors Tutorial College Ohio University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English by Taylor J. Seman June 2011 Seman 2 This thesis has been approved by The Honors Tutorial College and the Department of English __________________________ Dr. Carey Snyder Associate Professor, English Thesis Advisor and Director of Studies ___________________________ Dr. Jeremy Webster Dean, Honors Tutorial College Seman 3 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….4 Chapter One: Transgressive Characters………………………………………………..9 Chapter Two: Idealized Characters…………………………………………………...28 Chapter Three: Female Power in Unusual Places…………………………………….45 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………....56 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..58 Seman 4 Introduction Charles Dickens certainly cannot be considered a participant in a precursory movement towards feminism; in fact, many of Dickens‘s novels uphold traditional ideas about femininity and punish the usurpation of male privilege. In Bleak House, Hard Times, and Great Expectations—the three novels that form the basis of this study—Dickens punishes characters who transgress gender norms (such as Mrs. Jellyby, Louisa, and Mrs. Joe) both through explicit condemnation by the narrator and the adversity that befalls them in the plot. These characters have been created to appear ridiculous, no matter their accomplishments in the community or in the world at large. Yet in these same novels, Dickens presents a socially relevant depiction of female power and agency that subverts the sexism he exhibits in the creation and punishment of other characters. -
Oliver Twist; Or, the Parish Boy's Progress (1838) Is Charles Dickens's Second Novel
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress (1838) is Charles Dickens's second novel. It was first published as a book by Richard Bentley in 1838. It tells the story of an orphan boy and his adventures among London's slums. Oliver is captured by, and forced to work among, pickpockets and thieves until redeemed by a gentleman who has taken an interest in him. Characters include Fagin, Nancy, Bill Sykes, and the Artful Dodger. The book David Copperfield is a novel by Charles is one of the earliest examples of the social novel. It draws the Dickens. Like his other novels, it first came out as a series in a reader's attention to contemporary evils such as child labour, the magazine under the title The Personal History, Adventures, recruitment of children as criminals, and the presence of street Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of children. Blunderstone Rookery (which he never meant to publish on any The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, account)[1] an orphan whose account of hardships as a child labourer in a The story is told in the first person. Some of the greatest Dickens cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's characters appear in the novel, such as the evil clerk Uriah Heep. own early youth as a child labourer contributed to the story's Other villains in David's life are his brutal stepfather, Edward development. The book influenced American writer Horatio Alger, Murdstone, and Mr. -
1854 HARD TIMES Charles Dickens 2
1 1854 HARD TIMES Charles Dickens 2 Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) - The most popular and perhaps greatest English novelist and short-story writer, he drew on his experiences as a poor child to produce extremely realistic stories. Hard Times (1854) - Thomas Gradgrind is an educator who believes only in the demonstrable fact. He raises his children, Louisa and Thomas, in a grim materialistic atmosphere that adversely affects their entire lives. “Hard Times” is an indictment of the values of 19th century industrial England. 3 Table Of Contents BOOK THE FIRST CHAPTER 1 . .. 6 The One Thing Needful CHAPTER 2 . 7 Murdering the Innocents CHAPTER 3 . 12 A Loophole CHAPTER 4 . 16 Mr Bounderby CHAPTER 5 . 22 The Key-note CHAPTER 6 . 27 Sleary’s Horsemanship CHAPTER 7 . 38 Mrs Sparsit CHAPTER 8 . 43 Never Wonder CHAPTER 9 . 48 Sissy’s Progress CHAPTER 10 . 54 Stephen Blackpool CHAPTER 11 . 59 No Way Out CHAPTER 12 . 65 The Old Woman CHAPTER 13 . .69 Rachael CHAPTER 14 . 75 The Great Manufacturer CHAPTER 15 . 79 Father and Daughter CHAPTER 16 . 85 Husband and Wife BOOK THE SECOND CHAPTER 1 . 91 Effects in the Bank CHAPTER 2 . 102 Mr James Harthouse CHAPTER 3 . 109 The Whelp CHAPTER 4 . 113 Men and Brothers 4 CHAPTER 5 . 120 Men and Masters CHAPTER 6 . 126 Fading Away CHAPTER 7 . 136 Gunpowder CHAPTER 8 . 146 Explosion CHAPTER 9 . 156 Hearing the Last of it CHAPTER 10 . 163 Mrs Sparsit’s Staircase CHAPTER 11 . 167 Lower and Lower CHAPTER 12 . 174 Down BOOK THE THIRD CHAPTER 1 . 179 Another Thing Needful CHAPTER 2 . -
David Copperfield: Victorian Hero
David Copperfield: Victorian Hero by James A. Hamby A Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English in the College of Graduate Studies of Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, Tennessee August 2012 UMI Number: 3528680 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. OiSi«Wior» Ftattlisttlfl UMI 3528680 Published by ProQuest LLC 2012. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Submitted by James A. Hamby in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, specializing in English. Accepted on behalf of the Faculty of the College of Graduate Studies by the dissertation committee: Date: Quaul 3-1.9J310. Rebecca King, Ph.D. ^ Chairperson Date:0ruu^ IX .2.612^ Elvira Casal^Ph.D. N * Second Reader f ./1 >dimmie E. Cain, Ph.D. Af / / / y # Third Reader / diPUt Date:J Tom Strawman, Ph.D. Chair, Department of English (lULa.lh Qtt^bate: 7 SI '! X Michael D.)'. Xllen, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Graduate Studies © 2012 James A. Hamby ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii For my family. -
FLORENCE AS CHRIST-FIGURE in DOMBEY and SON Sarah Flenniken John Carroll University, [email protected]
John Carroll University Carroll Collected Masters Essays Theses, Essays, and Senior Honors Projects Spring 2017 TOUCHED BY LOVE: FLORENCE AS CHRIST-FIGURE IN DOMBEY AND SON Sarah Flenniken John Carroll University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://collected.jcu.edu/mastersessays Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Flenniken, Sarah, "TOUCHED BY LOVE: FLORENCE AS CHRIST-FIGURE IN DOMBEY AND SON" (2017). Masters Essays. 61. http://collected.jcu.edu/mastersessays/61 This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Essays, and Senior Honors Projects at Carroll Collected. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Essays by an authorized administrator of Carroll Collected. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TOUCHED BY LOVE: FLORENCE AS CHRIST-FIGURE IN DOMBEY AND SON An Essay Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts & Sciences of John Carroll University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts By Sarah Flenniken 2017 The essay of Sarah Flenniken is hereby accepted: ______________________________________________ __________________ Advisor- Dr. John McBratney Date I certify that this is the original document ______________________________________________ __________________ Author- Sarah E. Flenniken Date A recent movement in Victorian literary criticism involves a fascination with tactile imagery. Heather Tilley wrote an introduction to an essay collection that purports to “deepen our understanding of the interconnections Victorians made between mind, body, and self, and the ways in which each came into being through tactile modes” (5). According to Tilley, “who touched whom, and how, counted in nineteenth-century society” and literature; in the collection she introduces, “contributors variously consider the ways in which an increasingly delineated touch sense enabled the articulation and differing experience of individual subjectivity” across a wide range of novels and even disciplines (1, 7). -
Dickens After Dickens, Pp
CHAPTER 2 Nordic Dickens: Dickensian Resonances in the Work of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Kathy Rees, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge On 19 March 1870, the Illustrated London News reported on the last of Charles Dickens’s farewell readings at St. James’s Hall (‘Mr. Chas Dickens’s Farewell Reading’ 301). Three weeks later, Norsk Folkeblad featured this same article, translated into Norwegian (‘Charles Dickens’s Sidste Oplaesning’ 1). At that time, the editor of Norsk Folkeblad was the 38-year-old journalist, novelist, and playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. He recognised the importance of this event and, unlike his English counterpart, he made it front-page news. Bjørnson reproduced both the iconic image of the famous writer at his reading desk and the words of Dickens’s brief curtain speech wherein he bade farewell to his adoring public. Dickens’s novels and journals had long been widely read in Norway, first in German and French translations, later in Danish or Swedish. Sketches by Boz (1836) was popular because of its representation of English customs, especially among the lower classes: one of its tales, ‘Mr Minns and his Cousin’, was included on the English syllabus of Norwegian schools from as early as 1854 (Rem 413). American Notes (1842) was also much discussed on account of the rising numbers of Norwegian emigrants crossing the Atlantic.1 Written Danish and Norwegian were virtually the same language in the How to cite this book chapter: Rees, K. 2020. Nordic Dickens: Dickensian Resonances in the Work of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. In: Bell, E. (ed.), Dickens After Dickens, pp. 35–55.