charles dickens. childhood born in portsmouth, england on friday, feb. 7, 1812. the second of 8...
TRANSCRIPT
CHARLES DICKENS
Childhood• Born in Portsmouth, England on Friday,
Feb. 7, 1812.
• The second of 8 children born to John and Elizabeth Dickens
Dreams• Charles was taught that if he worked hard
and earned an education he could have anything he wanted.
• He dreamed of owning Gads Hill Place-the nicest house between Rochester and Gravesend.
Trouble Comes
• In 1817 John Dickens moved his family to Chatham & Charles experienced the best part of his childhood.
• In 1824 the family moved to London and John Dickens was sent to Southwark to Marshalsea debtors’ prison.
Debtor’s Prison
Charles Goes to Work
• 12 year old Charles goes to work in Warren’s Blacking Factory--where he put labels on bottles of shoe polish.
• He earned 6 shillings a week to help support his family--about 3 cents
• He was disturbed to have been “cast out at such a young age.”
• His novel David Copperfield is based on this experience.
Life Goes On
• John Dickens is paroled when a family member dies and leaves a legacy.
• Charles continues his education at Wellington House Academy
• Gets a job as a court reporter in the Court of Doctor’s Commons and then at the Morning Chronicle.
A Career Begins…
• December 1833 his first piece is published in The Monthly Magazine and it was followed by 9 more.
• Eventually all of these were published together as Sketches by Boz.
• He was writing under the pseudonym BOZ at this time.
Love and Marriage
• April 2,1836 Charles marries Catherine Hogarth the daughter of George Hogarth , a fellow employee at the Morning Chronicle.
• They have 10 children together before they separate in 1858.
Mary Hogarth
• Catherine had a younger sister named Mary. She was beautiful and came to help the Dickens with housework shortly after they were married. Mary died at 17 in Charles’ arms-he wore her ring until his death. She was his ideal woman-innocent, young and beautiful.
Mary Hogarth
Success
• 1836 Dickens published The Pickwick Papers in 20 monthly installments. Each issue sold 40,000 copies.
Success
• 1837-He begins to write Oliver Twist -this novel tells the story of Dickens’ life at the blacking factory.
• It is his attack on a society that lets the poor suffer while the rich grow more wealthy.
Nicholas Nickleby
• 1838 Dickens begins to write Nicholas Nickleby. It was a comedy that sold over 50,000.
A Christmas Carol
• December 1843 Dickens begins his most popular work: A Christmas Carol.
• This story portrays a society saved by love and generosity.
David Copperfield
• This is Dickens most autobiographical work. It was published from May 1849-November 1850 in 20 installments.
• 1850 Dickens started The Guild of Literature and Art.
Other Works
• A Tale of Two Cities
• Great Expectations
• His final work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood was never finished.
Death and Memory
• Charles Dickens dies on June 9, 1870 and he was buried at Westminster Abbey in the Poet’s Corner.
• His tombstone reads: He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering and the oppressed; and by his death , one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.
Westminster Abbey
Poets’ Corner
Poets’ Window
Memory con’t
• Dickens felt that society as a whole needed to take responsibility for the poor. All of his works reflect this idea.
• Dickens was to Victorian England what Shakespeare was to Elizabethan England.
• He wrote 15 major novels and countless short stories.