Chapter V: The Victorian Age Critical Realism in England

Chapter V The Victorian Age Chapter V The Victorian Age Critical Realism in England The 19th century was characterized by sharp contradictions In many ways it was an age of progress railways and steamships were built, great scientific discoveries were made, education became more widespread; but at the same time it was an age of profound social unrest, because there was too much poverty, too much injustice, too much ugliness; and above all, fierce exploitation of man by man The growth of scientif.

Chapter V: The Victorian Age Critical Realism in England The 19th century was characterized by sharp contradictions In many ways it was an age of progress: railways and steamships were built, great scientific discoveries were made, education became more widespread; but at the same time it was an age of profound social unrest, because there was too much poverty, too much injustice, too much ugliness; and above all, fierce exploitation of man by man The growth of scientific inventions mechanized industry and increased wealth, but this progress only enriched the few at the expense of the many Dirty factories, inhumanly long hours of work, child labor, exploitation of both men and women workers, low wages, slums and frequent unemployment, - these were the conditions of life for the workers in the growing industries of England, which became the richest country in the world towards the middle of the 19th century By the thirties of the 19 th century English capitalism had entered a new stage of development England had become a classical capitalist country, a country of industrial capitalism The Industrial Revolution on gathered force as the 19th century progressed, and worked profound changes in both the economic and the social life of the country Quiet villages, sailing vessels and hand-looms gave way, within a hundred years, to factory towns, railroads, and steamships In 1844 Engels wrote as follows about the industrial progress of England: "Sixty, eighty years ago, England was a country like every other, with small towns, few and simple industries Today it is a country like no other, with a capital of two and a half million inhabitants, with vast manufacturing cities, with an industry that supplies the world " With the development of large-scale industry small artisans were ruined "History," wrote Karl Marx, "discloses no tragedy more horrible than the gradual extinction of the English hand-loom weavers, an extinction that was spread over several decades " The population of Manchester, Birmingham and other industrial centres was growing rapidly as the number of factory workers multiplied, while the number of poor farmers decreased and many rural districts were depopulated The basic social classes in England were no longer the peasants and the landlords but the proletariat and the bourgeoisie Having won the victory over the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie betrayed the interests of the working class The reform bill of 1832 gave the vote neither to factory workers nor to agricultural labourers It was the merchants, the bankers and the manufacturers who profited by it Trying to justify their policy and to turn aside the people's attention from the unequal distribution of wealth in the country, bourgeois ideologists began to create various theories Such was the doctrine of Utilitarianism taught by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham In his opinion private happiness is the measure of all things Leave things alone and the situation will improve itself automatically Wages and profits are fixed by the automatic law of supply and demand If a man finds a way to make heaps of money, nothing can be done about it, if he starves to death in the gutter, nothing can be done about that either Robert Malthus declared that the problem of poverty could only be solved by artificially limiting the birth rate, as the population of a country increases in geometrical proportion, while the food supply can increase only in arithmetical proportion; hence starvation is inevitable The inconsistency of all these theories was proved later by Karl Marx's epochmaking Capital which revealed the true nature of the capitalist system, and gave a new conception of society and of the distribution of wealth The attempts of the bourgeoisie to solve social contradictions and to turn aside the attention of the workers from political struggle ended in failure The workers fought for their rights Their political demands were expressed in the People's Charter in 1833 The Chartists introduced their own literature, which was the first attempt to create a literature of the working class The Chartist writers tried their hand at different genres They wrote articles, short stories, songs, epigrams, poems Their leading genre was poetry Though their verses were not so beautiful as those of their predecessors, the romantic poets, the Chartists used the motives of folk-poetry and dealt with the burning problems of life They described the struggle of the workers for their rights, they showed the ruthless exploitation and the miserable fate of the poor Ernest Jones, a leader and a poet of the Chartist movement, wrote in The Song of the Lower Classes: We're low - we're low - we're very, very low, As low as low can be; The rich are high - for we make them so And a miserable lot are we! And a miserable lot are we! are we! A miserable lot are we! Our place we know - we're so very low, 'Tis down at the landlord's feet: We're not too low - the bread to grow, But too low the bread to eat And what we get - and what we give, We know - and we know our share We're not too low the cloth to weave But too low the cloth to wear! The same idea is expressed by Thomas Hood, one of the most prominent of the Chartist poets, in his popular The Song of the Shirt: With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red, A woman sat, in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread – Stitch! stitch! stitch! In poverty, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitch She sang the "Song of the Shirt" "Work! work! work! While the cock is crowing aloof! And work - work - work, Till the stars shine through the roof! It's Oh! to be a slave Along with the barbarous Turk, Where woman has never a soul to save, If this is Christian work! "Oh, Men, with Sisters dear! Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives! It is not linen you're wearing out, But human creatures' lives! Stitch - stitch - stitch, In poverty, hunger, and dirt, Sewing at once, with a double thread, A Shroud as well as a Shirt! "Work - work - work! My labour never flags; And what are its wages? A bed of straw, A crust of bread - and rags That shatter'd roof - and this naked floor A table - a broken chair And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank For sometimes falling there! "Work - work - work! From weary chime to chime, Work - work - work – As prisoners work for crime! Band, and gusset, and seam, Seam, and gusset, and band, Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumb'd, As well as the weary hand "Work - work - work, In the dull December light, And work - work - work, When the weather is warm and bright " With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red, A woman sat, in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread Stitch! stitch! stitch! In poverty, hunger, and dirt, And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, Would that its tone could reach the Rich! She sang this "Song of the Shirt"! The Chartist writers called the toiling people to struggle for their rights and expressed a firm belief in the final victory of the proletariat In 1845 Engels wrote that the Chartist literature, heroic and revolutionary in its character, surpassed in significance all the literature of bourgeois England of the period THE NEW LITERARY TREND AND ITS CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES The ideas of Chartism attracted the attention of many progressive-minded people of the time Many prominent writers became aware of the social injustices around them and tried to picture them in their works Thus this period of fierce class struggle was mirrored in literature by the appearance of a new trend, that of Critical Realism The greatest novelists of the age are Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell These writers used the novel as a means to protest against the evils in contemporary social and economic life and to picture the world in a realistic way Engels said that in his opinion Realism should depict typical characters in typical circumstances The critical realists introduced new characters into literature: they described the new social force in modern history - the working class They expressed deep sympathy for the working people; they described the unbearable conditions of their life and work; they voiced a passionate protest against exploitation and described their persistent struggle for their rights Hard Times by Charles Dickens and Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell are among the best works of 19th century Critical Realism in which the Chartist movement is described The greatness of these novelists lies not only in their truthful description of contemporary life, but also in their profound humanism Their sympathy lies with the ordinary labouring people They believed in the good qualities of the human heart CONTRIBUTION OF THE CRITICAL REALISTS TO WORLD LITERATURE The contribution of the writers belonging to what Karl Marx called the 'present brilliant school of English novelists' to world lit erature is enormous They created a broad panorama of social life, exposed and attacked the vices of aristocratic and bourgeois society, sided with the common people in their passionate protest against unbearable exploitation, and expressed their hopes for a better future The weakness of this literary trend lies in the fact, as Maxim Gorky puts it, that in spite of their democratism, the English critical realists, not being connected with the working class movement, could not comprehend the laws of social development and therefore were unable to show the only correct way of abolishing social slavery They wanted to improve the existing social order by means of reforms Some of them wanted to reconcile the antagonistic classes - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, to make the rich share their wealth with the poor, but being great artists they showed social injustices in capitalist England in such a way that the reader cannot help thinking that changes in the existing social system as a whole were necessary William makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) "Thackeray possesses great tatent Of all the European writers of the present time Dickens alone can be placed on a level with the author of Vanity Fair What a wealth of art, how precise and thorough are his observations, what a knowledge of life, of the human heart, what a bright and noble power of love, what a subtle humour, how precise and distinct are his depictions, how wonderfully charming his narration." Chernyshevsky William Makepeace Thackeray and Charles Dickens were the greatest representatives of Critical Realism in English literature of the 19th century In his novels Thackeray gives a vivid description of the upper classes of society, their mode of life, manners and tastes He shows their pride and tyranny, their hypocrisy, and snobbishness, and their selfishness and general wickedness His knowledge of human nature is broad and his portrayal of it is keenly analytical Thackeray's works lack the gentle humour so typical of Dickens's style His criticism is strong, his satire is sharp and bitter He is a genius in portraying negative characters; his positive characters are less vivid, but all of them are true to life Thackeray used to say that he wished to describe men and women as they really are The picture of life of the ruling classes of England in the 19th century as drawn by Thackeray remains a classical example of social satire up to the present day William Makepeace Thackeray was born in a prosperous middle-class family His father was a well-to-do English official in Calcutta, India When the boy was six years old, he was taken from Calcutta, where he was born, to England to be educated From Charterhouse school he passed on to Cambridge University While a student, William spent much of his time drawing cartoons and writing verses, chiefly parodies He did not stay long at the University, for he could not bear the scholastic atmosphere of the place Besides, his ambition was to become an artist, so he left the University without graduating and went to Germany, Italy and France to study art In Germany Goethe, and this meeting left a deep impression on him Intending to complete his education, Thackeray returned to London and began a law course in 1833 Meanwhile, the Indian bank, in which the money left to William by his father was invested, went bankrupt, and Thackeray was left penniless Therefore he had to drop his studies to earn a living For a long time he hesitated whether to take up art or literature as a profession Finally he decided to try his hand as a journalist His humorous articles, essays, reviews and short stories found a ready market He himself illustrated many of these pieces with amusing drawings, which added to the humorous effect In 1836 Thackeray married Isabella Shawe, and from this union there came three daughters Thackeray's married life was unhappy as his wife became ill after giving birth to the third child The illness affected her mind, and Thackeray threw all business aside and for many months travelled with his wife from one health resort to another hoping that she would recover, but she never regained her health In the end she was placed with an old lady who took care of her Thackeray did all he could to make her life comfort able Isabella outlived her husband by many years Thackeray's first notable works was The Book of Snobs (1846-1847) which deals with the upper classes and their followers in the middle classes, whose vices the author criticizes with the sharp pen of satire The book may be regarded as a prelude to the author's masterpiece Vanity Fair, which can be called the peak of Critical Realism Vanity Fair brought great fame to the novelist and remains his most-read work up to the present day It first appeared in twenty-four monthly parts which Thackeray illustrated himself In 1848 it came out as a complete book The Book of Snobs is a satirical description of different circles of English society in the century The gallery of snobs in the book, Great City Snobs, The University Snobs and others, convinces the reader that' snobbishness' was one of the most characteristic features of the ruling classes of England at that time "How can we help Snobbishness, with such a prodigious national institution erected for its worship? How can we help cringing to Lords? Flesh and blood can't otherwise What man can withstand the prodigious temptation? whose heart would not throb with pleasure if he could be seen walking arm-in-arm with a couple of Dukes down Pall Mall? No; it is impossible, in our condition of society, not to be sometimes a snob." "The word Snob has taken a place in our honest English vocabulary We can't define it, perhaps “We can't say what it is, any more than we can define wit, or humour, or humbug; but we know what it is." Thackeray's contribution to world literature Thackeray's contribution to world literature is enormous Though the class struggle found no reflection in his works, the novelist truthfully reproduced the political atmosphere of the century This period witnessed the growth of the revolutionary movement of the English proletariat Thackeray's attitude towards the ruling classes of the country coincided with that of the broad Thackeray's home where "Vanity Fair" was written democratic circles of England who struggled for the parliamentary reform of 1832, were in favour of the People's Charter of 1833 and actively supported the Chartist movement Thackeray developed the realistic traditions of his predecessors, the enlighteners, Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding in particular, and became one of the most prominent realists and satirists of his age The world to him is Vanity Fair where men and women, to use his own words, "are greedy, pompous, mean, perfectly satisfied and at ease about their superior virtue They despise poverty and kindness of heart They are snobs" Thackeray loathed snobbishness, and in his works he used satire to expose the pretensions of the snobs and social climbers whom he depicts in his novels vanity fair (a novel without a hero) The Origin of the Novel The subtitle of the book shows the author's intention not to describe separate individuals, but English bourgeois-aristocratic society as a whole The title of the book is borrowed from The Pilgrim's Progress, an allegorical novel written by John Bunyan, one of the greatest writers of the second half of the 17th century The hero of Bunyan's novel comes to a great city where there is a fair, where everything is on sale " a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, as wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not And, moreover, at this fair there are at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind." Vanity Fair-1944 Everybody there thinks only of his own interests Such qualities as honour and dignity are of no value To achieve his aim a man is ready to kill or devour any human being, no matter whether he be friend or enemy The same idea is expressed by Thackeray in his masterpiece, Vanity Fair Vanity Fair is a social novel which shows not only the bourgeois aristocratic society as a whole, but the very laws which govern it Describing the events which took place at the beginning of the 19th century, the author presents a broad satirical picture of contemporary England The social background of the novel which influences all the characters in their thoughts and actions, is high society at large Thackeray attacks the vanity, pretensions, prejudices and corruption of the aristocracy (the Crawleys, Lord Steyne); the narrowmindedness and greed of the bourgeoisie (the Osbornes, the Sedleys) He mercilessly exposes the snobbishness, hypocrisy, money-worship and parasitism of all those who form the bulwark of society The interest of the novel centres on the characters rather than on the plot The author shows various people, and their thoughts and actions, in different situations There is no definite hero in the book In Thackeray's opinion there can be no hero in a society where the cult of money rules the world Text 11 Vanity Fair Sir Pitt Crawley Thackeray's satire reaches its climax when he describes Sir Pitt Crawley, a typical snob of Vanity Fair "Vanity Fair! Vanity Fair! Here was a man, who could not spell, and did not care to read - who had the habits and the cunning of a boor; whose aim in life was pettifogging; who never had a taste, or emotion, or enjoyment, but what was sordid and foul; and yet he had rank, and honours, and power, somehow; and was a dignitary of the land, and a pillar of the state He was high sheriff, and rode in a golden coach Great ministers and statesmen courted him; and in Vanity Fair he had a higher place than the most brilliant genius of spotless virtue." "Such people there are living and flourishing in the world {aithless, hopeless, charityless; let us have at them, dear friends, with might and main Some there are, and very successful too, mere quacks and fools, and it was to combat and expose such as those, no doubt, that Laughter was made." Rebecca (Becky) Sharp The novel tells of the destiny of two girls with sharply contrasting characters Rebecca (Becky) Sharp and Amelia Sedley The daughter of a rich city merchant, Amelia Sedley is a young girl representing 'virtue without wit' Rebecca Sharp, a poor adventuress, representing wit without virtue, forces her way after many struggles and setbacks into the world to which Amelia belongs Rebecca Sharp and Joseph Sedley (From the play Vanity Fair produced by the Moscow Maly Theatre) Becky's character is depicted with great skill She is pleasant to look at, clever and gifted She possesses a keen sense of humour, and a deep understanding of human nature At the same time she embodies the very spirit of Vanity Fair, since her only aim in life is at all costs to worm her way into high society She will go to any length to achieve her aim She was almost mistress of the house when Mrs Crawley was absent, but conducted herself in her new situation with such modesty as not to offend the authorities of the kitchen and stable, among whom her behaviour was always exceedingly modest She was quite a different person from the haughty, shy, dissatisfied little girl whom we have known previously Whether it was the heart which dictated this new system of complaisance and humility adopted by our Rebecca, is to be proved by her after-history A system of hypocrisy, which lasts through whole years, is one seldom satisfactorily practised by a person of one-and-twenty; however, our readers will recollect that, though young in years, our heroine was old in life and experience " Becky believes neither in love nor in friendship She is ready to marry any man who can give her wealth and a title Finally she marries Captain Rawdon Crawley, the younger son of Sir Pitt Crawley, whose daughters she had been engaged to teach Rawdon was not rich, but Becky hoped that some day he would inherit a good deal of money from his wealthy aunt, Miss Crawley, who possessed seventy thousand pounds, and had almost adopted Rawdon However, Becky's hopes did not come true She almost lost her presence of mind when she realized how wrong her calculations had been She would never have married Rawdon if she had known that Sir Pitt Crawley himself would propose to her The fact that Sir Pitt was old and that she despised him did not count with her Becky's opinion of Sir Pitt is clearly expressed in her letter to Amelia "Sir Pitt is not what we silly girls imagined a baronet must have been Fancy an old, stumpy, short, vulgar, and very dirty man, in old clothes and shabby old gaiters, who smokes a horrid pipe, and cooks his own horrid supper in a saucepan He speaks with a country accent, and swore a great deal at the old charwoman, at the hackney coachman who drove us to the inn where the coach went from, and on which I made the journey outside for the greater part of the way I was awakened at daybreak by the charwoman, and having arrived at the inn, was at Dombey dismisses the nurse, and Paul's health suffers At the age of five he is a very delicate child with a face that looks old and tired Mr Dombey wants him to get through his education as quickly as possible: he plans and projects not for the well-being of his son, but for the welfare of his firm His son must rise from Son to be the next magnificent Dombey Money, he thinks, will everything Here Dickens shows that money, though powerful in a bourgeois society, cannot bring happiness One evening little Paul was sitting by the fire with his father After a long silence the boy suddenly asked: "Papa! What's money?" The abrupt question had such immediate reference to the subject of Mr Dombey's thoughts, that Mr Dombey was quite disconcerted "What is money, Paul?" he answered "Money?" "Yes," said the child, laying his hands upon the elbows of his little chair, and turning the old face up towards Mr Dombey's; "what is money?" Mr Dombey was in a difficulty He would have liked to give him some explanation… but looking down at the little chair, and seeing what a long way down it was, he answered: "Gold, and silver, and copper Guineas, shillings, halfpence You know what they are?" "Oh yes, I know what they are," said Paul "I don't mean that, Papa, I mean what's money after all?" "What is money after all!" said Mr Dombey "I mean, Papa, what can it do?" returned Paul, folding his arms (they were hardly long enough to fold), and looking at the fire, and up at him, and at the fire, and up at him again Mr Dombey drew his chair back to its former place, and patted him on the head "You'll know better by-and-by, my man," he said "Money, Paul, can anything." He took hold of the little hand, and beat it softly against one of his own, as he said so But Paul got his hand free as soon as he could; and rubbing it gently to and fro on the elbow of his chair, as if his wit were in the palm and he were sharpening it - and looking at the fire again, as though the fire had been his adviser and prompter - repeated, after a short pause: "Anything, Papa?" "Yes Anything - almost," said Mr Dombey "Anything means everything, don't it, Papa?" asked his son: not observing, or possibly not understanding, the qualification "It includes it: yes," said Mr Dombey "Why didn't money save me my Mama?" returned the child "It isn't cruel, is it?" "Cruel!" said Mr Dombey, settling his neckcloth, and seeming to resent the idea "No A good thing can't be cruel." "If it's a good thing, and can anything," said the little fellw, thoughtfully, as he looked back at the fire, "I wonder why it didn't save me my Mama." He didn't ask the question of his father this time Perhaps he had seen, with a child's quickness, that it had already *made his father uncomfortable Mr Dombey, recovering from his surprise, not to say his alarm, explained to him how that money "could not keep people alive, whose time was come to die; and how that we must all die, unfortunately, even in the City, though we were never so rich But how that money caused us to be honoured, feared, respected, courted and admired, powerful and glorious in the eyes of all men ” What should be the education of a child at the age of five Mr Dombey never understood He sent little Paul to one of the awful private boardingschool, the school of the widow Mrs Pipchin, one of those criminals who made money by keeping and 'educating' children The old woman crippled their minds by frightening them and this was called 'managing children' But Mr Dombey preferred to others, because her husband had been a mineowner When Paul was six years old, he was sent to another boarding-school, the school of Mr Blimber, who had made a name for himself teaching Latin to little boys and making them read ancient writers Dickens calls this sort of teaching 'stuffing children with scholastic straw' This unnatural upbringing and his loneliness at school was such a strain on Paul that he grew weaker and weaker and within a year he died Having lost his son and heir, Mr Dombey was heart-broken Florence wanted to be a comfort to her lonely father, but she did not know how to win his heart She felt that he hated her because he thought of her as having been a rival to her brother in health and years Why had she not died? Florence had no friend in her own family She did not like Mr Dombey's sister, her aunt, or the ever-present Miss Tox, a friend of the family Their foolish behaviour and their endless flattery of Mr Dombey kept Florence away from them She was constantly reminded by her aunt of the fact that she was not a Dombey, and told that she made no effort to gain her father's love But Florence loved her father in spite of all Dickens describes the pride and tyranny of the rich, who have no consideration for others, and contrasts it with the humane kindly nature of the working people Florence finds comfort with the servants of the house: Paul's nurse, the maid, Susan Nipper Florence makes friends with Walter Gay and his old uncle, Solomon Gills, and the honest Captain Cuttle Solomon Gills keeps a little shop selling ship's instruments, barometers, compasses, telescopes and the like But hardly anyone ever buys his instruments, and old Sol gets poorer and poorer Yet he never refuses to help other people who are in trouble Walter Gay works for the firm of Dombey and Son He is kind and good, and Florence grows fond of him When the girl comes of age, she marries Walter Gay In Dickens's time there were many scoundrels in rich and prosperous firms who knew how to make a fortune by pretending to be devoted to their masters, and by deceiving and oppressing their inferiors Dickens introduces such a scoundrel in the character of Mr Corker, the manager of the firm He is the only man who does not sympathize with Mr Dombey on the loss of his son Dickens describes him on the day of the funeral as having his usual smile on his face: " in his own room he (Carker) shows his teeth all day; and it would seem that there is something gone from Mr Carker's path - some obstacle removed - which clears his way before him." Planning to become the head of the firm, Carker pays much atten- tion to Florence, who hates him He thinks he may perhaps marry Florence one day; and he goes round the House of Dombey and Son like a sly fox He sends Walter Gay on a dangerous voyage to Barbados so as to get rid of him, and keeps a sharp eye on Mr Dombey himself The second part of the novel tells of the downfall of the firm of Dombey and Son Mr Dombey wants to marry again He meets Edith Granger, a young widow from a poor aristocratic family Mr Dombey believes that the secret of attracting rich people to business with the firm lies in having a good-looking, clever wife Edith has beauty, blood and talent: money will buy everything And Mr Dombey marries Edith Edith feels moral degradation, her pride is wounded She cannot love her husband, that cold heartless merchant The luxury that surrounds Edith does not make her happy and she exclaims, "What is money? What can it do, after all?" On seeing Florence neglected by her father and just as unhappy as she is, Edith grows fond of her Mr Dombey cannot stand it He is jealous and angry Dombey's arrogance comes into conflict with Edith's pride She despises him She refuses to be the mistress of his house Dombey says to Edith: "I have made you my wife You bear my name You are associated with my position and reputation I will say that I am accustomed to 'insist', to my connections and dependants." Yet Edith wants to get free of every tie Carker, who has brought the firm almost to bankruptcy, takes advantage of Edith's state of mind and escapes with her from England But he gains nothing for himself As soon as Edith reaches France, she drives the scoundrel away Carker's plans are ruined; finally he gets killed by a train Florence shows pity and tenderness towards her father She runs to him with outstretched arms, but Dombey, in fury and despair, strikes her across the face He accuses her of being in league with Edith Florence runs away from home and goes to Solomon Gills She stays in his house till Walter’s return All the blows that have fallen upon Mr Dombey are considered by Dickens as punishment deserved Mr Dombey is the symbol of all that was cruel and inhuman in the upper middle class in Dickens's time Dickens always wanted to reconcile people with one another So the character of Mr Dombey changes unexpectedly at the end of the novel The storm of misfortunes softens him and he becomes a good man He goes to live in the happy home of Florence, who is now married to Walter Gay The love Dombey never gave his daughter he now gives to his grandchildren Remarks When Belinsky read Dombey and Son he called it a miracle that made all other works written by Dickens seem pale and weak He said that is was “something ugly, monstrously beautiful” Dickens managed to disclose the ugliness of relations based on money in a work of art Dickens had an eye that penetrated into the very depths of contemporary society The principle of the very beginning of his creative work It remained throughout his life though his criticism of reality became sharper, as his world outlook and his art matured As the years padded, the soft humour and light-hearted laughter of his first works, gave way to mockery and satire Thus, the sombre Dombey was shown as a cold and tragic figure, a product of the money-making environment Opposed to him are his two children Florence and Paul Dickens made them loving and lovable creatures who despised money That is why the novel sounds at time as the story of the two children, rather than that of their money-making father The richness of Dickens’ language can be traced back to the everyday speech of the people A master of his pen made the contemporary reactionary critics fear him; even now the reaction fears his merciless truth, directed against the evils of bourgeois society In Russia his works became known within a very short time after being published Up to our days Dickens has remained one of the great realistic writers He is loved and honoured by the Soviet readers, both young and old by the democratic-minded people of the world DICKENS - THE FIRST NOVELIST IN THE TREND OF CRITICAL REALISM IN ENGLISH LITERATURE In the preface to his first work Sketches by Boz Dickens wrote that his aim was to show 'everyday life and everyday people' He is famous for having used everyman as a hero No one has conveyed the spirit of 19th century English life better than he His world was a hurrying breathless city of workers, sailors and the lower middle class, who lived where there was 'nothing to see but streets, streets, streets Nothing to breathe but streets, streets, streets.' DICKENS'S ORIGINAL STYLE Dickens has a style of his own Everything Dickens gives the reader was learnt in suffering, even the most comical situations Let us examine his style The secret of Dickens's style lies in the combination of the strictest realism of detail with fantasy He draws a distinct line between all that is good and all that is bad Every thing or being that is good he describes as having human qualities, the best ones Thus the kettle in one of his Christmas stories The Cricket on the Hearth brings warmth and happiness in the home of good people, and so it is given human qualities But when Dickens describes a man whose existence does not make the world happy, that man becomes a cold unliving thing, or a beast For example Mr Dombey is compared to the fire-tongs or the poker He is cruel and unbending Mr Dombey's appearance causes the temperature fall Sunrays vanish from his room In the same way Mr Carker, the wicked manager, is given the features of a beast, and his glistening teeth are many times likened to the teeth of a wild animal For instance this is how Dickens describes Calker when he talks to his inferiors: “Carker grinned at him like a shark ," “A cat, or a monkey, or a hyena, or a death's-head could not have shown the Captain more teeth at one time, than Mr Carker showed him ” DICKENS'S CHARACTERS Dickens's characters are at first sight caricatures because of t he exaggeration of facts; but this exaggeration is always a logical extension of something that really exists His characters are static, but at the same time they are varied, vivid and distinct They may be divided into three types: heroes, villains and quaint people notable for their whims These three types call up three emotions: pathos, or a feeling of pity, for the virtuous characters when circumstances have turned against them; contempt for the villains, whom Dickens describes in a satirical manner which helps to tear off their mask of respectability; and a warm liking for the whimsical but generous persons Dickens was exceedingly sincere when creating his personages He said of himself: " no one can ever believe this narrative in the reading more than I believed it in the writing." DICKENS AND THE CHILDREN Dickens believed in the virtuous nature of man in the same way as the writers of the age of the Enlightenment did He makes this especially clear when he writes about children The fate of poor children caused him much alarm: no writer of the time knew better than Dickens what child labour was He also knew how terribly a child could change in an unwholesone environment; he was too familiar with the common misery, and knew how good can turn into bad Yet, in his works, his child heroes and heroines remain pure till the end They pass through dirty crowded streets and keep themselves unspotted This was Dickens's peculiar way of defending children's innocence Hans Andersen, the Danish writer of fairy-tales, greatly admired Dickens for his child heroes DICKENS'S CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD LITERATURE Dickens has given a full picture of 19th century English life He revealed all that was irrational and monstrous and through his wit and humour people began to see their own time and environment in a new light His method of writing inspired many others to write realistically, and great works of critical realism appeared after him Dickens never loses his warmth of feeling and quickness of sympathy This impresses all readers, and they follow the writer in his pilgrimage along the roads of England and witness the administration of law, the treatment of children in schools, life in workhouses and the insincerity of bourgeois philanthropy He describes offices of large firms, factories, prisons and the slums of London Dickens portrays people of all the types seen in the streets of great cities in his time We meet commercial agents, manufacturers, parliamentarians, political adventurers, scoundrels of all sorts, lawyers, clerks, newspaper reporters, schoolmasters, tradesmen, factory-workers, priggish aristocrats, circus-players, homeless children, pickpockets and convicts Dickens lived for the people It was said of him that he, Dickens, “never talked down to the people, he talked up to the people” Some social improvements in England were attributed to the influence of Dickens's works To many European critics Dickens ranked only among the moralists and reformers of the 19th century His works were not considered works of art, because in his writing he was not inspired by beauty but by human suffering Such an opinion underrates the great artistic value of Dickens's works In the fifties of the 19th century, however, Russian writers of democratic revolutionary thought gave him a place among the English classics Chernyshevsky, Belinsky and others held that all great writers found inspiration in ideas which resulted from the desperate struggle of the people, and which were generally recognized as the only progressive ideas of the time The works of Dickens, they said, were emotions of a humane mind The novelist condemned the hypocrisy and greed of the bourgeoisie The English critic and poet, Algernon Swinburne, when travelling in Russia, visited Leo Tolstoy He reported that the great writer had said about Dickens: "All his characters are my personal friends I am constantly comparing them with living persons, and living persons with them And what a spirit there was in all he wrote." And Maxim Gorky said that Dickens had achieved one of the most difficult things in literature and art: he developed in his readers a love for man Questions and Tasks What famous historical events took place in Dickens's time? What incidents in Dickens's life were used by the writer in his novels? How did Dickens's outlook on the fate of the working class change as years went by? How does Dickens's humour change in the works written at different periods? Why is the novel Dombey and Son considered to he one of Dickens's greatest works? Describe Mr Dombey as a typical representative of the English 19th century bourgeoisie What are the three principal types of characters met with in Dickens's novels? How are they described by the author? Most of the characters that appear in Dickens's novels came from what social ranks? Explain what is meant by the phrase “the world of Dickens” Why Dickens’s child heroes remain pure in the most awful environments? The Bronte Sisters (1816-1855) The Bronte collection - 1944 Besides George Eliot, there were at least two great woman novelists during the Victorian age They were the Bronte sisters, Charlotte (18161855) and Emily (1818-1848) Their younger sister, Ann Bronte (1820-1849) was also a novelist with two works But unlike Eliot, none of the Bronte sisters enjoyed a long life span and all died young Though they were each grudged a brief life, their lives were long enough for them to offer the cream of it to the whole world The sisters were born in the family of a poor country clergyman at Haworth, Yorkshire, in northern England Charlotte and Emily, together with their two elder sisters, were sent to a charity school with bad food and poor living conditions, when~ they were cruelly treated Their two elder sisters did not survive the hardship and died of health failure Charlotte and Emily were removed from the school to start a sketchy learning at home Formal schooling was not much in their youth, but wide reading and home education seemed to give free play to their imagination They wrote stories and poems Then they worked as governesses in rich families for some time and tried in failure to open a private school of their own In 1842, they went to Brussels for nine months to learn French Charlotte worked there as a teacher for one year In 1846, a small volume was published bearing the title of Poems under the pennames of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, to which all the three sisters contributed under their pseudonyms Although only two copies were sold that year, the three sisters were not frustrated Each then started writing novels Charlotte wrote her first novel Professor, which was rejected by the publisher The year 1837 seemed to be a bright one for all the sisters: Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Emily's Wuthering Heights and Anne's Agnes Grey were all published However, the brightness did not last long In 1848 Emily died In 1849 Anne followed her sister to the grave Charlotte died in 1855, less than one year after her marriage to a clergyman Text 14 Jane Eyre “Jane Eyre”, Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece tells the story of a plain but intelligent orphan girl) whose ill-treatment at the hands of hypocritical relatives leads her to be sent away to a school with the sanctimonious Mr Brocklehurst Some weeks after her arrival) while Mr Brocklehurst is visiting the school with his family) Jane drops her slate in class Jane Eyre - 1944 'A careless girl!' said Mr Brocklehurst, and immediately after -'It is the new pupil I perceive.' And before I could draw breath, 'I must not forget I have a word to say respecting her.' Then aloud: how loud it seemed to me! 'Let the child who broke her slate come forward!' Of my own accord I could not have stirred; I was paralysed: but the two great girls who sat on each side of me, set me on my legs and pushed me towards the dread judge, and then Miss Temple gently assisted me to his very feet, and I caught her whispered counsel: 'Don't be afraid, Jane, I saw it was an accident; you shall not be punished.' Another minute, and she will despise me for a hypocrite,' thought I; and an impulse of fury against Reed, Brocklehurst, and Co., bounded in my pulses at the conviction I was no Helen Burns 'Fetch that stool,' said Mr Brocklehurst, pointing to a very high one from which a monitor had just risen: it was brought 'Place the child upon it.' And I was placed there, by whom I don't know I was in no conditions to note particulars I was only aware that they had hoisted me up to the height of Mr Brocklehurst's nose, that he was within a yard of me, and that a spread of shot orange and purple silk pelisses and a cloud of silvery plumage extended and waved below me Mr Brocklehurst hemmed 'Ladies,' said he, turning to his family 'Miss Temple, teachers, and children, you all see this girl?' Of course they did; for I felt their eyes directed like burning-glasses against my scorched skin 'You see she is yet young; you observe she possesses the ordinary form of childhood; God has graciously given her the shape that He has given to all of us; no signal deformity points her out as a marked character Who would think that the Evil One had already found a servant and agent in her? Yet such, I grieve to say, is the case.' A pause - in which I began to steady the palsy of my nerves, and to feel that the Rubicon was passed; and that the trial, no longer to be shirked, must be firmly sustained 'My dear children,' pursued the black marble clergyman, with pathos, 'this is a sad, a melancholy occasion; for it becomes my duty to warn you, that this girl, who might be one of God's own lambs, is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien You must be on your guard against her; you must shun her example; if necessary, avoid her company, exclude her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse Teachers you must watch her: keep your eyes on her movements, weigh well her words, scrutinize her actions, punish her body to save her soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible, for (my tongue falters while I tell it) this girl, this child, the native of a Christian land, worse than many a little heathen who says its prayers to Brahma and kneels before Juggernaut - this girl is - a liar!' Jane Eyre – 2006 The plot of Jane Eyre is too complex to be summarised but later in the book she becomes a governess to Mr Rochester's family and a strange relationship develops between her and her master culminating in Rochester's proposal of marriage However Rochester has a skeleton in the closet: on their wedding day a solicitor stops the ceremony declaring that he is already married In fact, he has a mad wife whom he married in the West Indies and keeps hidden in a secret room in the house Jane is horrified and runs away After various adventures (she has just been proposed to by the rather insipid missionary St John) she has failed to find true happiness when suddenly All the house was still, for I believe all, except St John and myself, were now retired to rest The one candle was dying out, the moon was full of moonlight My heart beat fast and thick I heard its throb Suddenly, it stood still to an inexpressible feeling that thrilled it through, and passed at once to my head and extremities The feeling was not like an electric shock, but it was quite as sharp, as strange, as startling It acted on my senses as if their utmost activity hitherto had been but torpor, from which they were now summoned and forced to wake They rose expectant, eye and ear waited while the flesh quivered on my bones 'What have you heard? What you see?' asked St John I saw nothing, but I heard a voice somewhere cry: 'Jane! Jane! Jane!' - nothing more '0 God! what is it?' I gasped I might have said, 'Where is it?' for it did not seem in the room nor in the house - nor in the garden; it did not come out of the air - nor from under the earth - nor from overhead I had heard it - where, or whence, for ever impossible to know! And it was the voice of a human being - a known, loved, well-remembered voice - that of Edward Fairfax Rochester, and it spoke in pain and woe, wildly, eerily, urgently remarks Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte's best literary production The novel is a frank and passionate story of the love between a governess and a married man When the story opens, the heroine, Jane Eyre, is still in her childhood She is a penniless and unattractive orphan left in the rude and unjust care of her aunt, Mrs Reed, a harsh, unsympathetic woman Finding the injustice too much to bear; the girl tells straight to her aunt's face what she thinks of her The girl is then sent to a charity school for poor girls She stays there for six years as a student through all kinds of hardship and punishment and another two years as a teacher Later she becomes governess to the ward of a rich landowner; Mr Rochester They fall in mutual love and on the wedding day Jane has to break the engagement and leave Rochester because she learns the secret that the man she is going to marry has a wife, a mad woman She runs away and nearly perishes on the moors but for the help and care of the Rev St John Rivers and his sisters John Rivers is a man of rigorous honour and ideals, who almost succeeds in making her agree to marry him and go with him to India Jane refuses because, unlike the passionate but morally imperfect Rochester; he does not love her She returns to Rochester's place only to find the mansion burned down The mad wife is killed and Rochester is blinded in the fire as he tries to rescue his mad wife In the end, Jane marries him in spite of his misfortune and restores his happiness Questions and Tasks Trace Jane Eyre’s sequences of emotions from when she breaks the slate to when she is called a liar First she is Miss Temple tries to but Jane Then she is with Brocklehurst & co She can not note the particulars because Then she feels everybody’s eyes Then she steadies her nerves and and realizes that it is better to What negative effects might Jane’s humiliation have on a weaker character? How does Jane interpret the event in the last paragraph of the extract – as the work of superstition or the work of nature? ... narrative in the reading more than I believed it in the writing." DICKENS AND THE CHILDREN Dickens believed in the virtuous nature of man in the same way as the writers of the age of the Enlightenment... the beginning of the crisis of bourgeois humanism which began in the middle of the 19th century and found its full expression in the literature of the second half of the age Taken together, the. .. pretending to be devoted to their masters, and by deceiving and oppressing their inferiors Dickens introduces such a scoundrel in the character of Mr Corker, the manager of the firm He is the only