Dickens and His Society - Essay Example

Dickens and His Society Even today, the Charles Dickens is recognized for his story-telling ability and his relentless attention in making at least one significant comment on social issues during his time. According to Walder, an expert on the realist tradition, Dickens practically wrote the book for this kind of writing. The realist tradition operated under the belief that the novel held a responsibility to examine the basic nature of society as it was as a means of exposing its strengths and weaknesses and to begin pointing out methods of reform (1996). Dickens does this in every book he wrote, often focusing on similar themes such as in his novels Great Expectations and David Copperfield. In both stories, Dickens illustrates human nature as he chronicles the development of a young boy into a gentleman. In each novel, the boy must survive a number of relationships with others, most of which seem designed expressly to ensure his failure, eventually finding his own way to success. Through his various plot developments and narrative elements, Dickens continues to invite his reader to make moral judgments about his characters even as this same audience is permitted sympathetic involvement in the characters’ experiences. Both stories begin with the main character at a very young age, although told from a much older perspective. Pip, in Great Expectations, is found living under the care and supervision of his bitter older sister and her down-to-earth husband Joe. The defining moment of his life takes place here as the small boy, seeking comfort from the graves of his dead parents and siblings, meets with an escaped convict and is both terrified enough and humane enough to assist the man with his escape. Shortly after this terrifying experience, Pip is employed by Miss Havisham to be playmate to her adopted daughter Estella and chooses to spend his money trying to get an education. He is suddenly lifted into the upper class through the intervention of a nameless benefactor and his studies take on a classic curriculum rather than a practical one. As he gains the knowledge suited for a gentleman, Pip’s attitude toward his sister and brother-in-law change drastically only to suffer a further reversal once he finally learns the nature of his fortune. David Copperfield also opens with a story from childhood, this time fondly recalling a pretty young mother and the family servant Peggoty (his father had died six months before he was born). However, this happiness comes to an end when his mother marries Mr. Murdstone who beats him and sends him away to a very strict boarding school. David stays at the school until his mother dies and he is returned home to go to work in one of his step-father's factories and boards with the Micawber family who are already struggling with debt. When the Micawbers leave London to escape further threat of debtor's prison, David leaves on foot to finally arrives at his great-Aunt Betsey’s house in Dover. She renames him Trotwood, Trot for short, and sends him to school at Canterbury, where he stays with Mr. Wickfield and his daughter Agnes but is plagued by the unpleasant Uriah Heep, who works to destroy everyone around him. Although fond of Agnes, he marries Dora and lives unhappily until Dora's death. David travels abroad to clear his head, finally realizing he's in love with Agnes to whom he returns and they have three children together. There are many shared social themes addressed within these two novels. Both boys are the victims of abusive homes and sometimes dire financial circumstances. One gets the sense that Pip's sister would have been nicer to him had she not had to struggle so hard to make sure the family had enough food to eat. It is unlikely Mr. Murdstone would have been nicer to his step-son had more money flowed into the house, but it seems clear David's mother would not have married him had she not been worried about the family's welfare enough to convince herself this was the best option. Money is also closely tied to access to education in both stories. Pip uses his meager earnings from Mrs. Havisham to try to win himself a better life through education and David's saving grace is the education he received at the boarding school in spite of its harsh circumstances. Both young men continue to struggle for an education, each receiving more classical training as they gain access to money but receiving much less practical educations for their pains. After learning to read and write, neither one seems to learn much that will actually help them survive in the Victorian world once the money disappears. In both cases, it is as a result of their trusting and caring personalities that each of these men are able to gain a chance in the world. Pip elicits the sympathies of an escaped murderer which gains him freedom from Mrs. Havisham's designs although he assumes he is simply following her plan. David convinces his great aunt to take him in and help support him after he has already won the affection of several fellow students at his boarding school and the care of his rooming house landlord. Neither one seems to make it into the ranks of the upper gentlemen class, but by the end of each book, each have fought their way into a middle class existence and reasonable assurance that they won't find themselves, like so many others, either destitute on the street or living within the debtor's prison. It is in the definition of a ‘gentleman’ that the central dichotomy of these novels lie, as being a gentleman is directly related to upward social mobility. This is true not only in the personal stories of Pip and David, but also in the stories of the characters that surround them. In each case, the level of education received is seen to define the individual's intrinsic value. This serves to illustrate, at a deeper level, the true difference between commoner and gentry within Dickens’ novels – in many ways it is nothing more than a difference of educational opportunity. “For Pip, writing and reading … are the vehicles of his anticipated upward social mobility and the expectation not only of greater wealth but of moral superiority as well … The subsequent plot reveals how Dickens is making an accounting of the costs and benefits of modernization: writing, the production of language, and the manipulation of words and capital have become the new measure of human worth” (Bloom 10). As Dickens illustrates through his novels, the idea that these differences in educational knowledge are held to be the standard by which men's entire characters should be judged should be harshly condemned. The honest, faithful and morally upstanding Joe should be far preferred over the disreputable gentleman Compeyson, yet wealth and education have enabled the latter to become the source of much of the agony of the novel in much the same way that Uriah Heap forces his way into respectability in spite of his highly suspect methods and character. Dickens recognizes in each of these novels how desirable it was for the middle-class to ascend into gentry as well as the dangers inherent in this rise. The envied lot of the landed gentleman gave each character a sort of unique privilege in society regardless of the man’s true character. As a result of rising capitalism, people of previously unremarkable stations were able to make a considerable amount of wealth in a relatively short space of time, giving rise to a prevalent hope amongst the multitude. However, in each case, Dickens brings a realization to his audience of what money and heightened status can do to a person. With nothing but a difference in education truly separating them, the ‘gentlemanly’ characters emerge as hurtful and cold-hearted toward those they once loved or that are deemed as 'beneath' them in finances or educational status. At the same time, the ‘commoner’ class represented by Joe, Biddy and even Agnes remain morally and compassionately superior regardless of the money or education their young men achieve. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000. Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1979. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Intro. by John Bowen. London: Wordsworth, (1861; 2000). Walder, Dennis. The Realist Novel: Approaching Literature. London: Routledge, 1996. Read More