Scarica Charles Dickens Inglese e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity!
CHARLES DICKENS
-Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth (on the south coast of england) in 1812 -he had an unhappy childhood -His father was imprisoned for a debt and when he was 12 he was sent to work in a blacking factory (the misery of those years will be described in his works) -when his father was released , he was sent to a school in London -At 15 he started to work as an office boy at a lawyer’s office -after he became a shorthand reporter of parliamentary debates in the house of commons and after he became a newspaper reporter
- he adopted the pen name Boz , publishing “sketches by boz” , a collection of articles about london people and screens .They were published in installments (they were written for the periodical monthly magazine) -After he published “the pickwick papers “ :it was published in installments and it revealed Dickens’ s humoristic and satirical qualities (satire) -after the success of “the pickwick papers” he started to be a novelist then he embarked on a visit to canada and the united states and he was in favor of international copyright and the abolition of slavery he wrote american notes and martin chuzzlewit -Later he wrote autobiographical novels : •oliver twist •little dorrit •david copperfield Dickens has a photographic memory of people and events in his childhood, which he used in his autobiographical novels The protagonists became the symbols of an explored childhood -He wrote also: •black house •hard times •great expectations they deal with social issues(conditions of poor and working class) -he wrote short stories : •a christmas carol -he died in 1870 and he was buried in westminster abbey
SETTINGS
-London was the setting for most of his novels -he always seemed to have something new to say about the city and he showed an intimate knowledge of it -he knows about the material and spiritual corruption of the reality for the industrialisation and he has a critical attitude toward his society infact in his mature works he wrote about public abuses ,evils and wrongs by mingling terrible description of london misery and crime with the most amusing elements of the city
CHARACTERS
-dickens shifted the social frontiers of the novel -the 18th century upper middle class was replaced by the LOWER ORDERS (poor, criminals , prostitutes , workers ) -he was the creator of characters and caricatures who live immorally in the english imagination -his aim was to capture the interest of the reader by exaggerating his characters habits and the language of the middle and lower classes of london (CARICATURES)(he made caricatures of tradesman ,shopkeepers) -he created weak female characters
-he was always on the side of the poor -CHILDREN are the most important characters in his novels
children in contest either parents and others he wrote about the exploration of children -he succeeded in making the readers love his children because they are models of behavior -he depicted victorian society in all its variety , richness and squalor
DIDACTIC AIM
-Dickens wanted to make the ruling classes aware of the social problems -thanks to his novels , the wealthier classes had a knowledge of the condition of poor -he tried to get the common intelligence of the country to alleviate social sufferings -he highlighted: •the faults of legal system •the horrors of factory employment •the scandals in prive schools •the miseries of prostitution •the appalling living conditions •the corruption in government
THEMES
-family -childhood (the children are not corrupted by adults and they are innocent. Most of them begin in bad situations and after rise to happy endings ) -poverty
STYLE
-his style is very rich and original -the main stylistic characteristics are : •long list of objects and people •adjectives used in pairs or in group •details •repetitions of the same word •the same concept is expressed more than once but in different words •use of images , exaggerations •exaggeration of the faults of characters •suspense to keep the interest of the reader •hyperbolic and ironic remarks -in his novels there is a mixture of : •realism:there are details about the society •sentimentalism :he shows sympathy toward his characters and this gives emotional qualities to his writings •morality:he reflects the moral attitudes of the british people •reporter’s style :actions , dramatic situations , details , similes , metaphors •dramatist:he explorers his characters with their actions and their speech. His analysis is external (there isn’t the analysis of the psychology ) •In dickens there are humor and pathos •mix of comic and tragic details (he makes people laugh and cry)
OLIVER TWIST
(or the parish boy’s progress) 1838 it is one of the most famous dicken’s works:it was the first novel in english with a boy as the protagonist and one of the first examples of the social novel the novel examines 19th century english society :poverty , child labor , crime ,victorian culture
Plot Oliver twist is a poor boy of unknown parents.
-the boy usually had one porridge but on special occasions he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides (the boys were still hungry ) -so they did a gane and oliver was chosen to go to ask for more food to the master -the master aimed a blow at oliver’s head -mr limbkins put oliver in isolation and then he was sold to an undertaker
-the passage is told by a third person narrator , with an alternation of dialogue and narration -style :vivid , rich in details and adjectives , contrasting images , humour , pathos -themes :exploitation of children in workhouses , lack of humanity of the parishes that run them , the starvation ,the terrible living conditions in the workhouses
HARD TIMES 1854
-it is an industrial novel or denunciation novel -it’s a victorian narrative subgenre -it’s an accusation of some of the negative effects of industrial society title The "hard times" England was going through in the nineteenth century. It was the time of the British Empire and of great wealth, the capitalist system increased the gap between the rich and the poor. There was exploitation of industrial workers. It was also a period of joyless materialism that was threatening the rich inner life of imagination and beauty
Plot -The story opens in a schoolroom in an imaginary industrial town (coketown) -the pupils are being indoctrinated by thomas gradgrind (an educator who believes that facts are the key to a good education without imagination or emotion ) -he founded a school where his theories are taught (no personal things :victorian education) -he brings up his two children (louisa and tom)repressing their feelings -but he has a great sense of responsibility toward young people :infact when one of his students (sissi jupe) is abandoned by her father (a circus performer ) ,Mr grad grind takes her and gives her education , sustenance and family life -as he wants , louisa married his older friend bounderby (a banker and manufacturer) (30 years older than her) -she thinks that he will help her brother tom who works in the bank of him(so it’s not for love ) -Tom became lazier and selfish and he robs his employer -he is obliged to leave the country -in the end , bounderby dies of affliction in the street -mr gradgrind understands the damage he has caused to his children and gives up his narrow minded and materialistic philosophy -tom dies on his way back from america after apologizing to louisa -louisa never marries again and decides to live a life of charity and kindness with her dear friend sissy and her children -sissy:she doesn’t follow the utilitarian philosophy and she reaches happiness
STRUCTURE
Hard Times is divided into three sections, or books, and each book is divided into separate chapters. ● Book the First, 'Sowing' introduces us to the seeds planted by the Gradgrind/ Bounderby education: Louisa, Tom and Sissy.(semina) ● Book the Second, 'Reaping' reveals the harvesting of these seeds: Louisa's unhappy marriage, and Tom's selfishness and criminal ways.(falciatura) ● Book the Third, 'Garnering', which means to collect something with some difficulty, reveals the details of the last part of the story.(raccolto) -biblical principal :you reap what you sow in life
-the novel describes the fruits that the character will reap and earn with the philosophy of facts
CRITIC
-critic to the materialism and utilitarianism which were at the base of the victorian society Coketown Hard Times is not set in London. Instead, the story takes place in the fictional city of Coketown, an industrial town in -19th-century Victorian England. It is a sort of brick jungle: the factory machines are like mad elephants and their smoke looks like serpents. All the buildings, covered with soot coming from the coal-burning factories, are the same. However, nothing seems to bother the mill owners:They seem to be proud of the polluted environment of Coketown. To them, the black residue that covers the town symbolizes productivity and industry. To the workers, it may just be depressing. Caricatures The name Gradgrind is made up of two words: grade (dare un voto)and grind(buttare in polvere) The former is related to evaluation, while the latter means crush into powder Mr Gradgrind's education system is fact-centered and not child-centered: his task is to destroy his pupils' imagination and creativity. One of his followers is Mr Bounderby; his name comes from 'bounder'(mascalzone), a man who behaves unfairly. In fact, he treats the workers in his factory as emotionless objects easily exploited for his own self-interest. Mr M'Choakumchild is a teacher at Mr Gradgrind's school: his teaching suffocates the children's minds and imagination.
THEMES
Hard Times is Dickens's most polemical novel. •denunciation of industrialisation, which had caused the •gap between the rich and the poor, and between factory owners and their workers, who were forced to work long hours for low pay in dirty, noisy and dangerous factories. •critique of materialism and Utilitarianism, which claimed that human nature was motivated by self-interest, and that it was the duty of the state, through education, to support and encourage each individual to pursue their own interests. Hard Times suggests that 19th- century England was turning human beings into machines by eliminating the development of their emotions and creativity. -aim:to illustrate the dangers of allowing people to become like machines
THE DEFINITION OF A HORSE
-book I “sowing” , chapter two , murdering the innocents -The scene takes place in a classroom were mr gradgrind stands before a group of young students affirming his belief in “facts” as the measure of reality -Chapter Two begins with the introduction of Thomas Gradgrind, "a man of realities,facts and calculations." He always introduces himself as Mr. Gradgrind and spends his time in constant cogitation. He is the Speaker that educates the children ("little pitchers before him"). He identifies a student, called Girl number twenty, who replies that her name is Sissy Jupe. Gradgrind corrects her that her name is Cecilia regardless of what her father calls her. Jupe's father is involved in a horse-riding circus and this is not respectable‹ in Gradgrind's opinion. He advises Cecilia to refer to her father as a "farrier' (the person who shoes a horse) or a "veterinary surgeon." The lesson continues with Gradgrind's command: "Give me your definition of a horse." While Girl number twenty knows what a horse is, she is unable to define one. Another child in the class, a boy called Bitzer, easily defines the animal by means of biological classifications (quadruped, graminivorous, etc.).
