Charles Dickens

and the Victorian Era

Victorian Era 1837-1901
Prosperity of Mid-Victorian Period

- British Empire Expanded

- Increased immigration to British
Colonies.
- The first World’s Fair showcased great
innovations, such as photography.
- Industrialization created the middle
class.
Life of Charles Dickens 1812-1870

Charles Dickens came from a poor family but

was lucky enough to attend school.
Unfortunately, his father was jailed for having
‘bad debts’ so Dickens was forced to leave
school early and start working in a boots polish
factory. He worked here for three years and the
conditions were very bad resulting in Dickens
suffering with lonliness as a young boy.
 Charles Dickens Career
Like many others, he began his literary career as a
journalist. His own father became a reporter and Charles
began with the journals 'The Mirror of Parliament' and
'The True Sun'. Then in 1833 he became parliamentary
journalist for The Morning Chronicle. With new contacts
in the press he was able to publish a series of sketches
under the pseudonym 'Boz'. In April 1836, he married
Catherine Hogarth, daughter of George Hogarth who
edited 'Sketches by Boz'. Within the same month came
the publication of the highly successful 'Pickwick
Papers', and from that point on there was no looking back
for Dickens.
- The Pickwick Papers – 1836
Dickens Novels
- Oliver Twist – 1837
- Nicholas Nickleby – 1838
- The Old Curiosity Shop – 1840
- Barnaby Rudge – 1841
- Martin Chuzzlewit – 1843
- A Christmas Carol 1843
- Dombey and Son – 1846
- David Copperfield – 1849
- Bleak House – 1852
- Hard Times – 1854
 A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a play about a mean-spirited and selfish old man, Ebenezer
Scrooge, who hates Christmas.

Major themes

• The story deals with two of Dickens' recurrent themes, social injustice and poverty.

• Dickens wrote in the wake of British government changes to

the welfare system known as the Poor Laws, changes which

required among other things, welfare applicants to "work" on

treadmills, as Scrooge points out.

• Scrooge embodies selfishness and indifference to the poor.

One cold Christmas Eve, Scrooge is unkind to the people who work for him, then refuses to give to
charity, and then is rude to his nephew when he invites him to spend Christmas with him.
When Scrooge gets home, he is visited by the ghost of his old business partner Jacob Marley – and
then by three ghosts! They are the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future.
The Ghost of Christmas Past takes Scrooge on a journey through Christmases from his past, taking
Scrooge to see himself as an unhappy child and a young man more in love with money than his fiancé.
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge his clerk, Bob Cratchit’s family. At Bob Cratchit’s
house Scrooge sees Tiny Tim, who is very ill, but full of spirit. The ghost then takes him to see his
nephew Fred’s Christmas celebrations - which he had been invited to, but rebuffed.
Finally, The Ghost of Christmas Future terrifies Scrooge by showing him visions of his own death…
The ghosts’ journey through time teaches Scrooge the error of his ways. When he wakes up on
Christmas Day he is full of excitement, and buys the biggest turkey in the shop for the Cratchit family
before spending the day with his nephew, full of the joys of Christmas.
 A Christmas Carol and Ukrainian translation
Ukrainian Dickens was first published in Lviv. In 1880, published the sto
ry "a Christmas Carol", which was published in translation Yevhen
Olesnytsky called "Holy Evening". This translation was not the original and
the German translation. Shortly published in the translation of Ivan Bele
"Christmas bells" (1882) and "Two cities" (1884), "Oliver Twist" (published
in the Annex to the newspaper "Delo" of 1891 without the name of the
interpreter ).