How Charles Dickens Depicts Women

How Charles demon Depicts Women daimon and his view towards women- Is it really progress?The blue(a) Age is a period of prominent progress in ternary fields oft(prenominal) as industry, trade, literature and so on. The comp championnt of women in society as surface as improved considerably and m both a nonher(prenominal) laws were passed safeguarding their rights during this age. By the fit de sicle, the concept of a revolutionary Woman is born. Charles dickens is whizz of the most famous newfangledists during this era as his invigorateds were read widespread by the general populace. His works perpetually favoured progression of the on the job(p) class, and the effects of industrial revolution wish in Hard Times. only if his awardal of women in his works easily fall under the Victorian stereotypes of women and this aspect does non really portray him as a forward-looking writer for women. David Holbrook, in Charles the Tempter and the Image of Women, sayswhen it came to the problems of man-cleaning lady relationship, he ( hellion) was seriously hampered, not notwith brooking by the attitudes of his age further also by his aver scentingal make-up and psychic pattern (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 7, Pg. 172)To establish this, I allow analyse two colossal Expectations and at bid credit sketches of the women portrayed in that novel. The reason for choosing this particularised novel is due to the f recreate that it was fairly popular during the quantify of publishing and it has different types of women shares presented in the novel. This novel is also highly controversial as it has two final results because the general populace was not satisfied with the lord close and Dickens had to rewrite it to please his audience.Great Expectations follows the protagonist spud and it chronicles his life. The novel could be even considered as a bildungsroman. arrive at encounters various types of women in society and his interactions and pers pective of these women gives a clear mind of Dickens mindset towards these women. The character smirch and Dickens share a lot of akin(predicate)ities- for example, Dickens father was arrested and the theme of prison runs strong in Great Expectations, mop and Dickens did not nurse vertical relationships with women and so on. The women of Great Expectations s balance a look be correct into categories but these categories are not definite as some characters can be a mix of two or more(prenominal) categories. These categories are as follows The holy persons of the kin, the eccentric women, and the self-supporting women.The Angel of the house is the idealised stereotype of a Victorian Woman and how she should be feed. This idea was popularized by Cov first appearance Patmores poem, The angel of the house where he describes his wife as an angel who photographs care of the place. She is some genius who is meek and doesnt challenge the authority of the household leader, the man. She is submissive to him and fulfils his wishes with the utmost devotion. She is also someone who upholds moral values such(prenominal) as truth , charity and purity. This is the merciful of cleaning lady that the Victorian society and some authors preferred. Some would say Dickens himself preferred these kinds of characters and usually, they have a redeeming(prenominal) closedown, standardized the titular character in Little Dorrit.In Great Expectations, the role of the Angel of the house is interpreted up by doll. dame is the childhood friend of billet, the protagonist of Great Expectations who bulge asides to take on the winding-clothes of a kind and nurturing m other. The first description of this character is seen in Chapter 7, when clear up goes to Mr. Wopsles great aunt to study in her evening school. It is here he meets Biddy, who manages the shop which Mr. Wopsles great aunt runs.She was an orphan the likes of myself like me, too, had been brought up by hand. She was most noticeable, I thought, in respect of her extremities for, her blur always cherished brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel.(Chapter 7, Pg. 76)From the above description, it is clear that Pip did not have that high of a regard towards Biddy, though they were similar in universe brought up by hand. She was in effect(p) a regular(a) commoner, accord to Pip. In Chapter 10, Biddy readily agrees to teach Pip everything she knows. She is also described as the most obliging of girls which is one of the traits of the Angel of the house. When Mrs. Joe gets injure by Orlick, Biddy is brought in to take care of her which instantly helps slake some stress more or less the household. Biddy seems to be experienced in taking care of other people, as she has been taking care of Mr. Wopsles great aunt throughout her life. This is also another mark of the Angel of the house. By Chapter 17, Pips view of Biddy ch anges and he sees Biddy as more maidenlike and pretty, though not on par with the gorgeous Estella.Her shoes came up at the heel, her hair grew impertinent and neat, her hands were always clean. She was not splendiferous she was common, and could not be like Estella but she was pleasant and wholesome and sweet-tempered. (Chapter 17, Pg. 222)Biddy is also intellectually equal or better than Pip as she manages to keep up with him in intellectual pursuits and manage the domestic household chores. In short, whatsoever I knew, Biddy knew. (Chapter 17, Pg. 222) But she always be humble and never proud, which is how an ideal Victorian woman would behave. She also serves the role of a confidante and consoler to Pip as he confesses the feelings he had harboured for Estella to her and his wish of sightly a gentleman.Biddy was the wisest of girls, and she tried to reason no more with me. She put her hand, which was a well-fixed hand though roughened by work, upon my hands, one after a nother, and gently took them out of my hair. Then she softly patted my shoulder in a soothing way (Chapter 17, Pg. 229-230)When Biddy and Pip get into an pe grindree, she gets charge of cosmos jealous and it is her who apologises. Also in Chapter 35, when Mrs. Joe dies, they get into another argument and in the end she says, let only me be hurt, if I have been ungenerous. This is similar to Amy Dorrits behaviour in Little Dorrit when she gets s ice- polared by her father for not getting along with the gatekeepers son to provide him a more comfortable life. This is also another characteristic which was expected of the Angel of the house, where the woman is implemental to the man and has no right to confront him for his misdeeds or wrongdoings, but quite an apologise even if they werent at fault. In chapter 58, Biddy finally gets her beaming ending by marrying Joe Gargery, the good Samaritan. She is also the only female person character to get a proper happy ending unlike Estel la (in the original ending), Ms. Havisham or Mrs. Joe.It is obvious that Dickens favours Biddy and the type of woman she portrays more than the others. She might be unconsciously modelled after Mary Hogarth, his first wife, who according to David Holbrook in Charles Dickens and the Image of Women, isworshipped by him (Dickens) as the picture of ideal womanhood. Throughout his life he seemed to need to idolize this kind of devoted sister send off like Agnes in David Copperfield and Rose Maylie in Oliver Twist angelically beautiful, devoted, inspiring, and the object of pure admiration( Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 7, Pg. 168)Though Biddy is not angelically beautiful, she is angelic in quality and she earns the admiration of the audience and posterior Pip himself. The other character who also fall under this grade is Clara Barley who marries Herbert Pocket after her abusive fathers death and also has a happy ending.The Eccentric women categorises women who do not fall under the steril e categories Victorians imposed on women. They are usually portrayed as mysterious, dark, cruel, cold and cunning. They are also beautiful women who take on the role of seductress and tempt the virtuous men into committing adultery or just serve as objects of temptation. They are also associated with criminality- usually portrayed as murderers or in any role which is not morally right. In Great Expectations, in that location are many eccentric women- the most noteworthy ones are Ms. Havisham and Estella (who will be dealt with later as she falls under two categories). Ms. Havisham is one of the stranger characters Dickens has created and she could be compared to the wet Witch of the West. She is first revealed in Chapter 8, when she awaits Pips arrival to be Estellas playmate. Pip is thoroughly spooked by her, as seen in his description of her in her wedding dress and comparing her to a forbidding waxwork and a inning.Once, I had been taken to see some relentless waxwork at the Fair, representing I know not what impossible important person lying in state. Once, I had been taken to one of our old marshland churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress, that had been withdraw out of a vault under the church pavement. Now, waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me. I should have cried out, if I could. (Chapter 8, Pg. 100)Her interactions with Pip portray her to be broken and melancholic but scary at the same time. The lingering scent of death and crumple surrounded her every move and action and this impacts Pip to such an exercise that he hallucinates Ms. Havisham hanging from a beam.I saw a figure hanging there by the neck. A figure all in yellow white, with but one shoe to the feet and it hung so, that I could see that the listless trimmings of the dress were like earthy paper, and that the face was deteriorate Havishams, with a movement going over the whole countenance as if she were severe to call to me. (Chapter 8, Pg. 112)Holbrook, in Charles Dickens and the Image of Women, compares the hallucination of Pip as representing the death of the female element, in Dickens himself. It shows just how much Dickens has his views on women changed due to his personal experiences with women throughout his life.This is just the kind of incubus fantasy one might expect a sensitive and grotesque childlike Pip to have. But it also belongs to the overall symbolism of the outstanding poem- and in this it is the image of female element being gone cold emotions gone dead, sexuality gone dead, and creativity gone dead. So, it is an image characteristic of the Victorian predicament. The hanging figure Pip sees is the death of potentia in Miss Havisham, in himself, and in Dickens himself. (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 137)Pips description of Ms. Havisham during Chapter 11 reiterates the idea that she is the Wicked Witch of the West. In her other hand she had a crutch-headed stick on which she lean ed, and she looked like the Witch of the place. (Chapter 11, Pg. 148) Ms. Havishams interactions with her guests seem cold and concise as she walks some the room with Pip and exchanges small talk with them. It is obvious that Ms. Havisham exudes a cold and melancholic aura as she compares herself with the rotten cake, the so-called heap of decay.Ms. Havisham is also shown to be manipulative as she poses as a fake help for Pip to get Sarah Pocket jealous in Chapter 19. When Herbert narrates the story of Ms. Havisham to Pip in Chapter 22, she is shown to be a spoiled child and when she was grown up, a proud and haughty woman who didnt trust or depend on anyone. When she fell in love with Compeyson, she had loved him heatingately but when she got jilted, her passion turned to fury and laid wrath upon the house and her life. What the novel doesnt portray or high prosperous is that her being spoiled and haughty is due to her fostering and her sadness and hurt at losing her buffer wh om she had loved so concupiscently is just glossed upon as just a recovery from a tough illness. Ms. Havishams desire for revenge is highlighted in chapter 29 as she greedily urges Pip to love Estella. Her view on love has been skewered by her jilted lover and now she wishes the same fate upon others just to see them suffer like she did.Ill tell you, said she, in the same hurried passionate whisper, what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and look against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter as I did (Chapter 29, Pg. 425-426)But Ms. Havishams greatest possession and achievement aka Estella turns into a cold-hearted woman who is incapable of benignant anyone, including Ms. Havisham herself. Their argument during Chapter 38 shows just how much Estella has perish estranged and indifferent to Ms. Havisham and her own pride and joy has turned against her.So proud, so proud m oaned Miss Havisham, pushing external her grey hair with both her hands. Who taught me to be proud? returned Estella. Who praised me when I learnt my lesson? So weighty, so hard moaned Miss Havisham, with her former action. Who taught me to be hard? returned Estella. Who praised me when I learnt my lesson? But to be proud and hard to me Miss Havisham quite shrieked, as she stretched out her arms. Estella, Estella, Estella, to be proud and hard to me (Chapter 38, Pg. 543-544)This shows Ms. Havishams anguish over losing Estella, the only relationship which she actively participated after being jilted by her lover. It is Estella whom she let into her deep and flex heart and it is through Estella and Pip that she regains some human emotions like regret. In Chapter 44, when Pip confesses to Estella and gets his heart broken, Ms. Havishams answers are short and abrupt but it showcases her repentance and the sense of guilt at what she has done. She identifies with Pip and realises tha t Pip is the same as her now- with a broken heart, and it is all because of her. Though her plans succeeded, she does not derive any pleasure or comfort from it.Ms. Havisham is quite a complex character, with many flaws pointed out more than positive points in the novel. Holbrook says, Ms. Havisham has been blighted emotionally just at the moment of sexual flowering, and her bodily life in an antediluvian patriarch bridal gown symbolizes psychic paralysis. (Holbrook, Chapter 5, Pg. 133) and identifies this characteristic of Ms. Havisham to Dickens own fears of loving and related schizoid problems of identity. She is a woman fixated with one goal in mind but realizes that she is harming others just like others had harmed her later in the novel and seeks for apt(p)ess. She does have a moment of realization and though she spent old age of her life rotting away in the Satis house, she leads an independent life with the cash provided by her father. Ideally, she would not suit the char acteristic of an independent woman or the New Woman but she does have the underlying qualities of an independent woman, only if the circumstances were better, she might have developed into one of the strong-willed women who would appear in the later Victorian Age.Before focussing on Estella, other minor characters which fall under this category will be Mrs. Joe Gargery and Molly, Estellas mother. Mrs. Joe is well known for bringing up Pip by hand. She is introduced in expound in Chapter 2 where the first physical feature which is highlighted is her beauty.She was not a good-looking woman, my sister and I had a general impression that she must have made Joe Gargery marry her by hand. (Chapter 2, Pg. 11)My sister, Mrs. Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes use to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap. She was tall and bony, and intimately always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her fi gure screw with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in front, that was stuck secure of pins and needles. (Chapter 2, Pg. 11-12)Mrs. Joe is just like her apron- coarse, impregnable or rather immovable, and was as lienal as those pins and needles stuck on her bib. She is described as a lurid woman and she uses the so-called tickler to dish out corporal punishment for Pip. She seems to be the power of the Gargery house rather than Joe himself, as he doesnt stop her from whatever she wants to do or say. All her interactions with Pip usually have a violent undertone- for example, before sending Pip off to Ms. Havishams house, she gives him a good scrubbing which is painful for Pip to say the least. She also meets a violent end when she is attacked by Orlick in chapter 15 and by chapter 16, she has lost her hearing, could merely see and has be pursue crippled. These are the things which are highlighted in the novel.What is not highlighted is that Mrs. Joe had to take care o f the entire household after her parents died, had to live through the deaths of her louver brothers and had to take care of a child who is twenty years junior than her. She also had to shoulder the household responsibilities and social interactions with others. These aspects of Mrs. Joe are not shown in the novel and in the end, she is rendered as a crippled woman who is taken care of Biddy. She finally passes away in Chapter 34, and in Chapter 35, she also turns into a ghostly existence which haunts the protagonist Pip as he makes his way to the funeral back to Joes forge and the rest of the novel with the theme of murder and violence.The other character which falls under this eccentric woman category is Molly, the murderess who tries to push down her own daughter. She is a docile and obedient servant of Mr. Jaggers, but she has an disreputable past and is the birth-mother of Estella. She is saved from the gallows by Mr. Jaggers and lives with him as a servant. Not much is kno wn about her criminal past and she is wrapped with an air of solemn mystery. Holbrook describes Molly as,a woman with strong muscles concealed under petiteness and a woman capable of great cruelty and perhaps murder. She is the female annihilating figure Freud called the castrating mother (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 138)Though Molly is not given that much of an importance in the novel, she represents the theme of murder and guilt, which seems to contaminate every character in the novel- including Estella, who is the daughter of a murderess and a convict. Estella is the final entry in the eccentric woman category but she does not jump herself to just this category. Estella is also introduced in chapter 8 and she brings the light into Pips dark life.To stand in the dark in a mysterious passage of an unknown quantity house, bawling Estella to a scornful small lady neither obvious nor responsive, and feeling it a dreadful liberty so to roar out her name, was almost as bad as pl aying to order. But, she answered at last, and her light came along the dark passage like a star. Miss Havisham beckoned her to come close, and took up a jewel from the table, and tried its effect upon her fair young bosom and against her pretty brown hair. (Chapter 8, Pg. 103-104)She is compared with a star or a jewel throughout the novel and these symbolize Estella to be bright, precious and furthermost out of reach. Though she is mean to Pip and shows only contempt and championship for him, she still manages to entrance Pip with her cold demeanour and her beauty, much like how a seductress traps her victim with her charms. She is perceived to be cold-hearted and cruel, but she does display signs of emotion as seen in the scene where she allows Pip to snog her speak.But, she neither asked me where I had been, nor why I had kept her waiting and there was a bright flush upon her face, as though something had happened to delight her. Instead of going full-strength to the gate, t oo, she stepped back into the passage, and beckoned me. Come here You may kiss me, if you like. I kissed her cheek as she turned it to me. (Chapter 11, Pg. 162)What is interesting to note is that Estella is delighted by an act of violence, even before any thoughts of criminality is being associated with her. This could be auspicate or reiterating by Dickens to show Estellas roots- her criminal parents. By chapter 22, Herbert establishes Estellas purpose in life or the reason of her being brought up by Ms. Havisham and that is to break young mens hearts.Also, when Pip returns to the Satis house to see Estella once shes a grown woman in Chapter 29, she pretends she doesnt commend Pip or any of their childhood interactions which deeply hurt Pip. She also points out the spot where Pip had seen the ghost in his childhood. This is a conflicting behaviour of Estella and she likely did it to dig deep into the scars of Pip so that he may remember her more vividly as Pip becomes emotionall y hurt when Estella pretends not to remember him. That scene is also important as it brings out more fore darknessing. correspond to Holbrook, this scene shows the implicit connection to Estella and her roots.The association between Estella and the ghost is ambiguous. In one sense, Pip is sensing her origins her mother was the unknown murderess who wished to kill her own child. In the background too is her father Magwitch, the criminal, who believes his child to be dead. The shadow is of murder by the woman murderer and of the child by being abandoned (by rejecting the mother and father). (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 138)As Estella grows up, she remains in her role of being the object of desire and she makes other men jealous using Pip. As for Pip himself, she warns him multiple times that shes a cold-hearted person. This could be her manipulating him further or she might genuinely care about him- it is not clear. This ambiguity is wedded to Estella till the chapter where Pip c onfesses his love for her.You ridiculous boy, said Estella, will you never take warning? Or do you kiss my hand in the same spirit in which I once let you kiss my cheek? What spirit was that? said I. I must think a moment. A spirit of contempt for the fawners and plotters. If I say yes, may I kiss the cheek again? (Chapter 33, Pg. 475)When she rejects Pip, she does so with a cold demeanour. She does not express her emotions, which is how a Victorian woman should be, and it further accentuates how Dickens uses this physical body for this scene in an ironic way. Even as a child, Estella have more emotion than when she grew up as she became unmoved by everything around her, including others feelings. Furthermore, she tells Pip that shes going to marry Drummle by her own decision, just to probably spite everyone, including Ms. Havisham. Only Pips pleas for her to not marry Drummle brings out a softer reaction in her. This eventually leads to Estella being abused by her husband and dep ending on the two endings, she either gets remarried and still depressing or she ends up having a future with the possibility of marrying Pip. These two endings lead to drastically different fates for Estella.Dickens original ending shows Estella reformed by her suffering- shes remarried but she still holds herself in high regard and superiority. In the second ending, she is much more alter and reformed by her suffering. John Forster, who was Dickens friend, felt the original ending was more consistent with the draft, as well as the natural works out of the tale.1 George Bernard Shaw says that the novel is too serious a book to be a trivially happy one. Its beginning is unhappy its middle is unhappy and the conventional happy ending is an outrage on it.2 Also, the second ending was constructed only to please the audience who wanted a conventional end to that novel with marriage. The second ending pleases the contemporary critics more as they feel that the two characters have suffe red enough to finally get their happy ending. Martin value argues by saying, Each is a fantasist who has grown into maturity each is a fantasist that has dwindled into humanity.3But Estella also has a positive role, according to Holbrook. He says, she is the blow up of Pips ambitions and it is true, though it leads him to more pain and suffering than his apprenticed life with Joe and Biddy. But he finally learns his place in life and is content with what he has through this harrowing experience. He says,Yet, with his characteristic and marvellous belief in human creativity and vision, Dickens makes Estella an inspiration for Pip. Although she cannot yet understand, and seems untouched by, the reparative passion (the caring impulse, which, through its suffering, can cure schizoid alienation), she gives Pips world meaning. She comes along the passages like a star she is the Stella Maris. (Holbrook, 1993. Chapter 5, Pg. 140)Estella can also be looked at as a strong independent woman towards the end. She has suffered and in consequence, down(p) herself and realises how to love (at least in the second ending). She is no longer a bright shining star whos out of reach but a strong independent woman who has gotten rid of her demons and living life anew.Dickens himself is not against women or empowering women as he was fairly sympathetic towards the idea of property rights, which was the heart of the issue during the 1850s. But that applied only to the on the job(p) women and not the powerful women like Ms. Havisham. In Great Expectations, Ms. Havishams house is passed on to Estella, who is the adopted daughter, and it is hers to do with as she pleases. This is not the traditional primogeniture practice which is usually practiced during the Victorian Age and it is met with discomfort by Dickens. Deborah Wynne, in Women and in the flesh(predicate) Property in the Victorian Novel, sayswhen women do take control of important amounts of property and its transmission, as Miss Havisham does, the destructive qualities of their legacies are usually emphasized. When physical women of property, owners of real estate, create for themselves a space which is inaccessible to male control, such as Betsy Trotwood, Mrs. Clennam or Miss Havisham, it is shown to be vulnerable to loss or destruction, as though Dickens half believed what English law presumed that women had a tendency to be ineffective managers of their own property (Wynne, 2010. Chapter 2, Pg. 58)He favoured the working women and women who were destitute like prisoners and prostitutes. He opened up a house for the fallen women called Urania cottage along with Miss Angela Burdett-Coutts. Jane Rogers, in Dickens and his involvement in Urania Cottage, saysMiss Coutts and Dickens planned a Home that would offer a different and more sympathetic turn up to the treatment of fallen women. Other organisations such as the Magdelen Society had homes which offered a typically harsh and punishing routine . (Rogers, 2003. Pg. 1)This Urania house was a reformation centre for these fallen women to regain a proper place in the Victorian society, which still oppressed women into traditional roles. According to Jenny Hartley, in Undertexts and Intertexts The Women of Urania Cottage, Secrets and Little Dorrit, Dickens concerned himself with everything the women of the cottage did, including how they spend their time in the house. It is quite clear that though Dickens was very advanced in his thinking, when it came to women, he was still confined by society and its rules. united with his bad experiences with women in real life, his fictional women characters came to represent what was hidden away in his mind- his fears and regrets and personal insecurities caused by the society and his relationships.By analysing the character sketches of the women of Great Expectations and Dickens personal life, it is clear that Dickens is very conflicted when it comes to the return of women. He prefers certain kinds of women like Biddy, who are the working class and poor angels of the house, and as for the other women, they are subjected to hardships and punishments for their transgressions. Though he didnt make his female characters as independent like Nora Roberts from A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen, his characters like Estella or Ms. Havisham still retain some part of being an independent woman, though it is obscured by their eccentricity. So, Dickens, in a sense, is a writer who is suppress by his personal life which narrows his views on women. Otherwise, he is a progressive writer who acknowledges the social constraints caused by the society.Works CitedDickens, C. (1851). Great Expectations. initiatory ed. ebook major planet PDF. forthcoming at http//www.planetpublish.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Great_Expectations_NT.pdf Accessed 28 Dec. 2016.Hartley, J. (2005). Critical Survey. 1st ed. ebook Berghahn Books, pp.63-76. Available at https//www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41556108 .pdf Accessed 4 Jan. 2017.Holbrook, D. (1993). Charles Dickens and the image of woman. 1st ed. New York New York University Press.Rogers, J. (2003). Dickens and his involvement in Urania Cottage. online Victorianweb.org. Available at http//www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/rogers/8.html Accessed 1 Jan. 2017.Wynne, D. (2010). Women and personal property in the Victorian novel. 1st ed. Farnham, Surrey, England Ashgate Pub.Academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu. (2017). The Ending of Great Expectations. online Available at http//academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/dickens/ending.html Accessed 3 Jan. 2017.1 All these three quotes are taken from The Ending of Great Expectations23