Charles Dickens: The Man Who

Had Great Expectations

by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema
Gad’
Gad’s Hill Place
 Childhood
• born on February 7, 1812
• grew up in Chatham, east of London
• lived there until he was ten
• had a happy childhood
• liked to read and pretend to be the
heroes in his story books
• older sister named Fanny
• went to a respectable school
Charles’
Charles’ Mother and Father

Mother – Father –
Elizabeth John
Dickens Dickens
 Childhood
• father (John Dickens) worked hard but
was always in debt
• had to move family of eight to London
• Charles couldn’t go to school anymore
because the family couldn’t afford it
• stayed home and help with the house
and children
• sold belongings to buy food
Warren’
Warren’s Blacking Factory
 Childhood
• at age twelve, Charles was forced to
work in the factory
• worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Marshalsea Prison
 Childhood
• father was arrested for debt and sent
to Marshalsea Prison
• the whole family was there except for
Charles
• he lived alone in a boarding house
• wandered the city at night; felt lonely
• this experience affected him deeply
Wellington House Academy
 Childhood
• father received an inheritance
• paid off his debts
• was released from prison
• Charles was finally allowed to leave
the factory and go back to school
Charles Dickens as a Young Man
 Young Adulthood
• quit school at 15
• worked in various jobs
Maria Beadnell
 Young Adulthood
• fell in love with Maria Beadnell, a
banker’s daughter
• did anything to gain her affection
• Maria’s parents didn’t approve of
Charles
• sent Maria to Paris
• Charles was heartbroken
Dickens’
Dickens’ London
 Young Adulthood
• Dickens would wander the streets of
London and watch the people
• he began to write stories about the
people he saw
Depositing the Manuscript:
“A Dinner at Poplar Walk”
Walk”
Sketches by Boz
 Young Adulthood
• submitted his first story to the Monthly
Magazine
• the magazine published his first story “A
Dinner at Poplar Walk”
• he started to write more stories for them
• took the pen name Boz
• published his first book – Sketches by
Boz
Catherine Hogarth
 Young Adulthood

• Dickens married Catherine Hogarth

• they did not have a happy marriage
• they lived together for over twenty-two
years; stayed married until Dickens’
death
The Pickwick Papers
 Young Adulthood

• at age 25, Charles became extremely

popular with the publication of The
Pickwick Papers
• people were crazy about him and his
stories
Mary Hogarth
Nell Lucy Manette Agnes Heep
from from from
The Old A Tale of Two David
Curiosity Shop Cities Copperfield
 Young Adulthood

• Catherine’s sister, Mary, came to live

with them
• Charles had strong feelings for her
• when she died, he was very upset
• based many of his sympathetic female
story characters on her
 Scenes from
movie versions
of
Oliver Twist
 Young Adulthood
• Charles wrote the book Oliver Twist
• showed people the darker side of life in
London – the poverty, illness, and
dangerous living and working conditions
• his writing influenced people and society
• laws to help the poor and to provide
schools were passed
Fagin from
Oliver Twist
Uriah Heep from David Copperfield
Ebenezer
Scrooge
from A
Christmas
Carol
 Miss Havisham
from Great Expectations
LittleLittle
Nell Nell
and her grandfather
on her deathbed from
The Old Curiosity Shop
Charles Dickens Before His
First Trip to America
 Older Man
• Dickens popular in America
• visited when he was thirty
• left on January 4, 1842
• he was mobbed by fans everywhere he
went
Dickens in America
Portrait Done in Boston
Dickens in America
 Older Man
• he liked Boston
• disliked spitting
• resented that people were publishing his
stories without paying him
• despised slavery
• became very disappointed with the U.S.
Dickens’
Dickens’
Former
Home
Decorated
for the
Holidays
“The
Sparkler of
Albion”
Albion”
A Christmas
Carol
 Older Man
• Dickens loved to throw big parties
• would do magic tricks for his guests
• loved entertaining at Christmas
• wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843
• became his most popular work
Maria Beadnell ... again
 Dickens Moves into
Gad’
Gad’s Hill Place

Dickens was finally was able to buy Gad’s Hill

Place on March 14, 1856.
Dickens in 1867
Charles Dickens Visits
America a Second Time
 Older Man
• he began to do dramatic public readings
of his work
• decided to go back to the U.S. even
though he was ill
• the people were still excited to see him
• he liked the U.S. much better this time—
slavery had been abolished; the towns
were more civilized
The Swiss Chalet
at Gad’s Hill
The Couch Dickens Died on at
Gad’
Gad’s Hill
 Older Man
• he had a stroke which weakened him
• stopped doing public performances
• retired to Gad’s Hill to write and get his
health back
• was working on a new novel
• had a massive stroke
• died on June 9, 1870
• age fifty-eight
Dickens’
Dickens’ Characters
Filled his Mind
 Notebook Entry #30
1) Write the following sentence: In the biography
Charles Dickens: The Man Who Had Great
Expectations by Diane Stanley and Peter
Vennema, we learn that Charles Dickens was a
very ______(insert character trait word here)
man.

2) Now, without giving specific details or facts,

write a paragraph that summarizes your
impressions and generalizations about what kind
of man Dickens was based on what you learned in
the book. How would you introduce his life?