The Life of Charles Dickens

INTRODUCTION 
This report will talk about the life of a famous author, 
Charles Dickens. It will tell you about his early, middle, 
and later years of his life. It will also talk about one of 
his great works of literature. In conclusion, this report 
will show a comparison of his work to his life.

EARLY LIFE

Charles Dickens was born at Landport, in Portsea, on 
February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the Navy 
Pay-Office, and was temporarily on duty in the neighborhood 
when Charles was born. His name was John Dickens. He spent 
time in prison for debts. But, even when he was free
he lacked the money to support his family. Then, when 
Charles was two they moved to London. 1 

Just before he started to toddle, he stepped into the glare 
of footlights. He never stepped out of it until he died. He 
was a good man, as men go in the bewildering world of ours, 
brave, transparent, tender-hearted, and honorable. Dickens 
was always a little too irritable because he was a little 
too happy. Like the over-wrought child in society, he was 
splendidly sociable, and in and yet sometimes quarrelsome. 
In all the practical relations of his life he was what the 
child is at a party, genuinely delighted, delightful, 
affectionate and happy, and in some strange way 
fundamentally sad and dangerously close to tears. 2 

At the age of 12 Charles worked in a London factory pasting 
labels on bottles of shoe polish. He held the job only for a 
few months, but the misery of the experience remain with him 
all his life. 3 

Dickens attended school off and on until he was 15, and then 
left for good. He enjoyed reading and was especially fond of 
adventure stories, fairy tales, and novels. He was 
influenced by such earlier English writers as William 
Shakespeare, Tobias Smollet, and Henry Fielding. However,
most of the knowledge he later used as an author came from 
his environment around him. 4

MIDDLE LIFE

Dickens became a newspaper writer and reporter in the late 
1820's. He specialized in covering debates in Parliament, 
and also wrote feature articles. His work as a reporter 
sharpened his naturally keen ear for conversation and helped 
develop his skill in portraying his characters speach
realistically. It also increased his ability to observe and 
to write swiftly and clearly. Dickens' first book, Sketches 
by Boz (1836) consisted of articles he wrote for the Monthly 
Magazine and the London Evening Chronicles.5 

On April 2, 1836 he married Catherine Hogarth. This was just 
a few days before the anoucement that on the 31st he would 
have his first work printed in The Posthumous Papers of the 
Pickwick Club. And this was the beginning of his career. 6 

Then, at 24, Dickens became famous and was so until he died. 
He won his first literary fame with The Posthumous Papers of 
the Pickwick Club. Published in monthly parts in 1836 and 
1837 the book describes the humorous adventure and 
misadventures of the English Countryside. After a slow 
start, The Pickwick Papers as the book was usually called 
gained a popularity seldom matched in the history of 
literature. 7 

Then in 1837, Catherine's sister Mary, died. Because of her 
death Dickens' suffered a lot of grief. This led some 
scholars to believe that Dickens loved Mary more than 
Catherine. Catherine was a good woman but she lacked 
intelligence. Dickens and Catherine had 10 children. Then 
later in 1858, the couple seperated. 8 

LATER LIFE

His later years was basically consisting of two main 
additions to his previous activites. 

The first was a series of public readings and lectures which 
he began giving it systematically. And second, he was a 
successive editor. Dickens had been many things in his life; 
he was a reporter , an actor, a conjurer, a poet, a 
lecturer, and a editor and he enjoyed all of those things. 9 

Dickens had a remarkable mental and physical energy. He 
recorded all his activites in thousands of letter, many of 
which made delightful readings. He spent much of his later 
life with crowded social friends from arts and literature. 
He also went to the theater as often as he could, cause he
loved drama. Dickens also produced and acted in small 
theaters to give public readings of his
work.10 

Besides doing all this after his retirement he got involved 
in various charities . These charities included schools for 
poor children and a loan society to enable the poor to prove 
to Australia. 11 

Then about 1865 his health started to decline and he died of 
a stroke on June 9, 1870. 12

Dicken's Work 

The Great Expectations 

This story talks about a guy who is in love with a girl. It 
is the theme of a youths discovery of the realities of life. 
An unknown person provides the young hero, Pip, with money 
so that he can live as a gentleman. Pip's pride is shattered 
when he learns that he loses Estella forever, the source of
his "great expectation". Only by painfully revising his 
values does Pip reestablish his life on a foundation of 
sympathy, rather than on vanity, possesions, and social 
position.

Conclusion 

His work of Great Expectation is very related with his life. 
It deals with the same problems he faced when he lost 
Catherine and how his life was before he became rich and 
famous. He also created scenes and descriptions of places 
that have longed delighted readers. Dickens was a keen
observer of life and had a great underezding of humanity, 
especially of young people. The warmth and humor of his 
personality appeared in all of his works. Perhaps in no 
other large body of fiction does the reader receive so 
strong and agreeable impression of the person behind the
story.

Endnotes

1. G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens The Last of The Great 

Men, American Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942 pg.19

2. Ibid, pg. 21-22 

3. Johnson, Edgar, His Tragedy and Triumph. Rev. ed. 

Viking, 1977, pg. 20

4. Ibid, pg. 27

5. World Book Encyclopedia, Random House, NY., 1990 pg. 193

6. G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens The Last of the Great 

Men, American Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942 pg. 50

7. World Book Encyclopedia, Random House, NY., 1990 pg. 193

8. Johnson, Edgar, His Tragedy and Triumph. Rev. ed. 

Viking, 1977, pg. 53

9. G. K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens The Last of the Great 

Men, American Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942 pg. 167

10. World Book Encyclopedia, Random House, NY., 1990 pg.195

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chesterton, G.K., "The Last of the Great Men" American 

Book-Stratford Press, NY., 1942.

Johnson, Edgar, "His Tragedy and Triumph" Rev. ed. 

Viking, 1977.

World Book Encyclopedia, Random House, NY., 1990