Charles Dickens :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Charles Dickens criticizes his society and everything that he thinks is wrong about it. He expresses all his dislikes in the society of the Victorian Era. He expresses his feelings about the Victorian society in all his writings. He criticizes many things in each book he has written. Dickens traveled a lot and had seen “many little things and some great things, which, because they interested him, he thought may interest others';(Internet Site #3). His books all contain themes that show Dickens’s dislike of the way his society is. He wrote primarily for the lower-middle class. He was not particularly fond of the aristocratic class, and how they treated the people of lower classes. His ideas and attitudes were typical to the people of the lower-middle class. His audience was people of the same class as him, so they could understand his feelings and beliefs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He displays his moral beliefs in every book that he has written. Dickens was a very big advocate in the “plea of Poor versus Rich';(Internet Site #1). Dickens gave plenty of aid to this plea by the works that he wrote, which provided progress to the battle for the poor. All of Dickens’ novels show the battle between upper and lower classes. He portrays the lower class in a respectable way, but he portrays the proletarian people in such a dishonorable way that the reader in some books despises them. One example of this is in Tale of Two Cities. This book shows how most people were poor during the French Revolution. The aristocracy consisted of about 3 percent of the population, and everyone else was poor in the lower class. This book shows the admirable qualities of the poor, and how they managed to squeak out a living despite the horrible conditions that they lived in. Dickens makes the reader feel bad for the lower classes in many books. He introduces many poor children in his books that the reader feels bad for because of their upbringing. This can be seen in Bleak House with the introduction of Jo into the novel. Jo was a poor boy who did everything he could to try and make money. Dickens’ makes the reader feel bad when Jo dies because the he could not help that he was given such a rough life, but he tried his best to survive. The reader also feels bad because he dies at such a young age.