Victorian society as reflected in Dickens' fiction : a study of five novels

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the influence Victorian society had on Charles Dickens, and of how he expressed his ideas and views concerning its various institutions, laws, and mentality in the novels; Dombey and Son, Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend. This work is aimed at revealing Dickens' role as critic of a changing society, where new modes of living were replacing old values and habits. Dickens' portrayal of the Industrial Revolution is studied, this in tum leads us to his account of the social classes; the decaying upper class, the striving middle class, and the downtrodden working class. His scorn of money-worship is also discussed, as well as the question of mammonism replacing religion, and of what, in fact, Dickens meant by religion. Importance is also given to the explaining of the capitalist mentality, and there will be a focus on the Victorian domestic ideal, while there is also an emphasis on Dickens' use of stylistic devices as a means of criticism.