Amy was based on a younger sister of Catherine Dickens (the unfortunate wife of the author) whom Charles believed was the epitome of Victorian womanhood. She was younger than his wife, and without the burden of bearing all those children, had a girlish figure, unlike Catherine. She was also a mouse who did exactly what she was told, and didn’t complain to CD (and “cause trouble”) like his wife did.
Dickens had a creepy fascination for her and they might even have been sexually involved (I can’t recall precisely).
reply
share
Quasimodo (16388)
3 years ago
Charles Dickens was a bit of an odd duck when you read up on him. Some say his behaviour could be described as OCD like and he reacted very badly to being taken out of school at the age of twelve and put to work in a blacking factory when his father went to debtors' prison. Many of his books have a male child in similar but worse circumstances for example so he seemed to be fixated on the experience.
He also had issues with his mother. When his father was released from debtors' prison his mother wanted Charles to stay at the blacking factory and he felt it as a kind of betrayal. He may then have begun to form his opinion that women should always be subservient to men.
reply
share
Furienna (3312)
3 years ago
Interesting.
It is clear that Dickens was an asshole to his wife, but this can maybe explain why he became that way.
reply
share
Quasimodo (16388)
3 years ago
I have only been able to pick up bits and pieces about Charles Dickens' life as I'm not interested enough to fork out for a biography but he was an intriguing individual. I wouldn't be all that surprised if William Dorrit was in part based on some of the less appealing aspects of his own character.
Generally though Dickens had a very high opinion of himself. He thought he was right up there with Shakespeare and not without some basis I suppose. I'd much rather read Dickens than Shakespeare myself and I wouldn't be alone there.
Part of his reaction against his mother it seems to me was that he couldn't believe she would be so lacking in judgement as to leave him in a blacking factory, as though he was some kind of lowly dullard. Wasn't it obvious to her how talented he was ? How could she be so stupid ?
His marriage to his wife broke down completely it would seem. After ten children she was over it whereas Dickens wanted her to look after everything at home including him so he could just do his work. Not an unusual expectation for a successful man in those days I would guess. I think another thing that bothered him was that most of his children turned out to be not very bright and he blamed it on his wife because it clearly couldn't have come from him !
Dickens also seems to have picked up a sexually transmitted disease that plagued him very much for a long time. He used to enjoy enacting a scene where he murdered a young woman for example and he couldn't get enough of doing it and would be emotionally overwhelmed by the performance. Getting pretend revenge on the prostitute who infected him perhaps ?
On the other hand there was the charitable work he did in assisting young women who had fallen by the wayside to a second chance at life. And there he wouldn't be the only man who was kinder to strangers than he was to his own family. Mrs Jellyby comes to mind as well.
A complicated man.
reply
share
Furienna (3312)
3 years ago
What I read (or heard) is that Dickens went so far that he even tried to get his wife admitted to a mental asylum!
But the doctors were decent enough to not agree to this since she wasn't insane.
It is good that he did what he could to help other helpless women, who were not his wife.
But yeah, it seems to me that "complicated" is just an understatement.
reply
share
Quasimodo (16388)
3 years ago
Yes that was very bad of him. But maybe his wife really was a problem though as it seems that her younger sister Georgina basically moved in and took over the running of the family and the household. Still that is no excuse for Dickens trying to have his wife locked away.
reply
share