Introduction to Charles Dickens’ classic novella A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens Take a guess as to how many film and television adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels, novellas, and short stories there have been in the 200 years since he wrote.

Charles Dickens Take a guess as to how many film and television adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novels, novellas, and short stories there have been in the 200 years since he wrote. 200!

Charles Dickens One of the most widely-read and beloved writers of his time His works have never gone out of print Selected as #41 in a 2003 BBC list of “100 Greatest Britons” 5 of his novels are in the Top 100 Novels list currently out by the BBC

Finish the Dickens quote…(I bet you can!) “It was the best of times…”

Finish the Dickens quote…(I bet you can!) “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Dickens’ most famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities, is the best selling novel of all time.

A Tale of Two Cities

Other Notable Dickens Works

The Pervasive Theme "Virtue shows quite as well in rags and patches as she does in purple and fine linen." Take a look at this famous Charles Dickens quote, said in New York City on one of his trips to the United States. What do you think he meant by that? What issue do you think he dedicated his literary works to addressing and solving?

Poverty & Social Inequality

Poverty & Social Inequality Oliver Twist: Oliver is a poor orphan boy who suffers the outrageous conditions of a orphanage – no food, no heat, nothing more to wear than rags – before getting sucked into a life of crime. Oliver Twist shocked readers by showing the middle class – people who read novels – the true face of crime: sometimes people had to resort to it in order to survive.

Poverty & Social Inequality Oliver Twist: Oliver is a poor orphan boy who suffers the outrageous conditions of a orphanage – no food, no heat, nothing more to wear than rags – before getting sucked into a life of crime. Oliver Twist shocked readers by showing the middle class – people who read novels – the true face of crime: sometimes people had to resort to it in order to survive. Great Expectations: Pip is a poor orphan (shocker!) living with his much older sister and her husband who is given an anonymous gift that propels him into a new social class. Great Expectations shows that social class is never what it seems and that being rich isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Poverty & Social Inequality Oliver Twist: Oliver is a poor orphan boy who suffers the outrageous conditions of a orphanage – no food, no heat, nothing more to wear than rags – before getting sucked into a life of crime. Oliver Twist shocked readers by showing the middle class – people who read novels – the true face of crime: sometimes people had to resort to it in order to survive. Great Expectations: Pip is a poor orphan (shocker!) living with his much older sister and her husband who is given an anonymous gift that propels him into a new social class. Great Expectations shows that social class is never what it seems and that being rich isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. A Christmas Carol: Scrooge has all the money in the world but no friends or family to speak of.

Why Poverty? Dickens was known to use autobiographical elements in his literature. Dickens’ birthplace is a museum now! In Portsmouth, England – the same town where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hails from.

Social and Historical Context 1843: A Christmas Carol is published 1837: Queen Victoria crowned at the age of 19. She would reign for 64 years.

Social and Historical Context 1843: A Christmas Carol is published 1837: Queen Victoria crowned at the age of 19. She would reign for 64 years. 1882: “Married Women’s Property Act” passed: women have the right to buy, sell, and own property.

Social and Historical Context 1843: A Christmas Carol is published 1837: Queen Victoria crowned at the age of 19. She would reign for 64 years. 1882: “Married Women’s Property Act” passed: women have the right to buy, sell, and own property. 1834: New Poor Law: “Prisons for the Poor” Workhouses Living Conditions

Social and Historical Context 1843: A Christmas Carol is published 1837: Queen Victoria crowned at the age of 19. She would reign for 64 years. 1882: “Married Women’s Property Act” passed: women have the right to buy, sell, and own property. 1834: New Poor Law: “Prisons for the Poor” Workhouses Living Conditions 1833: Factory Act Attempts to regulate child work laws and help the conditions

Social and Historical Context 1843: A Christmas Carol is published 1837: Queen Victoria crowned at the age of 19. She would reign for 64 years. 1882: “Married Women’s Property Act” passed: women have the right to buy, sell, and own property. 1834: New Poor Law: “Prisons for the Poor” Workhouses Living Conditions 1833: Factory Act Attempts to regulate child work laws and help the conditions Spanish-American War & Boer War

Social and Historical Context 1843: A Christmas Carol is published 1837: Queen Victoria crowned at the age of 19. She would reign for 64 years. 1882: “Married Women’s Property Act” passed: women have the right to buy, sell, and own property. 1834: New Poor Law: “Prisons for the Poor” Workhouses Living Conditions 1833: Factory Act Attempts to regulate child work laws and help the conditions Spanish-American War & Boer War 1901 Death of Victoria 1870 Death of Dickens

Queen Victoria Victoria’s reign is most commonly associated with: 1.Industrial Expansion 2.Economic Progress 3.Empire and Colonization

Queen Victoria Victoria’s reign is most commonly associated with: 1.Industrial Expansion 2.Economic Progress 3.Empire and Colonization Between 1840 and 1882, there were seven attempts made on Victoria’s life. (She rarely appeared in public toward the end of her rule.)

Queen Victoria Victoria’s reign is most commonly associated with: 1.Industrial Expansion 2.Economic Progress 3.Empire and Colonization Between 1840 and 1882, there were seven attempts made on Victoria’s life. (She rarely appeared in public toward the end of her rule.) Fairly conservative for the time: she opposed giving women the right to vote.

Queen Victoria Victoria’s reign is most commonly associated with: 1.Industrial Expansion 2.Economic Progress 3.Empire and Colonization Between 1840 and 1882, there were seven attempts made on Victoria’s life. (She rarely appeared in public toward the end of her rule.) Fairly conservative for the time: she opposed giving women the right to vote. Passed a lot of acts and measures to try and help the poor.