Charles Dickens and the women who made him

Dickens is often criticised for his weak female characters. But his great-great-great-granddaughter Lucinda Dickens Hawksley says he is a product of the strong women in his life and the Victorian ideals of his times

To a modern reader, many of Dickens’s heroines can seem weak, foolish figures of fun. Dickens’s novels date from the 1830s to 1870, when women were legally the property of their husbands, fathers or whichever male relative called themselves “head of the family”. His heroines, including Flora Finching, Dora Spenlow and Rosa Budd – described in The Mystery of Edwin Drood as “wonderfully pretty, wonderfully childish” – are often infuriating to read now. At the time of their creation, however, Dickens was emulating a popular impression of what a well-brought up young lady should be like.

Queen Victoria famously sacked her daughters’ governess after discovering one of the princesses reading a novel

Continue reading...