How successful is Dickens in his portrayal of women? Dickens has been represented (along with William Blake and D.H. Lawrence) as one who championed the life of the emotions often associated with the «feminine.» Yet some of his most important heroines are totally submissive and docile. Dickens, of course, had to accept the conventions of his time. It is obvious, argues Holbrook, that Dickens idealized the father-daughter relationship, and indeed, any such relationship that was unsexual, like that of Tom Pinch and his sister—but why? Why, for example, is the image of woman so often associated with death, as in Great Expectations ? Dickens's own struggles over relationships with women have been documented, but much less has been said about the unconscious elements behind these problems. Using recent developements in psychoanalytic object-relations theory, David Holbrook offers new insight into the way in which the novels of Dickens—particularly Bleak House , Little Dorrit , and Great Expectations —both uphold emotional needs and at the same time represent the limits of his view of women and that of his time.
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David K. Holbrook. Charles Dickens and the Image of Women
About NYU Press
Charles Dickens and the Image of Woman
Contents
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE Bleak House: The Dead Baby and the Psychic Inheritance
She recalls her child self:
Has Charley locked them up alone?
Notes
CHAPTER TWO Religion, Sin, and Shame
Notes
CHAPTER THREE Little Dorrit; Little Doormat
CHAPTER FOUR At the Heart of the Marshalsea
CHAPTER FIVE Great Expectations: A Radical Ambiguity about What One May Expect
CHAPTER SIX Finding One Another’s Reality: Lizzie Hexam and Her Love Story in Our Mutual Friend
CHAPTER SEVEN Dickens’s Own Relationships with Women
Bibliography. Psychology and Philosophy
Literary and Historical Works
Index
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Mrs. Corney that was has tried the tears as less troublesome than manual assault. But now she is prepared to try the other method:
The first proof he experienced of the fact, was conveyed by a hollow sound, immediately succeeded by the sudden flying off of his hat to the opposite side of the room. This preliminary proceeding laying bare his head, the expert lady, clasping him tightly round the throat with one hand, inflicted a shower of blows (dealt with singular vigour and dexterity) upon it with the other. This done, she created a little variety by scratching his face, and tearing his hair; and, having by this time, inflicted as much punishment as she deemed necessary for the offence, she pushed him over a chair, which was luckily well situated for the purpose; and defied him to talk about prerogative again, if he dared. (269-70)
