CHAPTER THREE: WHAT THE DICKENS?
Meeting Mr Dickens
As the whole world knows, Boz, the clever, witty sketch-writer, the one-of-a-kind, grew and matured into a writer of novels that had the power to make readers laugh out loud or reach hurriedly for a pocket handkerchief to wipe away their tears. But how about Dickens the man? What was he like? How did he behave? How did he talk? What did he look like? What did he wear? And, if we could travel back in time to meet him, how well would we like him?
From his earliest years, Dickens’s appearance always attracted comment. Let us, therefore, begin with external impressions, and then – if we dare – try to look beneath the surface.
As a child, Dickens was engaging and attractive. He was small and slight, but lively; by the time he reached eight years old, his teacher was already impressed by his ‘bright appearance and unusual intelligence’. He wore his light brown hair (it darkened as he reached adulthood) cut just above shoulder-length, in curls. Unusually for a small boy, he liked to be neat and clean.
At junior school, Dickens wore uniform: long blue trousers, short jacket and white hat. At senior school, like his classmates, he wore a sailor suit and blue cap. Even then, he was ‘very particular’ about his clothes; by his later teenage years, he had developed his own personal – and rather unconventional – style. He caused comment by arriving for his first job, in a solicitor’s office, wearing a military-style hat (complete with chinstrap) perched on one side of his head. Soon afterwards, he spent some of his first wages on a complete new outfit. Unusually for the time, he was dressed head-to-toe in the same colour (dark brown): tight trousers, close-buttoned coat and tall hat. He also purchased a sweeping blue cloak, with velvet trimmings.
Later, as Dickens had more money to spend on clothes, his appearance became even more gaudy. He favoured flashy jewellery (rings and watch-chains), vivid, flower-patterned waistcoats, shiny patent-leather shoes (in daytime! on the beach!) and voluminous astrakhan coats (traditionally, astrakhan was made from the skins of lambs that were less than three days old, but Dickens probably did not know this).
‘Any man may be in good spirits and good temper if he is well-dressed.’
Mark Tapley, in Martin Chuzzlewit, 1843
In trim
All his life Dickens remained slim and wiry, thanks to his love of strenuous exercise and very moderate eating habits. As an adult, he was around middling height – his American secretary called him ‘a small, dapper fellow’ – but he stood very upright, giving the impression that he was taller. He had a ruddy ‘glowing’ complexion (all that fresh air), yellowish teeth (in the USA, a tooth-powder company rather insultingly suggested, in its advertisements, that this was because he did not use the firm’s products) and eyes that ‘flashed like danger lamps’ when he was angry or excited.
My way...
When young, Dickens liked to wear his naturally curly hair in fashionable ringlets (‘effeminate!’ thundered older men with less luxuriant locks), and kept it rather longer than was usual until he reached late middle age. As it thinned on top, he brushed strands across his head from the back and side. He cultivated a short ‘imperial’ beard and a long, neatly trimmed moustache.
Feed the mind?
• As a hungry child, at work, all Dickens could afford to eat was bread and milk for breakfast and – if he was lucky – rather dubious meat pies or slices of stale bread pudding (made with lard and dried fruit) for supper.
• As a young man, Dickens was fond of the favourite ‘fast foods’ of his day – boiled sausages and grilled chops, served piping hot and washed down with beer or wine. He also described buffet meals taken at inns while he was travelling: toast, cake, meat pie, cold beef, cold ham and fried eggs.
• As a generous host, Dickens gave lavish dinner parties (like his clothes, see below, these were sometimes criticised as ‘too much’). His wife’s cookery book preserves some of their household recipes. Dickens also liked to mix his own special gin punch to offer friends – the effects were said to be lethal!
• As he grew older, Dickens still fed his guests very well, but he himself ate simply – at least, by the standards of his day. He just had a snack of bread and cheese for lunch, and perhaps a glass of ale.
A cut above
Dickens’s taste in hairdressing was not universally appreciated:
‘[The] … fashion he has of brushing his hair and goatee so resolutely forward gives him a comical Scotch-terrier look about the face…’
American writer Mark Twain, 1868
As flashy or even ridiculous as Dickens’s clothes and hairstyles might have seemed to well-bred observers, almost everyone was impressed by his ‘glowing and cordial’ expression. His face seemed to radiate wit, intelligence, energy and – for most of the time – good humour. Even the stuffiest, most patronising people were ultimately charmed.
The master’s voice
As might be expected from a man whose great love in life was amateur acting, Dickens had a clear, pleasant speaking voice, well able to express heights and depths of emotion – in anecdotes among friends (some of his after-dinner stories made them weep with laughter), as well as in public readings of his works, or when performing roles on stage.
Fine and dandy
‘He is a fine little fellow, Boz … clear blue intelligent eyes, eyebrows that he arches amazingly, large, protrusive, rather loose mouth – a face of most extreme mobility… dresssed rather a la D’Orsay [the Count D’Orsay was a famous – and scandalous – London dandy] than well…’
Historian and critic Thomas Carlyle, 1840
Instant Dickens 10: Dombey and Son
What is it? A novel – the first that Dickens planned as a complete whole, rather than creating the plot as he wrote each fresh episode.
When was it published? In monthly instalments, 1846–1848.
What is the plot or subject matter? A rich merchant (Dombey) is desperate for a son to succeed him, but there are some things money can’t buy. The book is fiercely critical of ruthless business people who don’t value human qualities such as love and kindness.
How received? Readers cried – and purchased over 30,000 copies each month.
Anything else? There’s another crowd-pleasing sentimental death bed scene; this time, young Paul Dombey dies.
And? Famous for an utterance by minor character Captain Cuttle: ‘When found, make a note of.’
However, this dramatic talent also meant that Dickens was often able to hide his true feelings. Except when alone with his closest friends, he was probably always acting a part: dutiful family man, celebrity author, busy publisher, social campaigner… Unlike many other famous men of his day, Dickens had not absorbed – either at home or at an expensive, exclusive school – the formal rules of good behaviour or the self-assured manners of people born to privilege. Instead, he had to learn how to conduct himself in polite society – and he was constantly aware, as he said, that he had ‘skeletons to hide’.
Dickens did not (at first) want people to know about his father’s imprisonment for debt and his own early working life, or (later) about his relationship with Nelly Ternan. After moving to Gad’s Hill Place, he made an enormous bonfire of old private papers. Who knows what gems of information have been lost?
The man behind the mask?
In 1840, Thomas Carlyle described Dickens as ‘a quiet, shrewd-looking fellow, who seems to guess pretty well what he is, and what others are’. Very true! From early childhood, Dickens seems to have had a strong sense of his own ‘special’ identity. Looking back at his time in the blacking warehouse, for example, he expresses shock and dismay that a child with talents such as his own should have been reduced to such a miserable, menial existence.
This early trauma, together with his unreliable parents, failed first love, unfulfilling marriage and financial worries, left him emotionally guarded – and needy. It was a difficult combination. Later, observers commented that he developed ‘portentous dignity and gravity’ (Mark Twain, 1870). Amateur theatricals must have provided an escape – and instant gratification (he was a very good actor). So did the massive public approbation generated by his reading tours. Dickens loved company – and hated being alone.
At a lighter level, Dickens was always happy to be the leader of any enjoyable jaunt, to take the chair at meetings, to be the public face of a good cause. Conversely, he was not a good ‘team player’ and disliked routinely deferring to others. Several of his friends were younger (he was generous with good advice); none dared compete. He had great confidence in his own opinions and his gifts as a writer. He laughed at his own jokes.
He was the life and soul of any party, persuading even the grandest or shyest guests to join in the dancing, play word and memory games, applaud his skill as a mimic, or marvel at his conjuring tricks. One perceptive critic has likened Dickens’s love for neatness and order (in everything from his clothing to the arrangement of ornaments on his writing desk) to ‘a thin crust over boiling imaginative chaos’ (Catherine Peters, Charles Dickens, 1998). Dickens himself said much the same thing about the extraordinary drive and energy he poured into his work, his daily routine, and his public persona: ‘I should rust, break and die, if I spared myself. Much better to die doing.’
What they said...
‘From one of our humblest authors, to one of our greatest.’
Queen Victoria, on sending Dickens a presentation copy of her own book: Leaves from a Journal of our Life in the Highlands, 1868
‘Read [the] end of Charles Dickens’s American Notes … dreadful beyond words.’
Critic John Ruskin, 1874
‘… what a jolly thing it is for a man to have written books like these books, and just filled people’s hearts with pity.’
Novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, 1874
‘About a year ago, from idle curiosity, I picked up The Old Curiosity Shop, … rotten vulgar un-literary writing…’
Novelist Arnold Bennet 1898
‘Is Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die, too?’
Reported remark from a little girl, name and date unknown.
Instant Dickens 11: David Copperfield
What is it? A partly autobiographical novel – Dickens’s ‘favourite child’.
When was it published? In monthly instalments, 1849–1850.
What is the plot or subject matter? An orphan, David Copperfield, is bullied by his stepfather before being sent to work in a London factory. He is poor and miserable. He makes friends with the Micawber family, who are kindly but always in debt. He is saved by eccentric aunt Betsey Trotwood. Works as a lawyer’s clerk, marries child-bride Dora, becomes an author. Dora dies, David remarries. The Micawbers emigrate to Australia.
How was it received? Sales were slow at first, but it soon became one of Dickens’s most popular works.
Anything else? This book was written in the first person, and was based on Dickens’s part-finished autobiography, which his wife (probably wisely) persuaded him not to publish.
And? As the president of the Dickens Fellowship said, in 1932, to write David Copperfield, Dickens ‘dipped his quill into his heart’s blood.’
