Questions tagged [charles-dickens]
Questions about the works of the English author Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) or his life as a writer.
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Why does Heep refer to Copperfield sometimes as mister and sometimes as master?
In Dickens' David Copperfield, the character Uriah Heep refers to David sometimes as "Mister Copperfield" and sometimes as "Master Copperfield." Other times, he makes a point to ...
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What does "no shadow of another parting" mean?
In the last paragraph of Great Expectations:
I took [Estella's] hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the ...
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What does "well may" mean in "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens?
Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light ...
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What is this children's book referenced in Little Dorrit?
In Little Dorrit, Dickens writes:
A communication of great trap-doors in the floor and roof with the workshop above and the workshop below, made a shaft of light in this perspective, which brought to ...
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Considering the similarities between H.G. Wells’ Kipps and Charles Dickens’ Pip can we draw a conclusion regarding parallels between the works?
Considering the example H.G. Wells’ Kipps and Charles Dickens’ Pip there are obvious parallels between these characters and their respective stories. (For example, both are orphans brought up by ...
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What is the significance of "biting the side of his forefinger" in Great Expectations?
In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Mr Jaggers is described repeatedly as biting his forefinger, sometimes biting it "at" someone.
Examples:
Then, and not sooner, I became aware of a ...
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Why does the clerk go down the slide twenty times in "A Christmas Carol"?
In "A Christmas Carol", when the clerk gets off work, he leaves, goes down a slide twenty times, and then runs home:
The clerk promised that he would, and Scrooge walked out with a growl. ...
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Meaning of "his own coach and six, or his own coach and sixty"
What is the meaning of the "six [...] and sixty" passage in the following quote from Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Chapter 3?
So with the three passengers shut up in the narrow compass of ...
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Are the two death masks Jack Dawkins and Fagin?
The two death masks owned by Jaggers are Jack (John) Dawkins, a.k.a. the Artful Dodger. And as to the reference to previous clients' 'moveable property' such as brooches and small valuables, he ...
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Why did Wemmick want to keep his marriage secret in "Great Expectations"?
The answer to the recent question "Why does Wemmick bring a fishing-rod on his "walk" with Pip?" explained that this was a ruse by Wemmick to conceal his wedding. My question is ...
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Why does Wemmick bring a fishing-rod on his "walk" with Pip?
In chapter 55 of Great Expectations, Wemmick invites Pip to go on a morning walk with him. As they are leaving Wemmick's house, Pip narrates that:
I was considerably surprised to see Wemmick take up ...
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Meaning of “toning herself off into the married state” in “Little Dorrit”
In book 1, chapter 2 of Little Dorrit (1857), Charles Dickens describes a party of travellers in Marseilles:
The rest of the party were of the usual materials: travellers on business, and travellers ...
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Meaning of "contrast of her extraction to this girl's and mine" in "Little Dorrit"
In chapter 27 of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, Miss Wade dismisses her visitors Mr Meagles and Arthur Clennam, who have failed to persuade Harriet Beadle ("Tattycoram") to return to her ...
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Meaning of "nobody seemed to be giving the dinners they had gone to" in "Little Dorrit"
The following paragraph is from Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, Chapter 27.
It was now summer-time; a grey, hot, dusty evening. They rode to the top of Oxford Street, and there alighting, dived in ...
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In Dickens' "The Chimes", why do bells have godparents and mugs?
Not long into The Chimes: A Goblin Story, one of Dickens' lesser-known Christmas stories, there's this paragraph about bells:
They were old Chimes, trust me. Centuries ago, these Bells had been ...
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