“A Christmas Carol”, “David Copperfield” or “Little Dorrit” are just a few of Charles Dickens’ works that still delight readers today. Although he left behind an impressive body of work, and in his stories he propagated Victorian moral models, privately he had a lot to hide. After more than 20 years of marriage, he left his wife to marry an 18-year-old girl. Although he lived to a very old age by her side, the young woman lived for years in his shadow.
Marriage was a chance for him to break out of poverty. He blamed his wife for having numerous offspring
His first wife was Catherine Hogarth, daughter of a music journalist for the Morning Chronicle, where young Charles Dickens began his career as a reporter. Although she loved him, many in those days claimed that for him it was only a chance to finally get out of poverty and rise to a higher social class. They married in 1836, and soon after his first, The Pickwick Papers, made his debut on the publishing market, which immediately made him a great star. As soon as he began to be successful, his wife ceased to interest him. He thought she was dumber than him and would never be able to match him intellectually.
Nothing can make her understand me or make us fit together
— in a letter to John Forster, adding that Catherine was beginning to look like… a donkey. The couple had ten children. Numerous offspring frustrated the artist, for which he blamed his wife. He claimed that he himself wanted to end procreation after the fourth child. He began to deceive and betray her, and is said to have even been intimate with her two sisters. the writer who ultimately ended their 22-year marriage would probably not have come to light, but the postman mistakenly delivered an engraved bracelet to the woman, which was a gift for her lover. After the row, Dickens threw Catherine out of the house and forbade her contact with the children, and he announced the separation. When the eldest son disregarded his prohibition, he disowned him and had no contact with him until the end of his life. “Father was a wicked man,” recalled one of his daughters.
He left his family for an 18-year-old girl. He hid the affair until the end of his life
Dickens’ mistress, for whom he abandoned his family, was 18-year-old aspiring actress Ellen Ternan. His relationship with her throughout his lifetime, that is, until his death, was kept secret, because in 19th-century England the profession of an actress was treated little better than prostitution. In addition, in public opinion, the writer maintained the narrative that his marriage broke up because of a mentally ill wife.
According to many, the secret was not only fear but also shame. Fyodor Dostoyevsky recalled that during one of the meetings Dickens made a personal confession, which to some extent explains his disgraceful conduct. – There are two people in me: one who feels what he should feel, and the other on the contrary – then, adding that the poor and the wronged disgust him. Dickens and Ternan’s affair came to light only in 1934 thanks to an article by Thomas Wright published in the Daily Express. The biographer waited to reveal these revelations until the death of the writer’s last child for fear of legal consequences.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
