Victorian Utilitarianism In Hard Times By Charles Dickens

Dickens uses the needs and wants for people to get an image in their head about what life was really like before the French revolution. "Cold, dirt,

In many ways Dickens was viewed to denounce the Capitalist ethic. However never to found to be Communist/ Marxist it can be stated he was merely anti-materialistic. He felt the social injustice, which was created due to the heavy industry. Most of the mechanized account and in particular p.20 creates such an impression on the reader to think this. Dickens believed that this was a brutal world where everything is “measured by figures” in a Gradgrind gospel of “Fact”.

The first paragraph of Bleak House alone gives the reader an instant idea of how Charles Dickens saw London to be around 1842. He has portrayed the streets to be muddy and extremely polluted, "As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth." Here Dickens has used a slight amount of Hyperbole to emphasize his point. He also uses personification when referring to the snow flakes, saying that they have gone into mourning, ?smoke lowering down from the chimneypots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes?gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun.? the contrast of the imagery he is using helps for the reader to imagine the scene,

The Industrial Revolution generated the perception that applying solely logic to everyday activities could maximize productivity and efficiency. Charles Dickens explores the dangers of neglecting emotions and imagination in his novel Hard Times. Dickens separates Hard Times into three books: Sowing, Reaping and Garnering in order to reveal the negative consequences of industrialization and forsaking imagination for facts through the events, settings, and characters in the novel.

Dickens’ experiences of living in abandonment and working in Warren’s Blacking Factory, coupled with his

Throughout history, a divide has always existed between the rich and poor in society. However, during the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England, this rift reached its peak. The working class labored for long hours and received miniscule wages, whereas the bourgeoisie grew abundantly wealthy through the labor of the working class. Published in 1848 and 1854 respectively, Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto and Charles Dickens’ Hard Times both comment on these troubles. While Hard Times is a novel which tells a story and The Communist Manifesto is a short publication which tries to bring about social change, both writings offer a sharp critique of the class antagonism brought about by capitalism at the height of the Industrial

Paradoxes as well as contradictions have been expressed in describing previous time periods. Stated from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...for the good or for the evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only” (Dickens 1). Specifically, Dickens had referred this quote to a French revolution, but the statement can pertain to many other historical events and continues through today. In the American Industrial Revolution, the outcome left multiple views of whether it was considered a pro or a con. However, the American Industrial Revolution has demonstrated both numerous challenges along with countless benefits to the country.

It can be argued that a drifting away from the old artisan putting out system was not helping the economy, and a push for increased industry was a economically healthy path to choose. However the horrible working conditions in the relatively new and supposedly “revolutionary” factories cannot be denied. Yes, the common people were making more money than they ever had with stable jobs and increased production of goods, but at what cost? The first industrial cities in England such as Manchester and Sheffield were transformed into dystopian, dirty slums where the polluting factories loomed overhead. This idea is translated in Document #3 which depicts such an urban slum. One might even classify the image as that of the Middle Ages much less an age marked by invention and progress. The working conditions of the industrial age were not only unsanitary but also extremely dangerous with little safety precautions. Such safety features and skilled training with machinery would cost manufacturers money and money was the only thing separating the boss from the disgruntled employee. Unsafe working environment can be seen in Document #2 depicting a coal mine worker. In most cases, it was the youngest of the workers who were

“But the final effect of the immersion in concretes is a picture of squalor and cruelty so great that the Industrial Revolution appears every bit as harsh and exploitative as it does in the accounts of Engels, the Hammonds, Hobsbawm, and Thompson. Historians can generalize implicitly as well as explicity.” Hard Times (E. Royston Pike, 1966).

Charles Dickens’ classic novella A Christmas Carol, focuses on the social responsibility of the wealthy to help the poor and less fortunate. Dickens, having lived in poverty as a child, knew of the many struggles of the lower class of London. As an author, he made it his goal to reform England as best he could. Many of his works ran in his weekly journal, Household Words, including "Christmas Stories" and Great Expectations. In a Christmas Carol, Dickens stresses the point that the writers of that time carried a special burden to speak out for those who lived in poverty and couldn't speak out for themselves.

Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned British writers with well-known and widespread work. Dickens was born in England in 1812 and died in 1870. During this time, Victorian England experienced an Industrial Revolution, which impacted his life tremendously. New factories and industrial machinery changed many lives of the lower class citizens. The family grew up impoverished and struggled to maintain a good lifestyle. The family’s financial situation was strained as John Dickens, Charles’s father, spent money that the family didn’t have. These societal factors were influential in Charles Dickens’s life, and the same themes present themselves in his works. When an author creates a work, frequently themes of their life events are incorporated into the theme of the book, consciously or unconsciously. Victorian Age industrial-influenced strife was a common theme in Dickens’s life and presented itself throughout Dickens’s books.

Charles Dickens’s novel Hard Times critiques the use of extreme utilitarianism as an acceptable means to governing a society in which citizens are able to lead happy, productive, flourishing lives. “Just the facts,”19th century English utilitarianism argued, are all one needs to flourish. Those answers that we can arrive at by way of mathematical, logical reasoning are all needed to live a full human life. Hard Times shows however that a “just the facts” philosophy creates a community inhospitable to the needs of one another, a society nearly void of human compassion, and one lacking in morality. Underlying the novel’s argument is the Aristotelian concept that the primary purpose of government is to

Charles Dickens is one of the most influential writers in history and was “born in Landport, now part of Portsmouth, on February 7th, 1812”(Priestly 5). Despite being the successful writer that he was in life, Dickens had very humble beginnings and because his Father, John Huffman Dickens, “lacked the money to support his family adequetly” , Dickens lived in poverty through out most of his childhood (Collins). Matters only got worse, however, when Dickens’s Father had to “spen[d] time in prison for debt” causing Dickens to have to “work in a London factory pasting labels on bottles of shoe polish” (Collins). It was a horrible experience for him, but it also helped him to no doubt feel pity for the poor, which is

Utilitarianism and Charles Dickens - The Analysis of Impact of Utilitarianism in Hard Times towards Humanity

In Hard Times, Dickens presents life philosophies of three men that directly contradict each other. James Harthouse sees one’s actions in life as meaningless since life is so short. Mr. Gradgrind emphasizes the importance of fact and discourages fantasy since life is exactly as it was designed to be. Mr. Slearly exhibits that “all work and no play” will make very dull people out of all of us. He also proclaims that one should never look back on one’s life and regret past actions. Dickens is certainly advocating Sleary’s life philosophy because the subjects of the other two philosophies led depressing and unhappy lives. This is made clear when Louisa realises her childhood of fact without fancy has ruined her, when Tom’s life falls apart after leaving his father’s home in rejection of his strict parenting, and when Mr. Gradgrind himself realises the faults in his own philosophy and devotes the rest of his life to virtue and charity.