During the 1850s, over 20,000 Preston weavers went on strike for a 10 per cent increase in wages; the event received a great deal of publicity. In order to gather material for Hard Times, Dickens chose to visit the town in which he attended a meeting of factory-workers and listened to their grievances. His inclusion of aspects of the Industrial Revolution in his novel also served to show that his magazine ‘Household Words’ was knowledgeable regarding contemporary issues. (Page,1985)
He also reveals from the start that the education system in Coketown is based on “fact” and not “fancy.” The collapse of the “fact” based education is made known when Gradgrind himself soon realises that rearing his children on a diet of facts contributes to the emotional breakdown of Louisa and the ultimate downfall of Tom. In the end, the whole system of education is reversed and the ‘fancy’ is fancied. The novel can be summarised as a book about two struggles. One struggle is between fact and imagination and the other is the struggle between two classes.
Pride and Prejudice is set at some point during the Napoleonic Wars (1797–1815) and (as in Hard Times) the Industrial Revolution. Its three main locations are in Hertfordshire, Kent and Derbyshire. The world in which the story is set is self-contained and apart from the reference to a regiment of soldiers in Meryton and a couple of suggestions of war, it is hard to believe that Britain was engaged in war during the writing of this novel! ‘The inhabitants of Meryton and its environs seem untouched by history, politics or social and industrial change.’ (Gray & Gray, 2001) Unlike the ugliness and suffocating environment characterising Coketown, it is easy to visualise the world in Pride and Prejudice with well-designed houses surrounded by a picturesque landscape with woody-fragranced atmosphere.
In the novel, pride prevents the characters from seeing the truth of a situation and from achieving happiness in life. Pride is one of the main barriers that create an obstacle to Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage. Darcy's pride in his position in society leads him initially to become prejudice and scornful against anyone outside of his own social circle. Elizabeth's vanity clouds her judgment, making her prone to think ill of Darcy and to think well of Wickham. Similarly, in Hard Times, Gradgrind and Boundary display both pride and prejudice in their treatment of others, but of the two, it is Gradgrind who eventually see the errors of his ways.
This leads to the subject of class, which is related to reputation, in that both reflect the strictly regimented nature of life for the middle and upper classes in Regency England. The lines of class are strictly drawn. While the Bennets, who are middle class, may socialise with the upper class Bingleys and Darcys, they are clearly their social inferiors and are treated as such. Marriage is a major theme throughout the novel and nearly all of the female characters have remarked upon it.
In order to identify both authors literary development, we should perhaps first look at styles of writings that may have influenced them. During the early nineteenth century, Romanticism was found in the literature of virtually every country of Europe, the United States, and Latin America and it was a movement that lasted from around 1750 to about 1870. It was characterised by reliance on the imagination and subjectivity of approach, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealisation of nature. ‘The term Romantic first appeared in 18th-century English and originally meant “romance-like”, that is, resembling the fanciful character of medieval romances.’ (Encarta® Encyclopedia). This kind of romance narrative was used by Gothic novelists such as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein (1818) and Emily Jane Brontë who wrote Wuthering Heights (1847).
Yet novels with more contemporary settings and subjects, novels of manners and of domestic life for example, also have strong, if different, connections to romance conventions. ‘The novels of Jane Austen, for example, with their plots concerning love frustrated yet finally fulfilled, have significant affinities to ‘romance’ conventions. (Bygrave, 1996)
In his book, The English Novel, Walter Allen describes Austen as a ‘highly sophisticated artist’ who was an ‘eighteenth-century moralist’ and wrote in the style of Dr Johnson, an eighteenth-century author of whom she much admired. Similar to critics such as Charlotte Brontë, Allen does not see Austen as a romantic writer as he declares that ‘she had escaped entirely the infection of sensibility and sentimentality; for her those qualities are material only for her satire.’ Allen found Austen to be uncompromising in her representation of characters she regarded as foolish. She mocks Mr Colllins and Lady de Borugh in Pride and Prejudice, but she knows her limits unlike Henry Fielding and George Smollet - dramatic satirists who often appeared insensitive. (Allen, 1960)
Unlike the writing of Austen, Dickens was able to reach all social classes. In Pride and Prejudice, there is little said of the working class, but in Hard Times, all classes are given an opportunity to express themselves. Morally, Dickens believed this to be correct. As his work was originally serialised, it was essential that the plot had to be dramatic, containing secrets, mysteries, disappearances and reappearances, in an attempt to leave the reader in anticipation for the next instalment. Walter Allen once wrote of Dickens, ‘Owing to the peculiar nature of his connection with his public, Dickens more than any of his contemporaries was the expression of the conscience – untutored, baffled, muddled as it doubtless often was – of his age. It was as such that he was accepted and loved.’ (Allen, 1954)
Some similarities can be seen in both authors writing techniques. Their novels share themes such as love, marriage, class and values. However, Dickens lived in an age where there were many social issues such as education, poverty, pollution, employment, trade union and politics in which he chose to highlight in his novel.
In Hard Times, it could be said that the stylistic characteristics used by Dickens is extensive. The reader is plunged into a situation where the speaker (Gradgrind) argues in favour of ‘facts’ as the best kind of education. It is no coincidence that throughout the book there is several Bible references used which includes the chapter headings. In 1854, the book was serialised weekly in Dickens’ magazine Household Words in which its readers were largely English Protestants who were familiar with the Bible. The titles of the three books, “Sowing”, “Reaping”, and “Garnering” shows significance in the way Dickens is trying to help the reader get an understanding of what is to come. The paragraphs appear both long and repetitive, and for rhetorical effect, words such as ‘Facts’ and ‘the emphasis was...’ (which is an anaphora) are mentioned several times.
There are many examples of imagery throughout the book. Dickens uses comical imagery when describing characters he is not particularly fond of. He describes Boundary as ‘a man with a great puffed head and forehead, swelled veins in his temples, and such a strained skin to his face that it seemed to hold his eyes open…’. There is use of a simile and caricature as the reader is told that Boundary is ‘…inflated like a balloon…’. An example of metaphor used in the book is that of Mrs Gradgrind being depicted as ‘… a little, thin, white, pink-eyed bundle of shawls…’. An example of alliteration would be ‘…. good gracious goodness’ sake that greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at!’ The name of Mr Gradgrind’s home, Stone Lodge, appear to signify his hardened and fixed attitude towards an education full of facts.
The names of the characters in the novel appear to have a blend of realism and symbolism. Grindgrind suggests the grinding away at hard facts and M’Choakumchild who stuffs the children with facts. Suspense is effectively used, particularly in the introduction of Stephen’s wife and Mrs Pedler.
Dickens uses long and elaborate sentences with words such as ‘commodious cellarage’ that are not much in use nowadays. The language used in the book is seen as formal with the exception of the dialogue given to Stephen Blackpool and Mr Sleary. Dickens’ writing provides commentary and criticism of social issues of the period and descriptions of settings that make it impossible for the reader to distinguish fact from fiction. The voice of the Narrator is ‘…clear, confident, argumentative, often ironical or scornful, though sometimes full of compassion…’ (Page, 1985). His style is distinctive and noticeable to be Dickens. Dickens is often referred to as a ‘romantic’ novelist because his plots and characters often appeared detached from reality. Compared to Austen, Dickens seems sentimental in his involvement with his characters. The anonymous narrator serves as a moral authority. By making moral judgments about the characters, the narrator shapes our interpretations of the novel.
By contrast, Austen’s writing is often compared to writers of the 18th century such as Samuel Richardson who wrote the epistolary novel Clarissa (1748). She used approximately forty letters in Pride and Prejudice, which was unusual for a writer at that period. She also engaged in realism as opposed to a world of fantasy.
In Pride and Prejudice there is little use of metaphor. The Narrator – who is third-person omniscient - appears silent at times then on occasions expresses strong views of situations and characters. There is a mixture of authorial comments and dialogue throughout the novel, with the exception of Chapters 1 and 2, which consists almost entirely of dialogue.
Although Austen does not give a thorough description of the novel’s settings and surroundings as Dickens, she makes up for this by giving the reader a clear overview of her characters. An example of her use of caricature can be seen in the form of Mrs Bennet who appears almost as a caricature throughout the novel and is described as ‘…a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper’.
The book’s humour is mostly seen through the dialogue of the narrator, Mr Bennett (whose chief characteristics are an ironic detachment and a sharp, cutting wit) and Elizabeth, who is intelligent and witty and shares her father’s irony. Austen satirises snobs in her novels, with particular emphasis on Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins.
It would be fitting to conclude this essay with notable comments made by two respected critics of each novel. In his essay on Hard Times, F. R. Leavis declared, ‘Of all Dickens’s works… [Hard Times is] the one that has all the strength of his genius, together with a strength no other of them can show – that of a completely serious work of art’. (Page, 1985). Sir Walter Scott publicly praised the works of Jane Austen. After her death, he wrote in his private journal, ‘Also again, and for the third time at least, Miss Austen’s very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice. That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with.’ (Watt, 1963).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, W. (1954) The English Novel, Dutton, New York
Allen, W. (1960) The English Novel, Pelican, London
Bygrave, S. ed. (1996) Approaching Literature: Romantic Writings, The Open University
Gray, M. and Gray, L. (2001) York Notes Advanced: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, York Press, London
Page, N. (1985) Macmillan Master Guides: Hard Times by Charles Dickens, Macmillan Education Ltd, London
("Romanticism (literature)," Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation.)
Watt, I. Ed. (1963) Jane Austen: A Collection of Critical Essays, Prentice-Hall Inc, USA
