"Old Curiosity Shop~A Celebration of Charles Dickens~Page 1"

This web site is not the archetypal tribute to Charles Dickens as there are more than enough of those already.

Charles Dickens is my favourite author and he is the greatest novelist in all of recorded history. He was a wonderful human being in most areas of his life. He was your typical Victorian husband. This is not to say all Victorian husbands mistreated their wives and this is not to say that Charles mistreated Catherine. Most Victorian husbands including Dickens believed a woman should be 'the angel of the house', devoting her life to housekeeping and child rearing. Charles and the sweet-natured Catherine married in April 1836. He was not a patient husband. He was a demanding husband. The more fame Charles achieved, the more snobbish he became. The literary circles he travelled in left him little time for Catherine. Charles had no sympathy for his wife. As the years went on, he became more intolerant of Catherine and resorted to ridiculing her in public. He eventually claimed that Catherine was never his intellectual equal. He resented having ten children to support. Dickens blamed Catherine for all the children the couple had.

"Listen, Mister, you were at the scene of each of those 'accidents'"

Charles Dickens' sexual appetite is historically infamous. He was oversexed. Mr. Dickens put the over in oversexed! Mrs. Catherine Dickens bore ten living children, nine of whom grew to adulthood. Catherine also had approximately twelve to 13 miscarriages. Throughout her childbearing years, he criticised his wife for her lack of energy. This unfortunate woman spent most of her adult life pregnant! Mrs. Dickens was exhausted! Yet, her husband blamed her for all their children! Charles Dickens was a genius but he didn't have a clue when it came to women.

After 22 years of marriage, Catherine and Charles separated. He had a brick wall constructed across their marital bedroom. Eight months later, Dickens forced her out of their home and returned her to her parents. Eventually, he purchased a home for Catherine. Their eldest child, Charles, moved in with his mum. The other children were not encouraged to visit their mother.

Their daughter, Kate, who was Charles' favourite daughter, married the brother of Dickens' best friend, Wilkie Collins, despite rumours of the groom's homosexuality. Kate married to escape the oppressive atmosphere of home which was caused by her father's tyrannical behaviour.

Charles Dickens is beloved by all the world including myself. He did enormous good for the poor and downtrodden. He had no reason to be unkind to and unappreciative of his wife. Catherine Dickens was proud of her husband and was a very loving, loyal, and supportive wife. There was no reason for Charles to have been dictatorial to his family. He should have learned this from his own childhood. Obviously, he did not.

Charles was sent to work in Warren's boot blacking factory whilst his father, John, accompanied by his wife and their other children, was imprisoned for debt at the Marshalsea. When the family's finances improved as a result of John's inheritance from his mother, Charles' employment at the blacking factory ceased. Elizabeth, Charles' mother, insisted that the boy continue working but was prevented from returning by his father. Charles never forgave his mother.

Did Charles, as a result of his cruel employment at the blacking factory for which he blamed his mother, become a misogynist? Did he transfer his festering hurt and anger at his mother to his wife, Catherine?

I definitely think so.