DICKENS, VIOLENCE AND THE MODERN STATE

DICKENS, VIOLENCE AND THE MODERN STATE

Dickens, Violence and the Modern State Dreams of the Scaffold Jeremy Tambling Reader in Comparative Literature University of Hon;.; Kon;.;

First published in Great Britain 1995 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. First published in the United States of America 1995 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tambling, Jeremy. Dickens, violence and the modern state : dreams of the scaffold I Jeremy Tambling. P em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-12684-1 (cloth) 1. Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870-Political and social views. 2. Violence in literature. 3. Literature and state-great Britain -History-19th century. 4. Literature and society-england- -History-19th century. 5. Politics and literature-great Britain- -History-19th century. 6. Capital punishment in literature. 7. Social problems in literature. 8. Prisons in literature. I. Title. PR4592. V56T36 1995 823'.8--dc20 95-13817 CIP Jeremy Tambling 1995 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1995 978-0-333-63389-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WlP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 10 04 ISBN 978-1-349-39444-9 DOI 10.1057/9780230378322 ISBN 978-0-312-12684-1 9 8 7 03 02 01 6 5 4 00 99 98 3 2 97 96 ISBN 978-0-230-37832-2 (ebook) 1 95

For Ackbar Abbas, Antony Tatlow and Jonathan Hall - not readers of Dickens, but colleagues and readers of everything else

Contents Acknowledgements A Note on the References viii IX Introduction: Dickens and Dreams of the Scaffold 1 1 Prison-Bound: Dickens, Foucault and Great Expectations 17 2 'An Impersonation of the Wintry Eighteen-Hundred and Forty-Six': Dombey and Son 48 3 'A Paralysed Dumb Witness': Allegory in Bleak House 71 4 Finding the Password: Little Dorrit 98 5 Dickens and Dostoevsky: Capital Punishment in Bamaby Rudge, A Tale of Two Cities and The Idiot 129 6 From Jane Eyre to Governor Eyre, or Oliver Twist to Edwin Drood 155 7 The Scum of Humanity: Our Mutual Friend 186 Index 234 vii

Acknowledgements My debts in general for this book go back very far, and include Sheila Smith and John Lucas, and are mainly to all those who have listened to me on Dickens or who have passed ideas on to me. Elizabeth Crockford Pam Morris, Jeanette King, Stewart Hamblin and Graham Martin all at different times suggested I should write on Dickens. Stephen Wall, who published early versions of the Great Expectations and Dombey and Son material, in Essays in Criticism in 1986 and 1993 was kindly, critical, and supportive. Students in comparative literature at the University of Hong Kong at various times have heard much of this material. Linda Johnson provided useful comments on violent women in the 1860s, a seminar-group on post-modern legal theory chaired by Bill McNeil gave help on the Great Expectations material, and Pauline, while keeping her graceful allegiance to George Eliot, has been highly supportive of the enterprise. viii

A Note on the References I have quoted Dickens out of various convenient editions. Throughout, I have referred to chapters (and to parts if the novel is so divided) and then to page numbers. Finding the reference by means of any Dickens edition should thus be easy. Oliver Twist, ed. Kathleen Tillotson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966). Martin Chuzzlewit, ed. Margaret Cardwell (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982). Christmas Books, ed. Michael Slater (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971). Dombey and Son, ed. Alan Horsman (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974). David Copperfield, ed. Trevor Blount (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966). Bleak House, ed. Norman Page (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971). Hard Times, The New Oxford Illustrated Dickens (Oxford University Press, 1955). Little Dorrit, The New Oxford Illustrated Dickens (Oxford University Press, 1953). A Tale of Two Cities, ed. George Woodcock (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970). The Uncommercial Traveller, The New Oxford Illustrated Dickens (Oxford University Press, 1958). Great Expectations, ed. Margaret Cardwell (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993). Our Mutual Friend, The New Oxford Illustrated Dickens (Oxford University Press, 1952). The Mystery of Edwin Drood, ed. Margaret Cardwell (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). Christmas Stories (for 'The Perils of Certain English Prisoners'), The New Oxford Illustrated Dickens (Oxford University Press, 1956). ix

X A Note on the References For biographical details, I have used through the text: John Forster, The Life of Charles Dickens, ed. J.W.T. Ley (London: Cecil Palmer, 1928). Letters (Oxford: Clarendon Press edition, 1965 onwards). I have mentioned and referenced a number of critics in my Introduction- Carey, Frank, F.R. and Q.D. Leavis, Marcus, Miller, Hillis Miller, Trilling, Wilson, and have referred to these in the body of the text elsewhere without any further mention. Other writers are noted the first time they are mentioned, and subsequent references appear in the text.