"Charles Dickens's novels are often criticised for their idealised passive female characters, but as the Dickens Museum now shows, he was, in life and in death, surrounded by formidable, intelligent and independent women. A new exhibition at the museum shifts attention away from Dickens as a solitary genius and instead places women at the centre of his creative world and cultural afterlife."
"Elsewhere, the exhibition highlights women whose strength and social engagement pushed Dickens's writing in new directions. Angela Burdett-Coutts, the immensely wealthy philanthropist and founder of the Ragged School Union, inspired the gentle Agnes Wickfield (David Copperfield), though her real-life achievements far outstripped the character's meekness. A draft preface by Burdett-Coutts, annotated by Dickens in blue ink and displayed for the first time, underlines their close working relationship."
"Together, they also founded Urania Cottage in Shepherd's Bush, offering homeless women education, shelter and the possibility of a new life abroad. Dickens's encounters with the homeless women gradually complicated his fictional portrayals of fallen women. However, the exhibition makes clear that Dickens still felt constrained by Victorian expectations, often having to tone down what he knew was going on in the real world. Women also fought back against their fictional distortions."
An exhibition at the Dickens Museum reframes Charles Dickens's creative world by placing women at its centre. Mary Hogarth's sudden death in the Doughty Street house influenced characters such as Little Nell and Rose Maylie as embodiments of grief. Angela Burdett-Coutts inspired Agnes Wickfield and collaborated with Dickens on a draft preface and on founding Urania Cottage to shelter and educate homeless women. Encounters with homeless and "fallen" women complicated Dickens's fictional portrayals, while Victorian constraints often required him to tone down realities. Women intervened to correct distorted characters and shaped Dickens's posthumous legacy.
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