Representation of Women in Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop

Abstract

Dickens' attitude towards women is always contradictory. Dickens is ambiguous. He is sympathetic as well as biased towards women which is depicted in his novel The Old Curiosity Shop. He is an emotional social critic who shows his deep sympathy towards helpless women in distress which makes him as a supporter of women but at the same time he shows his deep respect to the patriarchal norms and values and become socially biased towards them when he metaphorically represents them as angel and monster in family. Other female characters like Miss Nell and Miss Quilip have surrendered themselves to the patriarchal ideology who are depicted as angel in a family where the strong and revolutionary kind of women like Miss Brass who deny herself to follow the patriarchal ideology is occasionally referred as female dragon.