Biblical Allusion in Three Charles Dickens Condition-of-England Novels

Sammanfattning: This study investigates how Charles Dickens employs biblical allusion in three Condition-of-England novels: Bleak House (1852–53), Hard Times (1854), and Little Dorrit (1855–57). Drawing on the concepts of dialogism and stratification defined by M. M. Bakhtin and rhetorical situation by Lloyd F. Bitzer, the study explores the common patterns of biblical allusions in the opening numbers of the serialization and those used by the narrator, perverted characters, and morally good characters. Central to the interpretation of biblical allusions in Dickens’s novels is the implicit but intentional dialogue between the biblical and fictive worlds, as well as the dialogic relation of both to the Victorian socio-historical context. Complemented by the examination of Dickens’s letters and journalism, the study demonstrates that biblical allusions are used in straightforward and satirical ways that not only portray characters, develop plots, and reveal themes, but also build a moral framework for the fictive world and mediate the novels’ critique of wrongdoings by institutions and individuals so as to instruct the reader about the need for social improvement and individual moral actions.