""Miss Havisham is a quite extraordinary figure" she said, "it's just so interesting to see this woman who decides 'I'm independently wealthy and I'm going to have a child even though I haven't got married.' "It's fascinating that a male author came up with the idea of a woman bringing up a beautiful young woman to break men's hearts, to get her revenge on men.""
"It tells how Dickens and a banking heiress set up a refuge to save women from becoming sex workers. Angela Burdett-Coutts was heir to the Coutts Bank fortune and the inspiration for Agnes Wickfield, David Copperfield's second wife. She and Dickens set up Urania Cottage in Shepherds Bush, a shelter for homeless women who were often at risk of becoming sex workers, and museum curator Kirsty Parsons believes this had an influence on his writing."
The Charles Dickens Museum displays an 1863 fan letter from Charles Dickens to opera singer Pauline Viardot in which he offers dinner and mentions a secret trip to Geneva to see Ellen Ternan. The Doughty Street house features a painting of his daughters at Gads Hill and an exhibition about women who influenced his novels. The exhibition highlights Dickens' relationship with Angela Burdett-Coutts and their founding of Urania Cottage, a shelter for homeless women at risk of becoming sex workers. Curators and descendants note Dickens' portrayal of complex female characters such as Miss Havisham and Agnes Wickfield.
Read at www.bbc.com
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