Battle of life

The Battle of Life: The Battle of Life: A Love Story is a short story by Charles Dickens , which was first published in 1846. This is the fourth of his five “Christmas Books,” going between “ Cricket by the Hearth ” and “ Obsessed, or Deal with a Ghost .”

The events of the story unfold in an English village, which stands on the site of a historic battle. Some characters call the battle a metaphor for the struggle for life, hence the name.

The “Battle” is the only one of the five Christmas books in which there is nothing supernatural or manifestly religious. (One scene takes place at Christmas, but this is not the final scene.) The story has some similarities with “Cricket Behind the Hearth”: it has a non-urban setting and ends with a romantic ending. This is even a less social novel than Cricket. Also, which is typical of Dickens, it all ended in a happy ending.

This is one of Dickens's most unknown works, and she never reached a high level of popularity.

Short story

Two sisters, Grace and Marion, happily live in an English village with their two servants, Clemensy Newcom and Ben Britain, and their good-natured widowed father, Dr. Jeddler. Dr. Jeddler is a man whose philosophy is to view life as a farce. Marion, the younger sister, is engaged to Alfred Heathfield, a ward of Jeddler, who leaves the village to complete his studies. He makes a promise to return to ask for the hands of Marion.

Michael Worden, a libertine who is about to leave the country and convince his younger sister to flee secretly. Clemensy spies on Marion and one night catches her on a secret date with Warden. And on the day Alfred returned, it turned out that Marion had escaped. Her flight causes a lot of grief for both her father and her sister.

Six years have passed. Clemensi is now married to Britain, and they opened a tavern in the village. After his heart broke, Alfred marries Grace and they have a daughter, who is also called Marion. On Marion Grace’s birthday, Alfred admits that Marion promised to personally explain her so-called “escape.” Marion really appears that evening at sunset and explains his disappearance. It turns out that Marion didn’t “run away,” but instead lived in her aunt Martha’s house to let Alfred fall in love with Grace. Tears shed, and happiness and forgiveness reigned, and the missing sister reunited with the rest. Warden also returns and, forgiven by Dr. Jeddler, marries Marion.

Theater

The adaptation of The Battle for Life by Albert Richard Smith was successfully performed at the Surrey Theater in 1846.