Discuss Dickensian representation of women characters with special reference to his novel Hard Times.

It is interesting that while female characters in other
Dickens novels such as Lucie Manette in A Tale of Two Cities or
Agnes in David Copperfield represent the idealised view of women in
the imagination of Dickens, in Hard Times the characters who best represent this view is
Cecilia Jupe and Rachel, with Louisa Gradgrind and Mrs. Sparsit presenting incomplete
notions of womanhood.

Sissy Jupe, in spite of her lack of
educational achievements (from Gradgrind's point of view) shows herself to be the
character who is relied upon by both Louisa and Mr. Gradgrind at the end of the novel,
as she, unlike them, has not lost her imagination and the capacity to love. It is thus
Sissy who has the "happy ending," with a husband and children. Rachel, with her "pensive
beauty," is not given that happy ending, but her grace and beauty is shown through such
actions as her constant love and regard for Stephen Blackpool, best demonstrated in her
care of his drunken wife--the barrier to her and Stephen's
happiness.

In contrast, Louisa, because of her education
and upbringing, always has something absent. It is suggested that she is never fully
able to emotionally connect with those around her, and thus is left to play with Sissy's
children and be Sissy's companion, rather than having a productive and fulfillilng
marriage. Mrs. Sparsit is a character who is presented as cynical, interfering and
petty, and her attempts to manipulate Mr. Bounderby against his wife show the meanness
of her character.