At eighteen Dickens met Maria Beadnell, the daughter of a rich banker. She was two years older, beautiful — he fell totally in love. He wrote to her: “I never have loved and I never can love any human creature breathing but yourself.” Though the relationship went well for a while, she lost interest in him after returning from finishing school in Paris. Dickens’ friend and biographer, John Forster, was at first surprised that Dickens was so affected by this relationship, a pain that continued even years later. But Forster realized that this was fueled by a deep sense of social inferiority. Dickens was determined to succeed beyond everyone’s wildest dreams and show them how wrong they were about him. Interestingly enough, he met Maria again years later. Eagerly looking forward to his meeting with her, and expecting the desirable vision of his youth, he was crushed when a middle-aged woman resembling his wife showed up. As his sister-in-law happily put it, Maria “had become very fat!”
In 1834, Dickens met Catherine Hogarth, the oldest daughter of the Morning Chronicle’s editor, George Hogarth. Hogarth had favorably reviewed Dickens’ work, Sketches by Boz, and the two men had become friends. Charles and Catherine were engaged in 1895 and married in 1836. It was a strange courtship: While the two held each other in affection and Catherine share his interest in a family, the courtship lacked the passion of his relationship with Beadnell. Dickens often broke dates with Catherine to meet work deadlines and sent her reprimanding letters if she protested.
