Classics Retold

Fireplace and hearth are related terms, but not identical.  The fireplce is the entire structure built into the wall where fire is lit. It includes the firebox, chimney,a mantel. and hearth.  The floor or base of the fireplace is hearth.  It is usually made of stones, bricks and tiles. It is where the fire burns; and in the stone area immediately in front of the fire tools like poker, tongs and shovel are kept. We may say that the fireplace is the whole unit while the hearth is the floor on which the fire is kept.  In Victorian England the phrase hearth and home meant family life.  The hearth was regarded as the emotional centre of the home because, family members gathered around it for warmth, cooking, conversation and light. A poker was an essential household tool, a long iron rod for stirring, arranging or poking the burning coal or wood in a fireplce.  It was often kept on a stand beside the hearth along with tongs and shovel.  Tongs and shovels...

In Chapter 2 of Great Expectations Ram-paged is the use of dialect of the word rampaged. Here, rampaged means raged violently; stormed about in anger; behaved in a furious, and uncontrollable way.  Rampage is a recognisable state of event in Gargery household as though Mrs Joe periodically went into rampage.  Pip looking back humourously treats it as an institution in the house.  19th century authors often capitalised words for emphasis.  A ram is a male sheep, famous for charging headlong butting, and striking with great force.  Ram as a verb means to drive or to thrust something violently.  By writing Ram-paged Dickens creates an echo of ram charging.  Mrs Joe's temper is not merely loud; it comes crashing through the house, knocking everyone into subission, much as ram charges. 

In Chapter 2 of Great Expectations, "sot down" is  a dialect of sat down. Rural Kent speakers pronounce sat as sot.  "Sot down"  simply.means "sat down with a sense of dropping into a chair or seat after exertion, annoyance, or fatigue. 

In Chapter 2 of Great Expectations the word tickler is the name Pip gives to the cane or switch that his sister Mrs Joe Gargery uses to beat him.  Dickens writes humourously by turning an instrument of punishment into an instrument that tickles the sensitive part of the body to provoke laughter.  It also refers to a prickling or tingling sensation that amuses or pleases you.  Pip says that he and tickler were "on speaking terms," meaning he was so often beaten with it; it had become a familiar presence in his life.  Mrs Joe takes pride herself on having brought up Pip "by hand," meaning by frequent physical punishment.  Pip's imagination gives a comic touch to harsh realities. Dickens gently mocks the Victorian belief that severe punishment was a proper way to raise children.  Tickler is Mrs Joe's cane or switch used for beating Pip and its ironic name highlights both Pip's innocent perspective and Dickens' criticism of established way of child reari...

A Baker's dozen is 13.  There are a few theories why a baker's dozen is 13. In medieval England there were laws related to the price of bread to the price of the wheat used to make it. Bakers who were found to be cheating their customers by overpricing undersized loaves were subject to severe punishment, including fines and flogging. It was difficult to ensure that all the baked goods come out the same size; because of rising and baking and air content there may be variations in weight.  As a precaution against weight shortage they add an extra loaf to ensure that they would not end up with a flogging or fine. 

Hercules, originally known as Heracles in Greek mythology is a legendary demigod celebrated for his superhuman strength.  As the son of Zeus (or Jupiter in Roman mythology) and the mortal Alcmene, he accomplished the famous "Twelve Labours" to achieve immortality and become a resident of Mount Olympus.  In Roman mythology Hercules was seen as the champion of the weak and a great protector.  Juno, the Roman Godess sent two witches to prevent the birth of Hercules.  But they were tricked by the servant of Alcmene and sent to another room.  Juno then sent serpents to kill him in his cradle, but Hercules strangled them both.  In another version of the myth Alcmene abandoned her baby in the woods in order to protect him from Juno's wrath, but he was found by goddess Minerva who brought him to Juno, as an orphan child left in the woods who needed nourishment.  Juno suckled Hercules at her own breast until the infant bit her nipple, and she pushed him away, s...