Dickensians! discussion
Nicholas Nickleby - Group Read 6
>
Nicholas Nickleby: Chapters 24 - 36
Mod
Bionic Jean wrote: "Claudia - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is one of my favourite books, and one of the main male characters (nameless here, for those who wish to read it) and his cronies are so very like..."I've read THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL and I remember rating it highly and enjoying it thoroughly. But I have zero recollection of any names, characters, or details. Perhaps I should pick it up and re-read it for the proverbial "compare and contrast" mental analysis.
Mod
Kate does not know where or what Nicholas has been doing. He has written to tell her that he is safe and well, but no details about the theatre company. Remember too, he is travelling incognito, so it would be hard to trace him.
Mod
"I thought she might make some impression on the silly youth you have taken in hand and are lending good help to ruin, I knew—knowing him—that it would be long before he outraged her girl's feelings, and that unless he offended by mere puppyism and emptiness, he would, with a little management, respect the sex and conduct even of his usurer's niece. But if I thought to draw him on more gently by this device, I did not think of subjecting the girl to the licentiousness and brutality of so old a hand as you."
But events will take their course...
In some ways, this did feel like an overly-long, filler chapter, but reading all of these comments and how much we have to debate and consider shows the depth Dickens brings to the writing, even when it can seem on the light side. I think he can be deceiving that way, and we always need to be paying attention. :-)I loved the scene of Kate standing up to her uncle. My favorite line was when Ralph said: "There is some of that boy’s blood in you, I see." I liked the way it brought us back to Nicholas, and showed the children have a strength absent in their mother. And perhaps Newman is attracted to this strength in both of them.
Kathleen C.
Kathleen wrote: "In some ways, this did feel like an overly-long, filler chapter, but reading all of these comments and how much we have to debate and consider shows the depth Dickens brings to the writing, even wh..."Hi Kathleen
Yes, I too found the chapter long and ponderous. Generally, I felt Dickens was treading water. Perhaps I’m spoiled by how finely tuned Dickens’s later novels beginning with ‘Dombey’ are.
I agree with you that Ralph’s observation about Kate’s will and determination is a key to further establish her character. In addition, we once again are presented with a wonderful example of Newman Noggs’ character. Earlier, his gentle nature is revealed when he offered Kate a handkerchief. Now, we see him shadow boxing with his employer Ralph Nickleby.
What a delightful Noggs is.
Mod
Ah, we'll have to agree to disagree there, Peter with some readers here enjoying it, and some not. But as I said in my long answer to you about this and other things, (comment 97) LINK HERE, we all seem to be enjoying different chapters i.e. humorous, dramatic, social satire, plot-manoeuvring and so on. I personally like those which have all sorts of components 😊
(I've just linked to it in case you missed it - it's easy to do as there were so many comments yesterday - and it also has what might be useful history to you about a previous group read. There's obviously no need to reply if you did see it, Peter.)
Mod
Mr. Crummles extends his stay in Portsmouth due to the popularity of his shows. Nicholas portrays many characters with much success, even drawing an audience who have never been to the theatre before. The manager holds a benefit for Nicholas, who earns twenty pounds.
Nicholas is delighted with such bounty. First of all he repays John Browdie by letter, expressing his gratitude and well wishes for his matrimonial bliss. He then sends half of his earnings to Noggs, with the instructions to give it to Kate with his love. He doesn’t tell Noggs how he is earning the money, but give a Post Office address where he can be reached. Nicholas asks Noggs to write and tell him about his mother and sister “and an account of all the grand things that Ralph Nickleby had done for them since his departure from London.”
Smike notices that Nicholas is sad, and Nicholas tells him he is thinking about his sister. Smike is surprised to learn that Nicholas has a sister, and says thoughtfully: “She must be very beautiful”.
Nicholas tells Smike that his uncle is his enemy, who he has done him wrong. This is what has caused him to be separated from his loved ones. Smike wants to know his name and vows to remember it.
Mr. Folair enters, more dressed up than usual. He takes out a letter from his hat, and delivers it to Nicholas. It is from Mr. Lenville, who has asked Nicholas to come to the theatre the next night for a nose pulling ceremony, which will be done in front of witnesses.
“Mr Folair the pantomimist” - Harry Furniss - 1910
Nicholas thinks that this is so absurd that he finds it difficult to believe, but is angry at the impertinence. Mr. Folair protests that he brought it as a joke, although he confides that Mr Lenville was in earnest, as be is jealous. Mr Folair explains that Nicholas has usurped Mr. Lenville, and was hoping to lay Nicholas up for a while so that he could resume his place. However it played out, such an insult would have got Mr Lenville some publicity:
“If you had shown the white feather, and let him pull your nose, he’d have got it into the paper; if you had sworn the peace against him, it would have been in the paper too, and he’d have been just as much talked about as you—don’t you see?”
Nicholas strongly suspects Mr Folair of being behind the plan, but arrives at the theatre the next morning. All the ladies are on his side, and the men (being jealous) support Mr. Lenville. Mr Lenville makes some offensive remarks and uses stage rhetoric:
“Object of my scorn and hatred! … I hold ye in contempt.”
"A (Pseudo) Dramatic Confrontation on the Boards" - Fred Barnard - 1875
But when he tries to pull his nose, Nicholas knocks Mr. Lenville down, and orders him to apologise. Lenville refuses at first, but then he is persuaded by his wife. Nicholas cautions Lenville on his jealousy, particularly since as he can now see, Nicholas has a temper.
"A (Pseudo) Dramatic Confrontation Backstage" - Charles Stanley Reinhart - 1875
Everyone’s attitude now changes towards Nicholas; his adversaries become his friends. Mr. Lenville hires a boy to hiss at Nicholas while he is on stage, but the audience has the boy thrown out of the theatre without even getting the money for his ticket back.
Nicholas gets a letter from Noggs, who sends back the money. He tells Nicholas that he may need it, because very soon Kate may need his protection. He promises to keep him updated either by the next post or the next but one. Nicholas is very worried and wants to go straightaway, but realises that Noggs would have told him if that were best.
He tells Mrs. Crummles that he may have to leave them soon, and everyone is astonished, although we are told that some male members of the cast may have been secretly pleased.
"Nicholas Hints at the Probability of His Leaving the Company" - Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) -
December 1838
“How trifling all that had been occupying his time and thoughts for many weeks seemed to him during that sleepless night, and how constantly and incessantly present to his imagination was the one idea that Kate in the midst of some great trouble and distress might even then be looking—and vainly too—for him!”
Mod
Mod
Vincent Crummles and the Infant Phenomenon
In case we are about to leave them, I thought I’d share a bit more about their originals. It is thought that Vincent Crummles was based on the actor-manager T. D. Davenport, and his daughter was modelled on his daughter Jean Davenport. There's lots about her here - no spoilers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Ma...
I think I mentioned this, in the post about “infant phenomena” being a regular feature of theatrical shows during the early decades of the 19th century.
T.D. Davenport and his daughter appeared on the Portsmouth stage during March 1837 - i.e. just a year earlier - and playbills announced that the 9 year old prodigy would play a variety of parts, including Shylock, Little Pickle and Hector Earsplitter, sing songs ranging from “Now I am Doom’d” to “I’m a Brisk and Sprightly Lad Just Come Home From Sea” and dance both sailor’s hornpipes and Highland Flings. 😆 There is more in Dickens and Popular Entertainment by Paul Schlicke.
Mod
“the white feather” indicates cowardice. It derives from the sport of cockfighting. A white feather in a game-cock’s tail was considered proof that he was not true bred.
“if it were to be one” - from Macbeth Act I Scene vii, 1-2:
“If it were done when ’tis done
then ’twere well
It were done quickly“
Mod
“Slave … Object of my scorn and hatred!’ said Mr. Lenville, ‘I hold ye in contempt.” made me laugh, and
“They shall not protect ye—boy!’ to Nicholas, in the same tone of voice he declaims ”Away with him to the deepest dungeon beneath the castle moat” on stage.
But my favourite quotation has to be:
“‘Closed!’ cried Miss Snevellicci, trembling so much in her tights that she actually laid her hand upon the shoulder of the manageress for support.”
Even in the middle of great drama and tension, Charles Dickens can make us see a funny moment!
I wonder if you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did! 😂🤣 Enjoy the free day ... gosh I really need this one to catch up with preparation 😲
I'm a little late to the Installment 9 party, but I have been enjoying these chapters. For me, this is my first real exposure to the comedy side of Dickens, and I'm loving it. As others have pointed out, this is not Dombey and Son, but I love to see this side of him.Chapter 27: I don't really have anything to add to what has already been posted, except for Jim's comment in message 65, particularly his comparison of Dickens to Hardy "Dickens however, was no fatalist and had, unlike Hardy, retained a belief in the possibility of a better world. I think this explains why I have such a hard time reading Hardy.
Chapter 28: There was so much going on in this chapter! Jean! Thank you so much for your excellent summary and the additional information. This chapter had me seething at all of the egotistical evil people surrounding poor Kate, and then, at the end, the sweetness and compassion of Newman Noggs made it better. I could have hugged him for his gentleness toward Kate. Like you, Jean, I despise old (for I'm convinced she's at least the same age as Mrs. Nickleby) Mrs. Wititterly. This line describes her perfectly - when she is surprised that Kate could be upset - "How very odd! And certainly, when one comes to think of it, it was very odd, that anything should have disturbed a companion. A steam-engine or other ingenious piece of mechanism out of order, would have been nothing to it.". Absolutely NO regard for someone else's humanity other than her own. In my book, she is no better than Sir Mulberry Hawk.
The Flabella "Silver Fork Novel": That was beyond funny! I guess every era has its "flash-in-the-pan" genre.
I, too, loved the character "Alphonse the doubtful" aka "the doubtful page". But I must have missed something. I didn't portray him as a child the way Reinhart drew him.
In the discussion of Ralph Nickleby exposing Kate to these rogues, I am giving Nickleby the benefit of the doubt. Ralph knew Verisopht's personality, and I think Ralph only intended for the listless, knob-sucking (yuck) Lord Verisopht to be satisfied with just admiring Kate (and he didn't see any harm in that). I don't think he ever intended to expose her to a direct assault such as what Hawk repeatedly inflicted on her.
Chapter 29: Unlike Chapters 27 and 28, there was not much character development, but it did once again show that Nicholas is quite a hothead and quick to fight. He'll probably need it in his interactions with Ralph and his rogue gallery.
Two questions came to mind: The expression "having one's nose pulled", is that literal or symbolic? I couldn't figure out if Lenville actually intended to physically assault Nicholas, or was it a metaphor for embarrassing him? Also, Dickens makes the statement that Nicholas went to the "green-room" to talk to the troupe. I thought this was fascinating because here in the States, people are held in the "green-room" until it is their time to come on stage. Is this the same thing? If so, I'm amazed at how old that expression would be.
Mod
Nose-pulling
I've been looking into nose-pulling, and can say that we "Dickensians!" are one up on the Oxford English dictionary 😲 which I quote:
"The earliest known use of the verb nose-pull is in the 1860s. OED's only evidence for nose-pull is from 1862, in the writing of William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist."
Yet Nicholas Nickleby is from 1838!
Here is the Century dictionary
"A nose-puller is one of a set of unruly persons who infested public places in London in the last half of the 18th century and emphasised their opinions by pulling their opponents' noses."
And from History of English Humour, Vol. 2 of 2: With an Introduction Upon Ancient Humour by Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange (1873)
"I would not resent it in so public a place, because I was unwilling to create a disturbance: but have since reflected upon it as a thing that is unmanly and disingenuous, renders the nose-puller odious, and makes the person pulled by the nose look little and contemptible."
Yeah, Jean!!! I wonder if you can contact the Oxford English Dictionary people and report this find. Amazing! Dickens is a treasure trove of 19th century culture and literature.I did wonder last night if Dickens was experimenting with Nicholas Nickleby, in the sense of writing a book that could be turned into a play so easily (as we have already seen). I wondered if Laurence Sterne inspired him to experiment in his own way.
Mod
Erich's lead of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, one of Charles Dickens's favourite books, was certainly an eye-opener, wasn't it?
I've just ordered a new (to me) book called Dickens and Popular Entertainment by Paul Schlicke, which seems to have been the first study of its kind - a "classic of scholarship" apparently - with lots about Nicholas Nickleby, so maybe that will indicate something. It has not been out of print since 1985.
Yes, Jean! Erich's lead of Tristram Shandy was outstanding, and I really enjoyed it, once I got into the flow of Sterne's style. It's a memorable book!I do hope you can read your new book and share with us anything that you think would be appropriate to our group read.
It's so quiet today. I hope everyone has checked the "Notify me when people comment" box!
What a phenomenon you are, Jean! Ahead of the OED.My favorite observation from this chapter is that Nicholas immediately repaid John Browdie. This speaks volumes to me--because he needs money, his family needs money, and yet his honorable debt is the first thing he dispatches.
Perhaps it would be a sign of more maturity if Nicholas did not strike Lenville, but Lenville had it coming and I am glad to see that Nicholas does not back away from a fight. He is going to need those skills, I suspect.
Mod
Ah, the credit is due to Shirley, who started me digging. I also had "getting up someone's nose" in mind, as that is an English idiom for irritating someone.
Nose-pulling sounded vaguely familiar (as well as hilariously funny 😂) so I thought it must be literal. And now we know just why Nicholas felt so insulted!
He's got a hot temper for sure, punching Squeers and now Mr Lenville ... but we love him for it 🥰👏
Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "I did wonder last night if Dickens was experimenting with Nicholas Nickleby, in the sense of writing a book that could be turned into a play so easily (as we have already seen). I wondered if Laurence Sterne inspired him to experiment in his own way ..."I've had these same thoughts about Sterne while reading NN! Tristram really does stay with you, once you've managed to read it all.
I thought I detected a bit more maturity by Nicholas in this chapter. After he knocks Lenville down, he has this authoritative air to him "There. Be careful, sir, to what lengths your jealousy carries you another time". To me he wasn't so much a hothead this time, but rather I think he considered his action before he took it. I mean he does ask Folair if Lenville has considered what would happen if he were to "turn the table" and pull Lenville's nose, indicating Nicholas planned this move ahead of time.
Anyway, I love the additional information about "pulling the nose". It's so easy to picture it happening on stage, and it's hillarious every time I think about it. Probably why Dickens was drawn to the phrase to use at this spot.
So many good comments here. Because Dickens comments how Nicholas immediately pays off his debts we get yet another insight into his honourable character. Having Nicholas pay Browdie keeps the Browdie-Nicholas connection in the readers’ minds. It is also yet another way to keep Newman Noggs fresh in our memory. Much like the mythical Janus, Dickens does much looking back and looking forward in this chapter. Nicholas’s faux fight with Lenville keeps our memory of Nicholas and Squeers alive. We also recall how Hawk and Verisopht tussle over Kate. While not physical, Nicholas is in combat with his uncle, and Newman Noggs has shadow boxed with Ralph Nickleby. The nose-pulling is a delightfully theatrical action of combat and the white feather is also suggestive of combat. Well done Jean and everyone else for tackling the OED.
How does Dickens look forward in this chapter? Well, time will tell, but various forms of conflict, confrontation and physicality do seem to be a trope to keep our eyes on. I doubt we have seen the last of most of the characters in this novel. More physical combat must be ahead.
A last word on nose pulling and noses in general. A common expression to show dislike of another in my part of the world is to say ‘up your nose with a rubber hose.’ A bit of intended rhyme to mix in with an insult?
Mod
I just caught up with the last two chapters and enjoyed both. Kate’s meeting with her uncle was done so well. Her weeping changed to fierceness vs Ralph’s seeming slight misgivings…offset each other so well. Then to have Noggs practicing boxing against an imaginary Ralph…icing on the cake. Nicholas’s chapter was also good as has been so well discussed above and opens us up to all sorts of possibilities. It also cements Newman Noggs as an important factor in this story. He looks to be a meaningful instrument in whatever is to come for the young Nicklebys.
Several comments mentioned (and approved)the fact that Nicholas paid his debt to John Brodie, congratulated him and wished him happiness in his marriage. This, and his conversation with Smike are the passage I prefered in this chapter. No doubt at all that Nicholas is sincere and honest as this gesture is a credit to him.
And, indeed, waking up our memory of John Brodie - it has been a while since they parted ways - and of his context is a great idea of Dickens who excels in the way he makes some almost forgotten characters resurface!
I fully agree with Peter: Having Nicholas pay Browdie keeps the Browdie-Nicholas connection in the readers’ minds. It is also yet another way to keep Newman Noggs fresh in our memory.
We may ask ourselves if there will be a further connection between Nicholas and John Brodie, or not...
I've been quiet during this installment, not for lack of enjoyment of the novel or falling behind in reading. I do fall behind in reading these comments, though, and I chalk that up to life but also this being my first go with a group read!Noggs and Smike continue to warm my heart. I love when they make an appearance in the story.
I would love to see Nicholas and Kate reunite. I wish there was a way they could help each other out and it seems as if Noggs is almost trying to orchestrate that?
Mod
The theatre scenes help to break the emotional tension, don't they? And I was touched that Newman Noggs sent back Nicholas's money, even though it fills us with foreboding.
Kelly - I'm so glad you haven't fallen behind (I was wondering ...)! And I agree about Noggs, who is perhaps the only one who is aware of both brother and sister's situations.
Oh yes, I must very strongly emphasise that we have no party politics whatsoever here, from any country, and not even by allusion, please. Thanks Kelly - and everyone! 😊
I too have found that life has gotten in the way of keeping up with reading and commenting. I found Chaps 27 & 28 very funny overall although Dickens doesn't let us forget the vulnerability and misery felt by Kate du4ring these episodes. I actually was pretty surprised that when Kate got into the carriage after the play that Hawk didn't jump in with her to corner her alone and without escape from his attentions. Dickens doesn't let anyone escape his satire, does he? I had to LOL when he described " The Lady Flabella", there was not a line in it, from beginning to end, which could, by the remote contingency, awaken the smallest excitement in any person breathing. ZING!!
Despite Kate's relative youth and vulnerabilities, I was happy to see that once again she stood up to her Uncle. She does have a backbone, now she needs to learn to use it to her advantage. Oh dear, I guess my modernity is showing through. Women didn't have much opportunity to have control over their lives in that time period.
Bionic Jean wrote: "And a little more …Vincent Crummles and the Infant Phenomenon
In case we are about to leave them, I thought I’d share a bit more about their originals. It is thought that Vincent Crummles was ba..."
Jean, I forgot to thank you yesterday for the information on Jean Davenport. I read the wikipedia page you provided and found it fascinating. Ms. Davenport was ahead of her time. She crossed the Atlantic three times (I think . . . I lost count LOL). But not only that, she travelled across the US to California, which was not easy in the 1860s! I was very impressed by her. Thank you for helping
Jean wrote: Oh yes, I must very strongly emphasise that we have no party politics whatsoever here, from any country, and not even by allusion, please. Thanks Kelly - and everyone! 😊Editing my comment! Good rule of thumb :-)
Mod
Kelly - you are an angel thank you! It had been preying on my mind, even though it was only a hint.
Mod
Chapter 30: Festivities are held in honour of Nicholas, who suddenly withdraws himself from the Society of Mr. Vincent Crummles and his Theatrical Companions
Mr. Crummles is very disappointed that Nicholas is leaving, and even offers to increase his salary and give him more opportunities to write plays. However, Nicholas is determined to check up on his sister, even if he doesn’t hear anything more from Noggs.
Mr. Crummles decides to use Nicholas as much as possible before he departs, and plans to announce Nicholas’s last appearance in a grand way. If Nicholas doesn’t leave, then they can say his appearance was extended at the urging of influential parties. Either way, it will draw audiences. He hopes to get three more “final appearances” out of Nicholas’s departure.
Miss Snevellicci is touched by how kind Nicholas is to Mr. Digby (the stage name of Smike). Nicholas says he deserves all the kindness shown to him. Mr. Folair comments on how Mr. Digby is close-lipped about his past, and that everybody is trying to work out how two such unlikely people as Mr. Johnson and Mr. Digby ended up together. Mr. Lenville believes that they must have ran away from somewhere, which makes Nicholas feel rather uncomfortable. Mr Folair says that he has heard that Mr Digby matches the description of a pickpocket who used to work around the coach stand - although adds that it could be just his brother, or some near relation. He is then called on to act his part of the Indian savage with “this blessed phenomenon”.
Miss Snevellicci is keen for Nicholas and Smike to visit her home and meet her “mama”, who has just arrived in Portsmouth. On the way, there is much flirting between her, “Led” - her friend Miss Ledrook - and Nicholas, who takes it in good part:
“both ladies giggling very much, and declaring that they never had seen such a wicked creature in all their born days—never.”
Mr. and Mrs. Lillyvick are staying with Miss Snevelliccci and Miss Snevellicci’s “papa” is also living there:
“an uncommonly fine man Miss Snevellicci’s papa was, with a hook nose, and a white forehead, and curly black hair, and high cheek bones, and altogether quite a handsome face, only a little pimply as though with drinking.”
Miss Snevellicci’s father and mother have both been in the acting profession. Her father had often been cast for his noble bearing:
“he had been in the profession ever since he had first played the ten-year-old imps in the Christmas pantomimes; who could sing a little, dance a little, fence a little, act a little, and do everything a little, but not much” and
“mama, who was still a dancer, with a neat little figure and some remains of good looks; and … now sat, as she danced,—being rather too old for the full glare of the foot-lights,—in the background.”
Nicholas asks Mr. Lillyvick how he is, and is told that he is very happy in his marriage. He keeps admiring his new wife with satisfaction as she moves around the room.
Mr. Snevellicci drinks more and more, and becomes quite tipsy. He makes a speech in honour of Nicholas, and:
“proposed his health in a speech containing such affecting allusions to his coming departure, that Miss Snevellicci wept, and was compelled to retire into the bedroom.”
The narrator remarks:
“if the whole truth must be told, … he was scarcely ever sober. He knew in his cups three distinct stages of intoxication,—the dignified—the quarrelsome—the amorous”
Mr Snevellicci quickly moves through all three stages, soon forgetting he is angry with another glass, and toasting all the ladies, with: “I love ‘em, every one.”
“Another Farcical Confrontation within the Company” - Fred Barnard - 1875
“Mr. Snevellicci repeated the wink, and, drinking to Mrs. Lillyvick in dumb-show, actually blew her a kiss”
Mr Lillyvick takes umbrage at the idea of flirting with married ladies - especially Mrs. Lillyvick:
“‘I love them and they love me.’ And as if this avowal were not made in sufficient disregard and defiance of all moral obligations, what did Mr. Snevellicci do? He winked—winked openly and undisguisedly; winked with his right eye—upon Henrietta Lillyvick!”
The water rate collector becomes so enraged that he pounces on Mr Snevellicci. Nicholas separates the two men, thrusting Mr Lillivick into a chair while Smike does the same with the tipsy and amazed Mr Snevellicci. Mrs. Lillyvick however, is angry with her husband, and the other ladies support her. They insist that winking and blowing kisses at a married woman is not inappropriate behaviour. A crestfallen Mr. Lillyvick wonders if there is any of the Miss Petowker he knew left in this woman. He apologies, and everybody starts to feel a little sorry for him.
Mr. Snevellicci becomes boisterous after this; his ego boosted by his popularity with the women. Mrs. Snevellicci finds his stories about all the women who have loved him and whom he has loved, and had considered loving, painful. However, she focuses on promoting her daughter to Nicholas with Miss Ledrook’s help. Nicholas, wary of women since the incident with Miss Squeers, purposely acts obtuse—much to their joint frustration:
“when he had taken his leave the ladies were unanimous in pronouncing him quite a monster of insensibility.”
The posters announcing Nicholas’s last appearance are put out. The whole theatre company feel excited when they learn that a London manager is in the audience. Mr. Crummles believes that the man must be here to recruit his daughter, and is already planning terms in his head. Eventually he decides that the manager must agree to take the whole family for what he thinks is an absurdly cheap sum of thirty pounds per week.
Everyone performs for the benefit of this one person, looking directly at him, rather than where their character should be looking. The manager ends up falling asleep during the performance, and everyone blames the comedic actor for it, and is in a bad humour when the comedy actor leaves early. Nicholas finds this all very funny, getting through his own part as quickly as he can, and is:
“received with unbounded favour and unprecedented applause—so said the bills for next day, which had been printed an hour or two before—”
Nicholas receives a letter the next day from Noggs urging him to return to London at once. He despairs to think he might have dallied too long, and asks Smike to pay their debts and get their things ready, while he quickly goes to tell the Crummles. They are still in bed, and:
“the two Master Crummleses had sprung out of the sofa-bedstead and were putting on their clothes with great rapidity, under the impression that it was the middle of the night, and the next house was on fire.”
Mr Crummles comes down in in a flannel gown and nightcap, and Nicholas says that he must leave urgently. Mr. Crummles tries to encourage him to stay a little longer, without success:
“‘I couldn’t stop if it were to prolong my life a score of years,’ rejoined Nicholas. ‘Here, take my hand, and with it my hearty thanks.—Oh! that I should have been fooling here!’”
Mr Crummles watches him disappear into the distance, and laments on the rashness of young people:
“if he only acted like that, what a deal of money he’d draw! He should have kept upon this circuit; he’d have been very useful to me.”
Smike has everything ready when Nicholas returns. They quickly get some breakfast and Nicholas buys an overly large coat for Smike. Mr. Crummles meets him at the coach office, putting on a flamboyant public display for the public:
“strain[ing] him to his breast again, exclaiming as he did so, ‘Farewell, my noble, my lion-hearted boy!’ … [and] inflicting upon him a rapid succession of stage embraces, which, as everybody knows, are performed by the embracer’s laying his or her chin on the shoulder of the object of affection, and looking over it.”
“Nicholas bids farewell to the Boards - Theatrical Emotion of Mr. Vincent Crummles” - Hablot K. Browne (Phiz) - January 1839
Nicholas is annoyed by all the melodrama, but puts a cheerful face on it all, as the lookers-on are laughing very heartily. Nicholas and Smike finally disengage themselves and leave, Nicholas:
“kiss[ing] his hand in honour of the absent Mrs Crummles as they rolled away.”
Mod
about Illegitimate Drama
As we know, the Licensing Act of 1737 permitted only 2 theatres, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (where Miss Petowker came from) and Covent Garden, to present straight plays (i.e. “legitimate drama”). This was to prevent debasement of the high ideals of the English stage, and forced other theatres to develop different, more music-based forms of entertainment. The Act was however constantly infringed, as theatres were able to put on straight plays by putting in a few songs and calling them “burlettas” (as we have seen, reading Charles Dickens’s own early dramas). By the time Nicholas Nickleby was published, he distinction between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” drama was more or less meaningless. The monopoly was finally abolished in 1843.
The Coburg - We now know this as the Old Vic. It is the Royal Coburg Theatre in Waterloo Bridge Road which had opened in 1818. In 1833 it was renamed the Royal Victoria Theatre.
Mod
the Infant Phenomenon again
Bridget - I’m glad you enjoyed the feature about the real Infant Phenomenon Charles Dickens had seen in Portsmouth, Jean Davenport. I was relieved that she was long-lived, and made a successful stage career; it seems ironic that latterly her family tried to deny that she was the model for Charles Dickens’s Infant Phenomenon. It’s interesting to speculate on whether Mr Davenport might have falsified the age of his daughter, by 6 years, as Mr Crummles does. It must have been a great temptation in that business, I would think. It seemed to persist a bit in the 20th century, with some child actors in playing younger and younger parts as they got older and (the girls) being “strapped into” their costumes.
I thought Connie too might appreciate this since she was (rightly) worried about the later health of a child fed mostly on gin and water.
What sticks in my mind is that the real life one acted Shylock, from William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice when she was tiny. The Victorians sure had different tastes from us!
I’m also wondering why the Ninette Crummles Infant Phenomenon was voiceless. Is this just to help or heighten the illusion of her youth? I assume that Charles Dickens must be making a particular point, as she does not say one word in the text, whereas all the rest of the company seem to be chatterboxes. But perhaps after all it’s not symbolic, and merely part of her persona.
Mod
I know some are reading (or have read) our side read to the Dramatic Dickens season of Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World by Simon Callow. Because Simon Callow has a unique perspective (he is an actor and closet writer, writing about a writer and not-so-closet actor/manager!) he has some great insights.
The book goes more into the theatrical world than any other bio of Charles Dickens that I’ve read, and derives interesting psychological conclusions - such as evidence of multiphrenia, which seems very likely to me. As we read in Mamie Dickens's memoir, My Father as I Recall Him, Charles Dickens would often leap up to check his own expression in the mirror.
I’m linking this in my mind with groups of characters such as the acting troupe, and also the Kenwigses, the non-Squeers characters in Yorkshire, etc. Even though it’s a long novel, a lot of these aren’t very developed, and we want to read more about them. I have assumed it was the influence of the 18th century picaresque books he loved, plus the unplanned nature at this stage of his serial method of production. But it also must be a product of Charles Dickens’s fertile mind.
Perhaps he did have multiple personalities in there - not exactly dissociative identity disorder - but multiphrenia. I’d love to read a psychologist on this aspect. There are so many characters and still more groups to come - although Charles Dickens’s mind might just have been running on ahead of him all the time, I guess.
Mod
A Young Fan
If you are following Hablot Knight Browne’s illustrations, (2 per installment) you will have realised that we are now in January 1839.
By now there had been at least one dramatisation, and Charles Dickens had received many fan letters. One which has survived was from the 5 year-old William Hughes (1833-1907) the younger brother of Thomas Hughes, (the author of
Tom Brown's Schooldays), who advised Charles Dickens to punish Squeers. On 12th December 1838 Charles Dickens wrote back a very charming letter to the little lad. He praised Master Hughes’s drawing of Fanny Squeers as:
“very like … it will make her very cross when she sees it , and what I say is I hope it may”
and reporting that he had given Squeers:
“one cut on the neck and two on the head at which he appeared much surprised and began to cry” 👏 🤣
Don’t you just love the fact that Charles Dickens took the trouble to indulge this little lad, when he was also busy penning the current installment we are reading? It also makes me wonder whether he will write Squeers back in, given the way he would kill off characters in his serials who got little or not interest, and expand the parts of those who got a good strong reaction. 🤔
Mod
“that bourne from whence no traveller returns” - Hamlet Act III Scene 1, v. 79-80. Hamlet describes death as:
“The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns“
I also thought of William Shakespeare's Richard II Act V Scene 5:
“While I stand fooling here, his Jack o’ the clock
This music mads me; let it sound no more;“
when Nicholas said “Oh that I should have been fooling here!”
Mod
The snuffers on the table were instruments for trimming candles.
Mod
Dickens gives us yet another reminder that theatre people are always playing a role by seeing Smike as “Mr Digby”. (They do not know of course that “Mr Johnson” is also an alias).
There are ample favourite quotations, but I've written quite enough 🙄 (and included a few of mine) so look forward now to hearing yours, and your thoughts!
"Mr. Folair comments on how Mr. Digby is close-lipped about his past, and that everybody is trying to work out how two such unlikely people as Mr. Johnson and Mr. Digby ended up together. Mr. Lenville believes that they must have ran away from somewhere, which makes Nicholas feel rather uncomfortable.Indeed Jean in such a small world as the theatre, it is no wonder that some actors are speculating about Nicholas and Smike! Of course the fact that they are going away so suddenly may fuel some additional suspicions.
Nicholas and Smike are once again (for the third time) on the road, but this time they may afford taking a coach.
One of my favourite passages was the description of Noggs's letter: "very inky, very short, very dirty, very small and very mysterious..."
As everyone can relate, life gets in the way of things you want to do, but I have finally caught up both in reading and with the comments, and I wanted to chime in that this has been one of my favorite chapters for the sole reason I laughed reading this more than the others. I especially like the flirtation between Nicholas and Miss Snevellicci. It felt good to laugh again.My favorite quote of that little scene :
Then Nicholas said, that he wondered what could possibly be inside the basket, and attempted to peep in, whereat Miss Snevellicci screamed, and declared that if she thought he had seen, she was sure she should faint away.
I also like the quote you mentioned, Jean:
At last Nicholas pledged himself to betray no further curiosity, and they walked on: both ladies giggling very much, and declaring that they never had seen such a wicked creature in all their born days—never.
I thought it was nice seeing this side of Nicholas. It showed him as a human young man, and the lightness of this chapter was a nice break from the heart-wrenching chapters regarding Kate’s demise.
With my limited reading of Charles Dickens, it seemed to me that the majority of his humor in his books were more of a satirical nature, but this scene of Nicholas flirting was just out of playfulness fun, which, as I said before, was a nice break from the realities of a dismal life Nicholas and his family have been suffering through since the death of Mr. Nickleby, father and husband.
But all of this could just be my current mindset.
I can’t help thinking of the contrasts between Kate and Nicholas in regards to the men and women who flirt with them. Miss Squeers had an ulterior motive to gain him as a husband but he was weary of her advances. Here Miss Snevelicci and Miss Ledrook are flirting away and he is annoyed. Isn’t it interesting how a young man of his age has his eyes on other more worthy events than a romantic interlude. Nicholas is more concerned with helping Smike and now getting back to London to see what is wrong with Kate.Kate is also not interested in Mulberry Hawk or Lord Verisopht but completely annoyed. She seems to be able to see the reality of these men as bad news for her and wants nothing of it. I do think Kate would like a good husband but she has an excellent sense for who the wrong men are, unlike her mother.
Kate and Nicholas both seem to have similar reactions - no way!
Surely Kate realizes that she has no dowry to provide. She also must realize that her uncle will most likely make a match for her and the fact that she went to Ralph to tell of her mistreatment by these men he’s introduced her to, is very brave and forward for a girl then.
For me, Chapter 30 was one of the most entertaining chapters so far. So much going on!Starting right out with Mr. Crummles plotting how to have at least 3 “last appearances” by Nicholas, to draw the crowds.
And then the fuss between Mr. Lillyvick and Mr. Snevelicci (love that name!) over the wink and kiss blown to Mrs. Lillyvick.
The London manager coming to the show, with everyone playing directly to him instead of each other — until he falls asleep and then leaves, with one member of the company being blamed for causing it by fooling around too much.
The bills printed for the next day announcing that Nicholas had great success in his role, even tho they were printed before he ever came out on stage--funny!
Nicholas’ impatience at having to leave immediately had him acting in a way that made Mr. Crummles wish he’d brought that same passion to the stage.
And speaking of Nicholas leaving, after receiving the urgent and “very inky, very short, very dirty, very small, and very mysterious” letter from Newman Noggs--so curious to find out how that turns out! What a fun chapter!
Lori wrote: "I can’t help thinking of the contrasts between Kate and Nicholas in regards to the men and women who flirt with them. Miss Squeers had an ulterior motive to gain him as a husband but he was weary o..."Yes indeed. So far we have had a very wide range of interactions between males and females. Innocent flirting, humourous encounters, sloppy sentiments, and frightening aggressiveness. As a young male Dickens paints quite a wide picture of interactions between the sexes.
We appear to have yet another trope which could be labeled ‘love, lust, or lost.’ If Dickens presents us with so many possible ‘love connections’ in the first part of the novel could it be the second part of the novel will provide partners for most/all the characters in the matrix?
Thinking of Peter's comment: With all the possibilities, I have yet to light upon a suitable or wanted pairing for either Nicholas or Kate.Also love the Janus idea...fits so beautifully.
I love how attached the troupe has become to Nicholas and Smike in such a short time. I wondered if the London critic will show up later in London to point Nicholas toward some enterprise there. This was indeed a fun chapter right up to the moment the missive arrives from Noggs and brings us quickly back to Kate's need of her brother and some loving protection.
Jean--just wondering...would it have been improper for Kate to also take to the stage?
Bionic Jean wrote: "Different/Multiple PersonalitiesThe book goes more into the theatrical world than any other bio of Charles Dickens that I’ve read, and derives interesting psychological conclusions - such as evidence of multiphrenia, which seems very likely to me..."
Could you explain this more, Jean? I'm fascinated with the concept that I think you're presenting, but I'm not sure I understand it fully. Multiphrenia sounds to me like an actor who gets into a part so much that he becomes that character while he/she is playing that part. Is this what you're saying about Dickens? That he "became" his characters while he was writing a book, and these characters temporarily changed his personality? If so, I truly find it fascinating, because it never occurred to me with Dickens, although I know these characters did come to life for him.
Like Shirley, I would love that concept explained a bit more. How fascinating!I found this chapter to be one of the most captivating we've read! The first thing that caught my attention was Mr Crummles arranging Nicholas's final performances with him. Mr Crummles wishes Nicholas to perform more than 3 final times, but says, "...but if we can't help it we can't, so there is no use in talking." I felt for such a dramatic person (see final scene of this chapter!!) this was a very matter-of-fact, logical thing for him to say.
Mrs Grudden made yet another practical, and in my opinion endearing, appearance helping with the bills, "being a great hand at throwing in the notes of admiration, and knowing from long experience exactly where the largest capitals ought to go".
Then comes the drama of the troupe speculating about Nicholas and Smike, the flirting between the young actresses and Nicholas, and then this, my favorite quotation: "...Miss Snevellicci's papa looked steadily and sternly at Mr Lillyvick for some seconds, and then rising deliberately from his chair, kissed the ladies all around, beginning with Mrs Lillyvick."
Mr Snevellicci! Even though his drunkenness was unappealing, he didn't give me quite the ick factor I feel with other men in this novel.
And it cracked me up when the London manager fell asleep during the performance!
Sara wrote: "Thinking of Peter's comment: With all the possibilities, I have yet to light upon a suitable or wanted pairing for either Nicholas or Kate."The only possible match I could wrap my head around for Kate thus far is John Browdie if Dickens somehow manages to engineer him giving 'Tilda the brush-off. That said, somehow it doesn't seem like a satisfactory solution. As far as as a possible match for Nicholas goes, I have no idea at all! Miss La Creevy??
Mod
In short, yes! Theatrical families tended to form a society of their own, but in the wider society often actresses were regarded as little better than prostitutes, and had to fight for a good reputation. You will notice that Miss Snevellicci comes from an acting family, and calls her father and mother papa and mama, to make it clear that she is ultra-respectable.
Nelly Ternan, with whom Charles Dickens had a relationship, had to have her mother accompany her at all times when at the theatre, and with Charles Dickens for several years too, because of the perceived impropriety of her profession. Even as late as when he was writing Our Mutual Friend, Nelly Ternan's mother was with them in the train when it crashed at Staplehurst. (He refers to this in his later preface, but does not name them.)
Arguably Nicholas could protect his sister from any unwelcome advances, but this is what he means when he says her society would be restricted. Another example is in Little Dorrit, with Edmund Sparkler (view spoiler). It's not particularly with the theatre people where the danger lay, but with the hangers-on at the stage door.
The dubious reputation and morality of actresses was a widespread concept and even by 1935 it was considered risky. It was immortalised by Noël Coward in his song "Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs Worthington"! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEfxL... This is a recording) although not explicitly as he was the epitome of Englishness!
Mod
Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Could you explain this more, Jean? I'm fascinated with the concept that I think you're presenting, but I'm not sure I understand it fully. Multiphrenia sounds to me like an actor who gets into a part so much that he becomes that character while he/she is playing that part ..."
To be honest we need a practising psychiatrist on this! Shirley and Kelly! I know Anne intended to join in and catch us up, but am not sure if she's reading silently or had other more urgent things to do. So I'll just do my best. 🤔 Shirley - What you are describing sounds more like method acting, whereas multiphrenia is a recognised psychological syndrome.
Here is a technical definition of multiphrenia:
"Multiphrenia is a syndrome generally referring to the splitting of the individual into a multiplicity of self-investments.”
It was originally coined in 1991 by Kenneth J. Gergen in The Saturated Self: Dilemmas Of Identity In Contemporary Life.
It seems to be a condition largely attributed to technologies that increase social contact, and of being simultaneously drawn in multiple and conflicting directions.
The idea was once taboo, but psychologists say that it has become something that many people feel they can relate to. This condition is "partly an outcome of self-population, but partly a result of the populated self's efforts to exploit the potentials of the technologies of the relationship." The whole thing is really out of my comfort zone. The saturated self is hard to grasp too ...
If it helps. I think of multiphrenia as being on the way to associative personality disorder, but where the person has the ability to control all the multiple changing personalities in their head, up to a point. Method acting though is just a technique which can be switched on and off.
Multiphrenia does fit with what we know of Charles Dickens; both his extraordinarily hypnotic acting and public readings (as recorded) and the way he became obsessed by certain characters in his books, and could not shake them off.
I think of a visual representation of it being the famous painting we often talk of, by Robert William Buss, his oil painting Dickens's Dream.
.Dickens's Dream shows the author surrounded by the characters he created, and was painted after Charles Dickens's death in 1870. He based it on Luke Fildes's engraving, The Empty Chair. Robert W. Buss then copied the figure of Charles Dickens from a well-known photograph by John Watkins (from 1863).
However as you can see Robert W. Buss died leaving the picture incomplete. A theory has grown up recently among some Charles Dickens scholars that he didn't intend to finish it. For me, it represents his mind, rather than merely his musings, but it's hard to explain ... We know that the artist superimposed Charles Dickens's image on to the existing image of his chair, so to me it's as if his image has been superimposed on his mind ... but I know this is fanciful - sorry! 😆
While I was reading Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World by Simon Callow I thought I understood it as relating to Charles Dickens, so I recommend that book!
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
Jane Eyre (other topics)Pride and Prejudice (other topics)
Pride and Prejudice (other topics)
Red Pottage (other topics)
Oliver Twist (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Charles Dickens (other topics)
Edgar Allan Poe (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
Fred Levit (other topics)
More...
Well, we certainly agree on the greed part of Ralph's motivations. But as far as reference to a dowry or lack thereof is concerned, my interpretation of Ralph's, Verisopht's and Hawk's conduct is much baser. I don't think there was any question of marriage in any of their minds for even a moment. A question as to the lack of a dowry would have been completely irrelevant. I think Ralph hung Kate out to dry as purely sexual bait ... end of story! If Verisopht was simple-minded enough to consider marriage to Kate, then so much the better but I got the impression that was (and remains) a very, very distant second consideration. (Perhaps that difference is at the root of our different interpretations of the "p" word)
On a different note, I have two questions: Just who is Newman Noggs? Will he prove to have some sort of existing relationship with the Nicklebys or is he simply a gentlemanly nice guy who happened to be in service to Ralph at the time these events unfolded?
Second, by this time, surely Kate is aware that Nicholas is part of the theater company. Why is she not seeking him out and making him aware of her distress?