Martin Chuzzlewit 3: Chapter 21 -

[Shirley (stampartiste)]

Bionic Jean wrote: "You may take your slime drafts till you flies into the air with efferwescence..."

is not as creatively Mrs. Gampian as it may seem!"

Thank you so much for this full explanation, Jean! I can see I would have never been able to figure it out for myself. Apparently, there were no prescribed dosages for these potent draughts. Another example of Mrs. Gamp's "expert care" at keeping her patients quiet while she eats and sleeps?

[Cindy]

I'm just getting caught up--my son is visiting from Oregon (I'm in Texas), so we have been focused on entertaining and spending time with him.

I knew that Jonas was not going to treat Mercy well but I have to admit that I didn't think it was going to be as bad as it is. He's threatening to kill her! I'm curious to know whether Pecksniff is aware of his daughter's plight, or if he cares. I can imagine him mentally dusting his hands of her after the wedding. On the other hand, I can see Jonas being a complete jackass to her in front of her father, which would not correlate with Pecksniff's ideas of the respect that is due him.

I do like Bailey and I hope that his knowledge of Jonas's threats and behavior leads to rescue for Mercy. Maybe the whole Poll Sweedlepipe/Mrs. Gamp connection will lead to Mr. Westlock rescuing her. He seems nice enough to do it! I'm also anxious to find out what is happening with our swamp-dwelling contingent of characters in America because I can't imagine how they are going to escape their current predicament! Seeing the similarities between the con artists and toad-eaters on both continents has been fascinating, though. Humans are going to human, no matter where they are!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Kathleen - You’re welcome and I’m pleased you are enjoying Dickens’s comic creations. “I found the bloody mess of Bailey’s poor pimpled face pretty funny.” When I shared that bit with my husband, he made an agonised sound, remembering tender teenage shaving trials. 😂

Here’s another delightful illustration of our bold young Bailey:



“Mr. Bailey and Poll Sweedlepipe” - Sol Eytinge - The Diamond Edition - 1867

Yes, we still have the delights of Pickwick to come! It was one of the last ones I read too. And I’m now thinking Louisa May Alcott must have been quite a Dickens fan!

Peter - “Even within the humour, however, the mechanics of the plot move us forward.” This never ceases to amaze me! I’ll stop reading what I assume is a “much deserved reprieve” either from dread or disgust, with a happy smile on my face assuming what I’ve read is just a farcical interlude - and then realise that it has also moved the plot on quite a lot too! Thank you for these great observations.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Peter and Chris - Corpse humour?

Mr. Mould (what a fabulous name for an undertaker by the way!)’s comment “He’s coming our way, perhaps, after all.” made me laugh too! I was going to call it “graveyard humour”, but it’s not even that. Charles Dickens loves finding grotesque humour in ever aspect of illness and death, doesn’t he? Bridget’s quotation made me laugh as I read it too.

I’m now remembering Mrs. Gamp’s immortal line in chapter 25:

“He’d make a lovely corpse”

and am put in mind of the interchange between Mr. Bumble who runs the workhouse and Mr. Sowerberry the undertaker, in Oliver Twist:

“‘The prices allowed by the board are very small, . .’ ’So are the coffins,’ replied the beadle.” (chapter 4)

As you say Chris, we just hope it’s not in every funeral director’s mind as they sum people up.

In fact reading through all these quotes and comments, John and Sue was such a tonic, that I felt as if I was reading the chapter all over again!

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Shirley - “Another example of Mrs. Gamp’s ”expert care“ at keeping her patients quiet while she eats and sleeps?” Ouch yes! Good point. I feel sure she will slip in a bit of opium to keep him quiet now and then.

Cindy - Yay! I’m glad to see you back and trust all are having a happy time. As you say you can always catch up … Somehow I think Pecksniff’s major thought is to “mentally dust[…]his hands of her after the wedding”. He seems so totally fixated on himself. Oh gosh, I hope you’re right about someone rescuing Merry. At the moment she seems destined to become a tragic Victorian heroine.

Ah, I promise it will not be too long before we will return to our friends in America. Dickens knows how to time things to perfection, doesn’t he?

So let’s see if the humour continues today with our new installment…

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Installment 12:

Chapter 30: Proves That Changes May Be Rung in the Best-Regulated Families, and That Mr. Pecksniff Was a Special Hand at a Triple-Bob-Major

All is not well in the Pecksniff home. Charity refuses to let go of her jealousy and anger, and fights constantly with her father. At dinner they quarrel, and Charity tells Mr. Pecksniff that she has been used, and will do as she pleases from now on. She accuses Mr. Pecksniff and Mercy of conspiring to make her look like a fool. Charity tells her father that she can no longer live in the same house with him, and suggests that he arranges for her to go to Todgers’s.

Meanwhile, the elder Martin Chuzzlewit is apparently beginning to weaken and fade with age. Mr. Pecksniff enjoys finding him easier to manipulate, and works on securing control of Martin Chuzzlewit’s money. He sees Mary as an impediment, and considers marrying her to secure his inheritance, though she clearly has no interest in him. This plan is also appealing to Mr. Pecksniff because it would be a way of getting back at the younger Martin Chuzzlewit.

Mr. Pecksniff goes to see the elder Martin Chuzzlewit, who appears to be getting deaf and a little slow. He tells Mr. Chuzzlewit that Charity is missing her sister, so she will go to London to be nearer to her. He also says that he is alone in his house now that Charity is leaving, and suggests that Mr. Chuzzlewit and Mary move in with him. Mr. Chuzzlewit agrees and says he will pay all the expenses.



“Rustling among last year’s leaves, whose scent woke memory of the past, the placid Pecksniff strolled.” — Fred Barnard - 1872 Household edition

When Mary is out walking later, she is seen by Mr. Pecksniff. He approaches her and offers his arm, which she rejects.



“Mr. Pecksniff’s Courtship” - Sir John Gilbert - 1863

Mary tries to quickly walk home, telling Mr. Pecksniff not to touch her. However Mr. Pecksniff grabs her hand and declares ardently that he loves her:



“Mr. Pecksniff Makes Love” - Harry Furniss - 1910 ”

Mary tries to break free, but he continues to hold on to her and pour out his feelings. She firmly rejects his proposal and tells him that she will tell the elder Martin Chuzzlewit about Mr. Pecksniff’s behaviour. Mr. Pecksniff however, persists in clasping her hand and waist, and warns her not to upset the elder Martin Chuzzlewit, because it may have bad repercussions for the younger Martin. He finally take his leave of her near his house.

Inside the Pecksniff house, Charity is getting ready to leave. Mr. Pecksniff leaves and Tom Pinch enters the room. Charity tells Tom that she is still his friend, and always will be, but Tom feels sorry for the discord in the family and between the two sisters. The next day, Charity finishes her preparations and leaves for London.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Well this was a surprise! Pecksniff’s star seems to be in the ascendant, but what moral depths will he sink to? He’s working on Old Martin, and the idea of him actually falling in love with anyone seems grotesque. He probably looks at Mary Graham and sees only £ signs in her beautiful eyes (i.e. money prospects). Now that Old Martin has moved into his Wiltshire cottage, Pecksniff probably plans to improve his chances of being the miser’s chief beneficiary by marrying Mary Graham.

But what would she see? An attractive older man? Hardly! The words Pecksniff uses are absurd, his overtly persuasive tone of voice and oily manner reveal him as a hypocrite. Charles Dickens’s writing makes the situation comes across as farcical and amusing, rather than being a threatened young woman in a wood. The description of him walking is so overblown and idealised; it is a Paradise. The birds could not sing any more sweetly, the leaves could not be any greener, the sun could not shine any more brightly etc. But he is the would-be serpent, and Mary is Eve.

Perhaps the most despicable part of Pecksniff’s proposal is when he threatens her, holding young Martin as his insurance that she will not tell old Martin Chuzzlewit, because he would take it out on the younger Martin. So what might happen now? Young Martin is across the world and unable to protect her, and the wily fox Pecksniff usually gets what he wants.

I was also surprised at Charity’s decision to leave, and complete reversal in her attitude to Tom. But then his knocking down of Jonas must have seemed positively heroic to her, since she feels like a jilted sweetheart. We have to wonder if she is aware of her sister’s
daily suffering at his brutal hands - or whether she would even care if she did.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

My favourite quotation

… has to be from Mr. Pecksniff’s courtship. Perhaps:

“Mary,” said Mr. Pecksniff in his tenderest tones, indeed they were so very tender that he almost squeaked: “My soul! I love you!””

or even better:

“She tried to disengage her hand, but might as well have tried to free herself from the embrace of an affectionate boa-constrictor; if anything so wily may be brought into comparison with Pecksniff.”

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

And a little more …

The Illustrations.

The one by Fred Barnard for the Household Edition in 1872, (which I have on the seat next to me 🙂) is an unusual “dark” plate. Pecksniff himself is portrayed as a saintly figure, with a mock halo and sanctimonious clerical air.

There are only a few of these dark plates, and usually they are reserved for a threatening or menacing scene, yet here we have a perfectly peaceful woodland scene. So what is the illustrator conveying by choosing this mismatched mood? That the prospects are dark? That we are looking into Pecksniff’s very soul? Or something else?

Another plate here is by an artist whom we don’t often see, Sir John W. Gilbert R.A (1817-1897) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gi... He didn’t illustrate Charles Dickens much at all, but did paint a portrait of Dickens’s mother Elizabeth:



Sir John Gilbert produced four frontispieces for the four volumes in the American “Household Edition” of the early 1860s. We’ve looked at the ones for Bleak House and Little Dorrit during those reads.

His Seth Pecksniff is a successful, well-dressed bourgeois professional man of middle age, and Mary is an extremely fashionable beauty. I’m not sure either quite fits my mental image, but I like Pecksniff’s odd face! And I think it’s clever to accentuate the pretty glade, to emphasise the difference between what Mary’s idyllic surroundings are, to contrast ironically with what we know of Martin’s natural surroundings in America.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

I look forward to everyone's comments on today's chapter 30 🙂

[Connie]

Great commentary and illustrations, Jean!

I wonder if Dickens ever considered naming the book after Seth Pecksniff instead of Martin Chuzzlewit since so much of the story revolves around him. Some of the worst villains like Jonas are much more dangerous, but they hold my interest more than Pecksmith. Pecksmith is just so hypocritical, greedy, slimy, and unlikable. It's sad that Mary is being bothered by him when she does not have young Martin to protect her. The Furniss illustration depicts Mary's look of disgust and agitation quite well.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Connie - It's interesting that you should say that, as Seth Pecksniff was actually the starting point for the whole book!

He is the first mentioned character in Martin Chuzzlewit, and John Forster tells us (when writing about how excited Charles Dickens was with his first installment):

"the notion of taking Pecksniff as a type of character was really the origin of the book, the design being to how more or less by every person introduced, the number and variety of humours and vices that have their root in selfishness."

He then wrote to John Forster that two of the most prominent figures surprised him as to how their characters opened out in his mind, "during the process of invention" and of how it was "as true as the law of gravitation"". One was Pecksniff, and the other not young Martin Chuzzlwit, but (view spoiler)[Jonas (hide spoiler)].

[Connie]

Jean, that's a great point that the book revolves around selfishness--Pecksniff, Anthony, Jonas, Tiggs, Mr Mould, the American property developers and newspaper editors, etc. I have to include the nurses, although I hope we see more of Mrs Gamp since she's so comic!

[Peter]

By my account, Pecksniff has now lowered himself to far greater depths of character. Early in the chapter he ‘rose and shook’ Charity and threatened that he would ‘do it again’. This is an assault, an assault on his own daughter. The sooner Cherry gets herself to Todgers the better — at least for now.

Not satisfied by treating his own daughter with disrespect he then casts his eye on Mary Graham. We learn that he has already bestowed ‘many little tokens’ on her and has decided she would make a perfect bride. Since Pecksniff knows want a good man he is, and what a perfect husband he would be for Mary, he manages to find Mary alone. I loved how Dickens describes a placid outdoor setting where Pecksniff finds Mary alone. There will, however, be no joy in this encounter.

Mary wants nothing to do with Pecksniff so he decides to force himself on her privacy. Mary resists, Pecksniff counters with force and tells Mary he loves her. To me, Pecksniff’s unwanted attention and words is his second assault on a woman in one chapter.

We are told that the outlet from the wood was close to Pecksniff’s house. There he asks in a ‘playful’ accent if he can bite Mary’s finger.
Shades of Eden?

The possible irony of this chapter is how a reader reacts to the events of the chapter. At once I find the actions of Pecksniff deplorable; somehow, however, Dickens makes the situations somewhat ludicrous as well.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Connie wrote: "Jean, that's a great point that the book revolves around selfishness--Pecksniff, Anthony, Jonas, Tiggs, Mr Mould, the American property developers and newspaper editors, etc. ..."

John Forster viewed Martin Chuzzlewit as the turning point of Charles Dickens's career:

"he had scrutinised as keenly, but had never shewn the imaginative insight into which he now sent his humour and art into the core of the vices of the time". Charles Dickens had already said to him that he believed it was the best thing he had yet written, and that "I have a greater confidence in myself than I ever had".

Pecksniff is the embodiment of this superb blend of a comic character, with one we absolutely despise. That's quite a feat to pull off!

And yes, there are only a handful of characters who do not display selfishness or greed in one way or another. Charles Dickens also said to John Forster that it was his main aim to show the variety of ways and forms selfishness could take. And as Cindy said, this is a timeless aspect; humans are humans.

When we read the Preface it will become even more evident.

Peter - Yes! That might be another covert reference to Eden.

I too didn't think Pecksniff could sink any lower, but this is despicable behaviour - especially the veiled threat about angering Old Martin.

[Lori]

This was a humorous chapter but also a revolting one, at least for poor Mary. Pecksniff has definitely stooped to a new low, as Peter said. I was so proud of Mary for not giving in and for standing up for herself. This made me remember Tom Pinch when he stood up for himself against Jonas. Do these two have a commonality? They emit a timid demeanor, yet have a lion down deep inside? Mary is showing that she can hold her own, but being blackmailed basically to keep her mouth shut is not great. But then, what can Pecksniff really do to Martin Jr. so far away? Maybe talk badly about him and spread nasty rumors to give him a bad name for when he returns? Maybe.

[Cindy]

Well, this answered my question about how Pecksniff might feel about Mercy's treatment at Jonas's hands. Clearly, if he is willing to treat his chosen bride with such arrogant disrespect, he's not going to object to Jonas's tactics. Pecksniff might be worse than Jonas, since the younger man at least waited until Mercy was legally tied to him before the mask came off. I guess Pecksniff doesn't have that option since Mary has made her repulsion so clear. He either has to compel her or lose her.

I liked Dickens' observation that "gallantry in its true sense is supposed to ennoble and dignify a man; and love has shed refinement on innumerable Cymons." He then points out how Pecksniff, due to his heinous behavior, experiences the opposite: "he seemed to be shrunk and reduced; to be trying to hide himself within himself; and to be wretched at not having the power to do it," as if his physical presence is unconsciously attempting to mirror his inner paltriness. Indeed, he looks so small that his clothes appear to be too large, and on a darker note, Dickens even comments on how well his throat would look with a rope around it. His inner weasel is exposed as he appears "hot, and pale, and mean, and shy, and slinking, and consequently not at all Pecksniffian" (459). For a brief moment, the mask has slipped--we see the real Pecksniff. He is small, mean, sly, and slinking--an obnoxious little rat of a man. However, he recovers himself, slips back behind the mask, and returns home with "as beneficent an air as if he had been the High Priest of the summer weather" (459). I hope the next time his inner weasel reveals itself, someone other than Mary is there to see it! Hopefully, it will be Tom Pinch and he can shed his hero-worship of Pecksniff.

[Sue]

Yes, I’m hoping that Tom will finally witness the true Pecksniff. I don’t see how he could miss some aspect of it once old Martin is ensconced in the home. Once he does, I think he will act to protect anyone he perceives is being abused.

I found this an exciting chapter to read for all the horror of Pecksniff himself. Dickens’ writing was energetic and the irony was dripping from his pen. There were so many quotable lines but I think my favorite was the reference to the boa constrictor too, Jean.

[Plateresca]

Jean, thank you for the artwork, it's fascinating!

I enjoyed the quote:
‘<...> that I should live to be shook!’
:)
I know, I know, it's an assault, like Peter says, and I really feel for Charity, but at the same time, I find it very comical that the great Pecksniff should revert to such arguments, and that his daughter says not 'disrespected', or 'hurt', but 'shook'.


What I like here is this: this whole chapter is a logical continuation of what we saw at Todgers's, when Mr Pecksniff got drunk and was kind of harassing Mrs Todgers, and Charity was unhappy about her father's advances to this lady (I think it was Cindy who drew our attention to her reactions). I guess it's another sign of the structure of the novel that Charles Dickens was so proud of.


LIke Lori, I do not see how Pecksniff can harm young Martin at this point, but, of course, if I were Mary, I would still be very worried, because, well, who knows. But what do you think, is this an empty threat or not?


Animals are historically ascribed human vices, but really, neither foxes nor weasels blackmail young girls into marrying them; these metaphors sadden me, because these animals often need protection nowadays, not bad publicity.

[John]

I have to echo what Connie said and feel as if this novel could have been entitled Pecksniff. And then Jean mentioned the letter to Forster, which seemed to state that Pecksniff was a starting thought or point to the story Dickens wanted to tell. The novel, to date, has been far different than what I was expecting. I seemed to have been marinated in the idea that young Martin Chuzzlewit was the entire focus of the story. I also anticipated that this would be a story with fewer characters.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Lori - Great point that Tom Pinch and Mary Graham display a commonality in resisting and not giving in to those who attempt to bully them. We have to search for the noble characters among those who are only out for themselves, but these two are quietly strong and steadfast to their principles. Though I too have that niggling worry about Pecksniff’s threat.

Cindy - Another great post! For those who are wondering about the quotation Cindy liked, here's a little more:

“gallantry in its true sense is supposed to ennoble and dignify a man; and love has shed refinement on innumerable Cymons.”

Cymon is in a story by Boccaccio (translated by John Dryden as "Cymon and Iphigenia" (1700). He was transformed by love from a lout to a civilised man.

I absolutely love the term you use: “inner weasel”! 😂

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Sue - Yes, so many quotable lines! There aren’t many authors who can do this, to make us feel excited, happy and yet full of dread, all by the same bit of writing.

Plateresca - I’m so pleased to see you return, and hope you’ve had a restful well deserved few days/

I completely agree about the unfortunate metaphors for wild animals (foxes, weasels, snakes, boa constrictors, etc.) when we think of the actuality, but you know, it does not bother me. Dickens employs such metaphors a lot, and as you say “these animals often need protection nowadays”. I think it is precisely because of the time this was written, that the perception has changed, and so we accept it just we we accept all the social conventions we may now dislike or disapprove of in a Victorian novel. It’s no longer “bad publicity” because when we read fiction from the 19th century, we are not influenced by such ideas for our own lives.

In fact I think we can push this even further, because such animals have assumed a sort of literary convention, that we associate them in metaphors only by their commonly known traits. So a fox is “wily” just because throughout history they have often managed to elude those humans who want to kill them; a weasel is fierce because it can kill its larger prey very effectively for its size, a snake looks slimy (although actually it isn’t) etc. So these metaphors perpetuate and are accepted throughout modern literature, whereas all the likeable traits or those interpreted by humans as caring for their young, bravery or stamina, are ignored. I don’t like using them as a literary device this way much in modern novels either, but I think I must assume a sort of “literary hat” when I read it, and take it off afterwards!

John - Isn't it great when as a seasoned Dickens reader, you read a novel by him for the first time? He surprises all over again. I think those points may have been in all our minds at the beginning; thanks for highlighting them.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Chapter 31: Mr. Pinch Is Discharged of a Duty Which He Never Owed to Anybody, and Mr. Pecksniff Discharges a Duty Which He Owes to Society

Mr. Pecksniff is strolling through the churchyard when he hears Tom Pinch begin to play the organ. He goes quietly into the church to listen, where he falls asleep on a pew. He wakes up to overhear Tom Pinch and Mary talking. Mr Pecksniff is all ears! They talk about Martin, and Mary worries that she has had no word from him. Tom says that he received a letter saying that Martin was going to Eden, and that no news is good news.

The subject of their conversation shifts to Mr. Pecksniff. Tom defends Mr. Pecksniff, as usual, but Mary becomes very upset. She says she will have to tell him what Mr. Pecksniff is really like. She describes the whole story of Mr. Pecksniff’s relationship with her guardian: how he is taking advantage of both Mary and the older Martin Chuzzlewit.

Tom is confounded at this story. He recognises the truth about his master at last, and his entire world seems to come crashing down. Tom Pinch finally changes his opinion of Mr. Pecksniff and denounces him for a scoundrel. Mr. Pecksniff hears the entire thing from his hiding place, bobbing his head up now and then so he can get a better view.

Mary leaves, and Tom wanders around the church trying to come to terms with a lifetime of mistaken admiration for Mr. Pecksniff. Eventually he leaves, and Mr. Pecksniff stays in the church a little while thinking, before going home.

Upon returning, Mr. Pecksniff goes straight to the older Martin Chuzzlewit and tells him that Tom Pinch has deceived him. He calls Tom Pinch to join them, and asks him to secure a vestry-window, as he had been obliged to use it to exit the church. Tom leaves on the errand, although he struggles to control his expression.

On his return Mr. Pecksniff tells him that he had overheard Tom confess his love to Mary in the church.



“”Mr. Pinch,“ said Mr. Pecksniff, shaking his head, ”Oh, Mr. Pinch! I wonder how you can look me in the face!” - Fred Barnard - 1872

Tom does not deny it, thinking that if he had explained about Mary and Martin, that would only have made it worse, as the older Martin would be angry. Mr. Pecksniff makes a show of counting out Tom’s salary and dismisses him.

[image error]

“The Dismissal of Tom Pinch” - Harry Furniss - 1910

Tom however makes sure that Pecksniff knows he is aware that he had deliberately listened to their conversation, and not merely chanced to hear a few words. He had picked up Pecksniff’s eyeglass from the pew he was hiding in, and now returns it to him. Martin remarks that he is glad to see Tom go.

Tom packs his things, heartbroken to find that the man he worshipped never actually existed.



“Mr. Pecksniff Discharges a Duty Which He Owes to Society” - Hablot Knight Browne - December 1843

Some of Tom’s friends and acquaintances show up to say goodbye, and Mrs. Lupin invites him to come and stay at the Blue Dragon. He thanks her and says he will walk to Salisbury, and asks her to send his luggage on. Some people begin speculating that Tom must have done something bad to be sent away by Mr. Pecksniff who affects a rightfully dismissive stance outside the door.

Tom tells the toll man on the way out that he is going to Salisbury and has left Mr. Pecksniff, and the toll man passes this on to everyone who passes by.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Well I absolutely loved this chapter, but could weep buckets for noble Tom Pinch.

Yet again I am full of admiration for Dickens’, writing style in this chapter. The comic caperings of Pecksniff are priceless. Alongside this, Dickens describes the sensitivity of Tom, as he consoles Mary without revealing his true feelings. We perceive his loyalty to Martin, whom Tom (for some reason) believes to be a better man than he, and more deserving of her love than he is. Then Dickens perfectly conveys the inner pathos of Tom’s sudden realisation of Pecksniff’s true nature, as Mary sobs:

“‘The worst. The falsest, craftiest, meanest, cruellest, most sordid, most shameless,’ said the trembling girl—trembling with her indignation.”

Since of course Mary is as honest a person as Tom is himself, it hits him like a bolt from the blue, turning his world view upside down. Shattered by the discovery, as much as his unquestioning belief in Pecksniff’s goodness was total, so now is his disgust in the man.

Mr. Pecksniff, being the one who had used Tom for many years, should have been the one to feel pain at Tom’s discovering his true character. But Mr. Pecksniff seems to feel nothing, instead turning the situation to his advantage with old Mr. Chuzzlewit.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

Tom only ever had two choices—to wilfully remain deluded about Mr. Pecksniff, or to have his heart completely broken with the realisation that the Mr. Pecksniff he thought he knew was a fantasy the whole time.

The only time I thought Dickens was a little too overblown for modern taste, was in his indignant diatribe, starting:

“Oh, late-remembered, much-forgotten, mouthing, braggart duty …”

But it is of its time, and the rest is perfectly nuanced. This is wonderful:

“Something without a name; compassion, sorrow, old tenderness, mistaken gratitude, habit; none of these, and yet all of them; smote upon Tom’s gentle heart at parting.”

And even when Tom is leaving, Dickens does not fall into a stereotype, where because the reader knows he is good, everyone in the novel is sorry to see him go. No, there are gradations. Some are sorry but others hesitate, and think Tom must have done something awful to be banished by Pecksniff, because they “know” that Pecksniff is such a good, upright man.

[Bionic Jean, "Dickens Duchess"]

The final words are masterful. Perhaps they should be my favourite quotation:

“Pecksniff had gone out of the world—had never been in it—and it was as much as Tom could do to say his prayers without him. But he felt happier afterwards, and went to sleep, and dreamed about him as he Never Was.”

So quell that lump in your throat, and tell us what you think!