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Martin Chuzzlewit 3: Chapter 21 -
So, as Martin finds his doorless home in Eden, Merry is welcomed to her new home by Chuffey, and this seemingly comic chapter ends on a tragic note.How do we feel about Merry now?
This chapter concludes instalment X, which means tomorrow is our day to pause and reflect, and Jean will pick up the discussion on Sunday with the first part of Chapter 27! I am not saying goodbye, since, of course, I am going to finish the book with you, and will even make a brief comeback as host to share a few notes about the prefaces and the postscript, as promised. But I do say thank you to all of you, because I can't thank you enough for the fun I've had while hosting the first part of this discussion :) Please forgive me if I've missed anything, and for that time when I was myself misled by an erroneous article and hence (sli-ightly) misled you about the class system. I've enjoyed talking to you greatly, and, well, I'll go on talking to you, only Jean will have the responsibility of summaries and the fun of choosing the artwork :) ❤️
Hi all, I've been distracted by some stuff but I will participate tomorrow.
Mrs Gamp is a character that makes me cringe as I also laugh. She is just the opposite of a comforting nurse, stealing his pillow and eating a good meal while ignoring her patient's needs. It's fortunate that the mystery patient is young so he may have a chance of recovering despite her neglect. That's a wonderful illustration on the cigarette card--her eyes look like she's had a few too many drinks!Thank you for being such a fantastic host through the first half of the book, Plateresca! I appreciate all the hours of research that you put into presenting it.
Mrs. Gamp is certainly one of Dickens' unforgettable characters. She is ruthless in a very comic way, so while we deplore her behavior it is hard not to like her as well. She is shrewd in how she deals with other people, flattering the undertaker and his wife and keeping in good with the day nurse who gets her the night job. At the same time, she is sociable with everyone, regardless of status or usefulness. I left this chapter feeling quite sorrow for Mercy, even though the old adage "you made your bed, now you must lie in it" kept coming to mind. No young girl should end up with Jonas--a father should protect her from that, but of course, the father is Pecksniff so she hasn't any hope.
Poll is not our first bird keeper. I immediately thought of Miss Flite in Bleak House. She was very important as an observer who doesn't always understand what she sees and hears, and I wonder if Poll will serve the same function. Birds, particularly caged birds, have importance for Dickens.
Plasteresca you have done an amazing job of researching and leading this discussion thus far. I know you will have much to contribute going forward, but a thank you is definitely in order now!
I am anxious to see how young Martin and Mark get themselves out of the fix they are in, and how their story and the story that is unfolding without them in England will intersect.
What a menagerie of memorable characters we are meeting. While I would not want to have Mrs Gamp as my nurse I love her portrayal in the novel. And to think she has business cards! Then there is Sweedlepipe and his vast collection of birds. Just imagine that Sweedlepipe is Gamp’s landlord. Just imagine if there was room for another boarder and it was one of us. A strange nest of characters to be sure.Kyd’s rendition of Dickens’s characters does take some getting used to (at least to me) but they are certainly remarkable and memorable.
We find out that Jonas and Merry are now man and wife and obviously Merry is not, well, merry. Once again we see the evil nature of Jonas. When Merry calls their marital home ‘dull’ Jonas snaps back ‘It’ll be duller before you’re done with it … if you give me any of your airs’.
I wonder if Merry is, in any way, relieved that she has left the Pecksniff home? Did she think marrying Jonas would be a better alternative than staying with her sister and father? I doubt it. I also wonder what Jonas plans to do with the dowry?
Finally, I found the Browne illustration very interesting. On the left side we see Jonas bent over and dusting his boots. His body posture is awkward and his face is unpleasant. There is a scowl on his face. Can Browne be suggesting that Jonas’ wiping of his boots reflects the low opinion he holds of his new wife Merry? On the right side of the illustration we see Chuff, who Jonas cruelly asks ‘still in the land of the living’.
These two men, both posed and looking towards Merry, serve to frame and direct our view to Merry and Mrs. Gamp. The shade of the outside edges of the illustration fade and thus both Mrs. Gamp, and especially Merry, become highlighted more. Merry’s eyes gaze directly at us. Regardless of our previous opinions of her, such a pleading gaze to us is impactful. In her hair she wears a veil, reminding us of her recent marriage. Perhaps most telling in the entire illustration is the fact that in the middle centre of the illustration is not a person, but rather an object. The object is Mrs. Gamp’s business card. This card advertises Mrs. Gamp’s services. Life and death. Is this card another example of a proleptic image?
Peter wrote: "What a menagerie of memorable characters we are meeting. While I would not want to have Mrs Gamp as my nurse I love her portrayal in the novel. And to think she has business cards! Then there is Sw..."Peter, I loved all your observations about the Phiz illustration! I'm so glad you pointed out Merry's gaze looking directly out of the illustration to the viewer, that was the first thing I noticed. Such a pleading look. If I had any doubt that Dickens wanted us to feel sympathy for Merry, then Phiz's illustration dispelled all that. I like also that she's not touching Mrs. Gamp's card, like she's hesitating to take it. That adds to how unsure she is in this new environment.
I noticed that Jonas's legs are shaded differently, one light the other dark, and I thought that expressed perfectly how two-faced Jonas is, presenting an amiable version of himself to the outside world, while there is darkness within. I also noticed the plant at the right edge of the painting is dead. A bad omen!
I very much like meeting Poll Sweedlepipe. If you say his last name rapidly, it sounds like a bird call (at least to me). I know Dickens wanted Mrs. Gamp to be his memorable character, but I have to say so far I find Poll Sweedlepipe more memorable.
Great catch Plateresca on remembering "Poll" was Crusoe's parrot! And thank you so much for all your hard work leading us through the first half. It's been delightful and I'm so grateful. I'm happy to hear you will be reading along still!
I do feel sorry for poor Merry. No matter how obnoxious she can be, she is still little more than a child and with a child's heedlessness, has trapped herself into a lifelong partnership with a very unpleasant character. Her demeanor alone suggests that she has already had a healthy dose of reality in regards to her future with Jonas. Hopefully, her sassy spirit will not allow itself to be completely quenched.Mrs. Gamp is, indeed, a memorable character. I loved Dickens' description of her expression as a marriage of opposites: "a leer of mingled sweetness and slyness; with one eye on the future, one on the bride; and an arch expression in her face, partly spiritual, partly spirituous, and wholly professional and peculiar to her art" (403). I loved the "partly spiritual, partly spirituous" line! :)
I am very intrigued by this mysterious patient of Mrs. Gamp's. Is he going to be Jonas's undoing? He sounds as though his acquaintance with that gentleman is more than passing. Perhaps he knows something that will answer some of the questions we have had about Jonas's inexplicable behavior surrounding his father's death. We shall see!
Plateresca, you have done a marvelous job shepherding us through this first half of the book! Your information and insights have greatly contributed to the depths of our discussions. You and Jean make a great team!
Plateresca! It seems impossible we are already halfway through MC. It has been such an enjoyable journey, and I want to add my thanks also for all that you have done so excellently... your wonderful summaries, additional information and illustrations. And especially, I want to thank you for taking an enormous amount of time giving feedback to everyone's questions, insights and comments. Just like Jean, you have made everyone feel an integral part of this group and the discussion. I look forward to reading your comments as you pass the baton back to Jean.I loved this chapter, for the rich development of Mrs. Gamp's landlord, Paul Sweedlepipe (what a glorious, unforgettable name!) I immediately fell in love with him - and Bridget, I took your advice and tried to say his name really fast three times. LOL. It did sound like a bird call. I hope we see a lot of more him.
Poor Mercy! I agree with Sara that "No young girl should end up with Jonas--a father should protect her from that, but of course, the father is Pecksniff so she hasn't any hope." I, too, was very angry with Pecksniff, who seemed more concerned with getting rid of Mercy's financial burden than caring for her wellbeing. Even old curmudgeon Martin Chuzzlewit showed more of a fatherly concern for her!
The Jonas and Mercy story reminds me in some ways of Arthur Gride's attempts to marry Madeline Bray in Nicholas Nickleby... same loathsome situation. I haven't cared about Mercy, but I do feel for her now. Hopefully, Mrs. Gamp will take pity on her and find ways to protect her. Mrs. Gamp takes good care of herself, but she seems to have a heart too.
Speaking of the word Gamp, it appears to have come into its own the past 180 years, and even has a medical context in one instance.Gamp can refer to several different things, most commonly the British slang term for an umbrella, after the Dickens character Sarah Gamp, or GAMP® (Good Automated Manufacturing Practice), a set of guidelines for computerized systems in the pharmaceutical industry. It can also stand for Generalized Approximate Message Passing in a mathematical context, the Girard Academic Music Program in Philadelphia, or a medical abbreviation for General Anaesthetic, Manipulation and Plaster.
Thank you, Plateresca for leading us through MC, so far. I’ve appreciated your comments and enjoyed all of the material you’ve give us and for your very pleasant manner. Today I read chapters 25 and 26. I agree that it’s good to be back in England. Everything in the US is such a downer.
In chapter 25, Mrs Gamp refers to “monthly” and a few sentences later to “monthlies”. In the context of her sentences it seems like she is referring to a menstrual period. But that is something that is very rarely, and almost never, discussed in a novel, and most certainly not one written by a man and in the Victorian era.
Bridget wrote: "Peter wrote: "What a menagerie of memorable characters we are meeting. While I would not want to have Mrs Gamp as my nurse I love her portrayal in the novel. And to think she has business cards! Th..."Bridget You have a fine eye for detail in the Browne illustration. Yes, I too think the forward gaze of Merry towards the viewer is very powerful. It is not often that an artist or illustrator intentionally has one or more of their subjects so directly and intimately engage with the viewer.
Kathleen, I noticed those references too and wondered about them, had the same thoughts as you as I have not seen a reference to “monthlies” before in a 19th century novel. But I suppose if anyone in a novel would use the term it would be Mrs Gamp who cares for all sorts of people. I’m thinking she also may assist midwives too or at least sit with mothers in labor or after the midwives have left.Plateresca, I want to add my thanks for the wonderful way you have led the first half of this discussion. Your preparation has been obvious and appreciated.
According to the notes in the Penguin Classics edition, a "monthly nurse" was a midwife. From an internet search I found that the term comes from the practice of hiring a nurse for one month after the birth to provide postpartem care, although the time period was approximate and depended on need and the amount of money available to pay for care.I also want to thank you, Plateresca, for doing such a great job of leading the group so far. And I am also looking forward to what Jean has to offer us in the second half.
Katy wrote: "From an internet search I found that the term comes from the practice of hiring a nurse for one month after the birth to provide postpartem care, ..."I believe the period immediately following the birth was an extremely dangerous time for new mothers. Many who made it successfully through the birth (a feat in itself!) succumbed in the following weeks to what they called Puerperal fever. It affected women within the first three days after childbirth and progressed rapidly, causing acute symptoms of severe abdominal pain, fever and debility. Although it had been recognized from as early as the time of the Hippocratic corpus that women in childbed were prone to fevers, the distinct name, “puerperal fever” appears in the historical record only in the early eighteenth century.
I'm not sure how effective the presence of a nurse like Mrs. Gamp would be in preventing the onset of the infection, but at least she might have more knowledge than the woman's husband of how to treat the afflicted woman once it manifests.
Luffy, thanks for letting us know! I certainly do hope that we shall all finish the book together :)Connie, well put, if the patient survives, it will be despite Mrs Gamp's activity :)
Thank you!
Sara, I've also noticed the curious effect of Mrs Gamp. Practically everything she does is awful. She is a terrible nurse when she does go to her work, but she also leaves poor Chuffey alone at night when she's supposed to look after him. So we should be outraged, right? But somehow, we are not. She is described almost with a kind of awed admiration for her vivacious practicality.
Well noted about birds and Miss Flite! (And we've noted previously that Mr Mould is not 'our first' undertaker either).
Thank you :)
Peter, indeed, this is a whole menagerie (love this word!) of typically Dickensian quirky characters. We can see that Charles Dickens was having fun :)Merry is obviously subdued and very much changed. I do not like to think about what has happened to her while we haven't seen her. I do think the boots are significant in the illustration (and thank you for commenting on this!), and all the connotations that come to mind do not bode well for Jonas's young wife.
I love your observation that Merry seems to be pleading with us! Poor girl. I see that Bridget interprets it this way, too.
Bridget, thank you for drawing our attention to the dead plant! Indeed, this is a telling image.
I'm so glad you like Paul (or Poll) :) I find it touching that he's friendly with both Mrs Gamp and young Bailey, very different people. It says a lot about his character, I think.
Thank you :)
I see some interesting points in the comments, but I have to go out as we're going to an organ concert :) Will read the rest of the discussion when we get back.
Katy wrote: "According to the notes in the Penguin Classics edition, a "monthly nurse" was a midwife. From an internet search I found that the term comes from the practice of hiring a nurse for one month after ..."Thanks, Katy, for the explanation. Mine made absolutely no sense, but I wondered.
Kathleen wrote: "Katy wrote: "According to the notes in the Penguin Classics edition, a "monthly nurse" was a midwife. From an internet search I found that the term comes from the practice of hiring a nurse for one..."I too want to thank you for the monthlies explanation, Katy. My thinking, and my surprise, was along the same lines as Kathleen, so this is enlightening.
Plateresca, you are clearly a Dickens scholar! I appreciate all of your time and effort, and thank you for sharing so much knowledge with us, and leading us so well through this sometimes challenging story.
Cindy, thank you for the quote, 'with one eye on the future, one on the bride'! It reminds me of Claudius's (Hamlet's uncle's) 'as ’twere with a defeated joy, With an auspicious and a dropping eye, With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage, In equal scale weighing delight and dole'. And, indeed, like we've mentioned before, such is the peculiarity of Mrs Gamp's trade, she deals in both death and birth. Hence her temptation to see how her new patient would look when laid out as dead %)Thank you :)
Shirley, yes, indeed, we're halfway through, and I'm delighted to know that the time spent with those chapters didn't drag :) Thank you, you are very kind.
Remember when we looked at the list of names Charles Dickens drafted for his protagonist? 'Martin Chuzzlewig... Martin Chubblewig... Chuzzletoe... Chuzzlebog...' So, among these names were also 'Sweezleden' and 'Sweezlewag' :) Those look like precursors to 'Sweedlepipe' (I wonder, by the way, how we would feel about a Martin Sweezleden or Sweezlewag!). Anyway, Charles Dickens's character names are, indeed, very memorable; probably the most memorable names in literature (especially since some of them gained a life of their own, as 'gamp').
And yes, I was also thinking of Arthur Gride when we were discussing Jonas's motives for marrying Merry! Gride didn't hide his lasciviousness (argh, he was disgusting). I think for Jonas, maybe, it's more about having control over somebody younger and more presentable than he is himself.
John, thank you for the list, this is hilarious; I particularly like 'good automated practice', since it's the opposite to what Mrs Gamp actually does :)Kathleen, thank you!
I see that Katy has already solved your doubts; thank you, Katy!
Just to let Nancy Aycock Metz chip in:
'The monthly nurse [we also discussed it here] attended women during labour and delivery and for the 'lying-in' period of a month or so postpartum.
More about this: (view spoiler)
Of course, it is characteristic of Mrs Gamp to say 'Whether I sicks or monthlies' meaning 'whether I work as a sick-nurse [i.e., nurse for the sick] or a monthly nurse' :)
Sue and Katy, thank you :)Cindy, that's right! As Metz puts it, 'And since, in the absence of genuine cures for most diseases, 'patient management' constituted the cornerstone of medical care, the nurse's services could well be as efficacious as the doctor's, at considerably less cost.'
Kathleen of roses, it's nice of you to say so :) Thank you!
Mrs Gamp's speechWe've noticed that it is... original :)
Metz: 'Mrs Gamp's gin-soaked voice and vaguely cockney dialect, her mixed metaphors, obscure syntax and bold flights of fancy, constitute the novel's most extended and elaborate attempt to represent character and background through patterns of speech and intonation.'
Mrs Gamp's aberrations from the norm are not always consistent, by the way (sometimes she says 'sich', and sometimes, 'sech'; she never says 'such', though!). Scholars note the cockney dialect of a certain period in the shifts of 'v' and 'w' (remember how Sam Weller spelt his name? With a V :)); but words like 'compoging' seem to be something else, not cockney. Dickens probably wished to suggest slurred drunken speech. She says 'you earns' and 'you know'd'; that would be just uneducated speech, not any particular dialect. She also uses a lot of Biblical references, and mixes her metaphors :)
Metz (quoting Monod :) and Brook): '[Charles Dickens] playfully adopted Mrs Gamp's voice in private correspndence, and long after the novel was published he wrote an extended first-person narrative in her persona. The unfinished 'A New Piljians Projiss' [Pilgrim's Progress] purpoted to record Mrs Gamp's reactions to the amateur theatricals Dickens organized in 1847'.
One of my favourite quotes:
'Rich folks may ride on camels, but it an’t so easy for ‘em to see out of a needle’s eye.'
Now, who can argue with that?! :)
'if I was led a Martha to the Stakes': Here, Mrs Gamp conflates 'martyr' with the biblical figure Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus.
She is being creative with language, is Sairey :)
Sairey Gamp by Harry Furniss in The Charles Dickens Library Edition, 1910
Image from the Victorian Web, scanned by Philip V. Allingham
I do find Gamp to be a fascinating character because Dickens was obviously moved enough by life and death problems in the nursing profession. Perhaps even larger than that — the entire medical profession. I do find it emblematic by design that we have someone involved with care — I use that word loosely for Gamp — of the newborn and the dying or dead. Dickens wanted to make sure he had cast his net as far over the profession as possible.William Faulkner considered Gamp one of his favorite characters. Perhaps the fondness for drink helped? Faulkner enjoyed his bourbon. I would also note that one of the greatest nurses of the 19th century was Dorothea Dix, whose life overlapped with Dickens. Her reforms, especially in the care of the mentally ill, made her a person Dickens would have admired.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothe...
John, you bringing up Dickens' shedding light on the nursing profession makes me realize something that I never really thought about before. One of the things that makes his prose so rich is the way he gives us details about different professions. Each of his characters has a daily life of responsibilities and tasks, and, while describing these characters Dickens also gives us so much more--the historical details of seemingly endless different walks of life. We've already met an architect, nurse, barber, pawnbroker, etc, etc. Part of what makes them so memorable is that we see them at work in their element. (I'm forever realizing and re-realizing different aspects of Dickens' genius!)
I was taken aback by the jump in time when Merry says they had been married for a month. Poor Merry!We have to remember that many "nurses" had no formal training prior to the beginning of the professionalism of nursing with Florence Nightengale after the Crimean War. They often came from the lower classes and just was trying to find work. At best they maybe had some traditional lore and herbal knowledge passed down by their mothers. Nightengale, Clara Barton and Dix were the catalysts to push education and the profession as a whole forward in the latter half of the 19thC
Good points, Chris. Clara Barton actually lived for a time in my old town in New Jersey and founded a one room free public school. It is still there, along with a modern elementary school named in her honor down the street.
Kathleen wrote: "John, you bringing up Dickens' shedding light on the nursing profession makes me realize something that I never really thought about before. One of the things that makes his prose so rich is the wa...""I'm forever realizing and re-realizing different aspects of Dickens' genius!"
Me too Kathleen !! That happens to me all the time as well. What fun it is
Chris wrote: "I was taken aback by the jump in time when Merry says they had been married for a month. Poor Merry!"Do you think the homecoming was perhaps their return from the "bridal tour" or whatever Jonas thought would pass as the equivalent to an expected "honeymoon"?
I appreciate the discussion of the dialect and the over-all use of mixed metaphors and mispronunciations. I grew up among people who often spoke this way. They were often quite smart, but they had no formal education. My grandmother always called me "Sairey", so that might account for some of my softness toward Mrs. Gamp.I imagine just the presence of another woman who had seen a large number of births would be a great comfort to a new mother. I hope Mrs. Gamp was more attentive to her child birthing duties than she was to her sickroom vigils.
Also wanted to say thank you for the in depth thoughts on the illustrations. I always find there are several things I have missed, even though I spend a good time looking at them. I never even noted the dying plant. I saw the boot as almost a threat to Merry that he would not hesitate to kick her if the notion took him.
Thanks Katy for the information on monthlies. Very helpful. As others have said. I do hope Mrs. Gamp gave more attention to new mothers than she does to the sick people we have observed her attending.
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My grateful thanks too to Plateresca! We really do have some fantastic leaders in this group to host our reads, who give their all to ensure an enjoyable and enlightening experience. This is the first time though, that I’ve asked anyone to share the lead of a novel by Charles Dickens (as opposed to shorter pieces or novels by someone else). And she has responded marvellously! Plus our knowledgeable and insightful group members mean that we have very productive and enjoyable discussions, so at this midpoint, thanks to all!
There are many valid ways to host a read, but we have a certain format in Dickensians! - and it can be tough on the leaders! I know for a fact that Plateresca began preparing for this several months ago, in order to make this read special for us all.. So she worked out our plan for the whole novel, and wrote her own summaries for the first half, (like me, being dissatisfied with ones on the Net), and linked them all each day.
I generally ask leaders to also include the original illustrations if there are any, and are able to, but I have been delighted to find that Plateresca has also included many illustrations from subsequent early editions by other illustrators - just as I have done with every novel - as many as time permits.
(By the way, if I accidentally repost a character study by one or other artist, hopefully you won’t mind! It’s hard to keep track, and some chapters don’t have an illustration even by later artists, who tended to illustrate the same scene as Hablot Knight Browne - which had usually been specified by Charles Dickens himself anyway.)
And a further enhancement for us all is the wealth of critical comment Plateresca has added in her “notes” - introducing me for instance to a new Dickens scholar in Nancy Aycock Metz. Googling her I found she works at “Virginia Tech”. So either she is a member of a football team, or the Professor of English at the Blacksburg University in Virginia. I’m tending towards the latter … she certainly has some good books on Victorian literature to her credit.
So thank you so much Plateresca! Your leads are always great. The collaborative work Somebody's Luggage, with all those almost forgotten authors in Dickens’s stable was extraordinarily and surprisingly good, but you have exceeded all expectations with this one. We hope you’ve enjoyed it, and hope for another, when you feel you would like to.
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So the baton is passed, hopefully without too much of a jolt. All the links for this thread have now magically migrated to the second post …
Plateresca is in Spain, an hour ahead of me in England, and other time zones for group members can vary between 8 and 13 hours later, I think. So basically we try to post within a few hours each day, hopefully to suit all. My first 3 weeks may vary a little more, as I’m in my caravan right now, but it should settle down in November. Until then, please forgive me if my responses come after the next day’s summary! It seems best to prioritise the chapter which everyone will be expecting that day.
The longer chapters have been split again according to Plateresca's plan, and which they are can be seen in advance in the second comment with the links.
Credits - Almost all the illustrations I use will have been scanned on to the Victorian Web by Philip Allingham, so this is the formal acknowledgement of that. If occasionally a link does not work, I scan it myself and post it, as I do for illustrations by artists who are not there (e.g. Fred Pegram). Or if it's an original by Phiz, I use the David Perdue page.
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On Mrs. Gamp and nurses in Dickens then, before the next chapter.
Sue, Katy, Cindy, Kathleens of Tennessee and of roses, John - thanks for your additions. We have found various nurses mentioned in Charles Dickens novels, but Sairey Gamp is the most famous - or should I say infamous! She was based on a nurse hired to care for the companion of Angela Burdett-Coutts, as Plateresca might have mentioned, but it is said that she paved the way to improved standards for midwives. So she can be thought of as as a comic grotesque, but also as part of Charles Dickens’s social campaigning.
Yes, Monthly Nurses have often been mentioned in passing in his works. One is in Nicholas Nickleby - when the social climber Mrs. Kenwigs was confined. Another I think might have been referred to in Little Dorrit, when (view spoiler) was expecting and sulky because she couldn’t go out (it was not respectable for middle class females to go outside if they were visibly pregnant). As Plateresca said, the job of monthly nurse and end of life care was often combined in the one job. Here’s an interesting illustrated article about it https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/feat...?
Most are mere mentions like this; another is “Old Sally” who nurses Oliver’s mother in Oliver Twist. But one character who is equally important as a secondary character is Polly Toodle in Dombey and Son, who is a wetnurse. A wetnurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another’s child. Some wetnurses were employed if the mother died, or by those of noble birth if the child was female, because it freed up the wife to conceive a male heir as quickly as possible.
So they had a different function, but also one which was common in the Victorian age, and duly reported by Charles Dickens. As Kathleen of roses says, we learn so much from him about “ the historical details of seemingly endless different walks of life.”
I was interested as an extension, in the mentions of females who actively changed the conditions of nursing. Florence Nightingale of course, but just as much, and working at the Front of the Crimean War (and only recently properly acknowledged for her newly introduced methods and treatments) was the Scottish Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Se... (I had to google Dorothea Dix, and the other American Clara Barton, so thank you for broadening my knowledge there.)
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Can’t you just imagine Charles Dickens revelling in “camping” up Mrs. Gamp? 😆😂
In fact Charles Dickens "reinvented" or revisited Mrs. Gamp in thee ways, as he also often acted her speeches in his public readings, later in life. On one once occasion the whole performance was devoted to her. Charles Dickens had written to John Forster in 1843, “I mean to make a mark with her” - and he certainly did!
So, off we go …
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Chapter 27: Showing That Old Friends May Not Only Appear with New Faces, but in False Colours. That People Are Prone to Bite, and That Biters May Sometimes Be Bitten. (part (i) to “‘He is not buried, I hope?’ said Tigg”)
Bailey, formerly the factotum at Todgers’ boarding house, is now working as a driver for Montague Tigg. However Mr. Tigg is now richly and extravagantly dressed, and styling himself as “Tigg Montague”:
“still it was Tigg; the same Satanic, gallant, military Tigg. The brass was burnished, lacquered, newly stamped; yet it was the true Tigg metal notwithstanding.”
Mr. Tigg has started a new company called the “Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company”. While the office looks expensive and luxurious and even has a porter, Bullamy, we suspect Mr. Tigg’s ostentatiousness. He has travelled there in a cabriolet with a man whom he intends to appoint as his secretary, and whom he calls “David”.
“his gentleman’s name, by the way, had been originally Crimp; but as the word was susceptible of an awkward construction and might be misrepresented, he had altered it to Crimple.”
Upon arriving at his office, Mr. Tigg goes to the board room and requests that the medical officer be called to join him. We are told that this medical officer is the same one who was at Anthony Chuzzlewit’s funeral and who was also attending Mrs. Gamp’s patient. Mr. Jobling, the medical officer, Mr. Tigg’s managing director, and Mr. Tigg all eat lunch together. Mr. Jobling also works for the Anglo-Bengalee company giving medical examinations to see if people are fit for insurance.
To David Crimple’s surprise, during their conversation Mr. Jobling caught up his leg and laid it across his own, giving a careful disquisition of its anatomy:
“The Board” - Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) - November 1843
As the meal proceeds Mr. Jobling says:
“I don’t recommend anybody here. I only say what I know. My patients ask me what I know, and I tell ‘em what I know.
In doing so, he talks to his patients about Mr. Tigg’s wealth and impressive company, which legitimises Mr. Tigg’s reputation.
**NB - (This chapter will continue tomorrow; please pause here at: “‘He is not buried, I hope?’ said Tigg”, as we wonder who is about to enter these fabulous premises.)
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We can see that Dickens is building up the mystery in these chapters. Previously, the narrator has been relatively omniscient, and if we have not been told what was really going on, the narrator has at least hinted so clearly that it was easily guessed.
However, there are now some things developing that the reader is not allowed to glimpse. For instance, we having been speculating about (and still do not know) who the sick man is that Mrs. Gamp takes care of, or what his connection to the Chuzzlewit family is. We saw in the previous installment that John Westlock knew the sick man years ago, and here we can see that the dodgy medical officer connects Mrs. Gamp, Jonas, the sick man, and Mr. Tigg, but we cannot fathom how this might be significant yet.
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The “Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance company” is directly based on the real life West Midlands General Annuity company. What happened in that case, just a couple of years earlier in 1840, was that (view spoiler). (This is under a spoiler just in case we find that Charles Dickens follows real life in our story, as he so often does with individual schemers and scams, e.g (view spoiler) in Little Dorrit)
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I absolutely love the creatively named horses young Bailey in his smart new livery is in charge of:
"The horse of distinguished family, who had Capricorn for his nephew, and Cauliflower for his brother, showed himself worthy of his high relations by champing at the bit until his chest was white with foam, and rearing like a horse in heraldry; the plated harness and the patent leather glittered in the sun;"
and the later bit:
"It was not until he had held the bridle for some minutes longer, every jerk of Cauliflower’s brother’s head, and every twitch of Cauliflower’s brother’s nostril, taking him off his legs in the meanwhile,"
Charles Dickens makes so many horses into individual characters. Remember Uriah Heep weirdly blowing into the nostrils of his horse? This would make a good topic for a Dickens trivia book!
I'm looking forward to everyone's thoughts today 🙂
I wish also to add my thanks to Plateresca for leading this discussion and certainly setting a gold standard for such efforts.
Bionic Jean wrote: Googling her I found she works at “Virginia Tech”. So either she is a member of a football team, or the Professor of English at the Blacksburg University in Virginia. Just to clarify for those living outside of the U.S.; Virginia Polytechnical Institute (VPI) more commonly known as Virginia Tech is a large university that is in Blacksburg, VA.
I found the names and descriptions of the horses in this chapter interesting as well. But was most dialed in to the "Disinterested" part of the name of the insurance company. What a hoot!!!I do wonder where the initial money came from to put on this facade of propriety, the clothes, furnishings etc.
Bionic Jean wrote: "A Thank You!
My grateful thanks too to Plateresca! We really do have some fantastic leaders in this group to host our reads, who give their all to ensure an enjoyable and enlightening experien..."
I am very grateful for this group and thoroughly enjoying MC because of your thoughts, reviews and insights. Thank you so much!
As Plateresca turns the reins over to Jean I too wish to thank Plateresca for her excellent moderation. I have learned so much. ‘Wot larks’ ladies. And now to Jean …The Anglo-Bengalee consortium is the British equivalent to the development of Eden group. While the British group seems to be far more comfortable in their surroundings than the American ‘entrepreneurs’ both groups are obviously more interested in lining their own pockets than furthering the growth and good will of their clients. I’m going to be interested to watch how the two groups bilk the unsuspecting people who will be the victims of the scams.
The Browne illustration certainly portrays the luxury of Tigg and his group. They all look so self-satisfied. They all look to their ‘leader’ whose portrait is on the wall. Earlier, we have seen how Pecksniff enjoys surrounding himself with his own image in both paint and a bust of himself.
Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving. I wish you all peace and happiness. Our home will be bustling with our children and grandchildren today. It will be a good day for us all.
It's great to see you rejoining us full time, Jean, and tag teaming so well with Plateresca on MC. It's been a great read, and I look forward to your wonderful insights as well.I have two observations, one one topic, the other off (but I found fascinating as it does relate to AN/MC in America).
Ever since we left Martin and Mark in America, I have wondered at the passage of time. Dickens has not really made clear how much time is passing by. It seems a while though, as we have read about the death of Anthony Chuzzlewit, the courtship and marriage of Jonas and Merry, the illness/recovery (?) of Mrs. Gamp's mysterious sick patient, and now the financial turnaround of Tigg. It almost feels as though Dickens is going to skip the trials of Martin and Mark in America and present him to us again as he has Tigg. It sure has stirred my curiosity!
My off-topic comment concerns The House of the Seven Gables, written in 1840 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, an author from Salem, Massachusetts (of "Salem Witch Trials" notoriety). I just started it last night, and almost immediately he includes an observation that reminded me of Dickens' observation of Americans in AN and MC.
In The House of the Seven Gables, a wealthy man has a neighbor hung as a wizard because he wants the neighbor's land. The wealthy man subsequently builds a house on the land and hires the son of the hanged neighbor to build the house. Of this "singular" situation, Hawthorne stated "Nor was it out of keeping with the general coarseness and matter-of-fact character of the age, that the son should be willing to earn an honest penny--or rather, a weighty amount of sterling pounds--from the purse of his father's deadly enemy."
This passage really struck me that even an American patriot like Hawthorne could be disgusted by Americans' relentless pursuit of money (observed at the same time as Dickens' visit to America). Perhaps Dickens was made aware of this American penchant when he first landed in Boston, Massachusetts, and thereafter he was exposed to it again and again. Reading this passage really made me understand that there was probably a lot of backstories to Dickens' views on America and Americans; and like Dickens, I might need to revisit my opinions of AN!
Peter wrote: "Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving. I wish you all peace and happiness. Our home will be bustling with our children and grandchildren today. It will be a good day for us all."Enjoy your Thanksgiving, Peter! The "bustling" is the best part! :)
The Anglo-Bengalee group is such a great scam and its founders such unrepentant frauds it’s rather amazing. But then such people have always existed where there are people who might have some spare change to invest in their future, pain relief, etc. Snake oil salesmen in other skin…in this case, fancy suits. Dickens writing in this section was perfect.
Like Peter, I was struck by the similarity between the purpose of the Anglo-Bengalee and the Eden venture. Dishonesty abounds and people are somehow always fooled by what they see on the exterior...both of these companies have just the right look and schpiel to catch an unsuspecting dupe. (I thought about how easily Tigg made off with Tom Pinch's money).
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Jonas comes to the office and Mr. Jobling introduces him to Mr. Tigg. Mr. Jobling and the managing director then leave Jonas and Mr. Tigg alone. Jonas is distrustful about the business, and recognising Jonas as similar to himself, Mr. Tigg admits to being a fraud. This makes Jonas feel more trustful of Mr. Tigg, and he admits that he is hoping to insure his wife’s life but doesn’t want her to know about it.
“The Spider and the Fly” — Fred Barnard - Household Edition 1872
Mr. Tigg asks Jonas if he recognises him, and says that they had met previously through Mr. Pecksniff. Jonas is put off by Mr. Tigg’s association with Chevy Slyme, but Mr. Tigg convinces him that he has parted ways with Mr. Slyme and as he can see for himself, has become very successful.
Mr. Tigg invites Jonas to join the scheme. Jonas stays for dinner and Mr. Tigg explains that most people buy insurance for other people’s lives, and then those people die mysteriously soon after. Mr. Tigg then blackmails the insurer. Jonas leaves after dinner without promising either way whether to join the company.
Mr. Tigg sends a man named Nadgett to watch Jonas and get information about him.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Martin Chuzzlewit (other topics)Martin Chuzzlewit (other topics)
Bleak House (other topics)
Little Dorrit (other topics)
Oliver Twist (other topics)
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John Dryden (other topics)John Forster (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
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Nancy Aycock Metz considers Paul's prices for the cut and curl below market value.
The sparrow-shooting match is a sad thing. (Not a spoiler, but you probably don't want to know). (view spoiler)[ 'It was a cockney adaptation of the battue, in which pheasants were beaten from cover and driven towards the guns of waiting gentlemen who competed to kill the largest number. Recent improvements in gun design had dramatically increased the number of birds the average sportsman could kill, although the figure cited here is probably a comic exaggeration. <...> Typically, sporting gentlemen placed their orders for sparrows in advance of a match, at which time the bird-catchers were sent out to procure them.' (Nancy Aycock Metz) (hide spoiler)]
The same author notes that 'Gamp' was used in the eighteenth century to mean 'playful' or 'sportive'. Dickens may also have had in mind the verb 'gamp', meaning 'to devour greedily', according to OED. Sylvère Monod draws our attention to the fact that Gamp is Sarah's married name: "'Gamp is my name, and Gamp is my nater' (the superb gratuitousness of the assertion is no doubt a fruitful source of the reader's enjoyment here: Gamp is her married name, and can only have been an acquired characteristic, if it means anything; but the assertivenes of the assertion, and the beautiful balance of the sentence, do more than compensate for the lack of significance; in fact they provide an insight into the possibility of using language in order to express mood and character rather than meaning) <...>".
NB: Poll was the name of Robinson Crusoe's parrot! :)