Richard "Dick" Swiveller is a fictional character in the 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. Initially a comical accessory to the antagonists in the novel, he undergoes a transformation, becoming a key helpmate bridging the depiction of the main characters that are either mostly villainous or goodly in nature. [1]
Initially, Swiveller is the easily-manipulated friend of Frederick Trent (the wastrel elder brother of Nell Trent), the clerk of Sampson Brass until he is dismissed, and the guardian and eventual husband of the Marchioness. He delights in quoting and adapting literature to describe his experiences. Laidback in character, he seems to have few worries despite owing money to just about everybody.
Frederick Trent wants Swiveller to marry his sister, Nell, so he'll have the supposed fortune of their grandfather. They have to wait, since Nell is too young to marry. When the destitute Nell and her grandfather leave London, Swiveller is befriended by the villainous Quilp, who to keep him under his eye helps him gain employment as a clerk with the unscrupulous siblings Sally and Sampson Brass. While at the Brasses he meets their little half-starved servant who does not know her own name or age, whom he nicknames "the Marchioness". Swiveller says to her, "Why how thin you are? What do you mean by it?" He instantly rushes to the nearest public house and returns with a boy, "...who bore in one hand a plate of bread and beef, and in the other a great pot, filled with some very fragrant compound, which sent forth a grateful steam, and was indeed choice purl, made after a particular recipe which Mr Swiveller had imparted to the landlord, at a period when he was deep in his books and desirous to conciliate his friendship." [2] He teaches her to play cribbage and she later repays his kindness to her by nursing him through a fever. [3] [4]
Following Fred's departure from the story Swiveller becomes more independent and eventually is seen as a strong force for good. He becomes aware of the Brasses' villainy and, with the help of the Marchioness, exposes a plot to frame Kit Nubbles and secures his release from prison. Later he inherits money from his aunt, puts the Marchioness through school, renames her 'Sophronia Sphynx' and ultimately marries her. [5] [6] His transformation from an idle and vacant youth to a key helpmate bridges the depiction of the main characters that are either mostly villainous or goodly in nature.
Actors who played the character in early performances on stage include William J. Le Moyne and James Lewis.
Other actors to play the role in film and television include:
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.
The Old Curiosity Shop is one of two novels which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841.
Sampson Brass is a fictional character in the 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. He is a corrupt attorney who affects feeling for his clients, whom he then cheats. Among his clients is the villainous Daniel Quilp, the novel's antagonist. From Bevis Marks in the city of London, he assists Quilp in fraudulently gaining possession of Nell's grandfather's house, plots against Kit Nubbles, and hires and then dismisses Dick Swiveller.
Little Nell may refer to:
Quilp Rock is a small, isolated rock in Laubeuf Fjord, lying 6.5 kilometres (3.5 nmi) south-southeast of the south tip of Pinero Island and 2.4 kilometres (1.3 nmi) off the northwest side of Pourquoi Pas Island, off the west coast of Graham Land. First surveyed in 1948 by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), it was named by them after the dwarf, Daniel Quilp, a vicious, ill-tempered character in The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens.
Daniel Quilp is one of the main antagonists in the novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, written in 1840. Quilp is a vicious, ill-tempered and grotesque dwarf and is the villain of the story. Quilp is as near as Dickens ever came to creating a monster. Actors who have portrayed him include Hay Petrie, Anthony Newley, Patrick Troughton, Trevor Peacock, and Toby Jones.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a British television film adapted from the Charles Dickens's 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop. It stars Irish actress Sophie Vavasseur as Nell Trent, with Derek Jacobi as her grandfather, Toby Jones as Quilp and George MacKay as Nell's friend, Kit. It was broadcast on 26 December 2007 on ITV. The adaptation is in general very faithful to the novel. The most significant changes are the removal of the Garlands and their household and the identity of the Single Gentleman who is changed from Grandfather's brother to his estranged son and Nell's father.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a nine part 1979 BBC TV series based on the 1841 novel by Charles Dickens. It was directed by Julian Amyes, and adapted by William Trevor.
Mister Quilp is a 1975 British musical film directed by Michael Tuchner and starring Anthony Newley, David Hemmings and Jill Bennett. It is based on the 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, under which name it was also released.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1934 British drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Elaine Benson, Ben Webster and Hay Petrie. It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop.
Joseph Clayton Clark, who worked under the pseudonym "Kyd", was a British artist best known for his illustrations of characters from the novels of Charles Dickens. The artwork was published in magazines or sold as watercolor paintings, rather than included in an edition of the novels.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Mabel Poulton, William Lugg and Hugh E. Wright. It is based on the 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. Bentley remade the novel as a sound film in 1934.
The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff is a four-part comedy series produced by BBC, which premiered on BBC Two on 19 December 2011. It is a parody of the works of Charles Dickens, drawing its title from Bleak House and The Old Curiosity Shop. It is a television successor to Bleak Expectations, a radio parody of Dickens which began in 2007, and with which it shares the writer Mark Evans, producer Gareth Edwards and actor Richard Johnson; while not a direct adaptation it shares the same style, atmosphere and sense of humour. It is directed by Ben Gosling Fuller, who also directed the show That Mitchell and Webb Look.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1914 British silent drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Mai Deacon, Warwick Buckland and Alma Taylor. It was based on the 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, and was the first of three film adaptations of the story by Bentley. It was made by the Hepworth Company, the leading British film studio before the First World War.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1984 Australian animated film based on the 1841 novel by Charles Dickens about a young girl (Nell) who lives with her grandfather in a shop, and what happens after they are evicted from the shop by Quilp, a moneylender. It was made by Burbank Films who produced a number of animated films based on classic novels. Their slate cost an estimated $11 million. The Dickens films sold to 20th Century Fox in the US and to the Seven Network in Australia.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1911 American silent short drama film produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film is an adaptation of the 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens that was limited to the time constrictions of the single reel format. The film focuses on the grandfather who gambles into poverty and the consequences which eventually claim the life of Little Nell. Its survival and attribution as a Thanhouser film was noted by Kamilla Elliott in her 2003 book Rethinking the Novel/Film Debate under the title Little Nell. In 2012, the work was confirmed to be a Thanhouser production at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. The identification of the film as Little Nell arose due to head of the film having been lost.
Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas is a 1977 Christmas television special starring Bing Crosby and his family with special guests Twiggy, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter and Trinity Boys Choir. It includes a duet by the unusual pairing of Crosby and Bowie on "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy".
Mary Scott Hogarth was the sister of Catherine Dickens and the sister-in-law of Charles Dickens. Hogarth first met Charles Dickens at age 14, and after Dickens married Hogarth's sister Catherine, Mary lived with the couple for a year. Hogarth died suddenly in 1837, which caused Dickens to miss the publication dates for two novels: The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. Hogarth later became the inspiration for a number of characters in Dickens novels, including Rose Maylie in Oliver Twist and Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop. Charles and Catherine Dickens' first daughter was named Mary in her memory.
Nell Trent, also referred to as Little Nell, is a fictional character in the 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. The novel's main character, she is portrayed as infallibly good and virginal. An orphan, she leads her grandfather on their journey to save them from misery but gradually becomes weaker throughout the journey, and although she finds a home with the help of a schoolmaster, she sickens and dies before her friends in London find her. Her death has been described as "the apotheosis of Victorian sentimentality."