![]() Cover of serial, Vol. 13 1839 | |
Author | Charles Dickens |
---|---|
Original title | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby |
Illustrator | Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) |
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Published | Serialised March 1838 -October 1839; book format 1839 |
Publisher | Chapman & Hall |
Publication place | England |
Media type | |
Pages | 952 (first edition) |
OCLC | 231037034 |
Preceded by | Oliver Twist |
Followed by | The Old Curiosity Shop |
Nicholas Nickleby, or The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, is the third novel by Charles Dickens, originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839. The character of Nickleby is a young man who must support his mother and sister after his father dies.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the Nickleby Family [1] saw Dickens return to his favourite publishers and to the format that proved so successful with The Pickwick Papers . The story first appeared in monthly parts, after which it was issued in one volume. Dickens began writing Nickleby while still working on Oliver Twist .
![]() | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.(August 2024) |
Nicholas Nickleby's father dies unexpectedly after losing all of his money in a poor investment. Nicholas, his mother and his younger sister, Kate, are forced to give up their comfortable lifestyle in Devonshire and travel to London to seek the aid of their only living relative, Nicholas's uncle, Ralph Nickleby. Ralph, a cold and ruthless businessman, has no desire to help his destitute relations and hates Nicholas at first sight. He gets Nicholas a low-paying job as an assistant to Wackford Squeers, who runs the school Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire. Nicholas is wary of Squeers because of his attitude towards his young charges, but tries to quell his suspicions. As Nicholas prepares to travel to Yorkshire, he receives a letter from Ralph's clerk, Newman Noggs, offering assistance if Nicholas ever requires it. Once he arrives in Yorkshire, Nicholas finds that the school is a scam: Squeers takes in unwanted children for a high fee, and starves and abuses them while keeping the money sent by their parents, who only want to get them out of their way. While there, Nicholas befriends a "simple" boy named Smike, who is older than the other boys and now acts as an unpaid servant.
Nicholas attracts the attention of Fanny Squeers, his employer's plain and shrewish daughter, who deludes herself into thinking that Nicholas is in love with her. She attempts to disclose her affections during a game of cards, but Nicholas, oblivious, flirts with her friend Tilda Price, to the dismay and anger of both Fanny and Tilda's fiancé John Browdie. When Fanny tries to get Nicholas's attention by pretending to faint, Nicholas quickly sees through her ruse and bluntly tells her that he does not wish to return her affections. Fanny is embarrassed and angry, and takes her anger out on Smike.
One day Smike runs away but is caught and brought back to Dotheboys. When Squeers begins to flog him, Nicholas intervenes. Enraged, Squeers strikes him and Nicholas snaps, beating the schoolmaster violently. Fleeing the school, he meets John Browdie on the way. Browdie finds the idea that Squeers himself has been beaten uproariously funny, and gives Nicholas money to aid him on his trip back to London. He is found by Smike, who begs to come with him, and the two set out towards London.
Meanwhile, Kate and her mother are forced by Ralph to move out of their lodgings in the house of the kindly portrait painter Miss La Creevy and into a cold and draughty house Ralph owns in a London slum. Ralph finds employment for Kate working for a milliner, Madame Mantalini. Kate proves initially clumsy at her job, which endears her to the head of the showroom, Miss Knag, a vain and foolish woman who uses Kate to make herself look better. When a client prefers to be served by the young and pretty Kate rather than the ageing Miss Knag, Kate is blamed for the insult and ostracised by the other milliners.
Nicholas seeks out the aid of Newman Noggs, who shows him a letter that Fanny Squeers has written to Ralph, exaggerating the events of the beating and slandering Nicholas. They suspect Ralph knows the truth but is using Fanny's account to further persecute Nicholas. Noggs advises him to find a job. Though he goes to an employment office, where he encounters a beautiful girl, he is unsuccessful. Noggs offers him the meagre position of French teacher to the children of his neighbours, the Kenwigs family, which he accepts.
Ralph asks Kate to attend a business dinner he is hosting. When she arrives, it becomes clear Ralph is using her as bait to entice the foolish nobleman Lord Frederick Verisopht to do business with him. The other guests include Verisopht's mentor and friend, the disreputable nobleman Sir Mulberry Hawk, who humiliates Kate at dinner. She flees the table but is later accosted by Hawk. He attempts to force himself on her but is stopped by Ralph. Ralph shows some unexpected tenderness towards Kate but insinuates that he will withdraw his financial help if she tells her mother about what happened.
Nicholas visits his mother and sister just as Ralph is reading them Fanny Squeers' letter and slandering Nicholas. He confronts his uncle, who vows to give no financial assistance to the Nicklebys as long as Nicholas stays with them. Nicholas agrees to leave London but warns Ralph that a day of reckoning will one day come between them.
On their way to Portsmouth, Nicholas and Smike encounter the theatrical manager Vincent Crummles, who hires Nicholas on sight. Nicholas is the new juvenile lead and playwright, with the task of adapting French tragedies into English for the troupe's minimal dramatic abilities. Nicholas and Smike are warmly received by the troupe and are met with great acclaim from the provincial audiences.
Back in London, the bankrupt Madame Mantalini is forced to sell her business to Miss Knag, whose first order of business is to fire Kate. She finds employment as the companion of the social-climbing Mrs Wittiterly. Meanwhile, Sir Mulberry Hawk plots to humiliate Kate for refusing his advances. He successfully worms his way into Mrs Nickleby's company and gains access to the Wittiterly house. Mrs Wittiterly grows jealous and admonishes Kate for flirting with the nobleman. Kate angrily rebukes her employer, who flies into a fit of hysterics. With no other recourse, Kate goes to her uncle for assistance, but he refuses. Newman Noggs writes in vague terms to Nicholas, who immediately quits the troupe and returns to London.
In London, Nicholas overhears Hawk and Verisopht rudely toasting Kate in a coffeehouse. He figures out what has happened and confronts them. Hawk refuses to respond to his accusations and attempts to leave, but Nicholas follows him out and leaps onto the running board of his carriage. Hawk strikes him, and Nicholas returns the blow, spooking the horses and causing the carriage to crash. Hawk is injured and vows revenge, but a remorseful Lord Verisopht promises to try to stop him. Later, Verisopht and Hawk quarrel over Hawk's insistence on revenge. They duel, Verisopht is killed, and Hawk flees to France. As a result, Ralph loses a large sum of money owed to him by the deceased lord.
Nicholas and his family move back into Miss La Creevy's house along with Smike. Nicholas pens a letter to Ralph, refusing his uncle's help. Returning to the employment office, Nicholas meets Charles Cheeryble, a wealthy and benevolent merchant who runs a business with his twin brother Ned. Hearing Nicholas's story, the brothers employ him at a generous salary and provide his family with a small house in a London suburb.
Ralph encounters a beggar, who recognises him and reveals himself as Brooker, Ralph's former employee. He attempts to blackmail Ralph with a piece of unknown information but is driven off. Ralph receives Nicholas's letter and begins plotting against his nephew in earnest, joined by Squeers.
Smike runs into Squeers, who kidnaps him. John Browdie, honeymooning in London, discovers his predicament, rescues Smike and sends him back to Nicholas. In gratitude, Nicholas invites the Browdies to dinner. At the party, Ralph and Squeers attempt to reclaim Smike with forged documents claiming that he is the long-lost son of a man named Snawley (actually a friend of Squeers with children at Dotheboys Hall). Smike refuses to go, but the threat of legal action remains.
While at work, Nicholas encounters the beautiful young woman he had seen in the employment office and realises he is in love with her. The brothers tell him that her name is Madeline Bray, the penniless daughter of a debtor, Walter Bray, and enlist his help in obtaining small sums of money for her by commissioning her artwork, the only way they can help her due to her tyrannical father.
Arthur Gride, an elderly miser, offers to pay Walter Bray's debt to Ralph in exchange for the moneylender's help. Gride has the will of Madeline's grandfather, and she will become an heiress upon her marriage. The two persuade Bray to bully his daughter into accepting the disgusting Gride as a husband, with the promise of paying off his debts. Ralph is not aware of Nicholas's involvement with the Brays, and Nicholas does not discover Ralph's scheme until the eve of the wedding. He appeals to Madeline, but she is too devoted to her dying father to go against his wishes. On the day of the wedding, Nicholas attempts to stop it once more but Bray, guilt-ridden at his daughter's sacrifice, dies unexpectedly. Madeline thus has no reason to marry Gride and Nicholas and Kate take her to their house to recover.
Smike has contracted tuberculosis. In a last attempt to save his health, Nicholas takes him to his childhood home in Devonshire, but Smike's health rapidly deteriorates. On his deathbed, Smike is startled to see the man who brought him to Squeers's school. Nicholas dismisses it as an illusion. After confessing his love for Kate, Smike dies peacefully in Nicholas's arms.
When they return to Gride's home after the aborted wedding, Ralph and Gride discover that the will has been stolen. Ralph enlists Wackford Squeers's services to track down the thief. Noggs discovers this plot, and with the help of Frank Cheeryble, he is able to recover the will and have Squeers arrested.
The Cheeryble brothers confront Ralph, informing him that his schemes have failed and advising him to retire from London before charges are brought up against him, as Squeers is determined to confess all. He refuses but is summoned back to their offices that evening and told that Smike is dead. When he reacts to the news with vicious glee, Brooker emerges and tells Ralph that Smike was his son. As a young man, Ralph had married a woman for her fortune but kept it secret so she would not forfeit her inheritance for marrying without her brother's consent. She left him after bearing him a son, whom he entrusted to Brooker, who was then his clerk. Brooker, taking the opportunity for vengeance, took the boy to Squeers' school and told Ralph the boy had died. Devastated that his only son died as the best friend of his greatest enemy, Ralph commits suicide. His ill-gotten fortune goes to the state after his estranged relatives decline to claim it.
Squeers is sentenced to transportation to Australia, and, upon hearing this, the boys at Dotheboys Hall rebel against the Squeers family and escape with the assistance of John Browdie. Nicholas becomes a partner in the Cheerybles' firm and marries Madeline. Kate and Frank Cheeryble also marry, as do Tim Linkinwater and Miss La Creevy. Brooker dies penitent. Noggs recovers his respectability. The Nicklebys and their now extended family return to Devonshire, where they live in peace and contentment and grieve over Smike's grave.
As in most of Dickens's works, there is a sprawling number of characters in the book. The major characters in Nicholas Nickleby include:
There are numerous stage adaptations, including:
Film and television adaptations of Nicholas Nickleby include:
Nicholas Nickleby was originally issued in 19 monthly numbers; the last was a double-number and cost two shillings instead of one. Each number comprised 32 pages of text and two illustrations by Phiz:
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Nicholas Nickleby is a 2002 British-American period comedy-drama film written and directed by Douglas McGrath. The screenplay is based on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, which originally was published in serial form between March 1838 and September 1839. Charlie Hunnam stars in the title role alongside Nathan Lane, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Bell, Anne Hathaway, Romola Garai, Alan Cumming, and Timothy Spall.
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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is a nine-hour adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens. It is a recording of the stage play by The Royal Shakespeare Company at The Old Vic in London. It was Channel 4's first major drama commission.
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