Tony Weller is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers (1836). The irresponsible and care-free Tony Weller is Sam Weller's father. A loquacious coachman, the character never became as popular as his famous son but readers have always enjoyed his quaint humour and his even quainter philosophy.
Tony Weller shares various characteristics with Mr Pickwick: both are advanced in years; both are fat, and both are kind and generous. Similarly, the two are innocents in affairs of the heart, with both being troubled by widows. It cannot be a coincidence that Dickens introduces Tony Weller soon after Mrs Bardell brings a court action against Pickwick for breach of promise. [1] Unlike Pickwick, Tony Weller marries his troublesome widow, Susan, and his consequent miserable marriage causes him to give the advice to his son to “Beware o’ the widders":
'Widders, Sammy,' replied Mr. Weller, slightly changing colour. 'Widders are 'ceptions to ev'ry rule. I have heerd how many ordinary women one widder's equal to in pint o' comin' over you. I think it's five-and-twenty, but I don't rightly know vether it ain't more.' [2]
Weller Senior and Pickwick are dissimilar, in that, unlike Pickwick, Tony Weller takes few responsibilities in life, and has been an absent father to his son, taking no share in his upbringing, leaving the young Sam Weller to run the streets from a young age. Tony Weller uses his job as a coachman, necessitating frequent absences, as an excuse for his poor parenting and for being a poor husband to Sam's late mother. He is also a poor husband to his second wife when he allows her to maintain her association with the hypocritical minister Stiggins. [3] [4] Pickwick is the father to Sam Weller that Tony Weller never was.
Despite not having seen each other for two years, and despite his shortcomings as a father, Sam and Tony Weller have an affection for each other which increases as the novel progresses. As Mr Pickwick becomes more of a father-figure to Sam, so Sam's relationship with his father also changes; and while he cannot accept Tony Weller as either a figure of authority or a father-figure in the same way as he can Pickwick, the two are fond of each other and become more like brothers or good friends. [3] [4]
Tony Wellers appears late in The Pickwick Papers , making his entrance in March 1837, in the humorous scene 'The Valentine' where Sam Weller is writing a Valentine for his sweetheart Mary, the pretty housemaid he eventually marries. Having trouble composing his Valentine's Card, Sam consults his father:
"Feel myself ashamed, and completely cir –” I forget what this here word is', said Sam, scratching his head with the pen, in vain attempts to remember.
'Why don’t you look at it then?', inquired Mr Weller.
'So I am a lookin' at it', replied Sam, 'but there’s another blot. Here’s a “c”, and an “i”, and a “d”'.
'Circumwented, p’raps', suggested Mr Weller.
`'No, it ain’t that,' said Sam, 'circumscribed; that’s it.'
'That ain’t as good a word as circumwented, Sammy,' said Mr Weller, gravely.
Tony Weller appears just four times in The Pickwick Papers, with each being in the second half of the novel, in the monthly instalments originally published between March and November 1837. Yet such was his impact that he quickly became a popular subject for all sorts of merchandise including busts, mugs, and on advertising, [5] [6] being a nostalgic reminder of the Regency era in the days before railway. [3] [4]
As shown in the extract above, in the novel the Wellers, father and son, speak a form of Cockney English prevalent in London's East End in 1836, pronouncing a "v" where there should be a "w", and "w” where there should be a "v" - "wery" instead of "very" and "avay" instead of "away" - in language that was outdated just 40 years after the novel's publication. [7]
Later in the novel, Tony Weller marries Susan, a large and comfortable woman, who is the landlady of The Marquis of Granby public house in Dorking in Surrey. She is under the baleful influence of the Reverend Stiggins, the red-nosed, alcoholic and hypocritical Nonconformist minister at the local United Grand Junction, Ebenezer Temperance Association. Stiggins is inadvertently the cause of death of the second Mrs Weller when she is forced to sit for hours on the grass in the rain while he sermonized for hours, causing her to catch a heavy cold. After her death the greedy Stiggins arrived at the door of the inn, confidently expecting a bequest in her will. Such is Tony Weller's outrage that he roughly manhandles Stiggins and 'baptises' him by dunking him in the horse trough outside the inn. [3] [4]
In Chapter LIV of Pickwick, Tony Weller discovers that his late wife, Susan's, will leaves £200 to Sam Weller and the rest, about £1,100, to himself. Having discovered the will he nearly burns it, believing the bequest is automatically his. The roles reverse when the more astute and worldly Sam becomes a father-figure to Tony Weller as he guides him through the probate process. On receiving his inheritance, the child-like Tony Weller asks Mr Pickwick to invest it for him, forcing his pocketbook or wallet containing the large sum of cash on the reluctant Pickwick to be looked after on his behalf. [8] Sam Weller says to Pickwick:
"This here money," said Sam, with a little hesitation, "he’s anxious to put someveres, vere he knows it’ll be safe, and I’m wery anxious too, for if he keeps it, he’ll go a-lendin’ it to somebody, or inwestin’ property in horses, or droppin’ his pocket-book down an airy, or makin’ a Egyptian mummy of his-self in some vay or another."
"Wery good, Samivel," observed Mr. Weller, in as complacent a manner as if Sam had been passing the highest eulogiums on his prudence and foresight. "Wery good."
"For vich reasons," continued Sam, plucking nervously at the brim of his hat —"or vich reasons, he’s drawn it out to-day, and come here vith me to say, leastvays to offer, or in other vords —"
"To say this here," said the elder Mr. Weller impatiently, "that it ain’t o’ no use to me. I’m a-goin’ to vork a coach reg’lar, and ha’n’t got noveres to keep it in, unless I vos to pay the guard for takin’ care on it, or to put it in vun o’ the coach pockets, vich ‘ud be a temptation to the insides. If you’ll take care on it for me, sir, I shall be wery much obliged to you. P’raps," said Mr. Weller, walking up to Mr. Pickwick and whispering in his ear — "p’raps it’ll go a little vay towards the expenses o’ that ‘ere conwiction. All I say is, just you keep it till I ask you for it again." With these words, Mr. Weller placed the pocket-book in Mr. Pickwick’s hands, caught up his hat, and ran out of the room with a celerity scarcely to be expected from so corpulent a subject. [9]
Here, Tony Weller's innocence and goodwill are revealed. He had never felt comfortable with married life, yearning instead for coaching, his friends and the open road. Widows and the law have no place in his world, and he feels threatened by them - and sees what both did to Mr. Pickwick. Nor does he know what to do with so large a sum of money, which is an impediment to the carefree and irresponsible life to which he wishes to return. [8] After his second unsuccessful attempt at marriage, Tony Weller clearly misses his friends and life as a coachman, and intends to return to that occupation. He trusts his inheritance into the safe keeping of Mr Pickwick, knowing that as a former successful business man Pickwick will be able to invest it safely and wisely for him. Later, Tony Weller retires because of gout and is able to live comfortably on the income from the money Mr. Pickwick invested for him. [8]
Pickwick, Sam Weller and his father Tony Weller briefly reappeared in 1840, in the magazine Master Humphrey's Clock . Master Humphrey's Clock is the name of a literary club founded by Mr Humphrey, whose members read out stories to the others. [10] Pickwick is a member, and there is a mirror club in the kitchen, Mr. Weller's Watch, run by Sam Weller.
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.
Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist. The Dodger is a pickpocket and his nickname refers to his skill and cunning in that occupation. In the novel, he is the leader of the gang of child criminals on the streets of London trained and overseen by the elderly Fagin. The term has become an idiom describing a person who engages in skillful deception.
Sam Weller is a fictional character in The Pickwick Papers (1836), the first novel by Charles Dickens, and the character that made Dickens famous. A humorous Cockney bootblack, Sam Weller first appeared in the fourth serialised episode. Previously the monthly parts of the book had been doing badly, selling only about 1,000 copies a month — but the humour of the character transformed the book into a publishing phenomenon, raising the sales by late autumn of 1837 to 40,000 a month.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club was the first novel by English author Charles Dickens. Because of his success with Sketches by Boz published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to supply descriptions to explain a series of comic "cockney sporting plates" by illustrator Robert Seymour, and to connect them into a novel. The book became a publishing phenomenon, with bootleg copies, theatrical performances, Sam Weller joke books, and other merchandise. On its cultural impact, Nicholas Dames in The Atlantic writes, "'Literature' is not a big enough category for Pickwick. It defined its own, a new one that we have learned to call "entertainment." Published in 19 issues over 20 months, the success of The Pickwick Papers popularised serialised fiction and cliffhanger endings.
Augustus Snodgrass is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers (1836). He considers himself a Romantic poet, though there is no mention of any of his own poetry in the novel.
Master Humphrey's Clock was a weekly periodical edited and written entirely by Charles Dickens and published from 4 April 1840 to 4 December 1841. It began with a frame story in which Master Humphrey tells about himself and his small circle of friends, and their penchant for telling stories. Several short stories were included, followed by the novels The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. It is generally thought that Dickens originally intended The Old Curiosity Shop as a short story like the others that had appeared in Master Humphrey's Clock, but after a few chapters decided to extend it into a novel. Master Humphrey appears as the first-person narrator in the first three chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop but then disappears, stating, "And now that I have carried this history so far in my own character and introduced these personages to the reader, I shall for the convenience of the narrative detach myself from its further course, and leave those who have prominent and necessary parts in it to speak and act for themselves."
Wellerisms, named after sayings of Sam Weller in Charles Dickens's novel The Pickwick Papers, make fun of established clichés and proverbs by showing that they are wrong in certain situations, often when taken literally. In this sense, Wellerisms that include proverbs are a type of anti-proverb. Typically a Wellerism consists of three parts: a proverb or saying, a speaker, and an often humorously literal explanation.
Samuel Pickwick is a fictional character and the main protagonist in The Pickwick Papers (1836), the first novel by author Charles Dickens. One of the author's most famous and loved creations, Pickwick is a retired successful businessman and is the founder and chairman of the Pickwick Club, a club formed to explore places remote from London and investigate the quaint and curious phenomena of life found there.
Pickwick is a musical with a book by Wolf Mankowitz, music by Cyril Ornadel, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Based on the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, it is set in and around London and Rochester in 1828.
Charley Bates is a supporting character in the Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist. He is a young boy and member of Fagin's gang of pickpockets, and sidekick to the Artful Dodger, whose skills he admires unreservedly. Bill Sikes's murder of Nancy shocks him so much that at the end of the novel he leaves London to become an agricultural labourer.
Nathaniel Winkle is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers (1836).
The Pickwick Papers is a 1952 British historical comedy drama film written and directed by Noel Langley and starring James Hayter, James Donald, Nigel Patrick and Joyce Grenfell. It is based on the Charles Dickens’s 1837 novel of the same name. It was made by Renown Pictures who had successfully released another Dickens adaptation Scrooge the previous year.
The Pickwick Papers is a twelve-part BBC adaptation of the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, first broadcast in 1985. It starred Nigel Stock, Alan Parnaby, Clive Swift and Patrick Malahide, with narration by Ray Brooks.
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.
Dickensian is a British drama television series that premiered on BBC One from 26 December 2015 to 21 February 2016. The 20-part series, created and co-written by Tony Jordan, brings characters from many Charles Dickens novels together in one Victorian London neighbourhood, as Inspector Bucket investigates the murder of Ebenezer Scrooge's partner Jacob Marley.
The Pickwick Papers is a 1913 three-reel silent film based on the 1837 novel of the same name by Charles Dickens. The film was produced by Vitagraph Studios and features John Bunny in the title role of Samuel Pickwick.
Tracy Tupman is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers (1836). Although fat and middle-aged he considers himself a young lover and has an unfortunate amorous entanglement with the spinster Rachael Wardle.
Samuel Weller, or, The Pickwickians is an 1837 comedy in three acts adapted from Dickens's novel The Pickwick Papers by William Thomas Moncrieff. It was first performed at the Royal Strand Theatre in London on 17 July 1837.
Mrs Martha Bardell is a fictional character in The Pickwick Papers (1836), the first novel by Charles Dickens. A widow and the landlady of Mr Pickwick, a romantic misunderstanding between the two results in one of the most famous fictional legal cases in English literature, Bardell v. Pickwick, leading to them both being incarcerated in the Fleet Prison for debt.
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