THE PORTRAYAL OF OLDER ADULTS IN CHARLES DICKENS'S THIRD NOVEL (1838-1839)

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY

A Ruined Gentleman, A Cruel Schoolmaster, A Melodramatic Thesbian, A Ruthless Moneylender and a Kindly Old Clerk

PART TWO: THE CAST OF CHARACTERS [1/2]

                           "The characters in Dickens's novels are real in the same way that characters in plays are real, and in the same way, perhaps, that living people seem real to each other. Their true identities are masked even from themselves under conventionally prescribed poses, yet declare themselves through all kinds of surface clues; not only in the overt act but in its accompanying gesture on facial expression, not just in the spoken word, but in the intonation and turn of speech which it is uttered"  [ E.D.H Johnson. The Victorian Web (2000)] (1)

I have never been a great fan of Dickens's first biographer John Forster (1812-1876) (2) a close and intimate friend and whilst he drew heavily from Dickens's letters, he also drew upon his own personal and lifelong relationship with him, and thus biased. As an aside, Forster airbrushed the person and role of Catherine Dickens and in the scant references he did make, they were condescending in the extreme. That said, the influence of his three-volume biography, coming so quickly after Dickens's passing, cannot be overestimated, as it shaped successive views of the man and author for a generation. It also, not unreasonably, framed how the characters Dickens created were interpreted and perceived. This is important, as the Forster/Dickens relationship spanned not just their social interactions, but he was in many ways a sounding board for Dickens in their formation and portrayals and even storylines. To say that Forster's naturally bloated ego took on an even greater dimension following his commodification and marketing of Dickens would be an understatement. 

In exploring the portrayals of older adults, we have to concede that Dickens was a master of character creation, be they humorous, comic, tragic, kind-hearted, compassionate, cruel or downright evil or grotesque. He was however still learning his craft and it is argued that the characters in his early novels were stunted, dramatically constructed and underdeveloped. Johnson references Gilbert Chesterton's book published in 1906 about Dickens at this time of his career applying to Pickwick, Oliver Twist and Nicholas right up to Martin Chuzzelwit ) "...the moving machinery exits only to display entirely static character. Things in Dickens's story shift and change only to give us glimpses of great characters that do not change at all". (3)  Johnson is more charitable, stating that Chesterton makes little or no "allowance for the surprise and pleasure of attending progressive revelation. While characters do not change in the sense that they are physically transformed, their experience leads them to behave so unpredictably that growing familiarity is attended by a constant sense of discovery." (4) By the time Dickens penned A Christmas Carol (1843) perhaps Scrooge bucked the trend! What is clear however is that many of the major and minor older cast characters, be they comic or foolish "exhibit(ed) .....extraordinary resilience and imaginative supremacy over adversity, born of an unquenchable inclination to idealised reality" (5)- which includes Mrs Nickleby!

So what of the older grotesque villains, which include Wackford Squeers or of the philanthropic Brownlow of Oliver Twist and in this third novel, the Cheeryble twins? As far as the brothers are concerned, Johnson posits that "Dicken's portrayal of this type is so deliberately lacking in realism that one may doubt whether exemplars were ever actual to their creator in other than a symbolic sense." (6)   Dickens said they were based on real characters! Arguably by the time he was in his early and mid-thirties working on Domby and Son and David Copperfield, he had developed greater insights "into the organic constitution of Victorian society (which) led to important developments in his methods of presenting character." (7)  Certainly by the time he was himself middle-aged, let's say ( 1852-1861) he increased his social, and some would claim radicalism. He was not in my view ever a radical - but many would claim otherwise!

                               John Forster, painted by Charles E. Perugini (top)

                                         Gilbert E Chesterton  (bottom)

It is here that we look specifically at older adults, both principal and minor. Some are clearly referred to as "old" or "elderly, others are of uncertain age, but given their stated familial relationship with other characters, or their role with them we can reliably assume they are fifty-plus. Regardless, of their descriptions and role we need to examine them through the prism of ageism, gerontophobia and Victorian assumptions and presumptions that we explored in Part One. The casual ageist descriptions of some, as we would judge them today, are quite telling. Walter Bray, Madeline's father "scarce fifty years, looked older" and was described as "emaciated"; Mr Crow was "elderly and shabby"; Arthur Gride was "lean and bent"; Tim Linkinwater was "fat elderly and large faced"; Mr Pugstyles was "a plump old gentleman in a violent head"; Peg Stiderskes, the housekeeper of Arthur Gride as "short, thin weasen bleary-eyed old woman palsy stricken and hideously ugly" ( see below) - whatever would I do without Donald Hawes! (8) 

How far are the descriptions of these static characters a reflection and evidence of commonly held Victorian attitudes? Teresa Mangum's excellent contribution to A Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture (1999) (9)  explores the "contradiction between the rhetoric of age demanding respect, and even veneration and the reality experiencing contempt, ridicule, and neglect." (10) Victorians, and not surprisingly including Dickens, were diverse and often contradictory. The common speech of the day says Mangum "reveals a fascination with old people and their experience of ageing" and used derogatory terms as we just referenced from Nicholas Nickelby. We already know that before the Victorian age, little regard was paid to dates of birth or chronological age, but increasingly in the 19th Century, Victorians loved to classify, list and label everything from bugs and moths to homo sapiens! If you were, however, infirm or frail ( even today a medical term) and/or physically deteriorating you were also classified as elderly, or the aged ( nothing changes). Several older adult characters in Nicholas Nickelby were, on the one hand, described negatively, yet on the other...we'll see as we ponder Dickens's portrayals. What is evident is the interrelationships between gender and growing older; being productive or non-productive; rich, poor or destitute, and social class. Dickens's life course took him through all these either personally or as a journalist and as an astute observer of humankind, and their living conditions as he walked the streets of London

ENCOUNTERING THE OLDER CHARACTERS

                       " The linguistic richness of character names we find in Dickens is something we'll probably never see the like again in literature.....Remarkably, it's Dickens inventive construction of the names themselves that can round out the story of a character's motivations, nature or background....Even for minor characters who are briefly mentioned, in the Dickensian world, knowing just their names is something enough to know the most important features about them....Dickens was adept at linguistically manipulating a name in different memorable ways to persuade readers in one direction or the other"  [Chi Luu: 04.05.2016 ] (11)

We have briefly encountered a number previously, and it is necessary at this point for me to select both principal and minor characters. I have been aided by those references in either Study guides or highlighted in the mainstream, non-academic articles or literature (12)(13)

WALTER BRAY: Whilst referenced earlier, what is interesting is Dickens's contrast between Bray's younger and older self. As a younger adult, he was handsome, fit and full of energy wooing Madeline's mother whom he "swept off her feet". Now in later life, he has become self-centred and in debt. Gales Study Guide says " Dickens's portrayal of this narcissistic, self-deluded man is one of the most subtle depictions of evil in all his works."(14) I probably wouldn't go that far, but take the point! My ever-faithful source, Donald Hawes states that Bray " reluctantly agrees" to the marriage of Madeline to Gride (15) whilst Gales says he "forced" her (16). I concede I may be overly picky here! What is not in doubt however is the contrast between the description of Madeline, and no surprise here, his description of her as "a beautiful young girl" and her father which is stark. Nicholas rescues her from her fate, aided and abetted by the sudden death of her father on the wedding day and eventually marries her himself (17). Don't you just love Dickens!

                        

       Walter Bray and Madeline - Sol Eytinge, Jr's twelfth illustration for Nicholas Nickleby (1867)

          (Published in The Victorian Web)

OLD BOBSTER: At one level a pretty minor character, but he is the tyrannical father of young Cecilia and we have yet another Nicholas rescue mission when Newman Noggs mistakes her for Madeline Bray. Dickens's narrative contrasts a wicked father, driven by debt and a young innocent daughter suffering from his physical abuse ( ie "he frequently boxes her ears"). 

MR CROWL: " Shabby and elderly and hard-featured". He is portrayed as a comic, even foolish man "who wears a wig which he takes off with his hat". Dickens frequently found people funny and his literature peppered with them. Victorian humour writ large! It is the juxtaposition of old age, being funny and yet at the same time foolish which I find interesting. Are there just too many examples?

MR BROOKER: Tracking an illustration in order to estimate his "chronological" age was a challenge. Given his life course and role within the novel there is no doubt he was an older adult. The part in the TV adaption 2001 was actor Donald Sumpter and we are reminded of Chi Luu's point above. Mr Brooker in the novel is portrayed as a beggar and was previously Ralf Nickleby's former clerk. It was he who took Smike and dumped him at Dotherboys Hall. Hawes writes: "Returning to England having served an eight-year sentence of transportation, he is angered by Ralf Nickleby's refusal to help him, and in revenge, reveals the story of Smike's origin" namely, Smike was the son of Ralf Nickleby (18). He is at the end of the day a sinister presence.

COLONEL CHOWSER: Here we have a crony of Ralf Nickleby and a gambling, villainous sycophant of Sir Mulberry Hawk. What's the clue to the age of this despicable character?  - " A white-haired person"! 

MR GREGSBURY MP: What image do we have? He is described as " a tough, burly, thick-headed gentleman, with a loud voice, pompous manner, a tolerable command of sentences with no meaning in them, and in short, every requisite for being a very good member indeed."(19)  He basically wanted to exploit Nicholas. As a minor character, we again reference Chi Luu and ask ourselves what image do we have? I include him as I know what I have in mind. Regardless, it is important to remember that Dickens was never enamoured with the Members of Parliament. His characterization may well be a reflection of this rather than a reflection of Gregsbury's age! 

ARTHUR GRIDE: We are on much firmer ground here. Dickens is explicit: " ...a little old man, much bent and slightly twisted. His hair was of stealthy, cat-like obsequiousness, his expression a wrinkled leer of cunning, slyness, and avarice. He sat in a low chair looking up into the face of Ralf Nickleby." The character in literary terms is important given his relationship with a number of central players and the developing storyline. It is a pantomime performance with the Victorian reader hissing and booing. The written imagery and the original illustration endorsed and approved by Dickens are uncompromising ( "Phiz" - Hablot Knight Browne). His comeuppance is typical of Dickens and reflects the Victorian belief that unless the older adult repents the end will be a dramatic and justified death. In Gride's case, he was murdered in his nightgown whilst in bed. (20) In short, this moneylender is repulsive and old.

                Arthur Gride (Harry Furness 1910) Scanned Image -Philip Allington [The                                                Charles Dickens Library facing 1V. p624] The Victorian Web 

SIR THOMAS GRIMBLE: At one level there is perhaps nothing to see here. He is described as a "very proud man...with six grown up and most lovely daughters and the finest park in the country."(21)  A Victorian male with charming daughters, social status with standing and respect. Old age at its Victorian finest! There was much to see after all. 

THOMAS LENVILLE: The primary point to make here is that " his age did not appear to exceed thirty, though many at first sight would consider him much older, as his face was long, and very pale from the constant application of paint"

A secondary point, and forgive the indulgence, Nicholas again showed his more unconstrained temperament in that he confronts Lenville. He "knocks him down, and compels him to apologise humbly and submissively."(22) The first had been Wackford Squeers!

MR LILLYVICK: A minor character who collected water rates and is described as "a short old gentleman in drabs and gaiters, with a face that might have been carved out of "lignum vitae" ( wood of life)  for anything that appeared to the contrary" (23)  Was this a stereotype of an ageing, belligerent and wooden personality? As I have questioned previously with a number of portrayals is whether Dickens was conflating age with the employment of a character? Was it the character being a job worth and therefore unrelated to age? I am leaning toward the view that the Lillyvick portrayal reflected a Victorian attitude towards old age. I could, of course, be overreaching!

TIM LINKINWATER: Bookkeeper for the saintly Cheeryble Twins for over forty years. Described as "fat, elderly, large-faced..with silver spectacles and a powered head." Linkwater is fussed over and seen as a family member of both his employers and Nickleby. A good old age in Victorian terms. 

Dickens could not resist including that Linkwater owned a blackbird called Dick, "blind, sleepy and dreaming of ending his days in a large savvy cage, and had lost his voice from old age" (24)

In passing note the name - ' Leekin'-water'

                                          Tim Linkinwater overseeing the work of Nicholas

 Cheeryble Brothers and Tim Linkinwater. Sol Eytinge, Jr.Wood-engraving (1867) Scanned by Philip v. Allingham [ Victorian Web ]

MR AND MRS V CRUMMLES: This couple was difficult to call. The original illustration by Phiz, and agreed by Dickens, says of Mrs Crummles, that she was a "stout, portly female, apparently between forty and fifty, in a tarnished silk cloak, with her bonnet dangling from by strings in her hand, and her hair  ( of which she had a great quantity) braided in a large festoon over each temple." Of her husband Vincent, who befriends Nicholas and Smike and is clearly a hugger, Dickens writes that "he had a very full under lip, a hoarse voice, as though he were in the habit of shouting very much, and very short black hair, shaved off nearly to the crown of his head -to-admit ...of his more easily wearing character wigs of any shape or pattern." (25) The acting troupe of which he owned and led, called him "old bricks and mortar because his acting style is rather in the heavy and ponderous way" (26) 

Dickens had great fun with the theatre setting in general and the Crummles in particular. We should not be fooled by their having a '10-year-old' daughter called Ninetta promoted as "The Infant Phenomenon." The Crummles despite their rather benign public portrayal would today have had Children's Services all over their parenting when in fact the infant was an infant! 

I was in two minds about whether to include them, but overall thought it would be unreasonable not to. The narrative descriptions; the original and subsequent illustrations; plus film and theatre adaptations to say nothing of  Kay Heath's seminal book "Ageing By the Book - The Emergence of Midlife in Victorian Britain ( 2009) (27) provided the rationale. The Crummles were by no means physically frail or infirm, quite the contrary, they were ambitious and certainly adventurous, hence their emigration to America, yet they commodified and monetised Ninetta to the point of abuse. One can, with this early or late middle-aged couple detect in the young adult Dickens if not a Pickwickian ageing utopia but, in the words of Professor Karen Chase a belief in the  "retention of youth throughout older years" ( 28)    

(Top) Mr and Mrs Crumbles: Sol Eytinge Jr (1867) Wood-engraving. Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby ( Diamond edition) facing 1V. 163. Scanned by Philip V Allingham. [ The Victorian Web]

( Bottom) Vincent Crumble by Phiz ( Hablot Knight Browne)

LORD MALLOWFORD: A brief reference made by Arthur Gride to his housekeeper Peg Sliderskew when they were discussing what he should wear for his wedding day. He considered a bottle-green suit lucky. Why? When he first put it on " old Lord Mallowford was burnt to death in his bed, and all the post-orbits fell in" (29) What is more interesting to us, is in fact, the character of the housekeeper

PEG SLIDERSKEW: Here, Dickens does not hold back, partly to reinforce the dismal relationship ( employee/employer) between Gride and his housekeeper, and the coming together of a couple of grotesque and vile individuals in a pretty vile house! She sees herself as a victim of Grides' unpleasantness towards her - though they were well matched. It is worth noting that Sliderskew takes revenge on Gride by stealing " his box of documents related to Madeline Grey's fortune".  Squeers is sent to search for her to get them back, but foiled by Nicholas and Frank Cheeryble. 

So how does Dickens portray her? "A short, thin,  weasen , blear-eyed old woman, palsy ridden and hideously ugly, wiping her shrivelled face upon her dirty apron"

Her fate, as does Squeers (below), illustrates yet again, the comeuppance of unrepentant older people. They are convicted and transported in chains, where they die across the other side of the world. Today, as in Victorian times, and hence novels, the notion of reaping and sowing is writ large! Dickens was the master.

       Mr Squeers and Mrs Sliderskew are unconscious of Visitors. Hablot Knight                   Browne (Phiz). Etching on steel. (1839)    

MR AND MRS WACKFORD SQUEERS: 

                    Mr Squeers: Furniss's 4th illustration (1910) . The CD Library                                  Edition, facing 1V.33. Scanned by Philip V Allingham. Victorian Webb

Perhaps of all the characters portrayed as young, middle-aged or older throughout the book, it is Wackford Squeers, the Master of the Yorkshire school, Dotheboys, who is the most memorable. As Pickwick dominated Dickens's first, and Fagin the second, here we have in his third, a 52/53-year-old brute. The brutishness did not suddenly come upon Squeers in later life, nor did the paedophilia of Fagin, but it is interesting that Dickens introduces two of the three in terms of moral corruptness, inhumanity and the exploitation of children. This is in total contrast to Pickwick who is the complete anthesis, but nevertheless, he was portrayed as silly, immature and needed protecting from himself - but, here it is, lovable! 

Wackord Sqeeres is described thus: "He had but one eye - unquestionably useful; being of a greenish-grey, and in shape resembling the fanlight of a front door. The blank side of his face was much wrinkled and puckered up, which gave him a very sinister appearance, especially when he smiled. His hair was very flat and shiny, save at the ends - brushed up very stiffly from a low protruding forehead. He was about two or three and fifty - a trifle below the middle size- wore a white handkerchief with long ends, and a suit of scholastic black - his coat sleeves  a great deal too long, and his trousers a great deal too short" (30) In addition he had a "harsh voice and coarse manner" (31)

His cruelty is well known and not even Lionel Bart would have turned him into a rather mischievous character singing 

"C-l-e-a-n,clean: W-i-n-win"! The repressiveness of Squeers was further made explicit by not just his association with Ralf Nickleby but his treatment of the vulnerable and utterly fragile boy Smike. Dickens frequently throughout his writings contrasted evil and cruel older adults with the pure, innocent and exploited children they abused. It is also interesting to note that there is frequently a familial relationship as in the case of Smike. 

It is thought that Squeers was based on William Shaw the proprietor of Bows Academy in Yorkshire when he and Phiz researched Yorkshire schools. But as Hawes points out, Dickens claimed that Squeers was not based on an individual but as a representative of his class. (32)  This raises an interesting question in regard to his portrayal of older adults. Rather than based on "actual" people ( eg Pickwick and Fagin) were they primarily representatives of a class or of old age and older people? Was this a case of othering, stereotyping and prejudice against older adults?  Indeed, was it evidence of gerontophobia? 

Squeers and Gride at least enjoyed their "Saga" cruise together when arrested, convicted and transported! 

Mrs Squeers herself was, by no means, a bystander given the level of cruelty and abuse she inflicted on the unfortunate "pupils" at Dothboys. She was "of a large, raw-boned figure, about half a head taller than Mr Squeers, dressed in a dimity night-jacket; with her hair in papers - she had also a dirty nightcap on, relieved 

by a yellow cotton handkerchief, which tied under her chin" (33) " She periodically dosed them with brimstone and treacle, partly because if they hadn't something or other in the ways of medicine they'd be always ailing or giving a world of trouble, and partly because it spoils their appetites and comes cheaper than breakfast and dinner." (34)  The boys, following the removal of her husband get their revenge by forcing her to kneel in humiliation and swallow the very brimstone and treacle she had forced on them. Dickens rescues her through the character of young John Browdie a 6-foot strong, kindly jolly local farmer and friend of Nicholas. 

Dotheboys, together with Ralf Nicklby, and Gride have all colluded in the institutionalised abuse of children. They were commissioners and perpetrators as were the parent(s) guardians of the children. It was an industry and Dickens powerfully and effectively exposed the inhumane practice and policy as he did with the policy and practice in many Workhouses. The Squeers and the Bumbles, the Guardians and Parishes, the rich and affluent classes were in the crosshairs of this twenty-seven-year-old author and he didn't miss.

                   The internal economy of Dotheboy's Hall. Hablot Knight Brown (Phiz)

                          Etching on Steel, first published in monthly parts by Chapman & Hall                            in May 1838

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART THREE: THE CAST OF CHARACTERS (2/2)