THE PORTRAYAL OF OLDER ADULTS IN CHARLES DICKENS'S THIRD NOVEL (1838-1839)
NICHOLAS NICKLEBY
PART THREE: THE CAST OF CHARACTERS CONTINUED [2/2]
READERS familiar with Charles Dickens's life and works would quickly become aware that his opinion and attitude to the law was, let's say, contemptuous. Our exploration of Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist and now Nicholas Nickleby he writes of prisons, judges, tricks and lawsuits. As a young man, he toyed with the idea of becoming a lawyer. He had little sympathy for adult criminals whom he considered exploited and abused children and approved of "hard labour in prisons and felt satisfaction and witnessing a determined thief, swindler or vagrant, sweating profusely at the treadmill or the crank"(1). He was however against public hanging. Like many Victorians, he abhors child abuse, but unlike those in power, he railed against the political collusion that accepted such abuses, whether in the implementation of the Poor Law or in educational establishments. His Dotheboys Hall narrative in Nicholas Nickleby is brutal and many commentators argue was his most effective, given that it directly brought about reforms and the abolition of such practices that sent unwanted children to such schools (2)
In his early novels, the focus was on individual children, but as Andrzej Diniejko points out he later exposed and laid bare the wider Victorian social policy context, the effects of industrialization and "a bitter diagnosis of the Condition of England" (3). Our interest however is in the perpetrators. Nancy, and the proxy Rose Maylie for Mary Hogarth (see below) were victims of older adults ( eg Fagin and Bumble) and Smike was the victim of Squeers and his own father, the contemptuous, cunning and unscrupulous money lender, Ralf Nickleby. The juxtaposition of the children, Oliver Twist, Rose Marley, Smike and, later as we shall see, Jo from Bleak House, Little Nell (The Old Curiosity Shop) and Little Dorrit and their ageing abusive perpetrators, is in my view telling. Furthermore, it is worth noting that we are looking at institutional, employment and domestic/family abuse. Children and young teenagers were modelled on the seventeen-year-old Mary Hogarth who died in Dickens's arms. Innocence and purity set against old, misanthropic, ugly, deformed, grotesque, scheming, repulsive and manipulative are just a few portrayals of older adults throughout Dickens's writings. His social commentary and the economic precariousness of the Victorian working, business and middling classes are a significant backdrop to
his literary output. He did not ignore the relative wealth of what we would call the blue and white-collar professional classes. Oppression ranged from nature, such as fog, to buildings, such as workhouses, streets, and rookeries, through to industrialisation, railways, the law and the commodification of labour. So yes, Dickens was a powerful social critic even in his early writings ( today would be classed as an influencer), but he also throughout his life monetized his writing and his public-speaking and social critique. He penned vast numbers of cast characters, minor and major with multi-layered plots and storylines, but he was never arrogant. As Tony Schwab says about Dickens's vision in Nicholas Nickleby
" he sees morality and refined sentiment in any harsh condition and always envisions a future state of altruism" (4) -unless of course, they were unrepentant older adults!
As we explore the final older characters I am reminded, and therefore stress again, of Dickens's child and adolescent experiences. His sense of abandonment, poverty, rejection, prisons, his father's debts, homelessness, lack of education, and of sibling jealousy and thus, his drive "to make something of himself" which is portrayed in this third novel. We need also to ponder his young adult workload, his obsessions, his fatherhood, his controlling behaviour and his business dealings. All these experiences impacted Dickens and his sense of self throughout his life course and arguably at the time he was writing Nicholas Nickleby he had an underdeveloped sense of self, which indeed Nicholas reflected. Dickens's older characters also lacked nuance. Viewed by some literary critics and a few Dickens scholars the characters generally were seen as one-dimensional and the older ones particularly as odious and stereotyped. Yet we conceded that the Cheerble twins, Tim Linkwater, and even Norman Noggs are seen as kindly, jolly, affectionate idolizing older adults. But they, alongside the likes of Brownlow and Pickwick are also stereotypes. Villans by and large are demonized. Children are sanctified. The demons were killed off, and the children were rescued, even if we regard death as a release.
Time to continue our portrayals. I have again used aged 50plus as my definition of an older adult (explained in previous blogs), and whilst Dickens very helpfully frequently evidence "old age/elderly" and even specific ages, there are others whom we can only say are of an"uncertain age." Arguably I have taken liberties but my rationale for inclusion is explained in the narrative.
MR AND MRS CURDLE (of Uncertain Age): The question I asked myself was, what do I have in mind about this couple? Dickens does not give a specific age, but the description and portrayal indicate that Mrs Curdle is the patroness of the Crummles Company "dressed in a morning wrapper, with a little cap stuck upon her head"(5) She "was supposed by those who knew her best informed on such points, to possess quite the London taste in matters related to literature and the drama" (6)
Mr Curdle had authored a 64-page pamphlet on the character of the Nurse's deceased husband in Romeo and Juliet. In addition "he wore a loose robe on his back, and his right forefinger on his forehead, after the portraits of Sterne.. to whom somebody said he bore a striking resemblance." (7) The illustration below may say far more than simply his mannerism, but does not evidence that Curdle was not at least in his middle years. Dr Jacqueline Banerjee reminds us that Dickens was attracted to the theatre and those performers who populated it. The rather pantomime nature of the Crummles was a commentary on society itself being a pantomime (8). One could get carried away with the notion that they and the Curdles were simply offering a "subversive purpose, providing a diversity of responses, producing fluidity, liberation and change" (9) They are pantomime characters and perhaps we should not dwell too much on their characterisation or age. The description of their dress and mannerisms remind us that Dickens himself was a dandy dresser and took particular attention to how he looked, but that said, pantomimes by their very nature ridicule and exaggerate the characters, especially through their costumes. At the end of the day, Dickens may simply be having a laugh, and padding the storyline/narrative as Victorian authors did when writing in serialised form. Old age, even today is ridiculed in Christmas pantos both in terms of costume and script.
Lawrence Sterne (novelist) painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds
(1760) Dickens may be saying more about mannerisms than age
MR PUGSTYLES: Described as a "plump old gentleman in a violent heat" He heads a deputation to Mt Gregsbury MP concerning his behaviour. (see above). Note " plump and violent heat"
MISS BROWNDOCK: Difficult to call. She was however the focus of Mrs Nickleby's rambling remembrances and referenced "Why, your poor dear papa's cousin's sister-in-law -taken into partnership by a lady that kept a school in Hammersmith and made a fortune in no time at all". According to Nicholas's mother, she won £10,000 on the lottery ( £1,142,949 today), so rambling indeed! This says more about the portrayal of Mrs Nickleby which is discussed below.
DR LUMBEY: Again it is unclear as to determine whether he was an older adult, but the narrative description is worth examining. If we follow Chi Luu's analysis of Dickens and the linguistic art of the minor characters we ask what image do we have in mind? "He was a stout bluff looking gentleman, with no shirt collar to speak of, and a beard that had been growing since yesterday morning, for Dr Lumby was popular, and the neighbourhood was prolific." Erring on the side of caution let's again say he was of uncertain age, but caution too, as we discussed in Oliver Twist, our question is whether Dickens's portrayals are both negative and positive and descriptions, therefore, may not have been evidence of gerontopobia at all. Being of an 'uncertain age' in and of itself could be quite meaningless on its own terms. But we are not looking at it on its own terms but in the context of Victorian attitudes to ageing, the language used related to older people and Dickens's propensity to exaggerate, stereotype, idealize and romanticize young and old alike. We know the model related to children and possibly pre and post-pubescent girls, but we continue our search for a model(s) underpinning his portrayals for older adults. The reason for including those adult characters of uncertain age is to discover any clues or evidence of lifelong gerontopobia.
MR SHAWLEY: Here we have another interesting character in that again, we do not have stated his chronological age, but we do have the context and his involvement with Squeers and Ralf Nickleby which allows for some speculation for fitting within our definition of an older adult. Firstly he is either the father-in-law or stepfather of two boys placed at Dotheboys Hall; he is a friend of Squeers and "a man of a similar kidney to Squeers and the future of the boys is well understood between them" (10). One of the best portrayals I came across was that of Rodney Dale and explains far better than I just how obnoxious he was, including the fraud he and Ralf Nickleby with Squeers attempted to perpetrate. I quote at length - "A sanctimonious, hypocritical rascal, who places his stepsons in the care of Squeers at Dotheboys Hall, with the tacit understanding that they have no vacations, and to 'rough it a little'. Acting as the tool of Ralf Nickleby, he afterwards claims Smike, his son, for the purpose of separating him from Nicholas and restoring him to the custody of Squeers; but his villainy is discovered and, to secure his own safety he divulges the whole scheme, naming Rolf Nickleby as his employer, and implicating Squeers as a confederate" (11) The illustration below would possibly indicate an older adult or of late middle age.
"Mr Snawley Entarges on Parental Instinct" (May 1838) Habot Browne
The Victorian Webb. Source J.A Hammerton, The Dickens Picture Book p 164
Scanned image and text by Philip V Allinghan
MR TRIMMERS: Here we have a close and probably long-term friend of the Cheeryble brothers which is implied in their trust in Mr Trimmers's judgement and of Dicken's own narrative of him being "a good creature" and "kind soul". They all shared the same value base and charitable endeavours (12) and whilst no age is given I think we are on safe ground in assuming that such relationships, though not rare between generations, are common within the same. Furthermore, Dickens frequently refers to a number of older characters (eg Pickwick) as kindly or warm-hearted.
MR WATKINS: Another minor character of uncertain age, but being the godfather of Kate Nickleby, allegedly, according to the unreliable Mrs Nickleby owed £50 to her husband. He jumped bail, absconded to America, and "sent the family a pair of snow shoes" He was an old friend of Nicholas's father who had put up the security for his debt. Again we are left with a very subjective opinion that his relationship with Mr Nickleby, being Kate's godfather and sufficiently trusted to pay him back, and having the means to travel to the United States implies at least he was middle-aged if not over 50 years.
I have left two central portrayals to last. Readers familiar with the novel and its some 146 cast members, 13% of whom are older by my reckoning (with the health warning of supposition) they are all profoundly significant in terms of depiction. Taken as a whole we have collectively, shabby, sanctimonious, fat, drab, wrinkled, cunning, pompous, tyrannical, and criminal on the one hand and benevolent, kind, furry, charitable and generous on the other. As for the likes of the Cheeryble twins' portrayal, one could argue they reflect an ageist narrative by today's understanding. This may seem unfair to Dickens given he was writing in the mid-1800s, using literary, dramatic and exaggerated narratives across all age groups, classes and circumstances.
The older characters in Dickens's novels are portrayed the way they were for a whole range of reasons and we are exploring why in the context of both the 19th and 21st Centuries. We recognise today children adopt age stereotypes but did they during Dickens's childhood and boyhood. He undoubtedly had an understanding of the lived experience of those older people with whom he would have been in contact, be they family, acquaintances of his parents or those living around Mile End Road, Portsmouth, St Pancras, London and Chatham in Kent, plus his trauma years back in London of 1820-24. We also know he was an avid childhood reader and observer thus learning about how older people were portrayed and behaved. These influenced his sense of self and esteem and moulded him as all our childhoods do. Dickens transitioned from childhood, boyhood and into early adulthood with an awareness of class and status, rejection, poverty, and of family secrets. Age, it is said, is "a social construct and people have different notions of 'old age' depending on their own age" (13). Evidence today on children's attitudes towards older adults suggests they are "complex, and mostly negative" yet on the other hand children also have "strong affectionate feelings toward older people, describing them as wonderful, kind and rich" (14)
Dickens took with him into his journalism, his Court Reporting and early creative writing his own notions of age and ageing. Both the personal and professional come together in these early novels, and certainly in Nicholas Nickleby whether he was conscious of it or not. It is not surprising therefore there is a rich and exaggerated portrayal of characterization and caricature, but in my view, they cannot be uncoupled. Pickwick and Fagin were, in many ways, a reflection of his imagined future self - one desired, but the other feared. He did not kill off Pickwick, he reformed Scrooge as we will note when exploring his first Christmas Book, and he as he so often did, used death by suicide for those whose crimes that were so heinous even by Victorian standards.
It is time finally to look at Mrs Nickleby and Ralf Nickleby et al as they are central to this discussion.
MRS CATHERINE NICKLEBY: It has generally been accepted that she was based on Dickens's own mother, Elizabeth. Herein lies Pandora's box of emotions from angst, resentment, pity, and anger through to affection and care. The challenge we face is to disentangle the Dickens/mother relationship and whether that relationship affected his view of old age.
David Paroissien says of Mrs Nickleby that her "distinctive 'scatter gabble' " was not based on Elizabeth Dickens at all, who was recorded and remembered by those who knew her as having "had a good stock of common sense and a matter of fact manner." Others however remembered her as " incoherent in her speech and vain about her wasp waist" (15). Nursemaid Mary Weller supported Elizabeth describing her as "a dear good mother and a fine woman" teaching Dickens to read, learn a bit of Latin and "generally instilling in him a love of reading and a desire of knowledge."(16) The relationship between Charles and his mother up until the age of seven, appeared positive. The fracture and thus resentment and sense of abandonment came when she refused to allow him to leave the Blackening factory, and return to school and favoured the needs and preference of his sister Fanny over his. He never forgave her. Did this underpin his portrayal of the eccentric clown that is Mrs Nickleby? Did he, as a child perceive his mother as old? The clue may be that Mrs E Dickens's experience of her husband's imprisonment changed her from the time Mary Weller knew her? Returning to the renowned Dickensian scholar Schlicke, he concedes that "the likeness between her and Mrs Nickleby is simply the exaggeration of some slight peculiarities."(17)
In her later widowhood years, Dickens comments that she had "a strong objection to be considered in the least old! (18) Like mother like son. In his response to Elizabeth's final years when she was living with dementia, Charles showed nothing but care and support of and for her. Schlicke acknowledges resentment existed and that that resentment "doubtless influenced the creation of so many unsatisfactory mothers throughout Dickens's fiction."(19) Donald Hawes's commentary re-enforces that of Schickes' in that of Elizabeth she is a harsh caricature of some aspects of the real woman's character - her ebullience, her little vanities and wordiness and her often ill grounded optimism".(20). Elizabeth was in her late 40's early 50's when her son was writing Nicholas Nickleby and thus not perhaps unreasonable that any modelling on his own mother would reflect a woman in her late middle age early old age. That said, Nicholas was about 19 years old which implies Dickens was not relating chronological age to her, but more personality and character. The discussion therefore on children's and young people's perceptions of old age comes into play. It was however of an ageing woman described as weak, opinionated, rambling, and the precursor to the character Flora Finching in David Copperfield.
It is said that many readers of Dickens at the time recognised themselves in his characterizations, some took offence and it may be reasonable to assume Dickens used them as payback, in Transactional Analysis terms, he was "cashing in stamps"!(21) Regardless, one cannot ignore the absolute probability that in part he reflected his mother in Mrs Nickleby given our understanding of a child's view of old age and offering a provocation the possibility of unconscious bias regarding the association between old age and parental power and control. It is the perception of age and ageing that is important, rather than necessarily chronological age, and herein lies the point regarding all those "of uncertain age" portrayals throughout. We do not always know what was in this young writer's mind about old age as he penned these early novels, but our exploration and pondering make for a torturous, yet fascinating journey.
Stock photos of Victorian Older Women. The importance of images influencing perceptions and attitudes?
MR RALF NICKLEBY (Jnr), GODFREY( his father) and NICHOLAS ( Snr): Again we need to revisit the issue of realism v's reality in Dickens's portrayals. In these early novels, he was learning his craft and can be forgiven for failing to "recreate in terms of art, the reality which moved him."(22) But that said, are we, asking as did George Santagana in 1922 believe that "individuals like Quilp, or Squeers or Serjeant Buzfuz exist?"(23). Does it even matter?
The descriptions of Dickens's characters bother many a literary critic and even within two years of his death, he was accused of failing "to apply realism, and creations so fantastic that one is at a loss to understand how he could, without hallucination, believe them to be like reality." The source goes on to include the Mantalinies and Arthur Gride as "monstrous failures" on account of their lack of "fluctuating spontaneity."(24) Given the importance of the older Nickleby tribe, as characterized by Dickens, we now focus our attention.
Ralf Nickleby as far as we know was not based on a real person and therefore a creation of Dickens's imagination and pure fiction. He was portrayed as a " cunning and unscrupulous money lender with a cold restless eye, which tells of cunning that would announce itself in spite of him."(25) Howes goes on to add "people trapped in his tenacles include the members of the Nickleby family, the Mantalini's, Squeers, Gride and the Brays."(26)
Unlike Squeers and Gride, however, we also have an aristocratic cast and social class specifically is of central concern throughout the novel as is the precariousness of social position, which as Schlike points out "resulted from the tension between the new wealth of the emerging middle classes and the continuing political and social power of the aristocracy." Furthermore "Noggs is a failed gentleman and Nicholas the son of a failed gentleman" - whereas Ralf owes his status to the accumulation of wealth rather than gentility. (27) He, we are told " had the face of the old man was stern, had features and forbidding...The old man's eye was keen with twinklings of avarice and cunning" (28)
Ralf Nickleby's brother Godfrey, known as Nicholas the Elder speculated his little capital losing both his heart, went to bed and died.
The grandfather of Nicholas is portrayed as "a worthy gentleman, who taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get married, and not being young enough, or rich enough to aspire to the hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an old flame out of mere attachment"(29). The father of Nicholas ( brother of Ralf) is described as of a "timid and retiring disposition. Embraced his wife and children - solemnly commended them to the one who never deserted his widow and her fatherless children, and smilingly gently on them - observes that he thought he could fall asleep."(30)
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS AND QUESTIONS
Is the association of class, wealth and cunning, duplicity, child abuse, bankruptcy and the various portrayals we have highlighted actually tell us whether Dickens had an issue, not just about family relationships, but old age? If these characters are taken individually, it appears not, but when viewed as a whole we can see the narratives are stereotypes of old age and ageing by today's definitions. Teresa Mangum writes that "Dickens carries the image of the rapacious old person to grotesque extremes- where even grandchildren are being prematurely aged by their obsession with family money." (31)
The Nickleby family relationships and household structures demonstrate how families can become fractured when the determinants of customary practice, economic status and demographic factors threaten to undermine traditional values of care, support and kinship. Ralf Nickleby benefited and exploited and broke those values. That is why for me, his portrayal as a son, uncle, and father is so powerful. Was this Dickens's intention aided and abetted by a cohort of older people? Ralf Nickeby was a poisonous spider. For Dickens, there was only one consequence. He could have been killed off by a third party, or some supernatural intervention, or shipped off to Australia, but he opts for suicide "in a mood of frenzy, hatred and despair". Was this simply reflecting the 19th-century view that an older person's life course of wickedness, exploitation and the betrayal of the social contract mean a very torrid end? The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful account of the Misfortunes, Uprising, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the Nickleby Family says it all, in that it is a family saga ending with a poor nineteen-year-old eventually experiencing a happy, contented warm family life, whilst many of the older members and cast were alone, miserable or dead. (32)
John Varese writes "Ralf's fate at the end of a rope, in the very place where his dejected son Smike once rested, delivers the novel's final verdict on the guilt of those who refuse to see beyond their own financial gain and inflexibility."(33) But the final message is the contrast between the young Nickleby and the ageing Ralf. He dies intestate, the money could have gone to Nicholas and the family but is rejected because of how it was gained. Youth equals integrity and old age equals greed and cruelty.
REFERENCES:
1. Christian R. "CD's Great Expectations: Dickens Attitude to the Law. A New Interpretation for Students. ( unsourced or dated)
2. Diniejko. A. " Charles Dickens as a Social Commentator and Critic." The Victorian Web. (Feb 2012)
3. Ibid
4. Schwab.T. "Dickens's Vision in Nicholas Nickleby.1: What the Wayfare Sees'. The Victorian Web ( March 2020)
5. Philip A.J & Laurence Gadd. V.D "A Dickens Dictionary" Cresent Books 1989 ed p78
6. Hawes D ."Who's Who in Dickens" Routledge. London and New York (2002) p53
7. Ibid ( Philip/Gadd) p78
8. Banerjee. J. "Self Preservation and Self Realization in Dickens's NN ( Victorian Web) Sept 2021
9. Eigner. E. " The Dickens Pantomime" Berkely. UCP (1989) Quoted in Banergee (ibid)
10. Ibid (Philip & Gadd. L (p 208)
11. Dale. Rodney " The Wordsworth Dickens Directory" Wordsworth Reference (20050 p 88
12 Ibid ( Philip and Gadd.L) p296
13. Robinson S and Howatson-Jones, quoting Levy and McDonald (2010) remind us that "age is a social construct and people have different notions of old age depending on their own age" Children's Views of Older People" Journal of Research in Childhood Education ( June 2014). Referencing Levy and McDonald. ( source unknown)
14. Seefeld et al. " Children's Attitude Towards the Elderly" (1977) [Source Unknown]
15. Paroissien D. "Chacter" Originals in Schlike P (Ed) Schlike P. (Ed) pOxford Readers Companion to Dickens. OUP (1999) p 82
16. Schlike. P (ed) Ibid p 170
17. Ibid p 171
18. Ibid p 171
19. Ibid. p 171
20. Ibid (Howes) p164
21. Transactional Analysis is a model related to personality. Best know regarding Parent: (Critical and Nurturing). Adult: (Rational and Objective) and Child: (Compliant or Free) Ego States
22. Paroissen (Ibid) p76
23. Ibid p 76
24. Lewis. G.H. " Bleak House" Critism and scholarship: the first 100 years. In Schilike (ibid) p 81
25. Hawes p 166-5
26. Ibid p 166-5
27 Schilike P. Ibid p415
28. Philp and Gadd Ibid p 208
29. Ibid p 207
30 Ibid p 207
[ THE PORTRAYAL OF OLDER ADULTS IN THE WRITINGS OF CHARLES DICKENS CONTINUES WITH THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (PART ONE) TO FOLLOW ]
