![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Unfortunately, Ralph Nickleby has all the mean-spirited selfishness of Scrooge and being the villain of the story, there is no redemptive arc for him, so he despises his late brother's son on sight, and forces his widowed sister-in-law and niece into what amounts to slum lodgings. ![]() Since this is Victorian England, where social "safety nets" were still a faintly futuristic notion, their only recourse is to rely on the kindness of their uncle, Ralph Nickleby. Nicholas Nickleby, the protagonist, is the son of a gentleman who made a bad investment (at the urging of his sweet but daft and motor-mouthed wife) and then conveniently died, leaving his wife, son, and daughter to deal with the consequences. Nicholas Nickleby was Dickens' third novel, and supposedly his first romance. His journey is accompanied by some of the most swaggering scoundrels and unforgettable eccentrics in Dickens's pantheon.įrom the dungeon-like Yorkshire boys' boarding school run by the cruel Wackford Squeers to the high-spirited stage of Vincent Crummles' extraordinary acting troupe, Nicholas Nickleby is a triumph of the imagination, bursting with color, humor, and poignant social commentary. Nicholas, a gentleman's son fallen upon hard times, must set out to make his way in the world. The most gorgeously theatrical of all Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby follows the delightful adventures of a hearty young hero in 19th-century England. ![]()
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