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The Student and his Youthful Choice
Charles Green
1895
9.1 x 7.5 cm, exclusive of frame
Dickens's The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas Time, The Pears' Centenary Edition, V, 157.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Then, the student entered, leading by the hand a lovely girl, who was afraid to come. And Redlaw so changed towards him, seeing in him and his youthful choice, the softened shadow of that chastening passage in his own life, to which, as to a shady tree, the dove so long imprisoned in his solitary ark might fly for rest and company, fell upon his neck, entreating them to be his children. ["Stave Three: The Gift Reversed," 156]
Green now brings closure to the subplot involving the poor student, Mr. Denham, who proves to be the son of Redlaw's romantic rival from youth. The title in the book's index, The Student and his Youthful Choice, is far less informative than the caption immediately below the illustration, for the quotation points directly towards the moment realised: "Then, the student entered, leading by the hand a lovely girl, who was afraid to come" (157, quoted from the bottom of 156). The bare caption does not reveal, however, the complicated situation involving multiple acts of forgiveness and reconciliation in a tangled plot of thwarted romance, blighted hopes, and abandonment. As Paul Davis points out,
Milly restores the good feeling in her family and reunites Redlaw with Mr. Longford, who many years before had wronged Redlaw by jilting his sister [depicted in the flashback illustration immediately prior to this] and stealing his fiancée. Now a penitent, Longford has returned to seek Redlaw's forgiveness and that of Edmund, the son that he abandoned. Edmund is also reunited with his fiancée, reminding Redlaw of his own love many years before. In the end all are brought together in the old College hall, where they celebraste dinner beneath the portrait of the college founder. [176]
Redlaw’s conflicted feelings for the poor student complicate his arrival: "Denham" is in fact the son of his rival, Longford, who stole Redlaw’s beloved and then jilted his sister. Although Redlaw believes that he has entirely forgotten his past grievances and heartaches, the reader is not entirely convinced in earlier scenes at Denham's rooms that Redlaw's attitude to "Denham" (Longford's son under an assumed name) has not been conditioned by his sense of having been wronged by the student's parents. Since the resolution of so many issues coming in the one scene is highly melodramatic, verging on the Sensational, Green has focussed upon the most probable, the fiancée's accompanying him to the festivities at the college. Green effectively suggests the young woman's tentativeness by her expression and pose as young Longford knocks upon the library door, seeking admission. For a poor student, this youth seems remarkably well dressed, but at least he bears the same face and figure as the student in the second chapter, "The Gift Bestowed." Denham's fourth appearance in the series may imply that Redlaw cannot return to himself until he has recognized that his attitude towards the young man has been unreasonable.
Green appears not to have attended much to the original series of illustrations.His Redlaw and young Longford do not much resemble these characters as drawn by Frank Stone, John Leech, and John Tenniel. Perhaps he wanted to create a consistency that the original team of illustrators with very different individual styles failed to deliver. Whereas Green has an eye for female beauty that he communicates effectively here, both the original illustrators and the 1870s Household Edition’s E. A. Abbey and Fred Barnard were not much interested apparently in any of the female characters except Milly Swidger, whom only Frank Stone made appealing. In contrast, Green has emphasized the importance of such figures as Mr. and Mrs. Tetterby, and has female characters appearing in half of his illustrations.
Each contains about thirty illustrations from original drawings by Charles Green, R. I. — Clement Shorter [1912]
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. The Haunted Man; or, The Ghost's Bargain. Illustrated by John Leech, Frank Stone, John Tenniel, and Clarkson Stanfield. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1848.
_____. The Haunted Man. Illustrated by John Leech, Frank Stone, John Tenniel, and Clarkson Stanfield. (1848). Rpt. in Charles Dickens's Christmas Books, ed. Michael Slater. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971, rpt. 1978. II, 235-362, and 365-366.
_____. The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas Time. Illustrated by Charles Green, R. I. (1895). London: A & F Pears, 1912.
_____. Christmas Books. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.
_____. Christmas Books, illustrated by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1878.
_____. Christmas Books, illustrated by A. A. Dixon. London & Glasgow: Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1906.
_____. Christmas Books. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book, 1910.
_____. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by E. A. Abbey. The Household Edition. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1876.
_____. The Haunted Man. Christmas Stories. Illustrated by Felix Octavius Carr Darley. The Household Edition. New York: James G. Gregory, 1861. II, 155-300.
Created 12 September 2015
Last modified 12 April 2020