"Nicholas Instructs Smike in the Art of Acting" (November 1838), an illustration for Nicholas Nickleby by "Phiz"

Nicholas Instructs Smike in the Art of Acting

Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby

1838

Steel engraving

Source: J. A. Hammerton, The Dickens Picture-Book, p. 158.

Image scan and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Dickens focuses on Nicholas's discomfort in attempting to train Smike to field even a bit-part: "but by his anxiety on account of Smike, who, having to sustain the character of the Apothecary [in Romeo and Juliet], had been as yet wholly unable to get any more of the part into his head than the general idea that he was very hungry, which—perhaps from old recollections—he had acquired with great aptitude" (Ch. 25, "Concerning a young lady from London, who joins the Company, and an elderly Admirer who follows her Train; with an affecting Ceremony consequent on their Arrival," Part 8, November 1838). As in previous plates, Phiz depicts Smike's head as disproportionately large as compared to Nicholas's, and his limbs awkward and ungainly. From the decor, Phiz implies that this acting lesson occurs in the prop room backstage.

References

Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book, 1910.

Last modified 25 April 2009