Michael Warden recognized by Aunt Martha
Charles Green
1893 & 1912
11 x 7.5 cm, vignetted
Dickens's The Battle of Life, The Pears' Centenary Edition, IV, 142.
[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Passage Illustrated: Michael Warden meets Aunt Martha
A stranger had come into the orchard, after Mr. Snitchey, and had remained apart, near the gate, without being observed by any of the group; for they had little spare attention to bestow, and that had been monopolised by the ecstasies of Clemency. He did not appear to wish to be observed, but stood alone, with downcast eyes; and there was an air of dejection about him (though he was a gentleman of a gallant appearance) which the general happiness rendered more remarkable.
None but the quick eyes of Aunt Martha, however, remarked him at all; but, almost as soon as she espied him, she was in conversation with him. Presently, going to where Marion stood with Grace and her little namesake, she whispered something in Marion's ear, at which she started, and appeared surprised; but soon recovering from her confusion, she timidly approached the stranger, in Aunt Martha's company, and engaged in conversation with him too. ["Part the Third," Pears edition, 141-43]
Commentary: Reunited at Last
Clement Shorter, the Editor of the The Pears' Centenary Edition, augmented the title in the "List of Illustrations" on page 14, Marion's Return to her Home and Grace with a direct quotation beneath the actual whole-page illustration: "He stood alone, with downcast eyes. None but the quick eyes of Aunt Martharemarked him at all; but, almost as soon as she espied him, she was in conversation with him" (142, immediately below the lithograph in fine print, but also occurring in the text at the top of thefacing page). Thus, the reader encounters Dickens's description of the chastened Michael Warden twice over the course of pages 142-43, by which Green emphasizes (as the original text does not) the conversation between the apologetic aristocrat and Marion's aunt.
Thus, the final illustration in Charles Green's narrative-pictorial sequence subtlysuggests tothe reader that the trajectory of the "romance" is towards a thoroughly sentimental ending in which Grace apparently forgives her supplicating sister. Marion subsequently marries a redeemed Warden, a Prodigal Son who complements Marion as the returned "Prodigal Daughter." In focussing on the relationship between Grace and Marion, as in Daniel Maclise's The Sisters (see below), previous illustrators have neglected the fate of Warden, whose incipient romance with Marion seems unresolved in most narrative-pictorial sequences. Green's focussing on Aunt Martha's private conversation offers the reader a possible closure in that it tantalizes the reader with a projected marriage between the virtuous, middle-class Marion and the reformed wastrel Warden — a possible, conventional "happy ending" that the text would seem to support:
TIME — from whom I had the latter portion of this story, and with whom I have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance of some five-and-thirty years' duration — informed me, leaning easily upon his scythe, that Michael Warden never went away again, and never sold his house, but opened it afresh, maintained a golden means of hospitality, and had a wife, the pride and honour of that countryside, whose name was Marion. But, as I have observed that Time confuses facts occasionally, I hardly know what weight to give to his authority.
THE END. [144]
In the final plate, Warden (wearing a hat since the scene is outside, although Green offers no further clue as to the setting), eyes downcast in shame is juxtaposed against a concerned and sympathetic elderly lady whom no other illustrator has included in the narrative-pictorial sequence: Aunt Martha. Since Green has her take the young man's hand in sympathy, the illustrator seems to imply that she will act as his advocate with her brother and her nieces and subsequentlyprove instrumental in Warden's wooing and winning Marion — as Dickens suggests. Although his youthful image here is not wholly consistent with Dickens's description of the seasoned horseman sporting an Italianate moustache, the illustration nevertheless effectively prepares the reader for the possibility of an entirely happy conclusion. As the final character to speak is Warden, it is appropriate that the last illustration should suggest his change of heart.
Relevant Illustrations from the 1846 and 1910 editions
Left: Doyle's interpretation of the tearful reunion of the sisters, Part the Third. Centre: Maclise's tender moment closing the story of the everyday battles of life, The Sisters. Right: Furniss's portrait of the long-lost sister, Marion (1910).
Illustrations for the Other Volumes of the Pears' Centenary Christmas Books of Charles Dickens (1912)
Each contains about thirty illustrations from original drawings by Charles Green, R. I. — Clement Shorter [1912]
- A Christmas Carol (28 plates) Vol. I (1912)
- The Chimes (31 plates) Vol. II
- L. Rossi's The Cricket on the Hearth (22 plates) Vol. III
- The Haunted Man (31 plates) Vol. V
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Battle of Life: A Love Story. Illustrated by John Leech, Richard Doyle, Daniel Maclise, and Clarkson Stanfield. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846.
_____. The Battle of Life: A Love Story. Illustrated by John Leech, Richard Doyle, Daniel Maclise, and Clarkson Stanfield. (1846). Rpt. in Charles Dickens's Christmas Books, ed. Michael Slater. Hardmondsworth: Penguin, 1971, rpt. 1978.
_____. The Battle of Life. Illustrated by Charles Green, R. I. 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.
Created 5 June 2015
Last modified 28 March 2020