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Mr. Winkle
Thomas Nast
1873
composite woodblock engraving
4 1⁄8 inches wide by 5 ½ inches high (10.4 cm wide by 13.5 cm high), framed, full-page
Chapter XIX, "A Pleasant Day with an Unpleasant Termination," page 112, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Society.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Mr. Winkle smiled feebly over his blue neckerchief in acknowledgment of the compliment, and got himself so mysteriously entangled with his gun, in his modest confusion, that if the piece had been loaded, he must inevitably have shot himself dead upon the spot.
"You mustn’t handle your piece in that ‘ere way, when you come to have the charge in it, Sir," said the tall gamekeeper gruffly; "or I’m damned if you won't make cold meat of some on us."
Mr. Winkle, thus admonished, abruptly altered his position, and in so doing, contrived to bring the barrel into pretty smart contact with Mr. Weller's head. [Chapter XIX, "A Pleasant Day with an Unpleasant Termination," page 113]
As early as Chapter 7 Dickens establishes Winkle's ineptitude with firearms: When attempting to shoot rooks at Mr. Wardle's farm, the "sporting" Pickwickian inadvertently wounds Tupman in the arm, a scene upon which Nast elaborates in To describe the confusion that ensued would be impossible (p. 44). The present illustration depicts Winkle holding his gun aimed at his own head! Once again, Dickens plays the comic card of the urbanite who pretends to be an expert hunter and mishandles a fowling-piece. Nast intensifies the humour by emphasizing Nathaniel Winkle's lack of familiarity with the great outdoors. Dimly aware of his surroundings in the illustration, Winkle vaguely gazes skyward, as if looking for avian prey on the wing.
Winkle, who is from the first chapter a significant member of the jolly band of Pickwickians, begins as an inept young sportsman, and he only acquires additional late in the novel characteristics when he enlists Samuel Pickwick's assistance in winning the hand of Arabella Allen . Previously merely a rover of the English countryside alongside his compatriots, Winkle succeeds as a lover in spite of stiff opposition from Arabella's brother, another suitor (Bob Sawyer), and even his own father. Dickens begins developing the characters of the other members of the club earlier, showing various facets of Snodgrass, Tupman, Pickwick, and Sam Weller.
Winkle makes an easy target for Nast's visual satire because Dickens consistently makes him the subject of misadventures, including the misapprehension by newspaper editor Potts that Winkle is romantically interested in Mrs. Potts. Perhaps to placate his original illustrator, Robert Seymour, Dickens had introduced Winkle in the guise of an outdoorsman at the initial meeting and incorporation of the Pickwick Club in the opening instalment. Consequently, successive illustrators have easily distinguished Winkle in his hunting kit from the other members of the club. Despite his sporting pretentions, outdoorsy garb, and boastfulness about his hunting prowess, Winkle is terrified when he thinks he will have to engage in a duel, falls off a horse, accidentally shoots Mr. Tupman when birding in Wardle's orchard, and cannot manage to ice skate.
Dickens, Charles. "Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Robert Seymour and Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman & Hall, 1836-37.
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. Engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. The Household Edition. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. New York: Harper and Brothers 1873.
Dickens, Charles. Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874.
Last modified 21 November 2019