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Theatrical Emotion of Mr. Vincent Crummles
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
January 1839
Steel-engraving
12.3 high cm by 11.5 cm wide, vignetted
Source: J. A. Hammerton, The Dickens Picture-Book, p. 159.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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As they hurried up to the coach, which was now in the open street and all ready for starting, Nicholas was not a little astonished to find himself suddenly clutched in a close and violent embrace, which nearly took him off his legs, nor was his amazement at all lessened by hearing the voice of Mr. Crummles exclaim, "It is he — my friend, my friend!"
"Bless my heart," cried Nicholas, struggling in the manager's arms, "what are you about?"
The manager made no reply, but strained him yp his breast again, exclaiming as he did so, "Farewell, my noble, my lion-hearted boy!" [Ch. XXX, "Festivities are held in honour of Nicholas, who suddenly withdraws himself from the Society of Mr. Vincent Crummles and his Theatrical Companions," Part 10, January 1839]
That the aged trouper of the provincial stages and pater familias of the strolling players (whom Phiz identifies by his corpulent body and over-sized head, both of which eclipse Nicholas's) should delight in another opportunity to feign emotion on the greater stage of life constitutes further delightful character comedy. Here, however, it also serves as a contrast on the duplicitous Ralph Nickleby's feigned interest in the welfare of Mrs. Nickleby, Kate, and Nicholas. In contrast to the almost total lack of emotion displayed by the other male members of the company in Phiz's illustration, Crummles's protestations are transparently excessive. However, these hyperbolical protestations harm nobody, and are consistent with Dickens's caricature of the Victorian theatrical actor-manager.
In the next chapter, Dickens reverts to implying the danger that Ralph's scheming poses to Kate, as he disguises his hatred of Nicholas and contempt for Mrs. Nickleby as he fantasizes about possessing Kate as a kind of surrogate daughter, when he should be protecting his niece from the lascivious advances of Sir Mulberry Hawk and his dissolute friends. With motivations less benign, Ralph, in juxtaposition to Vincent Crummles, is also playing the role of a father-figure who is concerned, and truly sympathetic.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.
_______. Nicolas Nickleby. Illustrated by "Phiz" (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition, ed. Andrew Lang. The Works of Charles Dickens in Thirty-four Volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. Vols. IV and V.
_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., Late Ticknor and Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1875 [re-print of 1867 Diamond Edition, Vol. IV].
_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875. I.
_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-nine illustrations by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. IV.
__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. IV.
Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. 24-50.
Vann, J. Don. "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, twenty parts in nineteen monthly installments, April 1838-October 1839." New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. 63.
Created 25 April 2002 Last modified 15 August 2021