Riassunto
Riassunto di Nicholas Nickleby
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love a big story full of vivid characters, sharp humour and moral heat, with family loyalty, brave acts and kindness set against cruelty and greed.
Che cos’è questo libro
Nicholas Nickleby is a novel by Charles Dickens, first printed in monthly parts from 1838 to 1839. Dickens was in his twenties and already read across England after The Pickwick Papers. He wrote this story with a plain purpose. He wanted to show how cruelty, greed and carelessness damage the young and the poor, and he wanted to make readers laugh while they saw it.
The story begins when a father dies and leaves his wife and two children with almost nothing. The son, Nicholas, is nineteen, honest, quick tempered and brave. His sister Kate is gentle and sharp. Their only relation with money is their uncle Ralph, a London moneylender who has no love for them. From his hands they are sent into a Yorkshire school, a dressmaker's workroom, a travelling theatre company and the houses of the rich and the kind.
You get a crowded tale with villains who are almost too wicked to bear and heroes who are almost too good, and a great deal of comedy in between. You also get a view of Victorian England that made real changes. Let us begin where Nicholas does, with a family left poor and an uncle who does not want them.
In questo riassunto
- 1A poor family meets a hard uncleFree
- 2Dotheboys Hall sells cruelty as schooling
- 3Smike gives Nicholas a cause
- 4Kate is sent into London's hard circles
- 5Nicholas finds a stage and a second family
- 6Two brothers show that kindness can be practical
- 7Ralph's schemes close around Madeline Bray
- 8What the story is really about
- 9How Dickens tells it
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A poor family meets a hard uncle
The novel opens with the Nickleby family in trouble. The father, a gentleman who lost money in speculation, dies and leaves his widow, his son Nicholas and his daughter Kate with very little to live on. They have no home worth keeping and no plan. The only person they can turn to is the father's brother, Ralph Nickleby, who has grown rich in London.
Ralph is a moneylender and dealer in company shares. He measures people by what they can bring him, and he has never cared for his brother's family. When the widow and her children arrive in London, he receives them coldly and offers help only because it will cost him little. He finds Nicholas a place as an assistant at a school in Yorkshire, and he finds work for Kate in a dressmaker's shop.
Mrs Nickleby is one of Dickens's best comic creations. She talks without stopping, wanders from one memory to another, and always believes the best of the wrong people. She trusts Ralph far too long. Her chatter is funny, but it also shows how easily a trusting person can be led into danger by someone with a smooth manner.
We also meet two people who matter greatly later. Newman Noggs is Ralph's clerk, a ragged, half drunk man who was once a gentleman and who has fallen low. He sees what Ralph is doing and quietly takes the side of the Nicklebys. Miss La Creevy, a kind painter of miniature portraits who rents rooms to the family, becomes their loyal friend.
This first stretch sets the pattern of the whole book. Ralph moves people about like pieces on a board, and he does it for profit. Nicholas has little money but plenty of spirit, and he cannot stand by when he sees a wrong done. The reader is left wondering how long those two natures can live under the same sky.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Nicholas Nickleby
- Nicholas is a brave, quick tempered young man responsible for supporting his mother and sister Kate.
- Kate Nickleby
- Kate is Nicholas's gentle but clear sighted sister, working in London while facing unwanted attention from powerful men.
- Ralph Nickleby
- Ralph is Nicholas and Kate's wealthy uncle, a cold moneylender who treats his relatives as opportunities for profit.
- Smike
- Smike is an ill treated young man at Dotheboys Hall who finds kindness and protection in Nicholas.
- Wackford Squeers
- Squeers is Nicholas's employer at Dotheboys Hall, a greedy schoolmaster who abuses the children entrusted to him.
- Newman Noggs
- Newman is Ralph's shabby clerk, a fallen gentleman who secretly helps Nicholas and his family.
- Vincent Crummles
- Crummles is a travelling theatre manager who welcomes Nicholas into his company as an actor and playwright.
- Charles and Ned Cheeryble
- Charles and Ned are wealthy twin merchants whose generosity offers Nicholas honest employment and his family support.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 331,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 22 h 5 min
- Listening time36 h 50 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Nicholas Nickleby
What is Nicholas Nickleby about?
It follows a young man left poor by his father's death, who is sent by his uncle to a cruel Yorkshire school and then through London and the stage. It deals with greed, kindness and family loyalty.
Is Dotheboys Hall a real place?
No, but Dickens based it on real cheap boarding schools in Yorkshire that he visited in 1838. The book drew public attention to the neglect and cruelty that some of these schools allowed.
Who is Smike in Nicholas Nickleby?
Smike is a lame, mistreated young man kept as a drudge at Dotheboys Hall. Nicholas treats him kindly, and the two form a close friendship that sits at the emotional centre of the story.
When was Nicholas Nickleby written?
Dickens wrote it in monthly instalments, and it appeared from 1838 to 1839. It came soon after The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist, and it was published as a single book once the series was complete.
Is Nicholas Nickleby hard to read?
The story moves quickly and the humour helps. Most readers find it easier than Dickens's later novels, and the plot is clear from the start.