Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby: The hero of the novel. His father has died and left Nicholas and his family penniless. Nicholas is honest and steadfast, but his youth and inexperience of the world can lead him to be violent, naïve, and emotional. In his preface to the novel, Dickens writes, "There is only one other point, on which I would desire to offer a remark. If Nicholas be not always found to be blameless or agreeable, he is not always intended to appear so. He is a young man of an impetuous temper and of little or no experience; and I saw no reason why such a hero should be lifted out of nature." He devotes himself primarily to his friends and family and fiercely defies those who wrong the ones he loves.

Ralph Nickleby: The book's principal , Nicholas's uncle. He seems to care about nothing but money and takes an immediate dislike to the idealistic Nicholas; however, he does harbour something of a soft spot for Kate. Ralph's anger at Nicholas's beating of Wackford Squeers leads to a serious rift with his nephew, and after Nicholas interferes with his machinations several more times, Ralph schemes to deliberately hurt and humiliate Nicholas; but the only man Ralph ends up destroying is himself. When it is revealed that Smike was his son, and that the boy died hating him, he takes his own life. He dies without a will, and his family refuses to take his property, so his hard-earned fortune is taken by the Crown and lost.

antagonist

Catherine "Kate" Nickleby: Nicholas's younger sister. Kate is a fairly passive character, typical of Dickensian women, but she shares some of her brother's fortitude and strong will. She does not blanch at hard labour to earn her keep, and defends herself against the lecherous Sir Mulberry Hawk. She finds well-deserved happiness with Frank Cheeryble.

Mrs. Catherine Nickleby: Nicholas and Kate's mother, who provides much of the novel's comic relief. The muddleheaded Mrs. Nickleby often does not see the true evil her children encounter until it is directly pointed out to her, and her obtuseness occasionally worsens her children's predicaments. She is stubborn, prone to long digressions on irrelevant or unimportant topics and unrealistic fantasies, and displays an often vague grasp of what is going on around her.

Arthur Adrian has examined the effect on Yorkshire schools of their representation in the novel.

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Galia Benzimann has investigated the sociopolitical ramifications and artistic manner of Dickens depiction of Dotheboys School, in the context of boarding school education in northern England and child labour concerns in general.

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Joseph Childers has studied the themes of commerce and business in the novel.

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Carolyn Dever has examined the depiction of emotional states and character in the novel via such genres as melodrama.

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Timothy Gilmore has analysed the presentation of capitalism and commodification in the novel.

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Richard Hannaford has discussed Dickens's use of fairy tale motifs in the novel.

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Mark M. Hennelly Jr. has critiqued various scenes and performances of astonishment as an element of theatricality in the novel.

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Carol Hanbery Mackay has examined the use of techniques of melodrama in the novel.

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Andrew Mangham has studied parallels in depictions away from strict realism between William Hogarth and Dickens, in the specific context of the latter's Nicholas Nickleby.

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Sylvia Manning has examined Dickens use of comic parody in contrast with more serious depictions of similar plot elements in the overall narrative.

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Jerome Meckier has discussed structural aspects of the novel on two levels, the serial structure and the overall single-narrative structure.

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Tore Rem has critiqued the role of the Crummles episodes in the novel.

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Leslie Thompson has evaluated the soliloquies of Mrs. Nickleby in the novel.

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Leona Toker has commented on the presence of elements related to the discourse on Lent, with particular relation to hunger and fasting, in the novel.

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at Project Gutenberg

Nicholas Nickleby

public domain audiobook at LibriVox

Nicholas Nickleby