Mr. Winkle Returns under extraordinary Circumstances
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
September 1837
Steel Engraving
Dickens's Pickwick Papers
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Details
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
The romantic Mr. Winkle astonishes Mr. Pickwick, but recently released from the Fleet Prison, with the announcement that he has married Miss Arabella Allen, sister of the London medical student and Bristol pharmacist, Bob Allen. The newlyweds want Pickwick to reconcile Benjamin Allen and Winkle's father. Phiz disposes the six figures across the space effectively, giving each a different physical pose suggestive of the differing attitudes of the characters involved in the reconciliation of Winkle and Pickwick. The illustrator repeats the figure of the white-bedecked bride in that of the housemaid (right), whom Sam Weller holds by the waist to signify their engagement. The remaining figure (left) is Pickwick's attorney, Perker, who has just persuaded his client to release Mrs. Bardell from the Fleet.
Passage illustrated:
As Sam Weller spoke, he threw the door open, and there rushed tumultuously into the room, Mr. Nathaniel Winkle: leading after him by the hand, the identical young lady who at Dingley Dell had worn the boots with the fur round the tops, and who, now a very pleasing compound of blushes and confusion and lilac silk and a smart bonnet and a rich lace veil, looked prettier than ever.
"Miss Arabella Allen!" exclaimed Mr. Pickwick, rising from his chair.
"No," replied Mr. Winkle, dropping on his knees."Mrs. Winkle. Pardon, my dear friend, pardon?"
Mr. Pickwick could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses, and perhaps would not have done so, but for the corroborative testimony afforded by the smiling countenance of Perker, and the bodily presence, in the background, of Sam and the pretty housemaid; who appeared to contemplate the proceedings with the liveliest satisfaction. [chapter 47, pp. 410-411]
The development of this marriage theme confirms that the picaresque novel has now shifted into the genre of romantic comedy.
References
Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980.
David, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File and Checkmark Books, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. "Pickwick Papers (1836-37). Il. Hablot Knight Browne. The Charles Dickens Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Facing p. 435.
Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins, eds. The Annotated Dickens. Vol. 1. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book Co., 1910.
Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978.
Last modified 6 January 2012