Essay/Term paper: Nicholas nickleby

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby



In Nicholas Nickleby ,the play, Dickens

dramatically portrays real life through his characters

and the experiences they face. In the play the characters

are very straight forward with their emotions and

everything they do seems so extreme , but at the same

time real.

An example of this realism, in the play, is the

character of Ralph Nickleby. He is a very conniving

person who uses people and takes advantage of them

whenever he gets the opportunity to do so. Personally he

reminds me of a greedy business man who enjoys taking

people and draining them for everything they are worth.

Then when they run dry he is all of a sudden not their

friend. Ralph Nickleby always seemed so evil and cold. I

see many similarities between the characters of Ralph

Nickleby and Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. They

both are very greedy men who only care about

themselves.

Another very good example of realism in the play

is Ralph Nickleby"s niece and nephew. Nicholas

Nickleby and his sister Kate are very benevolent people.

They are very caring and excepting of others. They reach

out to the people who need it the most. When Nicholas

saw Smike and the rest of Dotheboys Hall he was shocked

and saddened to see how they were treated by the

Squires. Nicholas and Kate are almost opposites of their

uncle, Ralph.

Smike is one of those people who make you feel bad

when you feel sorry for your self because even though he

had never really received love from anyone he was a

loving and caring person. He was grateful of what he

had when he had nothing. He was very appreciative of

Nicholas" and Kate"s caring treatment to him and he

always made that clear. He is somebody who we could

all learn a thing or two from.

The Mantolini"s are a family of snobby people.

They own a dress shop where the rich go for their

clothing and that makes them believe that they are

God"s gift. They are trying too hard to fit in with the rich

and classy people, so they come off exactly the way they

are...phony. Today you see people who are exactly the

same as the Mantolini"s. They think that the best thing to

be is rich and being rich makes you this wonderful

person who people adore and look up to. They reflect the

superficial people of today.

By these examples you see how Dickens reflects real life.

In this play he showed many different views and sides of the

people in this world, then and now.