History Literature / NicholasNickleby

* TokenGoodTeammate: Lord Frederick Verisopht is the only one of Ralph's associates with any kind of a conscience. [[spoiler: It gets him killed when he stands up to Sir Mulberry.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* ChewingTheScenery: In the 1980 stage play, the Crummles's production of [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet]] is actually performed, [[CrowningMomentofFunny with hilarious results]]. Made even better since it was a parody of the Victorian era habit to {{bowdlerise}} WilliamShakespeare.

* ChewingTheScenery: In the 1980 stage play, the Crummles's production of [[Theater/RomeoAndJuliet]] is actually performed, [[CrowningMomentofFunny with hilarious results]]. Made even better since it was a parody of the Victorian era habit to {{bowdlerise}} WilliamShakespeare.

* ChewingtheScenery: In the 1980 stage play, the Crummles's production of [[Theater/RomeoandJuliet]] is actually performed, [[CrowningMomentofFunny with hilarious results]]. Made even better since it was a parody of the Victorian era habit to {{bowdlerise}} WilliamShakespeare.

* ChewingtheScenery: In the 1980 stage play, the Crummles's production of [[Theater/RomeoandJuliet]] is actually performed, [[CrowningMomentofFunny with hilarious results]]. Made even better since it was a parody of the Victorian era habit to Bowdlerise WilliamShakespeare.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: While not evil so much as easily manipulated and a playboy, [[spoiler: Lord Frederick Verisopht]] fits this trope. Upon realizing that his actions allowed Kate to be degraded by [[AbhorrentAdmirer Sir Mulberry]] [[StalkerWithACrush Hawk]], he confronts and threatens Hawk and [[spoiler: gets killed in a duel against him, because he knows that dying unmarried will disinherit him and lose his creditors (Hawk and Ralph Nickleby) large sums of money.]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: While not evil so much as easily manipulated and a playboy, [[spoiler: Lord Frederick Verisopht]] fits this trope. Upon realizing that his actions allowed Kate to be degraded by [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AbhorrentAdmirer Sir Mulberry]] [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StalkerWithACrush Hawk]], he confronts and threatens Hawk and [[spoiler: gets killed in a duel against him, because he knows that dying unmarried will disinherit him and lose his creditors (Hawk and Ralph Nickleby) large sums of money.]]

The novel spawned several film and television adaptations, including one in 2002 with Anne Hathaway and Nathan Lane, among others. It also was adapted into an incredibly faithful, 8.5 ''hour'' long stage production by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1980. For those interested, that one can be watched [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IieU_CjJK6w here]].

* HoYay: Nicholas and Smike, the mentally handicapped orphan he meets at Dotheboys Hall [[spoiler: and later rescues]].
--> '''Nicholas''': My heart is linked to yours.

* LesYay: Madeline initially has "a warmer feeling" for Kate than for Nicholas; it's implied that she mainly falls for him because of his resemblance to his sister.

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* CloudCuckooLander" Mrs. Nickleby who at one is convinced that a mentally ill neighbor who tosses cabbages over her garden wall is in love with her.

* ChildProdigy: Subverted with Ninetta Crummles aka "The Infant Phenomemon." She is advertised as being only ten but is actually eighteen, her growth having been deliberately been stunted with gin. Suggests that the public's obsession with child stars (and attempts to pass them off as younger than they are is OlderThanRadio.

* ChildProgidy: Subverted with Ninetta Crummles aka "The Infant Phenomemon." She is advertised as being only ten but is actually eighteen, her growth having been deliberately been stunted with gin. Suggests that the public's obsession with child stars (and attempts to pass them off as younger than they are is OlderThanDirt.

* TheDogBitesBack: Newman to Ralph, in spectacular fashion.

CharlesDickens' third novel, originally written in serial form, is about a young upper-middle-class man forced to support his mother and sister after his father's death and financial ruin. Grudgingly assisted by his uncle, Ralph Nickleby, the title character Nicholas finds work as a teaching assistant at Dotheboys Hall, possibly the most famous BoardingSchoolOfHorrors in the history of literature, and struggles with the moral dilemma of keeping his livelihood vs. standing up to injustice. Meanwhile, his sister Kate, working as a milliner and lady's companion, faces her own challenges in the form of demanding employers, jealous co-workers and unwanted male attention. Like many other Dickens novels, this story centers on the social conflicts of the time, especially child abuse and harsh working conditions, and relies on satire to get the point across; Wackford Squeers, the headmaster, seems too outrageous to be true until one remembers that Dickens based him on a real life Yorkshire schoolmaster named William Shaw.

* FallingForSomeoneNeverMet: Nicholas falls for Madeline by seeing her twice, long before their first conversation; first he is overcome by her beauty, then by hearing her sad backstory.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Arthur Gride to Madeline Bray, since he's old, ugly, greedy and lecherous; Sir Mulberry Hawk to Kate, since he's a cad.