Nicholas Nickleby Essay, Research Paper
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.