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Chapter 26
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Nicholas Nickleby, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Greed and Selfishness
Power and Abuse
Altruism and Humility
Family and Loyalty
Injustice, Complicity, and Moral Integrity
Summary
Analysis
After Mrs. Nickleby returns home, she falls into a reverie imagining Kate as Mulberry’s wife. The next day, two of Mulberry’s friends—Mr. Pluck and Mr. Pyke—visit Mrs. Nickleby. They say Mulberry sent them to make sure that Mrs. Nickleby didn’t catch a cold on the trip home the night before. Mrs. Nickleby assures them she didn’t. They then invite her to a play that night in a private box with Mulberry. Mrs. Nickleby initially declines, but Pluck and Pyke reassure her by saying that Ralph and Frederick will both be there as well. Eventually, Mrs. Nickleby accepts the invitation. Pluck and Pyke see Kate’s portrait, painted by Miss La Creevy, sitting on the mantle. They express their admiration for Kate and go so far as to kiss the portrait. Mrs. Nickleby is moved by the high estimation the men have for Kate and the Nickleby family.
This passage reinforces the idea that Mrs. Nickleby is woefully out of touch with reality, as she imagines Kate and Mulberry married when Kate abhors Mulberry. Mrs. Nickleby also shows again that she is easily susceptible to manipulation. She could have been suspicious when Pluck and Pyke—Mulberry’s henchmen—showed up at her door. Instead, she takes their interest in her at face value. And while Pluck and Pyke’s actions, including kissing Kate’s portrait, seem off-putting, Mrs. Nickleby interprets them as flattering. In short, Mrs. Nickleby seems to not be the best judge of character and also seems to not be aware of the possibly underhanded motives of others.
Themes
Pluck and Pyke also say that Mulberry is in love with Kate. Mrs. Nickleby has never been more convinced of her own ingenuity than on that day. Though she’s never seen Kate and Mulberry together, she’s convinced she’s put two and two together to determine that her daughter is secretly in love with Mulberry, just as he is in love with Kate. That night, a private chariot brings Mrs. Nickleby to the theater. When she gets to the theater, she’s alarmed that Ralph isn’t there. She asks Mulberry where he is, and Mulberry—who can’t be bothered to come up with an excuse—asks Pyke and Pluck where Ralph is. Neither of them comes up with a convincing reason explaining why he’s not there, but the matter is dropped when Mulberry says he hears a familiar voice.
Mrs. Nickleby mistakes her own gullibility and obliviousness for ingenuity when she becomes convinced that Kate and Mulberry are in love with one another. Mrs. Nickleby seems to begin to suspect Mulberry’s ulterior motives when Ralph isn’t at the theater, even though Pluck and Pyke said he would be. Mulberry’s disdain for Mrs. Nickleby is crystallized when he can’t even bother to come up with a lie to mollify her concerns, suggesting that he knows she will fall for his scheme, even if he doesn’t put any effort into that scheme.
Themes
Mulberry asks Mrs. Nickleby if she recognizes the voice. Mrs. Nickleby can’t believe that it’s Kate. Mulberry pulls back the curtain between his box and the adjoining box, and Mrs. Nickleby sees Kate sitting with the Wititterlys. Kate is shocked and repulsed. She doesn’t understand why her mother is with these horrible men. But Kate is powerless to extricate herself from Mulberry’s scheme. Instead, she is forced to introduce Mulberry, Pyke, Pluck, and Frederick to Mrs. Wititterly. Mrs. Wititterly is excited about the prospect of being in the company of a lord (Lord Frederick), and within 30 seconds, Mulberry’s party has crammed itself into the Wititterlys’ theater box.
This passage reveals Mulberry’s full plan. He has arranged an encounter with Kate in front of Kate’s employer and mother so that Kate won’t be able to publicly confront him. Mulberry thus manipulates the good manners of those present, including Kate, to weasel his way closer to her. Again, it’s worth noting that Mulberry was able to put this scheme in motion because Ralph has failed, at every chance, to do the bare minimum to look out for Kate’s well-being.
Themes
After the play is over, Pluck and Pyke ensure that Mulberry and Kate are separated from the rest of the group. Mulberry grips Kate’s arm, and Kate tries to get free. She curses Mulberry under her breath. Mulberry responds that Kate “looks prettier in passion.” When Kate reaches the rest of the group, she throws herself into the Wititterlys’ carriage and begins to cry. Pluck and Pyke create a commotion to try and distract the group from Kate’s tears. After Kate and the Wititterlys leave, Mulberry talks to Frederick. He tells Frederick that he (Mulberry) did exactly as they’d discussed. He bribed a servant to determine where the Wititterlys would be and arranged for them all to meet. Now, Frederick has a standing invitation to visit the Wititterlys, and he (Mulberry) has spent the entire night talking Frederick up to Kate. Frederick agrees that Mulberry has done well.
This passage shows that while Mulberry is carrying out a scheme to get closer to Kate, he is also carrying out a scheme to convince Frederick that he (Mulberry) is acting in Frederick’s interests. The second part of that scheme (which involves lying to Frederick) underlines the novel’s ideas about the illogic of using one’s own self-interest as the primary basis of one’s decisions. In this case, Mulberry makes it clear that he is untrustworthy and willing to betray even those close to him, including Frederick. The novel implicitly asks, if Mulberry is willing to betray his closest friends, what will stop others from betraying him?
Themes
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