Previous
Chapter 53
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
Ralph visits Arthur on the morning that Arthur will marry Madeline. Arthur tells Ralph about the visitor from the night before. (Neither Ralph nor Arthur know that the visitor was Nicholas.) Ralph says that the visitor did Arthur a favor by warning him to keep a watchful eye over his prospective bride. Ralph and Arthur go together to the Brays’ house for the marriage. They both notice a sullen mood when they arrive. Madeline is nowhere to be seen. Mr. Bray tells Ralph and Arthur that she was ill the night before but is still planning to go through with the wedding.
The sullen mood at the Brays’ house underlines the dourness of the prospective marriage. While all parties involved—including Mr. Bray, Madeline, and Arthur—recognize that there is something wrong with the marriage, and it will result in Madeline’s misery, each is intent on going through with the marriage for different reasons. Mr. Bray wants to get out from under his debt, and Arthur wants the secret fortune that belongs to Madeline. Only Madeline has selfless reasons for the marriage, as she wants to help her father and potentially prolong his life by making his life less stressful.
Themes
Mr. Bray pulls Ralph aside. Looking at Arthur, he tells Ralph that the marriage seems cruel. Ralph asks why, and Mr. Bray says it’s obvious. Ralph assures Mr. Bray that the marriage isn’t cruel and that he would do the same thing if he were in Mr. Bray’s position. Mr. Bray says he must go upstairs to dress. He then tells Ralph that he had a dream the night before in which he was upstairs in this house, and the floor began sinking. He fell from an indescribable height and landed in a grave. Ralph says it’s a good thing Mr. Bray woke up.
Mr. Bray makes it clear just how deeply conflicted about the wedding he is. Mr. Bray thinks the wedding is cruel, and he begins to recognize that he is complicit in that potential cruelty. Mr. Bray’s dream further underlines that internal conflict, as it shows that Mr. Bray is plagued by foreboding images, even when asleep. Ralph brushes aside Mr. Bray’s dream by saying it’s a good thing Mr. Bray woke up, making it clear that Ralph doesn’t take Mr. Bray’s misgivings about the wedding seriously.
Themes
After Mr. Bray goes upstairs, someone knocks on the door of the house. Ralph is shocked when Nicholas and Kate enter. Arthur remarks that Nicholas is the person who visited him the night before. Ralph thinks that he should have known it was Nicholas. Nicholas says he is there to try and put a stop to the wedding. Further, he says he is there to offer Madeline a “refuge and a home.” He has brought Kate in case she might be able to persuade Madeline not to go through with the marriage if Nicholas cannot. Ralph tells Kate to leave. He’s ready to use force against Nicholas, he says, but doesn’t want to do the same to Kate. Kate refuses to go. Ralph grabs Kate by the hand roughly, and Nicholas seizes Ralph’s collar.
Nicholas’s statement that he wants to offer Madeline a refuge and home points to the novel’s ideas about family. By welcoming Madeline into the Nicklebys’ home, Nicholas proposes to make her part of the Nickleby family. With that in mind, the idea that the Nickleby home could serve as a refuge for Madeline suggests that family operates in the novel in a similar way. That is, by banding together as a family, the Nicklebys have given themselves a refuge that has enabled them to withstand the persistent hardships they have faced.
Themes
Just then, they hear a loud thump on the floor above them. A scream follows a moment later. Nicholas, Kate, Arthur, and Ralph rush upstairs. They see Mr. Bray dead on the floor. Madeline is kneeling over him. Nicholas asks what happened, and someone says that Mr. Bray had been reclining in a chair. Everyone assumed he was asleep, but when someone tried to wake him, he fell out of the chair. Nicholas takes hold of Madeline. He offers his card to the people who have gathered. He says that he intends to take Madeline to his house. Nicholas tells Ralph and Arthur that their scheme is irrelevant now that Mr. Bray has died. And Nicholas assures them that the fraud they attempted to commit will be uncovered. Nicholas pushes Arthur out of the doorway. He, Madeline, and Kate board a coach to go to the Nicklebys’ house.
This section shows that Mr. Bray’s dream from the night before was prophetic, as it predicted the fall he took from the chair (represented by the great height in the dream) to his death on the floor, (represented by the coffin in the dream). Mr. Bray’s death frees Madeline from going through with the wedding because she was only marrying Arthur to try and get her father out of debt. Now that Mr. Bray is dead, there is no debt to pay, so Madeline doesn’t have to sacrifice herself any longer to try and help her father. Even though Madeline won’t marry Arthur, Nicholas makes it clear that his conflict with Ralph, and now Arthur, is far from over, as he intends to bring their fraud to light.
Themes
Get the entire Nicholas Nickleby LitChart as a printable PDF.
