Read-along – The Old Curiosity Shop (10 of 18)
Chapters 9-16 – and Punch and Judy
Dear Old Curiosity Shoppers,
It’s been a month since we last met! We’ve read eight chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop – originally published in four issues of Master Humphrey’s Clock – and the story is really underway now that Little Nell and her grandfather have left London. Here are my thoughts:
Let me know how you’re finding it!
In a month’s time, on 15 August, we’ll discuss Chapters 17-24.
These chapters were published in weekly issues of Master Humphrey’s Clock as follows:
No.16 (18 July) Chapters 17-18
No.17 (25 July) Chapters 19-20
No.18 (1 August) Chapters 21-22
No.19 (8 August) Chapters 23-24
In this section, we meet Mr Codlin and Mr Short, itinerant Punch and Judy performers.
Readers outside the UK might be unfamiliar with Punch and Judy, the traditional puppet show that has been a staple of the British seaside and summer fetes for 350 years. The earliest recorded Punch and Judy show took place in Covent Garden in 1662.
Traditionally, one performer, the ‘professor’ or ‘punchman’ – Mr Short – stands hidden in a booth performing with glove puppets while his associate, the ‘bottler’ –Mr Codlin – gathers donations from the crowd and occasionally answers back to the puppets.
The story varies from show to show, but revolves around Mr Punch (whose raucous, unintelligible cackle is produced by a ‘swazzle’ held in the performer’s mouth), his wife Judy and a cast of other characters including their baby, their dog Toby, the policeman and the crocodile, and sometimes the doctor, the lawyer, the hangman, the skeleton, the ghost and the devil.
Today the shows are primarily presented to children, but they used to be performed for adults, which perhaps explains the somewhat disturbing subject matter of the tale, which often dpifs domestic abuse, infanticide, serial murder and cannibalism.
The characters have their roots in the Italian commedia del’arte, particularly the character of Pulcinella, but the story is more fairy tale domestic tragicomedy.
As well as The Old Curiosity Shop, some other stories and novels that feature Punch and Judy include ‘The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance’ (1913) by M. R. James, Riddley Walker (1980) by Russell Hoban and Rivers of London (2011) by Ben Aaronovitch.
I look forward to reading the next eight chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop and discussing them in a month’s time, on Friday 15 August!
Here are links to our previous Old Curiosity Shop posts:
The Schedule (14 March 2025)
Charles Dickens (28 March)
0. Forster’s Life of Dickens (4 April)
1. Master Humphrey’s Clock No.1 – and Gog and Magog (11 April)
2. Master Humphrey’s Clock No.2 – and G. K. Chesterton (18 April)
3. Master Humphrey’s Clock No.3 – and Edgar Allan Poe (25 April)
4. Master Humphrey’s Clock No.4 – and the Old Curiosity Shop (2 May)
6. Master Humphrey’s Clock No.6 – and St. Dunstan-in-the-West (16 May)
7. Master Humphrey’s Clock No.7 – and Jack Bamber’s tale (23 May)
9. Chapters 6-8 – and Master Humphrey, from His Clock-Side in the Chimney Corner (20 June)
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At this point, I haven't a clue what is going to happen next. Grandfather and Little Nell going who-knows-where? while Quilp, and Fred Trent and Dick Swiveller are plotting who-knows-what? There are so many possibilities - most of them disturbing. Are we going to hear more of Abel Garland and his family? (I hope so!) And I reckon that gold piece will have its part to play.
We're definitely at 'Dickensian' meaning poverty-stricken at this point - and the description of the poorer areas that Grandfather and Nell pass through really hits the mark. It's definitely a David Lean / monochrome approach. Sadly, much of it feels relevant today.
I was reminded of Sam Weller as well - although the relationship between Nell and Kit also brought to mind Oliver and Nancy, where somebody from the wrong side of the tracks is looking after someone vulnerable. I think I'm hoping that in the same way that Mr Micawber sorted out Uriah Heep, Kit may sort out Quilp.
And Quilp! There's an illustration of him in the edition I have where he is sitting on the back of the chair - and he definitely looks like he's modelling for a gargoyle.
I rather liked Brass as a character (but not as an individual). He's a bit shambolic and you can't imagine him on the right side of the law, but he adds some levity to the mix. Quilp and Brass remind me of a pantomime double act, although Quilp is a bit more sinister.
You can't help worrying about Grandfather's and Little Nell's safety - I'm not sure if it would have been more dangerous then than now. They seem to have struck lucky so far, but I can see their luck running out at some point.
Thanks Henry. The section you read from was probably my favorite part of this month's reading. The description of the new day in particular stood out to me because it's the sort of description I don't normally associate with Dickens:
The town was glad with morning light; places that had shown ugly and distrustful all night long, now wore a smile; and sparkling sun-beams dancing on chamber windows, and twinkling through blink and curtain before sleepers' eyes, shed light even into dreams, and chased away the shadows of the night....The flowers that sleep by night, opened their gentle eyes and turned them to the day. The light, creation's mind, was everywhere, and all things owned its power.
Really lovely, and a jarring contrast to the description of poverty that follows.