"'Who'll soon get better, I say,' repeated the old woman." — fiftieth illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"Who'll soon get better, I say," repeated the old woman. by W. L. Sheppard. Fiftieth illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter LVIII, "After a Lapse," page 334. Page 335's Heading: "'So Fades and Languishes — Grows Dim, and Dies'." 9.4 x 13.8 mm (3 ⅝ by 5 ¼ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: At Alice Marwood's Deathbed

The old woman, whose wits appeared disorderly by alarm, remorse, or grief, came creeping along the side of the bed, opposite to that on which Harriet sat; and kneeling down, so as to bring her withered face upon a level with the coverlet, and stretching out her hand, so as to touch her daughter’s arm, began:

“My handsome gal —”

Heaven, what a cry was that, with which she stopped there, gazing at the poor form lying on the bed!

“Changed, long ago, mother! Withered, long ago,” said Alice, without looking at her. “Don’t grieve for that now.”

“— My daughter,” faltered the old woman, “my gal who’ll soon get better, and shame ’em all with her good looks.”

Alice smiled mournfully at Harriet, and fondled her hand a little closer, but said nothing.

“Who’ll soon get better, I say,” repeated the old woman, menacing the vacant air with her shrivelled fist, “and who’ll shame ’em all with her good looks — she will. I say she will! she shall!” — as if she were in passionate contention with some unseen opponent at the bedside, who contradicted her — “my daughter has been turned away from, and cast out, but she could boast relationship to proud folks too, if she chose. Ah! To proud folks! There’s relationship without your clergy and your wedding rings — they may make it, but they can’t break it — and my daughter’s well related. Show me Mrs. Dombey, and I’ll show you my Alice’s first cousin.” [Chapter LVIII, "After a Lapse," 334-335]

Commentary: The tranquil, bourgeois death of Alice Marwood

Originally Dickens had thought to kill off the second Mrs. Dombey, but instead merely despatched her cousin, the illegitimate Edith lookalike Alice Marwood. Thus, the fifty-eighth chapter devolves into another Dickens death-bed scene and confessional as witch-like Good Mrs. Brown springs the plot secret of Alice's birth. As soon as Harriet Carker leaves her bedside, Alice expires tranquilly after a hard life, as befits a reformed prostitute. One can discern little of her former beauty or defiant character in the wasted figure quietly expiring in her sleep.

Carker has died without a will, leaving his considerable estate to his brother and sister. Harriet, however, feels she should not take what is in effect Dombey's money, and asks Morfin, a senior member of Dombey's staff and her brother John's friend and mentor, to arrange discretely that her inheritance goes to support the necessitous Dombey. After she leaves Morfin’s house, Harriet goes to Alice's bedside, where the former Australian transportee is being nursed by Little Paul Dombey's former attendant, Mrs. Wickam. At Alice’s request, Mrs. Brown now reveals to Harriet that Edith and Alice are cousins since Mrs. Brown’s lover, Alice's natural father, was the elder brother of Edith’s father. Despite the personal tragedies that befall the various characters, including Dombey's loss of both wives and his son, Dickens suggests a hopeful future for his daughter, even after Dombey and Son's financial collapse, a corporate bankruptcy which is partly the result of Carker's chicanery and deliberate mismanagement, and partly the result of Dombey's own obstinacy.

In the deathbed illustration, Sheppard shows the nurse, Mrs. Wickham, preparing a hot beverage (left) as Harriet (in mourning, back to us) at the bedside comforts the dieing young woman, holding her hand to reassure her that she will look after Alice's mother. Her fist clenched in determination ("passionate contention"), Mrs. Brown is the smallest figure in the composition, now very much peripheral after the significant role she has played in bringing down Carker. Alice's belated reward for a hard life, implies Sheppard, is a large, comfortable bed on which to die, with suitable attendance. Sheppard fills the room with natural light, as befits a spiritual moment.

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)

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Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.

Created 2 March 2022