Humour in Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers

HUMOUR IN CHARLES DICKENS’ PICKWICK PAPERS

Humour is something innate in man and in this world full of strife it is perhaps our saving grace. “Comedy is acting out optimism”, says Robin Williams and it is the best antidote to all that is wrong with the world. The presence of humour and comedy in literature is indeed a matter of great antiquity. From the ancient myths of trickster gods to the classical Greek comedies, to medieval jesters, to political cartoons, the role of humour has been vital in literature. In English literature, humour is something ironical which is at once pleasant and serious, sentimental and satirical and appeals particularly to the English spirit. It is subtle and it appeals more to the brain than to the heart. The seed of humour in England was sown by Chaucer and it experienced its growth in the hands of Shakespeare, Jonson, Fielding and Smollett, ultimately reaching a full blossom in the hands of Dickens during the Victorian period.

                    Charles Dickens is not only one of the greatest writers in English but also is one of the liveliest. Dickens, in his writings is never far from humour and his humour rests on the freshness of observation. Laughter lay very near to him with a propensity to break out generously, ruthlessly and uncontrollably. Dickens himself commented,” There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” His humour evokes strong emotions that result in laughter as well as pathos and “he used his humour for serious purposes, attacking and persuading the reader more and more subtly.

                           Pickwick Papers is Dickens’ first novel and it is essentially a serious novel that deals with many unpleasant realities of contemporary Victorian society such as the stagnant squalor of Fleet Prison, skepticism, knavery, schemes of mercenary marriage etc. But its serious aspects are put forth in the guise of comedy and humour. With the publication of this novel, Dickens’ gift of humour became apparent. Here we find Dickens, the pure humourist rejoicing in his ability to dash off character after character, rejoicing too in the language he puts in their mouths-a language so fertile and exuberant in comic invention a to have a lyrical quality that is almost poetic. Mr. Pickwick, the leader of the Pickwick Club undergoes the rigours of a trial for a breach of promise; he is

put into prison; he is fleeced by rogues and humbugs, charlatans and snobs run riot through the book. Yet, the world in the book is an innocent world. Here is a world of fairy-tale with bad fairies, not monstrous but absurd. In this book, the cruelties and miseries of the real world are sterilized by humour.

                         It is said that Pickwick Papers is a burlesque on the touring and sporting club of the Victorian England. It narrates the hilarious adventure/misadventure of the benevolent but accident prone Mr. Pickwick and his club members namely Mr. Winkle, Mr. Snodgrass and Mr. Tupman and a wonderful servant, Sam Weller in the team. A reading of the novel shows that the element of humour and comedy is writ large in various activities and situations, characters, ironical comments and in exposition of odds and oddities, eccentricities, exaggerations and absurdities.