The Haunted Man and The Ghosts Bargain : Literature Classics (Annotated)

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Redlaw, too, is haunted by a similar sorrow: The gloomy, alienated intellectual of this novella bears a name which seems to anticipate both the Tennyson's phrase "Nature, red in tooth and claw" from In Memoriam lvi and Darwin's thesis about "survival of the fittest" in Origin of Species , although Dickens probably intended it as an allusion to the eye-for-an-eye ethic of the Old Testament, as opposed to the central doctrines of repentance and forgiveness in the New Testament, doctrines that the action of the story compels Redlaw to apply to himself.

Although Dickens was fascinated by the German Romantic genre of the ghost story and wrote a baker's dozen of them himself, mostly in the humorous- satirical and allegorical modes, he was nevertheless rather skeptical about such entities in real life:. Doubtful and scant of proof at first, doubtful and scant of proof still, all mankind's experience of them is, that their alleged appearances have been, in all ages, marvellous, exceptional, and resting on imperfect ground proof; that in vast numbers of cases they are known to be delusions superinduced by a well understood and by no means uncommon disease.

One is reminded of Scrooge's scientifically rationalizing the appearance of Marley's ghost as symptomatic of a digestive disorder: In Part Two, Redlaw realizes his mistake because the cancellation of such memories has also cancelled similar memories for those whom he touches. At his lowest ebb, as incapable of human sympathy as "a man turned to stone" Part 3 — perhaps an oblique allusion to the Mosaic tablets of the law, hearing Christmas music, Redlaw begins to recover through the agency of the angelic Milly Swidger, an emotional, unintellectual, humble but caring woman who has lost her only child.

Like the traditional music of the season which the early Victorian churches were reviving in the s, Milly represents the benevolent effects of memory, underscored by the last words of the tale: But a modern, psycho- biographical perspective makes this last Christmas Book intelligible. The same sentiment is expressed more confidently and humorously through Scrooge in A Christmas Carol , who as an infant lost his mother and was rejected by his unforgiving father, and now freezes everyone else out of his private life.

There is little of the Carol 's or The Chimes ' gusto in this novella's happy ending, despite Redlaw's coming to terms with his past.

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In taking itself so seriously, in its rhetorical convolutions, and in its bright but cynical protagonist, The Haunted Man anticipates another short novel a decade later: A Tale of Two Cities. Both books share the motif of the terrible secret from the past that blights the present, especially for the story's melancholy professional, and of that alienated individual's redemption through love. But, then, aren't Professor Redlaw, attorney Sydney Carton, novelist David Copperfield, and even businessman Philip Pirrip all reflections of the discontented, middle-aged writer that the quondam "Fielding of the Nineteenth Century" became by the close of the s?

Although the critical reception of the last of the Christmas Books of Charles Dickens was, as Michael Slater remarks, "very mixed, with hostile predominating" CB II, , with its charming red cover, gilt lettering, and abundant illustrations by a talented team of first-rate artists, Dickens was able to announce the immensely satisfying figure of 18, in advance sales to Thomas Beard on 19 December, After a lapse of two years, Dickens was back on the Christmas market with a vengeance, despite a lukewarm response to The Battle of Life 19 December, In some cases 's little scarlet book, lavishly illustrated with thirteen plates by four well-known artists Daniel Maclise, Clarkson Stanfield, Richard Doyle, and once again John Leech was greeted with what amounts to critical ridicule: In the seasonal offering Dickens had abandoned the allegorical flavour, "the explicit social criticism" Guida , and the supernatural machinery common to A Christmas Carol , The Chimes , and The Cricket on the Hearth , subsequently much-dramatised.

Now, after an enforced absence of two Christmases, he reverted to these narrative features and strategies, albeit with a less heart-warming curmudgeon than Ebenezer Scrooge, Trotty Veck, John Peerybingle, or Dr. Jeddler as his protagonist. Dickens learned two valuable lessons from his Christmas book failure, The Battle of Life: Here Dickens returned to the themes, structure, and strategies of A Christmas Carol , and while it is in no way the masterpiece that the Carol undoubtedly is, to modern readers it is more interesting and complex than the intervening three books.

In its exegesis of the role memory in shaping a character's moral fiber, and in its cohesive and economical plot, it both emulates the Carol and anticipates the novels which succeeded it. Consistently throughout the Christmas Books Dickens had adhered to the tight form of the novella, with a main and a subplot, a limited cast of characters, highly individualized dialogue, and a programme of illustration which he had both orchestrated and conducted, as his letters to the various artists reveal.

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The whole series involves 57 plates and seven artists in all:. In their place appeared three drawings by the self-taught artist Frank Stone father of Marcus Stone who was to illustrate Our Mutual Friend who had been friendly with Dickens since they met in the Shakespeare Club in ; and five drawings by John Tenniel who later took Doyle's place on Punch and achieved fame through his illustrations for Lewis Carroll.

Whereas A Christmas Carol , more modestly illustrated with eight plates by a single artist, did not even contain a list of illustrations, the remaining Christmas Books had emphasized the pictorial element. In a sense, the second in the series, The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Ran an Old Year Out and a New Year In , had set the visual pattern for the series, having thirteen plates ten of them dropped into the text as a stunning synthesis of pictorial and textual narratives by four accomplished artists. This team approach Dickens inaugurated almost certainly to ensure that all plates would be ready in time for the December publication date.

His illustrators were busy in those days, working for Punch and other illustrated magazines, as well as working on other writers' books.

Despite the fact that the illustrations added considerably to the purchase price of Dickens's annual Christmas offering especially if these were hand-coloured and would thereby decrease his profits as was very much the case with the Carol five years earlier , Dickens did not merely maintain the programme of illustration that accompanied previous Christmas Books; he expanded it.

With the exception of Tenniel, the artists were all close friends of Dickens well before he commenced writing The Haunted Man in the summer of Dickens first became acquainted with Stanfield in Dec. Tenniel has been here today and will go to work on the frontispiece. We must arrange for a dinner here [Devonshire Terrace], very shortly, when you and he may meet. He seems to be a very agreeable fellow, and modest.

Tenniel was some three years younger than Leech and considerably younger than Stanfield , but had already exhibited at the Society of British Artists in and at the Royal Academy Since Dickens's usual engraver, L. Martin whose firm was responsible for seven of the 17 Haunted Man plates was married to Tenniel's sister, it is surprising that Dickens and Tenniel had not met sooner. The year after illustrating The Haunted Man Tenniel replaced Doyle on the staff of Punch when the latter left because as a Catholic he objected to the magazine's attacks on the papacy.

Dickens, not yet aware of Tenniel's capabilities, confined him to ornamental subjects the frontispiece, the title-page, and the fire-side scene that opens the story proper , and gave over to him what Leech had not the time for, resulting in the extremely wooden renditions of Mrs.

A Hammerton explains why, despite their long-standing friendship which included a trip to Cornwall together in and Stanfield's brilliant theatrical scenery painting, especially of seascapes, Dickens did not entrust a larger share of any of the Christmas Book illustrated programmes to him. In "To Frank Stone" 21 Nov. Stone's sequence follows Milly Swidger wearing the same dress in each ; "Milly and the Old Man," "Milly and the Student," and "Milly and the Children,"all executed with that firmness of line and Giotto-like solidity of figure for which his work was known.

For there is brilliant comedy. What would Dickens be without his irrepressible instinct to make everyone laugh at some absurdity, or let out an uncertain giggle after a grim, morose, gloom-ridden description, or tragic, savage, devastating part of the story. Here, Dickens seems conscious of drowning his readers in pessimism, with his lengthy descriptions of Mr. Redlaw and the ancient edifice he inhabits. Redlaw for a while, as we learn of another inhabitant in the unversity: But, the Phantom was not to be gainsaid. It would yet manifest itself: It is an extraordinary offer, one which the troubled Mr.

Redlaw has seemed to crave: Have I thought that, alone, or has it been the thought of thousands upon thousands, generation after generation? All human memory is fraught with sorrow and trouble. Redlaw does not hesitate: Yes, I close the bargain. I WILL forget my sorrow, wrong, and trouble!

Without recovering yourself the power that you have yielded up, you shall henceforth destroy its like in all whom you approach.

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Your wisdom has discovered that the memory of sorrow, wrong, and trouble is the lot of all mankind, and that mankind would be the happier, in its other memories, without it. Or will it be, as in so many of the fairytales beloved by Dickens, that the fulfillment of a desire, or a wish when granted, becomes a curse?

There are three sections: First though, we meet another delightful family, the Tetterbys. A family who own a newspaper shop, this family had me grinning from ear to ear. The shop which tried so hard to be all things to all people, but actually succeeded at nothing; the tiny man enamoured of his pleasantly amply proportioned wife: Considered as an individual, she was rather remarkable for being robust and portly; but considered with reference to her husband, her dimensions became magnificent.

Nor did they assume a less imposing proportion, when studied with reference to the size of her seven sons, who were but diminutive. In the case of Sally, however, Mrs. Tetterby had asserted herself, at last; as nobody knew better than the victim Johnny, who weighed and measured that exacting idol every hour in the day. They represent a class and a social group with which Dickens was very familiar; his own family when he was a child. And here their portraits are not as sketchily drawn as the Cratchits, but beautifully filled out. And yet … to me the balance is not right.

We see the wonderful creations Dickens has made us love, become twisted into something dark and evil: Tetterby, going to the door by mere accident, saw him viciously pick out a weak place in the suit of armour where a slap would tell, and slap that blessed child. We see them become callous, brutal, bitter and wrathful.

And we learn of course, who the student is, why he was so reticent, and what connection he has with Mr. Redlaw becomes increasingly desolate. When he sees the Phantom, he begs it to allow others to be free of his curse even if he must remain under the curse of forgotten memories himself. He describes himself as: She is clearly the key to unlocking the curse of memory loss, although the Phantom does not say how or why. The ending makes us realise why this is a Christmas book.

It is an allegorical tale, in which the Phantom helps to effect the moral transformation of Mr. It is the spirit of Christmas which is evoked, rather than any literal interpretation of the Christmas story.

Just as Scrooge is taught a lesson and turns his life around, this tale is also about redemption and reconciliation. It tells both Redlaw and us, that we need the bad as well as the good; only then do we appreciate what we have. As Dickens wrote to John Forster in For The Haunted Man , he commissioned no less than four artists, who had either worked for him before, or were to do so again: Although these illustrators excelled in humorous drawings, especially in some of the earlier novels — indeed, there is a lot to be said for each interpretation — I do personally prefer the illustrations in the volume I have reviewed here, which are by Charles Green.

Charles Green illustrated four out of the five books, and this one has more than 30 beautifully atmospheric monochrome watercolours, which have an almost photographic quality. They match the moodiness of this piece perfectly, and to me are more apt than the caricatures which suit some of his other work so well. I do feel that this is a dark piece overall. Dickens has largely moved away from the domestic sentiment and communal cheer of the previous Christmas Books. The brooding darkness, for me, was done a little too well. Perhaps Dickens was exorcising his own ghosts.

He was all too familiar with traumatic pain from his past. Redlaw tells the Phantom that he was tortured by the memory of the death of his sister. He had also, like Redlaw, been rejected by his true love Maria Beadnell in his youth. He felt abandoned by his family, forced to work in a blacking factory at work he loathed.

It has been said that even as an adult, Dickens would weep when passing by the site of the shoe blacking factory from his childhood. The family was left penniless, the family home was given up, and his mother and all the other children lived in prison with their father. Dickens was money-conscious to the point of being obsessed with making it, for the rest of his life.

We see clearly throughout his work, that these vivid childhood memories informed much of his writing, in his politics; his sensitivity to the conditions of the poor, the imprisoned, and the disenfranchised. Dostoevsky reported that Dickens told him: From the one who feels the opposite I make my evil characters, from the one who feels as a man ought to feel I try to live my life. If Dickens could see himself as having two selves, then perhaps he could also see this as a way to construct a character as well.

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In a similar way, my rating of three stars here is a purely subjective one. Any writing by Dickens, for me, is streets ahead of most other writers. A more objective view may put this at 4 stars. But within his oeuvre, this remains at a middling three star read for me. I can now see why he preferred to keep the idea of the Phantom ambiguous: Yet it is clearly a very personal story by Dickens, which perhaps answers my question near the beginning of this review: When talking about his own harrowing past, Dickens said: But how difficult this must have felt for him personally, given the anguished memories which he constantly had to endure.

I have now reviewed all five of Dickens's Christmas Books. My reviews of the others can be found on my shelves. The latter continue throughout the work and to great effect, especially as Redlaw traverses the streets with the orphan boy. You worry about them both. In what was almost a 3. I thought the last paragraph was perfect. View all 4 comments. Jun 10, Joey Woolfardis rated it it was ok Shelves: The Haunted Man is Dickens' longest Christmas story, though it is mostly made of repetition and pointless metaphors.

A university chemist wishes for a spectre to remove all of his pain, anguish and painful memories, whilst giving him the ability to pass that terrible curse in to others. What follows is a story of how we cannot exist without our past pain, because good and evil must co-exist for there to be any humanity at all. It is a touching tale but far too long and far too Dickensian for even The Haunted Man is Dickens' longest Christmas story, though it is mostly made of repetition and pointless metaphors.

It is a touching tale but far too long and far too Dickensian for even me. There were also many twee moments, but the overall message you may gleam from the words is a nevertheless very important one. Unfortunately this story was very difficult for me to digest. Regarding its language, there is a lot of unnecessary repetition and it might be fun once or twice to let a husband and wife repeat the same sentences over and over again, but it gets dull soon. I've read that Dickens got paid by word count, so that might be an explanation for the overabundance of repetition, but it really dragged the story down.

The plot itself is rather confuse and more often than not the author failed to paint a clean Unfortunately this story was very difficult for me to digest. The plot itself is rather confuse and more often than not the author failed to paint a clean picture of what was actually happening. He jumps between conversations, often it is even unclear how many people are involved in a scene. But I could overlook all that, consider the time it has been written in and might be more forgiving in my rating, but what was really off-putting for me was the preachy way in which conservative ideals of family are celebrated.

Every bachelor or single character is depicted as a miserable and selfish person, who ruins the lives of others. In contrast family values are celebrated as the holy grail of happiness and even when there is discourse between a couple, it seldomly lasts long or has a negative consequence. Misery itself is portrayed as something that is necessary to truly value the positive things in life, which is another conservative myth to uphold the power of the ruling classes from my point of view and humble the lower classes into submission. I generally don't have an issue with conservative thinking, but when it is presented in such a preachy way as in this story, it leaves a very bad taste.

In fact, as Dickens could probably not write more than one of these stories a year without incurring severe damage to his health — at least, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here —, so I found it impossible to read more than one of these stories during one year without a long-term disruption of my digestive system because, with the exception of the first one, they are as sweet and as heavy as plum pudding in aspic, with a double icing of dulce de leche.

The aspic-tried Victorian palate might have developed a certain liking for such glutinous fare, but unlike most other works by Dickens, they have hardly stood the test of time, at least of my time. Dickens himself seems to have found it increasingly difficult to muster up working hours and energy to write them because, as he confided to his friend Forster, this last Christmas novel required so much of his time — he started writing it in September — and energy that he began to have serious doubts as to whether he would find himself able to carry on the tradition of writing Christmas novellas, and so, The Haunted Man , which was finally published in December , was to be the last of its kind.

Still, one may ask oneself whether a modern reader might not have greater difficulty in reading the novel than Dickens had in writing it. Unluckily, the only one in this story. Be that as it may, The Haunted Man , with its ambivalent hero, could probably not have been written by the earlier Dickens, but marks a period in which the Inimitable had become more interested in psychological complexity — a surmise that is borne out when you consider that he was writing Dombey and Son in , a novel about a merchant who is not essentially evil-minded but simply blinded by arrogance and unable to show tender feelings to his daughter.

Apart from that, like practically all Christmas stories, also The Haunted Man rewards the undaunted reader with passages of powerful and impressive prose such as this one: When it was just so dark, as that the forms of things were indistinct and big—but not wholly lost. When sitters by the fire began to see wild faces and figures, mountains and abysses, ambuscades and armies, in the coals. When people in the streets bent down their heads and ran before the weather.

When those who were obliged to meet it, were stopped at angry corners, stung by wandering snow-flakes alighting on the lashes of their eyes,—which fell too sparingly, and were blown away too quickly, to leave a trace upon the frozen ground. When windows of private houses closed up tight and warm. When lighted gas began to burst forth in the busy and the quiet streets, fast blackening otherwise. When stray pedestrians, shivering along the latter, looked down at the glowing fires in kitchens, and sharpened their sharp appetites by sniffing up the fragrance of whole miles of dinners.

When travellers by land were bitter cold, and looked wearily on gloomy landscapes, rustling and shuddering in the blast. When mariners at sea, outlying upon icy yards, were tossed and swung above the howling ocean dreadfully. When lighthouses, on rocks and headlands, showed solitary and watchful; and benighted sea-birds breasted on against their ponderous lanterns, and fell dead. When, in rustic places, the last glimmering of daylight died away from the ends of avenues; and the trees, arching overhead, were sullen and black. When, in parks and woods, the high wet fern and sodden moss, and beds of fallen leaves, and trunks of trees, were lost to view, in masses of impenetrable shade.

When mists arose from dyke, and fen, and river. When lights in old halls and in cottage windows, were a cheerful sight. When the mill stopped, the wheelwright and the blacksmith shut their workshops, the turnpike-gate closed, the plough and harrow were left lonely in the fields, the labourer and team went home, and the striking of the church clock had a deeper sound than at noon, and the churchyard wicket would be swung no more that night.

Instead, they should embrace even those darker moments as parts of their lives, as stations on the journey that made them what they are. My, I start sounding sentimental myself now, but maybe I still managed to get my idea across, namely that there is a great deal of maturity in accepting life as it is and still not giving up improving it for yourself and others.

In the spirit of this idea, I wish you all a Happy ! View all 6 comments. Nov 24, Katie Lumsden rated it it was amazing Shelves: I really love this novella - a great, engaging, powerful read. Dec 28, Linda rated it it was ok Shelves: I felt as if this story was a bit too difficult to figure out what was actually happening. I still pulled out some bits that make me love reading Dickens, but on the whole this story was too much work. Perhaps my brain cells were not up to the challenge after the hectic holidays. View all 5 comments.

Dec 27, Jason rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Dickens fans, Christmas Spirit stuff. It spoke to my heart.

It stabbed right to the center of it because I could relate to the theme and its moral. There were a few morals, but the main one for me was "don't be a wanton dick. I set it to stone, or iron even. It's more difficult nowadays, but sometimes I just don't want to feel. When one feels, he is subject to pain, and I don't always want that. Pain from wrongs done to me. Guilt over wrongs I've done others. Sadness over happy events that will never come again. Sometimes I just don't want to feel these things.

View as Grid List. Sort by Created on Position Name: A to Z Name: Z to A Price: Low to High Price: Dickens's self-imposed task in A Child's History of England makes it particularly revealing of his attitudes to history, morality personal and social , children and education A Christmas Carol is perhaps Dickens's single best-known and most-loved work. Here, it is coupled with four other short pieces:

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