Now, the fact was, that both Mr and Mrs Squeers viewed the boys in the light of their proper and natural enemies; or, in other words, they held and considered that their business and profession was to get as much from every boy as could by possibility be screwed out of him. On this point they were both agreed, and behaved in unison accordingly. The only difference between them was, that Mrs Squeers waged war against the enemy openly and fearlessly, and that Squeers covered his rascality, even at home, with a spice of his habitual deceit; as if he really had a notion of someday or other being able to take himself in, and persuade his own mind that he was a very good fellow.
The malignity of Mr and Mrs Squeers dominates the early chapters of Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby. Their evil dyadic union is the first major ‘test’ of the eponymous Nicholas Nickleby’s heroic journey and their cruelty is temporarily halted in the thrashing depicted above. Such catharsis leads eventually to the shameful practices of Dotheboys Hall being exposed by the close of the novel. Nicholas may be a simple and far from complex hero( unlike the much later Pip in Great Expectations , David in David Copperfield or Esther in Bleak House) but his physical presence and prowess seems a welcome virtue during certain incidents during the novel. Introspective heroes are for later in Dickens and are often attended by a particular depression and gloom of their own. So this Xmas I decided to reread Nicholas Nickleby and A Christmas Carol….
And despite just saying Nickleby is somewhat sparing with its introspection, reading Nickleby again the other day this passage stood out for its psychological truthfulness as Dickens recognizes that Squeers leads an utterly duplicitous life, even when he is in private, by himself, ‘at home.‘ How uncanny or ‘unheimlich'(Freud) is that!
He is a hypocrite to his core and is unable to be authentic even privately. Such an insight renders Squeers far more than a caricature or simplistic villain. It seems worthy of Dostoevsky. Concealment goes all the way with Squeers, his capacity for deceit extends not least to himself, allowing Mrs Squeers the grim reality of villainous openness, Squeers squirms his way down to Hades no doubt protesting that ‘he was a very good fellow.’
Yes, I agree – the part about ‘being able to take himself in’ is wonderful psychology from Dickens, and does make Squeers, as you say, more than a caricature – a real villain indeed!