The Cricket on the Hearth
Encyclopedia
The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home is a novella
by Charles Dickens
, published by Bradbury and Evans, and released 20 December 1845
with illustration
s by Daniel Maclise
, John Leech, Richard Doyle
, Clarkson Stanfield and Edwin Henry Landseer
. Dickens began writing the book around 17 October 1845 and finished it by 1 December. Like all of Dickens' Christmas books, it was published in book form, not as a serial
. Dickens described the novel as "quiet and domestic [...] innocent and pretty." It is subdivided into chapters called "Chirps", similar to the "Quarters" of The Chimes or the "Staves" of A Christmas Carol. It is the third of Dickens's five Christmas books, the others being A Christmas Carol
(1843), The Chimes
(1844), The Battle of Life
(1846), and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848).
Tilly Slowboy, and a mysterious old stranger with a long white beard. A cricket
constantly chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel
to the family, at one point assuming a human voice to warn John that his suspicions that Dot is having an affair with the mysterious lodger are wrong.
The life of the Peerybingles frequently intersects with that of Caleb Plummer, a poor toymaker employed by the miser
Mr. Tackleton. Caleb has a blind
daughter Bertha, and a son Edward, who traveled to South America
and was thought dead. The miser Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward's sweetheart, May, but she does not love Tackleton.
In the end, the mysterious lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward who has returned home in disguise. He marries May hours before she is scheduled to marry Tackleton. However Tackleton's heart is melted by the Christmas season, like Ebenezer Scrooge
, and he surrenders May to her true love.
of 27 December 1845 opined, "We owe it to literature to protest against this last production of Mr. Dickens [...] Shades of Fielding
and Scott! Is it for such jargon as this that we have given your throne to one who cannot estimate his eminence?" However, William Makepeace Thackeray
enjoyed the book immensely: "To us, it appears it is a good Christmas book, illuminated with extra gas, crammed with extra bonbon
s, French plums and sweetness [...] This story is no more a real story than Peerybingle is a real name!"
Dickens portrayal of the blind girl Bertha is significant. Victorians believed disabilities were inherited, and thus it was not socially acceptable for the blind to marry (although they often did in reality). In fiction courtship plots, the blind were often used to build tension since it was assumed they must be kept from marrying. The fictional portrayal of Bertha is similar to Dickens' description in American Notes
(1842) of the deaf and blind girl Laura Bridgman
, whom he saw on a visit to the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts.
Modern scholars have given the story little attention, but Andrew Sangers has argued it contains similarities to Shakespeare's comedies and should be seen "both as a significant indication of the tastes of the 1840s and of Dickens himself."
The identity of the narrator is left to the reader, though possibilities include Bertha Plummer, the blind daughter of Caleb Plummer, and the baby, fully grown and returned to his childhood home. The narration is decidedly masculine, lending more credit to the latter.
Also heavily commentated by author R. J. Spindle as part of their research for their novel based on another work by Dickens, A Christmas Carol
.
produced at the Surrey Theatre
in 1845, and Dion Boucicault
's Dot, A Drama in Three Acts (or simply Dot), first performed at New York
's Winter Garden
in 1859. It was staged repeatedly in Britain and America for the remainder of the 19th century starring at times John Toole, Henry Irving
, Jean Davenport. The play helped launch the career of American actor Joseph Jefferson
(1829–1905).
The novella was the basis for at least two operas: Karl Goldmark
's Das Heimchem am Herd with a libretto by A. M. Willner (premiere: June 1896, Berlin; New York 1910), and Riccardo Zandonai
's Il grillo del focolare with a libretto by Cesare Hanau (premiere: November 1908, Turin). Goldmark's opera was performed in Philadelphia in November 1912 with the Cricket sung by American soprano Mabel Riegelman (1889, Cincinnati – 1967, Burlingame, California
).
Film, radio, and television adaptations include three American silent film
versions: one, directed by D.W. Griffith (1909
) starring Owen Moore
, another directed by L. Marston (1914
) starring Alan Hale
, and one directed by Lorimer Johnston
(1923
). A silent Russian version, Sverchok na Pechi (1915
) was directed by Boris Sushkevich and Aleksandr Uralsky and starred Maria Ouspenskaya
. A silent French version, Le Grillon du Foyer (1922
), was directed and adapted by Jean Manoussi and starred Charles Boyer
as Edouard. A 25-minute NBC
radio play adaptation aired on December 24, 1945. On television, a 50-minute 1967
Rankin-Bass animated adaptation featured the voices of Roddy MacDowall as the Cricket, and father and daughter Danny Thomas
and Marlo Thomas
as Caleb and Bertha.
Adaptations
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, published by Bradbury and Evans, and released 20 December 1845
1845 in literature
The year 1845 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*April 24 - Alfred de Musset and Honoré de Balzac are awarded the Légion d'honneur.* Robert Browning begins his correspondence with his future wife, Elizabeth Barrett....
with illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
s by Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise was an Irish history, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.-Early life:...
, John Leech, Richard Doyle
Richard Doyle (illustrator)
Richard "Dickie" Doyle was a notable illustrator of the Victorian era. His work frequently appeared, amongst other places, in Punch magazine; he drew the cover of the first issue, and designed the magazine's masthead, a design that was used for over a century.Born at 17 Cambridge Terrace, London,...
, Clarkson Stanfield and Edwin Henry Landseer
Edwin Henry Landseer
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, RA was an English painter, well known for his paintings of animals—particularly horses, dogs and stags...
. Dickens began writing the book around 17 October 1845 and finished it by 1 December. Like all of Dickens' Christmas books, it was published in book form, not as a serial
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
. Dickens described the novel as "quiet and domestic [...] innocent and pretty." It is subdivided into chapters called "Chirps", similar to the "Quarters" of The Chimes or the "Staves" of A Christmas Carol. It is the third of Dickens's five Christmas books, the others being A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
(1843), The Chimes
The Chimes
The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In, a short novel by Charles Dickens, was written and published in 1844, one year after A Christmas Carol and one year before The Cricket on the Hearth...
(1844), The Battle of Life
The Battle of Life
The Battle of Life: A Love Story is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in 1846. It is the fourth of his five "Christmas Books", coming after The Cricket on the Hearth and followed by The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain....
(1846), and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848).
Background
In July 1845, Dickens contemplated forming a periodical focusing on the concerns of the home called The Cricket but the plan fell through, and he transformed his idea into a Christmas book in which he abandoned social criticism, current events, and topical themes in favour of simple fantasy and a domestic setting for his hero's redemption. The book was released on 20 December 1845 (the title page read "1846") and sold briskly into the New Year. Seventeen stage productions opened during the Christmas season 1845 with one production receiving Dickens's approval and opening on the same day as the book's release. Dickens read the tale four times in public performance. It has been dramatized in numerous languages and for years was more popular on stage than "A Christmas Carol." Vladimir Lenin publicly walked out of a performance of the "Cricket" play in the Soviet Union, calling it too sentimental, but it is less explicitly Christian than some of Dickens' other Christmas books. Cricket has been criticized for its sentimentality but contemporary readers were attracted to its depiction of the Victorian ideal of the happy home.Plot
John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby, their nannyNanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
Tilly Slowboy, and a mysterious old stranger with a long white beard. A cricket
Cricket (insect)
Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...
constantly chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel
Guardian angel (spirit)
A guardian angel is an angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person or group. Belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout all antiquity...
to the family, at one point assuming a human voice to warn John that his suspicions that Dot is having an affair with the mysterious lodger are wrong.
The life of the Peerybingles frequently intersects with that of Caleb Plummer, a poor toymaker employed by the miser
Miser
A miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities...
Mr. Tackleton. Caleb has a blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
daughter Bertha, and a son Edward, who traveled to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and was thought dead. The miser Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward's sweetheart, May, but she does not love Tackleton.
In the end, the mysterious lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward who has returned home in disguise. He marries May hours before she is scheduled to marry Tackleton. However Tackleton's heart is melted by the Christmas season, like Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which give people happiness...
, and he surrenders May to her true love.
Characters
- John Peerybingle, a carrier; a lumbering, slow, honest man
- Mrs. Mary Peerybingle, ("Dot"), John Peerybingle's wife
- Caleb Plummer, a poor old toymaker in the employ of Tackleton
- Bertha Plummer, the blind daughter of Caleb Plummer
- Edward Plummer, the son of Caleb Plummer
- Tackleton, (called "Gruff and Tackleton"), a stern, ill-natured, sarcastic toyToyA toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
merchant - May Fielding, a friend to Mrs. Peerybingle
- Mrs. Fielding, her mother; a little, peevish, querulous old lady
- Tilly Slowboy, a great clumsy girl; Mrs. Peerybingle's nursemaid
Literary significance and criticism
The book was a huge commercial success, quickly going through two editions, and outselling its two Christmas predecessors, Carol and Chimes. Reviews were favourable, but not all so. The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of 27 December 1845 opined, "We owe it to literature to protest against this last production of Mr. Dickens [...] Shades of Fielding
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
and Scott! Is it for such jargon as this that we have given your throne to one who cannot estimate his eminence?" However, William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
enjoyed the book immensely: "To us, it appears it is a good Christmas book, illuminated with extra gas, crammed with extra bonbon
Bonbon
The name bonbon refers to any of several types of sweets, especially small candies enrobed in chocolate.The first reports of bonbons come from the 17th century, when they were made at the French royal court. Their name arose from infantile reduplication of the word bon, meaning 'good'...
s, French plums and sweetness [...] This story is no more a real story than Peerybingle is a real name!"
Dickens portrayal of the blind girl Bertha is significant. Victorians believed disabilities were inherited, and thus it was not socially acceptable for the blind to marry (although they often did in reality). In fiction courtship plots, the blind were often used to build tension since it was assumed they must be kept from marrying. The fictional portrayal of Bertha is similar to Dickens' description in American Notes
American Notes
American Notes for General Circulation is a travelogue by Charles Dickens detailing his trip to North America from January to June, 1842. While there he acted as a critical observer of these societies almost as if returning a status report on their progress...
(1842) of the deaf and blind girl Laura Bridgman
Laura Bridgman
Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman is known as the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, fifty years before the more famous Helen Keller...
, whom he saw on a visit to the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston, Massachusetts.
Modern scholars have given the story little attention, but Andrew Sangers has argued it contains similarities to Shakespeare's comedies and should be seen "both as a significant indication of the tastes of the 1840s and of Dickens himself."
The identity of the narrator is left to the reader, though possibilities include Bertha Plummer, the blind daughter of Caleb Plummer, and the baby, fully grown and returned to his childhood home. The narration is decidedly masculine, lending more credit to the latter.
Also heavily commentated by author R. J. Spindle as part of their research for their novel based on another work by Dickens, A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
.
Adaptations
Stage adaptations include the successful The Cricket on the Hearth by Albert Richard SmithAlbert Richard Smith
Albert Richard Smith , was an English author, entertainer, and mountaineer.-Biography:Smith was born at Chertsey, Surrey. The son of a surgeon, he studied medicine in London and in Paris, and his first literary effort was an account of his life there, which appeared in the Mirror. He gradually...
produced at the Surrey Theatre
Surrey Theatre
The Surrey Theatre began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided contemporary London entertainment of both horsemanship and drama...
in 1845, and Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
's Dot, A Drama in Three Acts (or simply Dot), first performed at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Winter Garden
The Winter Garden Theatre (1850)
The first theater in New York to bear the name The Winter Garden Theatre had a brief but important seventeen-year history as one of New York's premier showcases for a wide range of theatrical fare, from Variety shows to extravagant productions of the works of Shakespeare...
in 1859. It was staged repeatedly in Britain and America for the remainder of the 19th century starring at times John Toole, Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, Jean Davenport. The play helped launch the career of American actor Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson, commonly known as Joe Jefferson , was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous of all American comedians....
(1829–1905).
The novella was the basis for at least two operas: Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark, also known originally as Károly Goldmark and later sometimes as Carl Goldmark; May 18, 1830, Keszthely – January 2, 1915, Vienna) was a Hungarian composer.- Life and career :...
's Das Heimchem am Herd with a libretto by A. M. Willner (premiere: June 1896, Berlin; New York 1910), and Riccardo Zandonai
Riccardo Zandonai
Riccardo Zandonai was an Italian composer.-Biography:Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, then part of Austria–Hungary....
's Il grillo del focolare with a libretto by Cesare Hanau (premiere: November 1908, Turin). Goldmark's opera was performed in Philadelphia in November 1912 with the Cricket sung by American soprano Mabel Riegelman (1889, Cincinnati – 1967, Burlingame, California
Burlingame, California
Burlingame is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame. It is renowned for its many surviving examples of Victorian architecture, its affluence, and...
).
Film, radio, and television adaptations include three American silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
versions: one, directed by D.W. Griffith (1909
1909 in film
The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Matsunosuke Onoe, who would become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.*James Joyce opens the Volta, the first cinema in Dublin....
) starring Owen Moore
Owen Moore
Owen Moore was an Irish-born actor in American films, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937.-Life and career:...
, another directed by L. Marston (1914
1914 in film
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.-Events:*The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City....
) starring Alan Hale
Alan Hale, Sr.
Alan Hale, Sr. was an American movie actor and director, most widely remembered for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartman , a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children...
, and one directed by Lorimer Johnston
Lorimer Johnston
Lorimer Johnston was an American silent film actor and director....
(1923
1923 in film
-Events:*April 15 - Lee De Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm sound-on-film system at the Rivoli Theater in New York with a series of short musical films featuring vaudeville performers.-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1923:U.S.A...
). A silent Russian version, Sverchok na Pechi (1915
1915 in film
The year 1915 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 8 : D.W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation premieres at Clune's Auditorium Los Angeles and breaks box office and film length records, running at a total length of 3 hrs 10 minutes.* June 18 : The Motion Picture Directors...
) was directed by Boris Sushkevich and Aleksandr Uralsky and starred Maria Ouspenskaya
Maria Ouspenskaya
Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya was a Russian actress and acting teacher. She achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films.-Life and career:...
. A silent French version, Le Grillon du Foyer (1922
1922 in film
-Events:* June 11 - United States première of Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North, the first commercially successful feature length documentary film....
), was directed and adapted by Jean Manoussi and starred Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...
as Edouard. A 25-minute NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
radio play adaptation aired on December 24, 1945. On television, a 50-minute 1967
1967 in television
The year 1967 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1967.For the American TV schedule, see: 1967-68 American network television schedule.-Events:...
Rankin-Bass animated adaptation featured the voices of Roddy MacDowall as the Cricket, and father and daughter Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
and Marlo Thomas
Marlo Thomas
Margaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl . She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
as Caleb and Bertha.
External links
Online editions- The Cricket on the Hearth at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. - The Cricket on the Hearth at Dickens Literature
- The Cricket on the Hearth at The University of Adelaide Library
- The Cricket on the Hearth audibook by LibriVoxLibriVoxLibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...
Adaptations
- http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/boucicault/dot1.htmlDot, A Drama in Three Acts by Dion BoucicaultDion BoucicaultDionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
(1859)] - Picture Gallery from Victorian WebVictorian WebThe Victorian Web is an online resource of information about the Victorian Era created at Brown University and at the University Scholars Program of the National University of Singapore....