Note 38 to Chapter 1 of the author's Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter which Clarendon Press published in 1972. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author and of the Clarendon Press, which retains copyright.
This point is made by Kimmins, p. 64, who says that in this case the amount of laughter far exceeds the apparent provocation. This kind of laughter is often called 'relief', though it seldom functions so simply. It partially explains, however, the approval expressed at Dick Swiveller and the disappointment at the performance of Mr. Venus and Silas Wegg. The former does, for some, help to alleviate the gloom; the latter, apparently, do not, and we are angry at their presumed failure. The interesting parts of these reactions are our dogged anticipation of relief and our unexamined assumption that it should be there. In Dickens, the assumption is most often invalid and the anticipation purposefully thwarted.
Last modified: 1 May 2001