''The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home'' is a novella by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

, published by Bradbury and Evans, and released 20 December 1845 with

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

s by

Daniel Maclise Daniel Maclise (25 January 180625 April 1870) was an Irish History painting, history painter, literary and Portrait painting, portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England. Early life Maclise was bor ...

, 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's 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, preceded by ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas ...

'' (1843) and ''

The Chimes ''The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In'', commonly referred to as ''The Chimes'', is a novella written by Charles Dickens and first published in 1844, one year after ''A Christmas Carol''. It is th ...

'' (1844), and followed by ''

The Battle of Life ''The Battle of Life: A Love Story'' is an 1846 novel by Charles Dickens. 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''. The setting is a ...

'' (1846) and ''

The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain ''The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, A Fancy for Christmas-Time'' (better known as ''The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain'' or simply as ''The Haunted Man'') is a novella by Charles Dickens first published in 1848. It is the fifth and ...

'' (1848).

Background

In July 1845, Dickens contemplated forming a periodical focusing on the concerns of the home. It was to be 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, though some have criticised this notion. 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 dramatised in numerous languages and for years was more popular on stage than ''A Christmas Carol''. ''Cricket'' is less explicitly Christian than some of Dickens's other Christmas books, and it has been criticised for its sentimentality, but contemporary readers were attracted to its depiction of the Victorian ideal of the happy home.

Plot

John Peerybingle, a

carrier Carrier may refer to: Entertainment * ''Carrier'' (album), a 2013 album by The Dodos * ''Carrier'' (board game), a South Pacific World War II board game * ''Carrier'' (TV series), a ten-part documentary miniseries that aired on PBS in April 20 ...

, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their

nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...

Tilly Slowboy. A

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

chirps on the hearth and acts as a

guardian angel A guardian angel is a type of angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group or nation. Belief in tutelary beings can be traced throughout all antiquity. The idea of angels that guard over people played a major role in A ...

to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days. The life of the Peerybingles 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 travelled to South America and is thought to be dead. The miser Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward's sweetheart, May, but she does not love Tackleton. Tackleton tells John Peerybingle that his wife Dot has cheated on him, and shows him a clandestine scene in which Dot embraces the mysterious lodger; the latter, who is in disguise, is actually a much younger man than he seems. John is cut to the heart over this as he loves his wife dearly, but decides after some deliberations to relieve his wife of their marriage contract. In the end, the mysterious lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward who has returned home in disguise. Dot shows that she has indeed been faithful to John. Edward marries May hours before she is scheduled to marry Tackleton. However, Tackleton's heart is melted by the festive cheer (in a manner reminiscent of

Ebenezer Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge () is the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella '' A Christmas Carol''. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits (the Ghos ...

), 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 toy 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 * the baby, child of Dot and John, treated as an object throughout the story.

Literary significance and criticism

The book was a huge commercial success, quickly going through two editions. Reviews were favourable, but not all so. In an unsigned piece in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' the reviewer opined, "We owe it to literature to protest against this last production of Mr. Dickens ..Shades of Fielding and

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

! 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 (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel ''Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...

enjoyed the book immensely: "To us, it appears it is a good Christmas book, illuminated with extra gas, crammed with extra

bonbon A bonbon is a small chocolate confection. They are usually filled with liqueur or other sweet alcoholic ingredients, and sold wrapped in coloured foil. Ingredients Through the Western world, bonbons are usually small candies but vary by region i ...

s, French

plums A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...

and sweetness ..This story is no more a real story than Peerybingle is a real name!" Dickens's 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).Holmes, Martha Stoddard
Dickens, Charles: The Cricket on the Hearth
Web page sourced from ''Christmas Books (The New Oxford Illustrated Dickens)'' (1954) In fictional 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's description in ''

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 North American society, almost as if returning a status r ...

'' (1842) of the deaf and blind girl

Laura Bridgman Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman (December 21, 1829 – May 24, 1889) was the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, twenty years before the more famous Helen Keller; Laura's friend Anne Sullivan becam ...

, 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 William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's comedies and should be seen "both as a significant indication of the tastes of the 1840s and of Dickens himself."

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

left during a performance of the ''Cricket'' play in Russia, as he found it dull and the saccharine sentimentality got on his nerves. This incident might now be little remembered if

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...

had not mentioned it in his essay on Dickens.

Adaptations

Stage adaptations include the successful ''The Cricket on the Hearth'' by Albert Richard Smith 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 Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ...

, and Jean Davenport. The play helped launch the career of American actor

Joseph Jefferson Joseph Jefferson III, commonly known as Joe Jefferson (February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905), 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 19th century American comedia ...

(1829–1905). The novella was the basis for at least two operas:

Karl Goldmark Karl Goldmark (born Károly Goldmark, Keszthely, 18 May 1830 – Vienna, 2 January 1915) was a Hungarian-born Viennese composer.Peter Revers, Michael Cherlin, Halina Filipowicz, Richard L. Rudolph The Great Tradition and Its Legacy 2004; , p. ...

's ''Das Heimchem am Herd'' with a libretto by

A. M. Willner Alfred Maria Willner (11 July 1859 – 27 October 1929) was an Austrian writer, philosopher, musicologist, composer and librettist. Biography Alfred Maria Willner was born and died in Vienna. He began composing mostly music for the piano and ev ...

(premiere: June 1896, Berlin; New York 1910), and

Riccardo Zandonai Riccardo Zandonai (28 May 1883 – 5 June 1944) was an Italian composer. Biography Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco, Rovereto, then part of Austria-Hungary. As a young man, he showed such an aptitude for music that he entered the Pesaro Conserv ...

's '' Il grillo del focolare'' with a libretto by Cesare Hanau (premiere: November 1908, Turin). Goldmark's opera was performed in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

in November 1912 with the Cricket sung by American soprano

Mabel Riegelman Mabel Riegelman (1888 – December 1967) was a popular American operatic soprano. Early life Riegelman was born in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Meyer Riegelmann and Rachel Isaacs Riegelmann. Her father was born in Ohio, and her ...

(1889,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

– 1967,

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 and is known for its numerous eucaly ...

). Film, radio, and television adaptations include three American

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

versions:

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, directed by D.W. Griffith (1909) starring

Owen Moore Owen Moore (12 December 1886 – 9 June 1939) was an Irish-born American actor, appearing in more than 279 movies spanning from 1908 to 1937. Early life and career Moore was born in Fordstown Crossroads, County Meath, Ireland. Along with his ...

, another directed by L. Marston (1914) starring Alan Hale, and

directed by

Lorimer Johnston Lorimer Johnston (November 2, 1858 in Maysville, Kentucky – February 20, 1941 in Hollywood, California) was an American silent film actor and director. He was involved in the production of over 60 films in acting and directing and he also wro ...

(1923). A silent Russian version, ''Sverchok na Pechi'' (1915) was directed by Boris Sushkevich and Aleksandr Uralsky and starred

Maria Ouspenskaya Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya (russian: Мария Алексеевна Успенская; 29 July 1876 – 3 December 1949) was a Russian actress and acting teacher.Nissen, Axel. 2006. ''Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywoo ...

. A silent French version, ''Le Grillon du Foyer'' (1922), was directed and adapted by

Jean Manoussi Jean Manoussi (14 November 1868 - 21 December 1929) was a French dramatist, film director and screenwriter. Jean Manoussi has written several theatre plays in collaboration with playwrights such as Paul Armont, Marcel Gerbidon or Gabriel Timmo ...

and starred

Charles Boyer Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American 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 his success in American fi ...

as Edouard. A 25-minute

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

radio play adaptation aired on 24 December 1945. In 1967,

Rankin/Bass Productions Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usua ...

produced a 50-minute animated television adaptation of the story for NBC. Told in the Cricket's own words, it featured the voices of

Roddy MacDowall Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 4 October 1998) was a British actor, photographer and film director. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in ''How Green Was My Valley (fil ...

as the Cricket, and father and daughter

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running sitc ...

and

Marlo Thomas Margaret Julia "Marlo" Thomas (born November 21, 1937) is an American actress, producer, author, and social activist. She is best known for starring on the sitcom ''That Girl'' (1966–1971) and her children's franchise '' Free to Be... You and ...

as Caleb and Bertha, with various other characters voiced by

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

and

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' Dud ...

. This adaptation cuts several characters, including the central pair of John and Dot, focusing solely on Caleb and Bertha. Television Corporation of Japan (now Eiken) provided the animation for the special, while its seven original songs were written and composed by

Maury Laws Maury Laws (December 6, 1923 – March 28, 2019) was an American television and film composer from Burlington, North Carolina. Biography In his teens, Laws performed in local country, jazz and dance bands as a singer and guitarist in his home st ...

and

Jules Bass Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft Internat ...

. Rankin/Bass later produced their adaptations of Dickens's other holiday stories for television: ''A Christmas Tree'' (1850) as the ninth episode of their 1972–73 syndicated television series, '' Festival of Family Classics'', and ''

'' (1843) as the 1978 animated remake of the 1956 live action musical special, '' The Stingiest Man in Town''.

Notes

External links

Online editions
''The Cricket on the Hearth''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.
''The Cricket on the Hearth''
at Dickens Literature
''The Cricket on the Hearth''
at The University of Adelaide Library * Adaptations

by Dion Boucicault (1859)
Picture Gallery
from

Victorian Web The Victorian Web is a hypertext project derived from hypermedia environments, Intermedia and Storyspace, that anticipated the World Wide Web. Initially created between 1988 and 1990 with 1,500 documents, it grew to 50,000 in the 21st century. In c ...

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