Little Nell’s
grandfather’s gambling habit attracts a crew of shady characters to the Old Curiosity Shop, a dusty unprofitable
store full of suits of armor, old chests, strange contraptions, grotesque weapons, and more. These shady characters attracted by the
grandfather’s inept gambling, including the despicable dwarf Quilp, his lawyer Sampson Brass, and Sampson’s sister Sally, soon make life intolerable for Little Nell and her grandfather. Little Nell convinces her grandfather that being beggars would be better than living under the incessant harassment of Quilp and his gang.
So they leave the only home they’ve known to wander through rural, industrial, and urban England. Along the way, they meet a host of malevolent and benevolent characters, from the serving girl “Marchioness” to the circus giants and dwarves, always aware that the diabolical Quilp may be just around the bend lying in wait for them.
Beautiful Nell, golden-haired and fair, is juxtaposed against these freakish characters they meet along the way. If she is goodness and beauty, they are the dreariness and strangeness of the world. Of course, they are not all wicked like Quilp. Some of them have had no opportunity, no love, no time of their own. Nell somehow understands this and smooths the road for those she meets, even if only by a benevolent smile.
The story also follows Kit Nubbles, childhood friend and admirer of Nell, and Richard Swiveller, a most charming and comic character, destined to be tossed about by those with more gumption.
Like Little Eva in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Nell knows that the worth of a soul is worth great
sacrifice, and she’s pure and loving enough to make the sacrifice for those she loves. When Nell and her grandfather finally find a peaceful countryside shelter, set in an ancient stone church, it isn’t long before Nell dies, followed quickly by her grandfather.
Of course Quilp, all energy and no humanity, must meet his fateful end, what with all that misery swirling around him, tornado-like. In a vengeful effort, he ends up under the dark waters surrounding his tangled lair.