Mr Mantalini gambles and squanders his wife's savings and goes so into debt that court agents visit to close her business and seize all her goods.
In Dostoyevsky, this would be a family tragedy, but mostly his, built on shame.
In more cynical writers it would be her tragedy, and he would be a villain, a con artist without shame who had exploited her love to ruin her.
In Dickens, this is a satiric comedy built on his pretense of shame and her folly in forgiving him everything for love.
Nickleby, chapter 21.
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