Tony Weller
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Tony Weller is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers (1836-37). The irresponsible and care-free Tony Weller is Sam Weller's father. A loquacious coachman, the character never became as popular as his famous son but readers have always enjoyed his quaint humour and his even quainter philosophy.
Tony Weller shares various characteristics with Mr Pickwick: both are advanced in years; both are fat, and both are kind and generous. Similarly, the two are innocents in affairs of the heart, with both being troubled by widows. It cannot be a coincidence that Dickens introduces Tony Weller soon after Mrs Bardell brings a court action against Pickwick for breach of promise.[1] Unlike Pickwick, Tony Weller marries his troublesome widow, Susan, and his consequent miserable marriage causes him to give the advice to his son to “Beware o’ the widders":
'Widders, Sammy,' replied Mr. Weller, slightly changing colour. 'Widders are 'ceptions to ev'ry rule. I have heerd how many ordinary women one widder's equal to in pint o' comin' over you. I think it's five-and-twenty, but I don't rightly know vether it ain't more.'[2]
Weller Senior and Pickwick are dissimilar, in that, unlike Pickwick, Tony Weller takes few responsibilities in life, and has been an absent father to his son, taking no share in his upbringing, leaving the young Sam Weller to run the streets from a young age. Tony Weller uses his job as a coachman, necessitating frequent absences, as an excuse for his poor parenting and for being a poor husband to Sam's late mother. He is also a poor husband to his second wife when he allows her to maintain her association with the hypocritical minister Stiggins.[3][4] Pickwick is the father to Sam Weller that Tony Weller never was.
Despite not having seen each other for two years, and despite his shortcomings as a father, Sam and Tony Weller have an affection for each other which increases as the novel progresses. As Mr Pickwick becomes more of a father-figure to Sam, so Sam's relationship with his father also changes; and while he cannot accept Tony Weller as either a figure of authority or a father-figure in the same way as he can Pickwick, the two are fond of each other and become more like brothers or good friends.[3][4]
Appearances in Pickwick Papers
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Tony Wellers appears late in The Pickwick Papers, making his entrance in March 1837, in the humorous scene 'The Valentine' where Sam Weller is writing a Valentine for his sweetheart Mary, the pretty housemaid he eventually marries. Having trouble composing his Valentine's Card, Sam consults his father:
"Feel myself ashamed, and completely cir –” I forget what this here word is', said Sam, scratching his head with the pen, in vain attempts to remember.
'Why don’t you look at it then?', inquired Mr Weller.
'So I am a lookin' at it', replied Sam, 'but there’s another blot. Here’s a “c”, and an “i”, and a “d”'.
'Circumwented, p’raps', suggested Mr Weller.
`'No, it ain’t that,' said Sam, 'circumscribed; that’s it.'
'That ain’t as good a word as circumwented, Sammy,' said Mr Weller, gravely.
Tony Weller appears just four times in The Pickwick Papers, with each being in the second half of the novel, in the monthly instalments originally published between March and November 1837. Yet such was his impact that he quickly became a popular subject for all sorts of merchandise including busts, mugs, and on advertising,[5][6] being a nostalgic reminder of the Regency era in the days before railway.[3][4]
Cockney dialect
As shown in the extract above, in the novel the Wellers, father and son, speak a form of Cockney English prevalent in London's East End in 1836, pronouncing a "v" where there should be a "w", and "w” where there should be a "v" - "wery" instead of "very" and "avay" instead of "away" - in language that was outdated just 40 years after the novel's publication.[7]
