page_title: Bumble (Oliver Twist)
section_title: Marriage
hierarchical_section_title: Bumble (Oliver Twist) / Marriage
caption_attribution_description: English: Steel-plate engraving for 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens (1838) - illustration by George Cruikshank (1792-1878)
context_page_description: Mr. Bumble is a fictional character and minor antagonist in the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
context_section_description: Having checked her possessions and having cast an appraising eye over her furniture in her absence, Mr. Bumble woos the widow Mrs Corney, the matron of the poorhouse, by flirting with her while drinking his tea. 
  In Chapter 27 he declares his feelings:
    “The board allow you coals, don’t they, Mrs. Corney?” inquired the beadle, affectionately pressing her hand.
    “And candles,” replied Mrs. Corney, slightly returning the pressure. 
    “Coals, candles and house-rent free,” said Mr. Bumble. “Oh, Mrs. Corney, what an angel you are!”
    The lady was not proof against this burst of feeling. She sank into Mr. Bumble’s arms; and that gentleman, in his agitation, imprinted a passionate kiss upon her chaste nose.
    “Such porochial perfection!” exclaimed Mr. Bumble, rapturously. “You know that Mr. Slout is worse to-night, my fascinator?”
    “Yes?” replied Mrs. Corney, bashfully.
    “He can’t live a week, the doctor says,” pursued Mr. Bumble. “He is the master of this establishment; his death will cause a wacancy; a wacancy that must be filled up. Oh, Mrs. Corney, what a project this opens! What a opportunity for a joining of hearts and housekeeping’s!”
  Mrs. Corney sobbed.
  His amorous feelings being reciprocated, the two soon marry but Bumble's new wife turns out to be a sharp-tongued and tyrannical woman who nags and browbeats him. By Chapter 37 Bumble has been married for two months and is no longer beadle but is now Master of the workhouse; however, he is not happy with his more advanced situation. He states: 
  “I sold myself ... for six teaspoons, a pair of sugar-tongs, and a milk pot; with a small quantity of second-hand furniture, and twenty pound in money. I went very reasonable. Cheap, dirt cheap!”
  “Cheap!” cried a shrill voice in Mr. Bumble’s ear: “you would have been dear at any price; and dear enough I paid for you, Lord above knows that!”
  When she further berates him by demanding "Are you going to sit there snoring all day?" he responds "I am going to sit here, as long as I think proper, ma'am. . . . And although I was not snoring, I shall snore, gape, sneeze, laugh, or cry, as the humour strikes me; and being my prerogative."
caption: 'Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Corney taking tea' - George Cruikshank (1838)
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