# Quilp's Bachelor's Hall explained — The Old Curiosity Shop > Chapter companion for The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. ## What happens Mr. Quilp returns home and terrorizes his wife and mother-in-law, announcing his intention to live as a bachelor at his countinghouse. He sets up a makeshift home there, then visits Dick Swiveller to discuss Fred Trent's failed meeting with the grandfather. Quilp learns that the meeting went badly and resolves to keep Swiveller as a useful spy. He returns to his bachelor quarters, where he spends the evening smoking and drinking, and is discovered the next morning by his weeping wife. ## Themes in this chapter ### Greed and Exploitation Quilp's manipulation of Swiveller as a spy and his interest in using Fred Trent to exploit the grandfather's situation. ### Family and Community The dysfunctional Quilp household, where Quilp terrorizes his wife and mother-in-law, and the contrast with the absent family bonds of Nell and her grandfather. ## Character check-ins ### Daniel Quilp Returns home, terrorizes his wife, sets up a bachelor's hall at the countinghouse, visits Swiveller, and learns of Fred Trent's failed meeting. ### Mrs. Quilp Faints upon Quilp's return, weeps and pleads with him, then helps pack his belongings; later found sobbing in his room. ### Mrs. Jiniwin Awakened by Quilp banging on her door with a poker, terrified he means to murder her; helps pack his portmanteau. ### Tom Scott Carries Quilp's portmanteau, makes a fire and prepares breakfast at the countinghouse, and is left to guard the bachelor's hall. ### Richard Swiveller Dines at his usual house; tells Quilp about Fred Trent's failed meeting with the grandfather and laments his lost love. ### Frederick Trent Mentioned as having been brought together with the grandfather by Swiveller, but the meeting ended in anger. ## Key lines > Matrimonial differences are usually discussed by the parties concerned in the form of dialogue, in which the lady bears at least her full half share. Those of Mr. and Mrs. Quilp, however, were an exception to the general rule; the remarks which they occasioned being limited to a long soliloquy on the part of the gentleman, with perhaps a few deprecatory observations from the lady, not extending beyond a trembling monosyllable uttered at long intervals, and in a very submissive and humble tone. In most marriages, arguments involve both spouses, but the Quilps are different: Mr. Quilp does all the talking while his wife only offers timid, one-word replies. _Highlights the power imbalance in the Quilp marriage._ > I've got a country-house like Robinson Crusoe—said the dwarf, ogling the accommodations; a solitary, sequestered, desolate-island sort of spot, where I can be quite alone when I have business on hand, and be secure from all spies and listeners. Quilp compares his countinghouse bachelor's hall to Robinson Crusoe's island, relishing the isolation and freedom from observation. _Shows Quilp's delight in his new independence and his paranoid need for secrecy._ > I'm glad he has lost his mistress. Ha ha! The blockhead mustn't leave the law at present. I'm sure of him where he is, whenever I want him for my own purposes, and, besides, he's a good unconscious spy on Brass, and tells, in his cups, all that he sees and hears. Quilp is pleased that Swiveller's romantic hopes are dashed, as it keeps him working for Brass and serving as an unwitting informant. _Reveals Quilp's manipulative strategy and his view of Swiveller as a tool._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/chapters/l - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_old_curiosity_shop_se/chapters