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Charles Halloway
Mr. Cooger’s partner and one of the proprietors of Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show. He is also the leader of the sideshow freaks and serves as the show’s Illustrated Man. Mr. Dark is the antagonist of Something Wicked This Way Comes, and he functions as the personification of evil within the novel. He uses the carnival to lure unsuspecting souls to evil, and once the carnival goers succumb to their desires and the temptation of the carnival, they are transformed into one of Mr. Dark’s sideshow freaks. The carnival’s sinister carousel and its ability to make a rider older or younger depending on which direction it spins is Mr. Dark’s main source of temptation, but he also employs the carnival’s Most Beautiful Woman to tempt Mr. Fury and turn him into the freakshow’s Dwarf. Mr. Dark is covered with tattoos of the pictures of those whose soul he has taken—he even has two new tattoos of Will and Jim on the palms of his hands—and he can inflict pain on others simply by pinching or pulling the corresponding tattoo. While Mr. Dark certainly would be glad to have Will’s soul, he is especially intent on tempting Jim to evil, and Mr. Dark twice gives him free tickets to ride the carousel. After Mr. Cooger is transformed into Mr. Electrico, a man well over one hundred years old, Mr. Dark isn’t sure that he will survive, and he wants to make Jim his new partner. “Dark and Nightshade, Nightshade and Dark,” he says as he tries to entice Jim to instant adulthood. He never does succeed in obtaining the boys’ souls, and he is later killed by Charles. After Will pulls Jim from the carousel and saves his life, Mr. Dark transforms into a nine-year-old boy name Jed and tries to escape, but Charles discovers his disguise and destroys him by holding the boy close and poisoning him with goodness.
Mr. Dark / The Illustrated Man / Jed Quotes in Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Something Wicked This Way Comes quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Dark / The Illustrated Man / Jed or refer to Mr. Dark / The Illustrated Man / Jed. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 39 Quotes
“Oh gosh,” said Will. “It’s hopeless!”
“No. The very fact we’re here worrying about the difference between summer and autumn, makes me sure there’s a way out. You don’t have to stay foolish and you don’t have to be wrong, evil, sinful, whatever you want to call it. There’s more than three or four choices. They, that Dark fellow and his friends don’t hold all the cards, I could tell that today, at the cigar store. I’m afraid of him but, I could see, he was afraid of me. So there’s fear on both sides. Now how can we use it to advantage?”
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Chapter 52 Quotes
He gathered the boy somewhat closer and thought, Evil has only the power that we give it. I give you nothing. I take back. Starve. Starve. Starve.
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Chapter 54 Quotes
“Will!” His father savagely jabbed a finger at him and at Jim. “Damn it, Willy, all this, all these, Mr. Dark and his sort, they like crying, my God, they love tears! Jesus God, the more you bawl, the more they drink the salt off your chin. Wail and they suck your breath like cats. Get up! Get off your knees, damn it! Jump around! Whoop and holler! You hear! Shout, Will, sing, but most of all laugh, you got that, laugh!”
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Mr. Dark / The Illustrated Man / Jed Character Timeline in Something Wicked This Way Comes
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Dark / The Illustrated Man / Jed appears in Something Wicked This Way Comes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
...carnivals never come after Labor Day. Jim continues reading, excitedly. “MR. ELECTRICO!” he reads. “ THE ILLUSTRATED MAN ! Hey!” Jim yells. “That’s just an old guy with tattoos,” Will says.
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Chapter 18
“Put them down,” a second man says “gently.” “The name is Dark,” he says, and produces a white business card that quickly turns blue and then red....
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Jim and Will run from the carousel and quickly climb a tree, secretly watching Dark and Cooger mill about the ride. Mr. Dark goes to the control box, looks around,...
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Chapter 24
...Who? What?” Will thinks. The tent is filled with freaks, and near the back, Mr. Dark sits shirtless and illustrated, adding another tattoo to the palm of his left hand. Behind...
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“Gentlemen!” Mr. Dark cries. “We’re rehearsing all our new acts!” The police look past Mr. Dark to the...
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...dead to scare the boys. “Oh, sure,” one of the policemen says. “Fine show.” Mr. Dark approaches Will and Jim and gives them a dozen free passes. “Your names?” he asks....
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Chapter 29
...figure in the hanging basket. Inside the basket is the Dust Witch, one of Mr. Dark’s freaks. The Dust Witch is blind, but she can feel, taste, and hear different souls....
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Chapter 34
...beneath the grille, Jim and Will hide. It is the perfect place, Will says. Mr. Dark will never find them here. As Will watches the familiar shoes of Charles pass over...
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Chapter 35
Back in the bar, The Illustrated Man stares at Charles. The bartender offers the stranger a drink, but he says he is...
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The Illustrated Man tells Charles that he is searching for two boys. The boys have won unlimited free...
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“Your name, sir?” the Illustrated Man asks. “Halloway,” Charles answers. “Work in the library. Drop by sometime.” The Illustrated Man walks...
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Chapter 36
Outside the cigar shop, Mr. Dark drops to his knees and examines the metal grille, looking down to the littered candy...
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Chapter 38
Charles then shows Will and Jim a series of old newspaper advertisements for Cooger and Dark’s carnival. The first is dated October 12, 1888, and he has found two more dated...
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...Charles, these evil people “eat flesh of reason” and “fill tombs with sinners.” If Mr. Dark and his freaks are autumn people, Will asks, “does that make us…summer people?” No, says...
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Chapter 39
...he says. Charles explains to the boys that they “don’t have to be evil.” Mr. Dark doesn’t “hold all the cards,” he says. Mr. Dark is afraid too, Charles can sense...
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Chapter 41
Mr. Dark enters the library and formally introduces himself. “Where are the boys?” he asks. Charles doesn’t...
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Charles remains silent. Mr. Dark offers to make him young again if he tells him where Will and Jim are....
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Chapter 42
As they hide, Will and Jim can hear Mr. Dark moving through the closed library. “Boys...?” the man calls again. As Mr. Dark looks in...
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Chapter 43
As Mr. Dark grabs for Will, Will sees the tattoo of himself on the man’s palm. Then, Jim...
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...Will yells down to them but they don’t hear, and he begins to cry. Mr. Dark drags Will and Jim out the front door, where they pass the Dust Witch outside....
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Chapter 45
...Dwarf. Looking at all the freaks, Will wonders who they are, or were, before Mr. Dark found them.
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Mr. Dark talks as they march. “You’ll travel with us, Jim,” he says. Mr. Dark isn’t sure...
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Chapter 46
...to catch up, and behind her, Charles walks slowly with the “remembrance of age.” Mr. Dark leads Will and Jim to the carnival grounds and brings them to the Wax Museum....
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“Ladies and gentlemen!” Mr. Dark yells. He tells the crowd that it is time for the last show of the...
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“Not stopped,” the Witch replies. Mr. Dark stares in disbelief. The Witch begs him to stop the show and he refuses. He...
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Chapter 47
...makes his way to the stage. The Dust Witch begins to “tremble secretly,” and Mr. Dark offers Charles his hand to help him onto the platform. He politely declines. “But—” Mr....
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Mr. Dark hands Charles a bullet. “Mark it with your initials,” he says. Instead, Charles carves a...
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Chapter 48
...and falls from the platform. Charles instantly knows she is dead. “It’s all right!” Mr. Dark reassures the audience. “Show’s over! Just fainted!” In the commotion, Charles tells Will to jump...
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Chapter 51
Jim appears between the fallen chair and the carousel. “Jim!” yells Will. Mr. Dark is nowhere to be found, but Will knows that he started the carousel to draw...
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Chapter 52
...screams loudly. “That man with the tattoos!” the boy says. Will looks to Charles. “Mr. Dark!” he yells. Charles tells Will to stay with Jim and try to revive him. “Artificial...
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Charles runs to the young boy. “What’s your name?” he asks. “Jed,” the boy replies, still running. Charles asks the boy how old he is. “Nine!” the...
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“You can’t hurt me!” Jed cries. Charles disagrees and pulls the boy near, “almost lovingly, close, very close.” Jeb begins...
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Chapter 53
As Charles stands over Jed’s dead body, the freaks begin to come out of the tents. The tattoos on the...
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...tents each fall to the ground, and the living Skeleton, the only remaining freak, lifts Jed from the ground and walks away. Charles looks to Will, still attempting to revive Jim....
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Chapter 54
...screams and starts to cry. “Stop that!” Charles yells as he slaps Will’s face. “Mr. Dark and his sort, they like crying, my God they love tears! Jesus God, the more...
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