Dickens and Thackeray: Punishment and ForgivenessOhio University Press, 1995 - 504 pages Attitudes toward punishment and forgiveness in English society of the nineteenth century came, for the most part, out of Christianity. In actual experience the ideal was not often met, but in the literature of the time the model was important. For novelists attempting to tell exciting and dramatic stories, violent and criminal activities played an important role, and, according to convention, had to be corrected through poetic justice or human punishment. Both Dickens' and Thackeray's novels subscribed to the ideal, but dealt with the dilemma it presented in slightly different ways. At a time when a great deal of attention has been directed toward economic production and consumption as the bases for value, Reed's well-documented study reviving moral belief as a legitimate concern for the analysis of nineteenth-century English texts is particularly illuminating. |
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... feeling over mercenary scheming . Of course , it is a grotesque irony to have Mrs. Skewton , Edith's mother , constantly ... feel- ing . She carries on Paul's legacy of affection over calculation , and Paul's good- hearted but witless ...
... feel the full weight of his offense . The main thrust of the narrative is to burden Dombey with a heavy debt of injustice to Florence . His condescending and even callous treatment of others enhances his radical mistreatment of his ...
... feels thoroughly daunted by the " respectable " Littimer , Steerforth's servant . Litti- mer's coolness makes David ... feel as if this man were finding me out ? " ( 416 ) . What David does not realize as a young man is that he feels ...
Contents
Attitudes Toward Punishment and Forgiveness | 3 |
Some of the contents of this study appeared elsewhere in different form Mate | 28 |
Education | 30 |
Copyright | |
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