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Dickens's Characters and Rousseau's Philosophy Jane Phares Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2009 Natural, Civilized, Citizen: Dickens's Characters and Rousseau's Philosophy Jane Phares Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES NATURAL, CIVILIZED, CITIZEN: DICKENS‘S CHARACTERS AND ROUSSEAU‘S PHILOSOPHY By JANE PHARES A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2009 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Jane Phares defended on October 21, 2009. __________________________________ John Fenstermaker Professor Directing Dissertation __________________________________ Neil Jumonville University Representative __________________________________ Fred Standley Committee Member __________________________________ Eric Walker Committee Member Approved: _____________________________________ Ralph M. Berry, Chair, Department of English The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. v I dedicate this to my great cloud of witnesses, who never gave up hope that I would complete my degree, and whose spirits continued to encourage me throughout the process: Bill Caddell June Smith My aunt, Marie Kyzer And most especially, My beloved mother, Rachel Phares vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere appreciation goes to Sally Allocca, for her assistance with proofreading and checking citations; to the members of my committee, Dr. Neil Jumonville, Dr. Fred Standley, and Dr. Eric Walker; and to Dr. John Fenstermaker, who provided invaluable help on this project, showed unending patience, and inspired my love for Dickens. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations ................................................................................. vi Abstract ................................................................................................ vii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1 1. A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................................................... 7 2. ROUSSEAU‘S PHILOSOPHY: THE RELEVANT PRINCIPLES .... 25 3. DICKENS‘S NATURAL MAN ........................................................... 42 4. DICKENS‘S CIVILIZED MAN ........................................................... 91 5. DICKENS‘S CITIZEN ......................................................................... 141 6. THE GEOGRAPHICAL SIGNIFICANCE: THE COUNTRY VS. THE CITY ............................................................................................ 166 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 186 WORKS CITED ........................................................................................ 189 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...................................................................... 194 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations used in citations for works of Dickens: CC – A Christmas Carol DC- David Copperfield DS – Dombey and Son GE – Great Expectations HT – Hard Times MC – Martin Chuzzlewit NN – Nicholas Nickleby OMF – Our Mutual Friend OT – Oliver Twist PP – Pickwick Papers Abbreviations used in citations for works of Rousseau: SC – Social Contract ix ABSTRACT This dissertation presents evidence, using the vehicle of Jean-Jacques Rousseau‘s philosophy, that Charles Dickens remained an optimist, contrary to critical opinion that claims he became a dark pessimist during the latter half of his life. Rousseau and Dickens shared a belief in the innate goodness of humankind and, if not in the perfectibility of humanity, at least in the redemption and possibility of betterment both of the individual, and through the individual, of society. Critical connections between the two writers are examined in Chapter 1: ―A Review of the Literature.‖ In one of his early discourses, The Origins of Inequality, Rousseau posits hypothetically that in the early stages of human development, the ―natural man‖ existed in a state of peace and tranquillity; his identifying characteristics were self satisfaction (in Rousseau‘s terms, amour de soi), contentment with only the material goods necessary to sustain himself, genuineness, a self concept based on his own inner evaluative system, innocence (freedom from vice), and most notably, compassion for other human beings. When humans began to gather in groups and form societies, they evolved from natural men into ―civilized men,‖ thus developing pride (amour propre), a competitive nature, greed, pretension, a self concept determined by others, immoral and/or illegal behaviors, a lack of compassion. In the more mature writings of Rousseau he acknowledges that a return to nature is impossible, and that the only hope for the redemption of society is individual transformation, by which the individual retains or regains natural characteristics and exhibits them within the confines of society. The person who achieves this type of life is the ―citizen‖ as presented in Rousseau‘s The Social Contract. While these are the works of Rousseau in which he presents the typology, he also portrays the same characteristics in Émile, Julie, and his first discourse. Evidence and illustrations of these types are presented in Chapter 2: ―Rousseau‘s Philosophy: The Relevant Principles.‖ In this study, characters in Dickens are measured by the sets of characteristics set forth by Rousseau. In each of the novels under discussion (Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend), at least one character represents each of the three types, natural man, civilized man, and citizen. One character per novel is presented in each of three chapters here (Chapter 3: ―Dickens‘s Natural Man‖; Chapter 4: ―Dickens‘s Civilized Man‖; and Chapter 5: x ―Dickens‘s Citizen‖), with references to relevant others. For each character, evidence is presented to show that he or she displays all the characteristics of the particular type. In addition, in Chapter 6: ―Geographical Significance: The Country vs. the City‖ the role of geography in the natural/civilized dichotomy is discussed. Rousseau believed that rural life (i.e., life in the country, away from the city and large numbers of people) is more conducive to one‘s remaining natural; city life, on the other hand, leads to corruption and the development of civilized characteristics, due to one‘s proximity to others. Dickens‘s novels contain a similar sentiment, although as both Dickens and Rousseau concluded, life in the country (in ―nature‖) becomes less and less possible with the advance of civilization, so one‘s only choice is to become citizens, living naturally within the city. Taking into consideration the survival of natural characters throughout Dickens‘s literary corpus, as well as an increase in the number of redeemed characters (albeit in a civilized setting), conclusions are drawn that Dickens did not lose his optimism toward the end of his life; in fact, he presents the survival of natural goodness as possible in spite of the corruptive forces of civilization. Like Rousseau, Dickens ultimately reinforces not only humankind‘s innate goodness, but also its resilience and adaptability. xi INTRODUCTION In an article that appeared in Temple Bar on the occasion of Dickens‘s death in July 1870, Alfred Austin said that Dickens was for giving Man generally a chance, and many chances. In a word, he was an ardent believer in the perfectibility of the human species. To Charles Dickens, no doubt, a belief in human perfectibility was probably so strong that he was unable even to conceive its negation. In that, he was the man of his epoch, and had the spirit-time throbbing within him. (Qtd. in Collins 534) Since the year 1833 when Charles Dickens published his first story, critics have generally been in agreement that Dickens‘s view of humanity is optimistic. In fact, some have criticized him for being excessively optimistic, to the point of unrealistic sentimentalism and idealism. On the other hand, others have attributed to Dickens, at least during the last half of his career, a darkness and pessimism that illustrate humanity as fallen, wicked, and unredeemable. Nevertheless, according to William J. Palmer, although the settings of Dickens‘s novels become bleaker as time passes in his novel chronology, ―Dickens‘ world view, his philosophy of man, . remains consistent and optimistic‖ throughout his literary career (32). Studies are few that examine how and from whom Dickens developed his view of humanity. However, there are elements of Romanticism in the writings of Dickens, to the point that he has been called a ―Romantic-Realist.‖ And indeed, Dickens was born and lived his early years during the Romantic period. Andrew Sanders, citing an inventory of Dickens‘s bookshelves at his home at Devonshire Terrace, states that those shelves held books of the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, and Southey, among others (Dickens 82). But Donald S. Stone says that even so, ―His knowledge of the Romantic poets was spotty‖ (250), and that ―Dickens was an instinctive Romantic‖ (250), rather than intentionally following the great poets and essayists of the period. It stands to reason, however, that he could have inherited some of the optimistic views of the Romantic writers, along with the views of the eighteenth-century
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