Importance Of Being Earnest As A Heroic Quest In English Fiction

The emergence of realism in English fiction

Discuss the Importance of Being Earnest as a Heroic Quest.

The term realism and form of novel was earlier discussed by Ian Watt in his infamous text “Realism and the Novel Form”. In this book the author has discussed much about different forms of novels where realism is succinctly touched upon.  Novel being one of the most effective literary forms emerged during the late seventeenth century having its apex form in the eighteenth century. Watt has found that novel is a true attempt to be an authentic account of reality since most of the eighteenth and nineteenth century novels portrayed the ongoing social turmoil in both subtle and crude manners. Dickens in his novels had unfurled the reality of the nineteenth century industrial England and its neighborhood. On the other hand Hardy was concerned about the social structure aiming at the objective of human life. Scholars like Raymond William have argued in his book “Forms of English Fiction in 1848” that the practices of human life in social discourses are succinctly reflected in the novels of the nineteenth century. Post romantic period English era persuaded the voice towards the emergence of new economy thus welcoming the most intricate situation within the literary aspect. Thus it can be quoted from William, “ at any particular point there are complex relations between what can be called dominant, residual and emergent institutions and practices”. This specific idea is always prevalent in any form of literary work.  As a matter of fact, Watt’s idea of ideal characteristics of novel could hardly be observed in the nineteenth and eighteenth century novels. 

“Hard Times” Written by Charles Dickens is a paradigmatic example of a novel that clearly holds the entity o romanticism and reality- both juxtaposing to each other.  Dickens in most of his works has shown his mastery of art to incorporate both the Romantic traits as well the Victorian ones.  He maintained old fashion romance linking it to the age of old English period where hero would be highly venerated. However, Dickens’ heroes were highly subdued and they suffered from social imbalance thus rising to fortune with the assistance of benefactors.  Novels like “A Tale of Two Cities” succinctly elucidate the basic feature of two rival industrial countries fighting for establishing their power in the global aspect. The hero there is a docile personality who rises to bravery so as to conclude the act of fortune in both personal and social life.

The unique blend of romance and realism in Charles Dickens’ works

One of the most important aspect, beside the amalgamation of old age romance and Victorian realism, is the stringent relation between the form and the content of the works. In this case the prose works done by Charles Dickens are quite distinctive from the other works in that era. The form of writing he would follow was extremely straight forward and it clearly upholds the Victorian ethics and industrial Urban England.  In most of his novels he writes about England- the urban and industrialized England where he finds the slums and the migrants from the shires. The style and rhythm found in his novels are extremely unique in nature that could never be found in the works of his contemporary novelists. His mastery and expertise in the portrayal of urban life had details of each string of the clothes. The rhythm was fast, the depiction was vivid, and portrayal was bold and energetic. The most important aspects of his novel forms was the shift o tone and expression that was abrupt. The characters were highly expressive. With such distinctive entity of his novel he has found out the basic understanding of the entire case pertaining to the entire understanding of the basic case with the most impactful criteria of the Victorian England. As a matter of fact, he would clearly mention the appearance of the strangers passing by in such a way that the stranger would act as nothing but a representative of the country or the society in that era. Since this has been highly imperative in all of his novels we could take Hard Times as a paradigmatic example of a realistic novel.

The strongest and the boldest phrase used by Dickens in the novel is “the Great Manufacturer”.  The author has divided the phrase in to three clear parts- “sowing”, “reaping” and “garnering”. As a matter of fact, the changes made in due course of the novel for the conceptualization of who actually is the manufacturer were directed to the latter part thus stepping forward to the forerunning of the novel. Portrayal of capitalism could not be much depicted in subtler manner.  According to Ligia Grabauskas, “capitalism is present in this fictional world almost as a second nature, for it is already so interwoven in society that it seems impossible to be overcome” (Dickens).  Dickens’ depiction of Capitalism in “Hard Times” could not but be more succinct in nature.  A sentence can thus be quoted from the novel, “Time went on in Coketown like its own machinery: so much material wrought up, so much fuel consumed, so many powers worn out, so much money made”. This sentence has a docile conceptualization of the capitalist country that could easily clear out the basic methods of social destruction.  With the effective nature of industrial boom, the British urban society that was emerging out of the constant growth in industrial sector was highly effective in terms of making it a basic choice for the migrants from faraway village areas.  In the novel the narrator talks about the time that can be considered to be the most potential competitor of capitalism.  There have been four important characters in the novel: Mr. Gradgrin, his elder children Louisa and Tom and Sissy Jupe, the girl who had come from the circus. From the beginning of the novel Louisa has been presented as a complex individual. This is how it has been taken in to certain consideration with the effective changes with the making of the basic understanding of the entire course (Afroz).

The distinctive form and style of Charles Dickens’ writing

According to Ligia Grabauskas, Tom, Sissy a Mr. Gradgind were flat characters since they have been stereotyped. The mode of characterization conducted by Charles Dickens has ben typical and that too off the streets. It succinctly shows his mastery of observation. Tom was every man in the Victorian England (Stowe, William and Jam). As a matter of fact, this has been a typical understanding pertaining to the basic changes with the effective understanding of how it needs to be taken in to certain consideration. Depiction of British bourgeoisie within the characters can be treated as the basic understanding of the factors pertaining to the entire understanding of the entire course with the help of the basic step. There have been round character and there have been flatter ones. Both were types of individuals who were impacted upon by the rise of bourgeoisie thus conflicting with the proletarians (Marjorie). As a matter of fact, such conscious conflict was vivid in the non-fictional works of Marx and Dickens properly ascended from the Marxist understanding of capitalist society (Collins).  Dickens had indeed used melodramatic depiction in Hard Times however with subtle touch with reality. Melodrama did not dominate the entire novel. The genius of Dickens lay in the fact that this was highly deplorable with the factual understanding of the entire concept with the basic understanding of the entire case. Mixing of characters according to the social manner had portrayed the class distinction on the basis of economy (Prasch).  In Hard Times, time is repeatedly linked to industrialized society of Victorian England. This has clearly made the vision intelligible that the change in time was nothing but the change in the nature of social development and humanitarian acceptance. While talking about the changes the author states that, “In some stages of his manufacture of the human fabric, the processes of Time are very rapid.”

Capitalization of the word time has played a major factor, which succinctly draws distinctive line between the concept of time in real. Time had constantly been fighting against the changes made in due course of social development. The procedure of time delivers the idea of a universe that had long been captured by the realm of capitalist world. This has made the entire concept harsh with growing conflict within the English society (Connor). Surprisingly Dickens could link this complexity with every European social structure that was based on capitalist mindset. As a matter of fact, this hassled to the generation of the basic concept with the factorization of the entire social structure within and outside England (Moore,).  

It can thus be concluded that despite being low rated among many of the critics for not being supportive towards the industrial growth and of not being realistic in nature, Hard Times can be treated a text of reality. As a matter of fact, Hard Times has not been the only txt that approached to the realistic nature. A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations were also associated with the change of Victorian society towards the Edwardian society.  Dickens has, in fact, been true and unconditionally honest about the social changes.  He observed the process and incorporated the basics of such through his novels.

References:

Ashrafi, Afroz. “Charles Dickens, the Second Construction of British Realism.” Labyrinth: An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies 6.3 (2015).

Boulton, Marjorie. The Anatomy of the Novel (Routledge Revivals). Routledge, 2014.

Collins, Philip, ed. Charles Dickens: The Critical Heritage. Routledge, 2013.

Connor, Steven. Charles Dickens. Routledge, 2014.

Dickens, Charles. Hard Times (Norton Critical Editions). WW Norton & Company, 2016.

Moore, Grace. Dickens and Empire: Discourses of Class, Race and Colonialism in the Works of Charles Dickens. Routledge, 2017.

Prasch, Robert E. “Aristotle, Adam Smith and Karl Marx: On some fundamental issues in 21st century political economy.” (2013): 679-682.

Stowe, William W. Balzac, James, and the realistic novel. Princeton University Press, 2014.