Dickens and Thackeray: Punishment and ForgivenessAttitudes 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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... wife he has lost " ( 33 ) . " The Drunkard's Death " is very predictable . A man given to drink sees his wife die before him and trembles at her glance . But the loss of his wife does not alter his conduct . His neglected sons go bad ...
... wife and child , who die . He vows revenge , then falls into a fever dominated by images of vengeance . Recovering ... wife's own father , " who had let his daughter and her child die in prison ( 290 ) . It is interesting again how ...
... wife , Dot , loves a young stranger . John feels guilty of injuring his wife by having married a woman so much younger than himself . He tells Tackleton that he is willing to set Dot free to have the life she wants . “ Go , with my ...
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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