The duchess and the jeweller
1237 mots
5 pages
Virginia WoolfThe Duchess and the Jeweller
Introduction
The Duchess and the Jeweller is a short-story written by Virginia Woolf in 1938. In this story the author experiments the stream of consciousness, showing the feelings and thoughts of Oliver Bacon, a greedy jeweller. It's a third person narrative where we have access to Oliver's inner monologue. First, we are going to see the social and economical ascension of Oliver Bacon, and then we are going to study the place of women in Oliver's life.
Oliver Bacon has spectacularly climb the social ladder. He began his life in a poor and dark street in Whitechapel (l.17 ). He soon has started to have very high ambitions. As a boy, and against his mother's wish, he started to do a quite inglorious job: sell stolen dogs to rich women. Growing up, he worked into a shop selling cheap watches. It's the beginning of a long social ascension.
He found three diamonds which he sold in Amsterdam. He started to have a passion for jewellery, and bet with his mother that he will be the richest jeweller in England. He worked as a jeweller in a little shop in Hatton Garden where he has soon proved his talent. When he passed through the other jewellers, they used to stop themselves in their conversations and look at him murmuring. l.39 . As the text says, the gestures of the jewellers has meant a lot of encouraging words to Oliver and he is still remembering that murmur among the jewellers.
His social ascension is associated to an economical ascension. As he became more famous and richer, he bought more and more expensive things. First he bought a hansom cab, which is a kind of horse-drawn carriage, then a car, then a luxurious villa with servants (l.10, l.44). We also see his ascension because he started to go to the opera, which is an aristocratic hobby. He went to the dress circle, then into the stalls, which suggest once again his ascension: he had a better place in the society, so he had a better seat.
His way to