The Egoist
George Meredith's The Egoist: A Literary and Critical History
George Meredith was an English author, critic, poet, and war correspondent. He was considered to be a successful writer. He published several works of fiction and poetry. These works included: The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, The Tragic Comedians, Modern Love Poems of the English Roadside, and Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth among many others. Toward the end of his career, after the tragic deaths of his wife and son, Meredith received the Order of Merit. He was born in 1828 and died in 1909 (Casal).
The Egoist is arguably his greatest work of fiction and "is celebrated as a major in the history of the British novel. It presents Meredith's learned insight into psychology, sociology and Social Darwinism in a highly refined and stylized prose"(DiMauro 250). The novel is about Sir Willoughby Patterene, a highly narcissistic gentleman, in his quest to find a socially acceptable wife. In Willoughby's youth his two aunts nurtured his narcissism. He was the self-proclaimed "son of the house." Which is a reference to Louix XIV, who believed that he was the center of the entire universe (DiMauro 250)
Throughout the narrative Sir Willoughby has little luck with women. "His first fiancée, Constantia Durham, abandons him three weeks before the wedding; the second, Clara Middleton, grows to abhor the cynosure, leaving Willoughby to court Laetitia Dale, the daughter of a cottager on the Patterne estate, whom Willoughby had once renounced as being below his station" (DiMauro 250).
The Egoist is a fictionalized work rooting from a lecture Meredith gave at the London Institute called, On The Idea of Comedy The Uses of the Comic Spirit. This lecture later became book titled An Essay on Comedy (Casal). French dramatist, Jean Baptiste Molirére, primarily influenced Meredith's comic views, particularly the novel Tartuffe. Being that the novel was born out of Meredith's comic findings, the full title of the work is called The Egoist: A Comedy in Narrative. The story of The Egoist is:
Based upon drama rather than fiction and reflects Meredith's understanding of comedy as a means of criticizing society and analyzing the individual. Meredith was the first to replace an elaborate plot structure with careful psychological analysis of characters, an innovation that would greatly influence the modern novel. (DiMauro 250)
Meredith was fifty years old when he began work on The Egoist. In 1879 he gave the manuscript to his publisher, Charles Kegan Paul.
The tone of this essay is sarcastic and humorous. The way the author present himself in order to be famous or impressive, turn out being a situation where people was making fun of him. It is illustrated in the text when the author describe the scene where he wanted to impress girls. “I acquired a pipe, which I chewed on ostentatiously ...even at school basketball games, pretending to be absorbed by books of daunting significance.” an example presenting the humoristic tone is when the Richler instead of being seeing as an intellectual people were mocking him. This is illustrated when the author says” The sweetly scented girls of my dreams, wearing lipstick and tight sweaters and nylon ...they would call out , giggly, nudging
In this novel the protagonist of the story, Siddhartha, believes that the teachings of others will not allow you to reach Nirvana. Therefore, he sets out on a journey to experience the world for himself, the good and the bad, in order to become closer to enlightenment and to eventually become an enlightened one himself, a Buddha. After each experience Siddhartha comes to a new conclusion as his outlook on life changes, as he becomes closer to enlightenment.
Although Tartuffe is portrayed as the main character of the play, Orgon is the character who should really be paid attention to the most. As suggested in an essay on "Tartuffe" audiences who concentrate on the character who titles the work may miss the author's point: ".vitriol and spleen vented on one man suggests that Moliere's satire of Orgon, nevermind Tartuffe, was steeped in truth. " Smaje. Orgon is the character who represents the weakness of human nature.
The Flawed Characters of Tartuffe To be perfect is to be inhuman. Human nature is complete with many flaws and imperfections, one of which is represented in the play "Tartuffe", by Moliere. “Tartuffe” was written specifically to show the reader a basic flaw in human nature. This flaw is shown through two characters, Madame Pernelle and Orgon.
Scanzoni, Letha, and John H. Scanzoni. Men, Women, and Change: A Sociology of Marriage and Family. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. Print.
At this instant in the play, the audience perceives Hamlet in his most dismal hour. Although Hamlet often times refers back to the question of why he was chosen to lead this life, Hamlet, wishing to vanish from existence, never brings himself to such rashness. Although the depth of his misery is patently agonizing, Hamlet’s sorrow associated with the loss of his father may not be as deep-seated as Shakespeare initially depicts it to be. On numerous occasions, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet in a state of self-loathing in respect to the task his father’s spirit assigned to him. Although Hamlet is inarguably still grieving the loss of his father, a considerable portion of his grief then stems from his own reluctance to act. Although, undeniably, the centralization of his actions are around the vengeance of his father’s death, through the murder of Claudius, Hamlet’s hesitancy to act furthermore portrays his grief within himself. Despite being given numerous opportunities to execute his sole task,
Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (19621960). The Ego and the Super-ego. The ego and the id (pp. 19-20). New York: Norton.
Molière’s play “Tartuffe and Oscar Wilde’s play “The Importance of Being Earnest” both demonstrate a comical portrait of hypocrisy. In “Tartuffe”, the main character Tartuffe is seen as a religious hypocrite who takes advantage of Orgon’s wealth and agrees to marry his daughter, Mariane against her wishes. In “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Jack and Algernon both lie about their identity to get the woman of their dreams. The authors use the concept of double personalities in the play to reveal the deceit and lies to represent the theme of hypocrisy. In fact, hypocrisy is not only displayed in the characters but in the play as a whole. Additionally, the plays are both hypocrital in ways that they do not follow the structure of comedy.
To be egocentric is thinking only of oneself without regard for the feelings or desires of others, this describes Miss Strangeworth. She is described this way because of how she felt about the letters she wrote. After she wrote the letters “Miss Strangeworth awakened the next morning with a feeling of intense happiness” knowing that the harsh letters, that were sent a day prior,
Throughout the course of day-to-day business life, the business professionals come in contact with quite a sum of ethical dilemmas. There are various ways to handle these ethical dilemmas, but failure to follow the appropriate manner could result in an unethical outcome. The ethical guides related to the book definitely help students develop an ethical character that is sure to stand out for highly ethical companies. In addition, there are companies that test how ethical applicants are before hiring them, this in turn makes getting the job more difficult and costly. However, despite the high cost and difficulty said companies stay firm to ethics, guaranteeing they get top-of-the-line employees who will act in an ethical manner. Ethics is defined
The play Tartuffe is a comedy written by French playwright Moliere. Most of his plays were meant to critique common behaviors he saw in his society. In Tartuffe, he is criticizing those people who pretend to be very pious and religious, when in fact, they are simply pretending devotion to God to further their own personal desires.
“Where Id is, there ego shall be” (Freud, S.S. 1932). This is particularly relevant for the play Othello by William Shakespeare. In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, he stated that the human psyche is a tripartite model composed of three elements. This psychoanalytic theory is extremely applicable to the Othello. The three main characters of this text of Othello have a remarkable resemblance to Freud’s analysis of human psyche, despite the fact that these two texts were written in different eras. Furthermore, the setting of Othello is also congruent with the concept of the human mind as a known and predictable conscious part and an unknown and sinister unconscious mind. Overall, Othello mirrors Freud’s psychoanalytical criticism concepts almost exactly. However, there are some facets of this text which refute Freudian Psychoanalysis.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was forced upon him.Death is something he struggles with as an abstract idea and as relative to himself. He is able to reconcile with the idea of death and reality eventually.
The play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is full of irony. Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, the protagonists in the play, get themselves into a complicated situation called Bunburyism (as Algernon refers to it). They pretend to be someone that they are not to escape their daily lives. They lie to the women they admire and eventually the truth is unveiled.
Moliere's Tartuffe is a satire based on religious hypocrisy. Every character is essential in Tartuffe. All of the characters play an important role, but it is easy to say that Tartuffe and Orgon are the main characters. First, we must know the definition of satire. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, satire is defined as "literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn" ("satire"). In other words, a satire is defined as literary work that uses humor to point out the foolishness of a person or just in human nature. Religious hypocrisy can be self-defined as a false assumption of a person. What follows are examples of how I believe Tartuffe exposes humor through religious hypocrisy.