Cοurse paper Theme: Features of symbolism in the novels of Charles Dickens

Analysis of his novel “ Dombey and son”

Reflection of subject symbols in the novel by Ch .Dickens' “Dombey and Son”.

In the previous paragraph we considered the possibility of naming Ch.Dickens is a symbolist. They noted the presence of symbols in the novel "Dombey and Son" and, definitely, the writer in this work acts as a realist symbolist.
The novel takes place in the middle of the XIX century. On one of the London evenings, the main character, Mr. Dombey, has a long–awaited heir. And now, it would seem, his dream will come true. From now on, his firm "Dombey and Son" will be not only in name, but also in fact. But the joy of birth is overshadowed by the death of Mrs Dombey, who could not stand childbirth. She dies hugging her daughter Florence, forgotten and not taken seriously by her father. A wet nurse, Paulie Toodle, is taken into the house.‌‌ The boy – Paul grows frail and sickly. With the help of money and believing in their power, Mr Dombey is trying to improve his son's health and give him an education. And only because of the attachment of the younger brother to the sister, the father is forced to pay attention to the daughter. Florence is left at Mrs. Pipchin's so that her brother can see her on Sundays. However, nothing helps, the boy languishes day by day and dies, wrapping his arms around his sister. She experiences her grief alone. Florence passionately wants to win her father's love, but there is only indifference on his face.
After the death of his son, Mr Dombey makes a trip to Demington to unwind a little, where he is introduced to Mrs Skewton and her daughter Edith Granger. At this time, Florence's friendship with Mr. Giles and his nephew Walter is becoming deeper and deeper.
Mr Dombey, dreaming of an heir, decides to marry a second time. He makes an offer to Edith, to which she indifferently agrees. Their engagement strongly resembles a deal. Here Dombey introduces James Cracker to his fiancee and Mrs. Skewton.
After the honeymoon, when Edith returns home, she is cold and arrogant with everyone except Florence, which does not escape the attention of Mr Dombey, and he is displeased with this. Meanwhile, Carker seeks meetings with Edith, threatening to tell Dombey about Florence's friendship with Walter and his uncle, for which the father will hate his daughter even more. So he gains some power over Edith. Eventually (after being refused a divorce) Edith Granger runs away from her husband with a Carker. And of this Mr Dombey accuses Florence and strikes her. The daughter runs away from home in tears to Mr. Gills' shop, where Walter soon arrives. Young people become the bride and groom. After the wedding, Walter and Florence go to sea.
Mr Dombey soon discovers the fact of his ruin due to the revealed abuses of James Cracker, who has already died under the wheels of a train. Dombey is crushed. Having lost his position in society and his favorite business at once, he locks himself in an empty house – and only now remembers that all these years he had a daughter by his side who loved him and whom he rejected; now he repents and at the moment when he is ready to commit suicide, Florence appears before him, who stillhe still loves his father.
Mr Dombey's old age is warmed by the love of his daughter and her family. Cured of ambitious dreams, Dombey found happiness in giving his love to his grandchildren – Paul and little Florence. In this novel , Ch .Dickens created images of rich people, egoists and simple, modest people. When reading his work, love for generous heroes wakes up and hatred for the evil, selfish and hypocritical grows. The novel itself is the story of the "greatness and fall" of Dombey, a proud merchant. Upon closer examination of the work, we see several "proud men", manifested in different characters. This is actually Mr Dombey, his second wife Edith Granger and James Cracker.
As noted earlier, the author uses symbols when creating a work. We have already said that the character of Mr Dombey is a symbol. Mr Dombey is depicted in an indissoluble connection with the surrounding environment. From him – cruel, cold, indifferent, there is a chill: "Mr. Dombey personified the wind, twilight and autumn ..., he stood stern and cold as the weather itself ..., his gaze carried death"[6, p.49].Dickens always draws the reader's attention to the cold coming from Dombey: with his appearance in the room, the temperature drops; draws attention to the atmosphere of cold that is present in his house, thereby emphasizing his callousness and mental coldness. His haughty and prim appearance is compared to "unbending and cold fireplace tongs and a cold poker" [6, p.50]. Dombey's image is a denunciation of a typical representative of the English bourgeoisie of the 40s. In other words, a typical representative of the English trading world, who existed at a certain historical time, is an English merchant of the Victorian era, arrogant, prim and proud with the greatest callousness and selfishness. Note that the Dombey image is a type in which reality is reflected. This image generalizes the bourgeois class.‌‌ And since the type has a peculiarity – becoming a symbol itself, the socio-historical ideality that the Dombey type embodies allows the Dombey image to become not just a type, but a symbolic type, that is, to become a symbol itself. Telling us the story of the collapse of Mr. Dombey's family and hopes, the writer says that money is an evil that poisons a person's consciousness, enslaves him and turns him into a heartless proud and selfish. To complete the image and reveal the character of Dombey's character, the writer resorts to the subject symbol – the house. In world literature, the image of the house is ambiguous:
- the center of the world;
- a dream;
- dwelling, habitat;
- a haven for a tired soul, a place for its rest and recuperation;
- a place of saving cultural, moral, spiritual events;
- portrait of the soul of the family;
- discord with oneself and the world , etc .
There are certain functions that this symbol performs, such as: the image of the scene of the events taking place; the reflection of the essence of a person; the disclosure of the inner, spiritual world of the hero.
«…Mr Dombey's house was a large one, on the shady side of a tall, dark, dreadfully genteel street in the region between Portland Place and Bryanstone Square. “ It was a corner house, with great wide areas containing cellars frowned upon by barred windows, and leered at by crooked-eyed doors leading to dustbins. It was a house of dismal state, with a circular back to it, containing a whole suite of drawing-rooms looking upon a gravelled yard, where two gaunt trees, with blackened trunks and branches, rattled rather than rustled, their leaves were so smoked-dried…» [28, c. 14 ].
"Mr Dombey had a large house on the shady side of a dark but elegant street with tall houses, between Portland Place and Bryanston Square. It was a corner house with spacious "courtyards", where cellars opened out, which frowned at the light with their barred windows and squinted contemptuously with squinting doors leading to garbage bins. It was a majestic and gloomy house with a semicircular rear facade, with a suite of halls overlooking a gravel-strewn courtyard, where two stunted trees with blackened trunks rattled rather than rustled..."."... And inside this house was as gloomy as outside..."."... Bell handles, blinds and mirrors, covered with newspapers and magazines, daily and weekly, imposed fragmentary reports of deaths and terrible murders. Every candelabra, every chandelier, wrapped in linen, resembled a monstrous tear falling from an eye on the ceiling. Odors came from fireplaces, as from a crypt or a damp basement" [6, p.5].
«…It was as blank a house inside as outside. When the funeral was over, Mr Dombey ordered the furniture to be covered up perhaps to preserve it for the son with whom his plans were all associated and the rooms to be ungarnished, saving such as he retained for himself on the ground floor. Accordingly, mysterious shapes were made of tables and chairs, heaped together in the middle of rooms, and covered over with great winding-sheets. Bell-handles, window-blinds, and looking-glasses, being papered up in journals, daily and weekly, obtruded fragmentary accounts of deaths and dreadful murders. Every chandelier or lustre, muffled in holland, looked like a monstrous tear depending from the ceiling's eye. Odours, as from vaults and damp places, came out of the chimneys. The dead and buried lady was awful in a picture-frame of ghastly bandages. Every gust of wind that rose, brought eddying round the corner from the neighbouring mews, some fragments of the straw that had been strewn before the house when she was ill, mildewed remains of which were still cleaving to the neighbourhood: and these, being always drawn by some invisible attraction to the threshold of the dirty house to let immediately opposite, addressed a dismal eloquence to Mr Dombey's windows…» [28, c.14 ]This description of the house is very similar to a haunted house, or a place of detention. And the owner himself resembles a prisoner or a ghost, which can neither be called nor understood. The portrait of a "frozen", "indifferent" Dombey is set off by gloomy cold rooms in his "majestic and gloomy house" [6, p.23], objects and things surrounding him: "books, like soldiers in cold, hard, slippery uniforms, suggest icy cold; a bookcase locked with a key, did not allow any familiarity; dusty urns, dug out of an ancient grave, towering on both sides of the cabinet, preached about destruction and decay; inflexible and cold fireplace tongs and poker seemed to claim a close relationship with Mr. Dombey" [6, pp.49-50]. Dombey is in a state of discord with himself and the world until the end of the whole work, only at the end he sees clearly and is freed from the power of social status and money pressing on him, only at the end his soul warms up, is freed from cold ice. But it's too late, he's an old man and lonely. And his state of mind is immediately reflected on the house itself, the once gloomy but majestic house looks abandoned and dilapidated.
«…He wandered through the rooms: lately so luxurious; now so bare and dismal and so changed, apparently, even in their shape and size. The press of footsteps was as thick here; and the same consideration of the suffering he had had, perplexed and terrified him. He began to fear that all this intricacy in his brain would drive him mad; and that his thoughts already lost coherence as the footprints did, and were pieced on to one another, with the same trackless involutions, and varieties of indistinct shapes…» [28, c.434 ].
«…It sat down, with its eyes upon the empty fireplace, and as it lost itself in thought there shone into the room a gleam of light; a ray of sun. It was quite unmindful, and sat thinking. Suddenly it rose, with a terrible face, and that guilty hand grasping what was in its breast. Then it was arrested by a cry-a wild, loud, piercing, loving, rapturous cry-and he only saw his own reflection in the glass…» [28, c. 435 ]. The role of the house in this context is a reflection of the essence of a Domby person, the disclosure of his inner world and the reflection of the exterior itself. His house bears the imprint of his personality, his tastes, all his inclinations. And Mr. Dombey's house is not a symbol of preserving family traditions, and not a symbol of warmth and love, his house is a symbol of discord with himself and the world, a symbol of anxiety. Another symbol that corresponds to the social content of the novel about the fate of the capitalist is the symbol of the railway. This symbol, as we noted in the previous paragraph, well reflects the sign of the symbol - polysemy. And it refers to such a type of symbol as an externally technical symbol, which is the principle of carrying out an infinite series of actions. As E.Yu. Genieva notes in his writings, the railway is death itself for Dombey, since he is an individualist who is afraid of everything new. But the railway is also a symbol of progress, which, according to Ch.Dickens, is able to improve the living conditions of the people. «…In short, the yet unfinished and unopened Railroad was in progress; and, from the very core of all this dire disorder, trailed smoothly away, upon its mighty course of civilisation and improvement…» On the other hand, the same road is also a symbol of retribution: a Cracker dies under the wheels of a train: “Damn this fiery rumbling devil, so smoothly rushing away into the distance, leaving behind a glimmer of light and ominous smoke in the valley and disappearing from sight! It seemed to Carker as if he had been quickly removed from the path of this devil and saved from the danger of being torn to shreds. This thought made him shudder and cringe even now when the hum finally died down and the entire length of the railway track, which he could see by the light of the moon, was deserted and quiet.....Karker felt the ground tremble... instantly realized... it was coming....he let out a scream... looked around... saw red eyes in front of him, clouded and dim in daylight... was knocked down, picked up, pulled in by the shredding millstones... they twisted him, tearing off his arms and legs and, drying up the stream of his life with their fiery heat, threw the mutilated remains into the air as in the desert.” [6, p. 273]. «…He heard a shout another saw the face change from its vindictive passion to a faint sickness and terror felt the earth tremble knew in a moment that the rush was come uttered a shriek looked round saw the red eyes, bleared and dim, in the daylight, close upon him was beaten down, caught up, and whirled away upon a jagged mill, that spun him round and round, and struck him limb from limb, and licked his stream of life up with its fiery heat, and cast his mutilated fragments in the air…» [28, c.403 ]. We examined one symbol – the railway and identified three meanings: death, progress and retribution. The type of symbol – nature, society and the whole world as the realm of symbols, includes the image of the sea. This symbol is depicted in the tragic moments that occur in the novel, but still it is a symbol of peace associated with the departure of the characters to another world. So, Dombey’s first wife “... holding tightly to this fragile reed, clinging to her, the mother sailed away into the dark and unknown ocean that washes the whole world.” “...Thus, clinging fast to that slight spar within her arms, the mother drifted out upon the dark and unknown sea that rolls round all the world...” [28, p.7]. Little Paul, who is initially frightened by the chatter of the waves, then: “...the restless sea was still noisy all through the night was melodious and melancholy, but the melody sounded pleasant, and grew and subsided along with the waves, rocked the boy when he fell asleep.” The boy is no longer afraid and, on the contrary, is ready to “leave”, but he needs a sister who loves him dearly. “Sister and brother wrapped their arms around each other, and golden light streamed into the room and fell on them, merged in an embrace. How fast the river flows past green banks and reeds, Floy! But it is very close to the sea. I hear the chatter of the waves! They said that all the time. Then he told her that he was lulled by the sliding of the boat on the river. What green shores are now, what bright flowers on them and how tall the reeds are! Now the boat has gone to sea, but it is moving smoothly forward. And now the shore is in front of him. Who is that standing on the shore?... He folded his hands, as he used to do at prayer. But he didn’t take his hands away, you could see how he joined them around her neck.”Mom looks like you, Floy. I know her by sight! But tell them that the engraving on the stairs at school is not so divine. The radiance around this head illuminates my path!”[6, p.173 ]. “...Sister and brother wound their arms around each other, and the golden light came streaming in, and fell upon them, locked together.
“How fast the river runs, between its green banks and the rushes, “Floy! But it’s very near the sea. I hear the waves! They always said so!”Presently he told her the motion of the boat upon the stream was lulling him to rest. How green the banks were now, how bright the flowers growing on them, and how tall the rushes! Now the boat was out at sea, but gliding smoothly on. And now there was a shore before him. Who stood on the bank!‌‌ He put his hands together, as he had been used to do at his prayers. He did not remove his arms to do it; but they saw him fold them so, behind her neck. “Mama is like you, Floy. I know her by the face! But tell them that the print upon the stairs at school is not divine enough. The light about the head is shining on me as I go!”…» [28, c. 122 ]. The image of the noisy waves accompanies the dying and speaks to the living, evoking reflections on life and death. This symbolic image runs through the entire novel in a continuous stream, taking people’s thoughts, hopes and lives into the ocean, but the meaning of this incessant chatter of waves is understandable only to those of the heroes who are able to rise above everyday life and reflect on the bitter human lot [8, p. 376]. And the image of a little boy Paul, who is for father, first of all, a partner and heir, and the loss of which for Dombey is a big business failure, is a symbol of the prosperity of the company. It reflects the real reality of that era, where children grew up without the love, warmth and affection of their parents; for them, governesses and nannies were relatives. Children were a promising investment, especially boys. Therefore, sons are a symbol of the prosperity of the family business. This symbol can be attributed to the type of artistic symbols, since an artistic image is a construction that acts as a principle of understanding everything singular. We have considered only a small number of characters in the novel “Dombey and Son”. And on their example, you can see the characteristic features inherent in the symbol: ambiguity (the symbol of the railway, the symbol of the house); duplicity (the symbol of Domby); the presence of ideological imagery (the symbol of the sea). You can also distinguish the functions that the symbol performs. The Dombey and Field symbols carry a semantic load containing a social meaning. They also have an emotive function, and they reflect the author’s worldview. In the presence of several functions and the relationship between them, the bearing of semantic load dominates. Other symbols affect the atmosphere permeating the entire work. They also perform a communicative function. A thoughtful reader will definitely enter into a “dialogue” with them and understand what the author wanted to express by using these symbols, although he will interpret each in his own way, due to their ambiguity and the individuality of the reader.