Discover Top Posts Tagged with #martinchuzzlewit

Popular Recent

This painting by Adam Buck, circa 1810, is entitled 𝑰 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝑴𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝑴𝒂𝒎𝒂. A print of it can be found in the 1994 adaptation of 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒖𝒛𝒛𝒍𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕, as well as the 1995 adaptation of 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒆. Have you found this prop anywhere else? Let us know at: Bit.ly/props028

#AdamBuck #Painting #MartinChuzzlewit #PrideAndPrejudice #Props #CostumeDesign #Costumes #RecycledMovieCostumes

The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Note on the text: I used Martin Chuzzlewit as written by Charles Dickens and published in 1994 by Alfred Knopf.

Now I love Dickens (in fact once I read Dombey and Son and Oliver Twist I will have read all of his major novels) but I have to admit that I did not love this one. However, having said that, I did love the character of Seth Pecksniff and the way in which Dickens criticizes people who are hypocritical moralists.

Moralists are people who live their lives by telling other people how to live theirs, and hypocritical moralists have been around since the beginning of time. Thus, “we never fail to meet, in the records of [all families, innumerable] repetitions of the same character” (1). This is why characters like Seth Pecksniff continue to speak to us more than a hundred years later: we know him.

Now not only is Seth a moralizer who constantly is telling other people how to live their lives, but he is always pointing out just how much better, how much more moral, he is than everyone else. The ridiculous ways in which he supports this view of himself is something that Dickens instantly exposes as being extremely self-serving. Just look at the way in which he talks about poor people:

If everyone [was] warm and well fed, we would lose the satisfaction of admiring the fortitude with which certain conditions of men bear cold and hunger. And if we were no better off then anyone else, what would become of our sense of gratitude; which,’ Mr Pecksniff said with tears in his eyes as he shook his fist at a beggar who wanted to get up [and share the coach which Seth was riding in so he could get out of the cold], ‘is one of the holiest feelings in our nature” (116).

The self serving nature of his moralizing becomes even more self evident when he tries to bully Mary into marrying him by saying that if she does he will use his influence on Martin Chuzzlewit Sr. to help make sure that Martin Chuzzlewit Jr (whom she is engaged to and who is the estranged grandson of Martin Chuzzlewit Sr.) is taken care of. And if she doesn’t marry him well then. . . . But listen to the way in he attempts to talk her into seeing things from his point of view:

When we are married, you shall have the satisfaction of [knowing] that [your love for young Martin] didn’t last to ruin him, but passed away to do him some good; for we’ll see then what we can do to put some trifling help in Martin junior’s way. Have I any influence over our venerable friend [i.e. Martin Chuzzlewit Sr.]? Well! Perhaps I have, Perhaps I have” (484).

His moralizing is entirely self serving. He only cares about doing the right thing if and when it serves him.

Characters like Seth Pecksniff continue to connect to people now, almost 170 years later, because they exemplify something of the human condition. Everyone knows, or will come to know, someone who is as moralizing and self centered as Seth Pecksniff. He is the proverbial “wolf in sheep’s clothing” that we all will one day meet, and hopefully recognize and not fall prey to.

#dickens #pecksniff #pride #hypocrisy #martinchuzzlewit #charlesdickens #wolfinsheepsclothing

Top 10 books I enjoyed reading in 2021 most. In order to accomplish my goal of finishing all Charles Dickens novels (for the first time around; I may re-read some of them), I've read 7 novels by him this year. Another reading goal I've reached with enjoyment was to read the complete stories of Edgar Allan Poe, which, of course, thrilled, and fascinated me. No less fascinating, Jorge Luis Borges's story collection Ficciones, distorting our perception of reality and universe, blurring the line between fact and fiction and introducing us the magical, unthought and untold sides of life, has become my second favourite read this year. Definitely Dickens' most underrated novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, exposing greed and selfishness of humanity through a dysfunctional family, is one of my top 3 reads of 2021. Our Mutual Friend, also by Dickens, a novel about the tragicomic events after the inheritance of a rich man's fortune, powerfully demostrating the allure and dangers of money and that love is superior to money, tops my list this year. Happy new year 2022 to you all, hope it will be better than the preceding one! 🎉🎊 Here's the ranking of my top 10, with the months I read them: 1. #OurMutualFriend by Charles Dickens (January) 2. #Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (December) 3. #MartinChuzzlewit by C. Dickens (August) 4. #TheScarletPlague by Jack London (July) 5. #TheCompleteStoriesOfEdgarAllanPoe (October-December) 6. #NicholasNickleby by C. Dickens (June) 7. #Armadale by Wilkie Collins (May) 8. #DombeyAndSon by C. Dickens (August-September) 9. #TitusAndronicus by William Shakespeare (December) 10. #EugeneOnegin by Alexander Pushkin (February) ~ Honorable Mentions: • The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (May-June) • Little Dorrit by C. Dickens (March) • The Diary of a Nobody by George & Weedon Grossmith (December) • Faust: Part One by Goethe (July) • The Mystery of Edwin Drood by C. Dickens (October) • Barnaby Rudge by C. Dickens (October) ~ #CharlesDickens #Dickens #JorgeLuisBorges #JackLondon #EdgarAllanPoe #book #books #bookstagram #reading #read #booklover #bibliophile #instabook #literature #bookworm #booknerd #2021 #top10of2021 #igreads #classics https://www.instagram.com/p/CYI0wxrogQB/?utm_medium=tumblr

«‘The ex-clusiveness, the pride, the form, the ceremony, . . . The artificial barriers set up between man and man; the division of the human race into court cards and plain cards, of every denomination—into clubs, diamonds, spades—anything but heart!’» (Chapter XVII) ~ «Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. . . . The mine which Time has slowly dug beneath familiar objects is sprung in an instant; and what was rock before, becomes but sand and dust.» (Ch. XVIII) ~ #Finished: #MartinChuzzlewit by #CharlesDickens. • Rating: 10/10 • I think this novel may be the MOST UNDERRATED of all #Dickens novels. Even though it was criticized for its extravagant plot, I personally loved it for its theme, satire, characters and exciting moments; and think that it's one of the greatest novels written on human frailty, holding a mirror up to human nature and satirizing the vices, especially greed, selfishness and duplicity of humanity, through the self-seeking members and conflicts of interest in the #Chuzzlewit family. Besides, Dickens' observations and representations of the United States are truly witty and great, offering a sharp satire and commentary on the inconsistencies about the Americans' pride and self-confidence in their liberality and independency, incompatible with the institution of slavery they also liked at that time, and on other hypocrisies in society, as well as the lifestyle, habits and politics. It has one of the greatest cast of characters I've ever read, including #MarkTapley, #TomPinch, #SaireyGamp, as well as the iconic secondary villains #SethPecksniff and #TiggMontague. Towards the end, this funny #novel partially becomes a thriller, presenting the true face of probably the most evil Dickens character, #JonasChuzzlewit, whose demise shows poetic justice at its best. ~ «‘One foul wind no more makes a winter, than one swallow makes a summer.—I'll try it again.’» (Ch. XLIII) ~ «‘… first impressions, you know, often go a long way, and last a long time.’» (Ch. V) ~ #Martin #ThomasPinch #MrsGamp #Pecksniff #MercyPecksniff #englishnovel #victoriannovel #book #books #bookstagram #literature #bibliophile #reading #read #bookworm #instabook #classics https://www.instagram.com/p/CTE8H6rI274/?utm_medium=tumblr

«… as one poison will sometimes neutralise another, when wholesome remedies would not avail, so he was restrained by a bad passion from quaffing his full measure of evil, when virtue might have sought to hold him back in vain.» (Chapter XI) ~ «‘Money, . . . is the root of all evil. I grieve to see that it is already bearing evil fruit in you. But I will not remember its existence…’» (Ch. II) ~ «‘Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he's well dressed…’» (Ch. V) ~ #CurrentlyReading: #MartinChuzzlewit by #CharlesDickens. Another excellent example of #Dickens' masterful and impressive characterization, this #novel is cleverly satirical and funny. Old Martin #Chuzzlewit, a grumpy, selfish and miserly rich man, wants to avoid his notorious family, whose members are mercenary, loutish and quarrelsome, and having never really cared about him, want to reach him now. He has disinherited his grandson, also named #Martin, for falling in love with his only companion, the unmercenary, selfless Mary. Martin Senior coincidentally and regretfully encounters, and later cooperates, with his cousin #SethPecksniff, an architect, whom Martin Junior becomes a pupil of, and later, upon the promptings of the Senior, is dismissed by. Martin Junior, dejected, goes to the United States to seek his fortune, accompanied by #MarkTapley, a young man deliberately wanting to put himself in dire situations, aiming to be jolly in the face of all kind of adversity. #Pecksniff is an iconic character, who acts meekly and like the epitome of virtue, under a façade of honesty and mildness hiding his insincerity, but in fact is greedy and selfish as the other Chuzzlewits are. Pecksniff has an assistant, #TomPinch, whose naivety and kind behaviour he takes advantage of, using as another façade for his own deceitfulness. ~ «‘… there's no greater luxury in the world, I think, than being read to sleep.’» (Ch. VI) ~ «‘Life's a riddle; a most infernally hard riddle to guess…’» (Ch. IV) ~ #JonasChuzzlewit #ThomasPinch #SaireyGamp #MercyPecksniff #englishnovel #victoriannovel #book #books #bookstagram #literature #bibliophile #booklove #currentread #reading #read #bookworm #instabook #classics https://www.instagram.com/p/CSfHrEtIMs-exf3koA6pbIU5D2yK3xQ74G9pBQ0/?utm_medium=tumblr

'...evil genius did not lead him into the dens of any of those preparers of cannibalic pastry' #martinchuzzlewit #dickens #dickensfestival2018 #dickensfestival #rochester (at Rochester High Street)

#dickens #dickensfestival #dickensfestival2018 #martinchuzzlewit #rochester