Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne is a famous writer of Puritan whose reputation is known through out the world. Many other famous writers admire him. Henry James writes a book entitled Hawthorne as the manifestation of his impression and his respect to Hawthorne. He is interested in Hawthorne’s way of describing and exploring the social life, society and the manner of America. Besides, he also admires Hawthorne’s proficiency in exploring the reality of New England in the 17th century, based on his life experience of his age, the 18th century (Matthiessen, 1968:76). Another writer, Herman Mellville dedicates his great novel Moby Dick for the genius and the talent of Nathaniel Hawthorne. “In token of my admiration for his genius, this book is inscribed to Nathaniel Hawthorne” (Herman Mellville, within Martin, 1965:34).
Hawthorne’s belief is interesting matter. Hawthorne is a puritan as well as his ancestors. Puritan is embodied in his mind, as he speaks of himself as a soldier, legislator, judge, and church ruler, with "all the Puritanical traits, both good and evil" (Secor, 1972:100). Many of his writings concern with the supernatural, guilty hearts, and haunted soul and set his dark tales in mysterious, as seen in his first novel The House of the Seven Gables. His Puritan inheritance supported him to write about it deeply.
The Scarlet Letter is one of the most valuable Hawthorne’s writings. Reading The Scarlet Letter, the researcher has a very deep impression since all the aspects of the novel are managed brilliantly. The setting of the novel is where Hawthorne had ever been. He says in the preface to The Scarlet Letter: “…a better book than I shall ever write was there; leaf after leaf presenting itself to me just as it was written out by the reality of the flitting hour…” (Matthiessen, 1968:235). Further, Hawthorne says about the story, “Henceforth, it ceases to be a reality of my life” (Van Doren within Kaul, 1966: 140). Matthiessen says that in this novel, Hawthorne applies all his imaginative power throughout the symbols. The Scarlet Letter is the symbol of original sin by which no man is untouched and the dilemma is that the man must fall into error by his nature. The idea of sin, especially the adultery, always appears in the human’s history from the fall of Adam and Eve until this age. Nathaniel Hawthorne puts this smartly in The Scarlet Letter.
The representation of human’s problem in The Scarlet Letter was written naturally. The problem of sin in human being is whatsoever natural since human was created to have good and bad deeds. If he does good deeds, he will get honour from the society and even from God. Otherwise, if his deed is bad, he will be punished by the society and God. The problem in The Scarlet Letter is human’s sin because the characters committed a deed in which everyone in the story realizes that this is very bad and his or her belief forbids it strictly. In this novel, Arthur Dimmesdale, for example, is described as a good clergyman who always obeys and carries out all Puritan in his life. However, Dimmesdale is a man who still has natural gift, a sexual desire. This gift leads him to commit an adultery that makes him confuse whether he keeps his clergy and his sin or he puts off his clergy and confesses his sin before people and God. In this matter, Dimmesdale is a hypocrite due to his heart differs from his deeds. Then, when his hypocrisy is related to his Puritan, he begins falling into a tendency of having split personality.
Puritan of New England
The foundation of England Puritan was to introduce a concept of purification on England Church from the influence of Rome’s Catholic Church either in its traditions or rules. Puritan also wanted to give more free space for individuals to establish their ideas, spiritual wills and religious activities. It was also founded to make any attempts to convert the monarchical state to republic one. When the government reacted contradictorily to their issues, they looked for another place to make their wants come true, so that they sailed to New England. In the new land, they were welcomed and began spreading out their belief started from their first arrival on November 20th, 1620.
As a religious belief, in the early beginning of its existence in the new land, it was welcomed well and it developed rapidly. The puritans founded states based on Puritan and applied it in their daily activities. And its further development, it became a kind of theology that did not only reshaped American people’s ways of thinking through its adaptation to the American culture, social and native American but also became a powerful spirit which reformed American literature as well as its world views.
The Puritans, in the new colonies, applied the principle of Puritan in their life and it seemed that Puritan was an embracing system of believes and practices. Faust clarifies the role of Puritan as exemplified in the New England colonies during the seventeenth and early eighteenth century by saying:
“Puritanism was not only a religious creed, it was a philosophy and a metaphysic; it was an organization of man’s whole life, emotional and intellectual, to a degree which has not been sustained by any denomination stemming from it”. (Faust, 1975: 3).
In the previous paragraph, it was stated that Puritans formed their own society, which was based on the Puritan ethics and morality. However, through the adaptation with the American culture, social as well as Native American, it came to such kind of shift on the understanding of Puritan and its application in the society. In accordance to this matter, in the following paragraphs, there are some principles of Puritan taken from the Bradley’s book of The American Tradition in Literature (1962), which was elucidated by Pujiastuti (1985):
The Supremacy of Divine means that Puritan considers that God is the center of authority. God has absolute control upon nature including man and his life. Of the predestination, Puritan thinks that the human life has been determined by God, whether his past, present and future, before his mother gives him birth. God has maintained man’s destiny to the elected or the damned. How strong human tries to change his destiny seems nothing, except accepting God’s will on him. The depravity of man result man’s disability to use his free will, because he has been depraved by his original sin inherited from Adam. Then, this inherited sin leads man to commit bad things. The election means that God chooses a number of limited persons to be saved and God does this at random. No human knows whether he is one of the elected or the damned. Puritan also regards the election is under God’s right. God has a prerogative “free grace” to save everyone He wants to elect. “He alone could bestow grace upon whomsoever. He chose for salvation” (Olmstead, 1966: 77). So that the free grace is a gift given by God for human.
The Characterization of Arthur Dimmesdale as a Puritan Priest in the novel
As previously mentioned, the paper tries to see the characterization of Arthur Dimmesdale reflected in the novel through the physical trait, social trait and psychological trait. To support the analysis, Dimmesdale’s relationship to other characters in the novel is also to be elucidated.
Physical Trait
According to Kenney, “Physical trait deals with the physical appearance of the character described by the author i.e., his body is tall or short, fat or thin and others” (1966: 32). In the novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents Arthur Dimmesdale as follows:
“…He was a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty and impending brow, large brown, melancholy eyes and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint…”(TSL: p.56).
This description shows how Dimmesdale physically is. Dimmesdale is a person with very striking aspect. It seems that he is a kind of “to the point person”. He tends to speak straight forward to the main topic without any courtesies. This characteristic is supported by his white, lofty and impending brow and his large brown and melancholy eyes that show his hard and non-conformist person. The priests are actually easy to give their speeches especially dealing with religious matter, however Dimmesdale is not one of them. He speaks when he is asked or he is forced to speak and give his religious advises to his congregation. He is too stingy to release his words or sentences.
His large brown eyes and stingy mouth show his genuine characteristic that is he has such kind of strong self control. He controls himself strictly so that he can manage his life and moreover maintain his status and position as an honoured puritan priest. Indeed, his eyes and mouth apparently shows that Dimmesdale sometimes is rigid as well as arrogant. His characteristic of a person of very striking aspect leads to a temporary conclusion that so far Dimmesdale has an indication of chaotic manner which is showed by his physical characteristic based on the above quotation.
Another appearance of Dimmesdale as a puritan priest is also described by Roger Chillingworth when he observes Dimmesdale’s state of health.
“About this period, however, the health of Mr. Dimmesdale had evidently begun to fail. By those best acquainted with his habits, the paleness of the young minister’s cheek was accounted for by his too earnest devotion to his study, his scrupulous fulfilment of parochial duty…” (TSL: p. 102).
This quotation clarifies Chillingworth’s observation on Dimmesdale. He concludes that something happens to his clergy reflected to the physical changes, beginning from paleness of Dimmesdale’s cheek. In his falling of health, Dimmesdale insists to work hard until his paleness dominates his appearance. It also means that Dimmesdale wants to sacrifice all his life for the sake of his parochial duty. His life is only for the success of his parochial duty; even he does not care about his own health. He is glad to be seen as a hard working puritan priest and the society admires him.
Hawthorne also describes that at a certain time he sometimes shows his fresh, clear and pure thinking completed by full of rightness as if his preach were as an angel.
“Not withstanding his high native of and scholar-like attainments, there was an air about this young minister an apprehensive, scarlet, a half frightened look - as if a being who felt himself quite a story and at loss in the path way of human existence, and could only be at ease in some seclusion of his own” (TSL: p. 122).
This quotation supports his previous characteristic that he is a non-conformist person who is indicated by his “half frightened look”. His face shows such kind of a serious person that makes the people a little bit scared if they meet him.
Due to his heavy duty as a priest, his health is about to fall. The falling of his health is not ignored by the people around him. Many of them put an attention on his health including the authority of Salem. However, Dimmesdale abandons his health. The only thing in his mind is his holy duty of a Puritan priest. Day by day, his health becomes worse and worse. At first, it seems normal, when his health fails, perhaps he works too hard, even harder than the hardest worker of Boston puritan reverends. However, the people later think that these are abnormal. Then, the reverend Dimmesdale’s physical changes invite such kind of question: is there something wrong with the reverend dealing with this change?
“…With all this difference of opinion as to the cause of his decline, there could be no question of the fact. His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed, on any slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain” (TSL: p. 102).
So, based on the quotation above, it is not enough to say that Dimmesdale’s physical change is only caused by his heavy parochial duty. Someone who feels sick will not “put his hand over his heart” so many times, unless he feels that he has a very heavy problem. He must have been in such kind of painful inner state. There are two aspects why it deals with such kind of pain. First, of course, it comes from his heavy parochial duty and also his characteristic of being workaholic priest. However, the second aspect has a very close relationship to the nature of human. How pure he is, he still has his own nature of human. In this case, inside of Dimmesdale’s heart, there still lies the genuine nature of human that he wants to have special attention from others. It can be seen his imbalance state of mind which is manifested by his habit of putting his hand over his heart. His habit to put his hand over his heart is an effort to maintain his physical sickness, indicated by the paleness of his cheeks and the falling of his health and moreover his mental problem.
His heavy duties as a puritan priest, his full attention to his duty and his disability to separate his nature of human from his holy duty are some of the causal aspects that influence his state of health. However, Hawthorne mentions an interesting matter dealing with the falling of Dimmesdale’s health indicated by his attitude of putting his hand over his heart. No body does that if his pain does not have relation to his inner state. So based on the information dealing with Dimmesdale’s physical identification, there is a temporary conclusion that Dimmesdale has an indication of being hypocrite or at least he is a dishonest man even to he himself.
Then, to explore more about the relation and interaction between Dimmesdale and his society and how the society influences his mind and inner conflict, the social trait is employed.
Social Trait
The appearance of Arthur Dimmesdale is also described in the social trait. Kenney says, “A social trait is those that have to do with the character’s place and position in his society, especially the character’s relationship to groups and institutions constituted or recognized by the society” (1966:32). It also deals with the social position, political and religious affiliations moreover marital status
“Mr. Dimmesdale was true a priest, a true religionist with the reverential sentiment largely developed and an order of mind that impelled itself powerfully along the track of a creed and wore its passage continually deeper with the lapse time” (TSL: p.104).
As a clergyman of the puritan age, Arthur Dimmesdale has very important role and function in the life of his congregation. His way of life would be consciously followed and imitated by the society. His words will be heard and obeyed by the congregations and his life became the map of his congregation’s life. For this Forrester and Falk remark as follow: “In our own time the map of life is drawn for us by the scientists, journalist, by the producers of motion pictures and television, but in the Puritan New England it was virtually the clergy alone who performed this function” (1960: 9).
Another function of a reverend in the Puritan society is a teacher who teaches Bible and Puritan and who thinks of his congregation. He stands in his pulpit to preach goodness and truth that are revealed from Bible every Sabbath and other occasions. Encyclopaedia of Religion further elucidates this function of a teacher by stating, “When a church’s emphasis is on preaching and teaching, the religions leader’s role is defined as that of pastor…”(Eliade, 1987: 545).
The function of teacher is not only expressed by preaching a sermon, but also in giving an example to his congregation. Because, teacher’s understanding on certain subject of Bible is shown by his daily attitude and explained to his congregation through the sermons. A deep understanding will allow him to respond unconsciously toward something, as seen in the conversation:
“And what other time?” persisted the child.
“At the great judgment day,” whispered the minister and strangely enough, the sense that he was professional teacher of the truth impelled him to answer the child so”. (TSL: p. 130)
So, as a teacher of truth, Dimmesdale has to answer the child’s question by saying the truth, although he has hidden it from other people. He also has to answer such kind of question in any circumstances; even it is not good for him. A teacher’s soul will feel that the morale of his student is in his responsibility. That is what happens to Dimmesdale. When the Governor speaks to him dealing with Hester’s matter, “the responsibility of this woman’s soul lies greatly with you (Dimmesdale)” (TSL: p. 72).
What Hawthorne narrates in his novel shows how the congregation loves even idolizes the reverend. This is shown by Dimmesdale’s high position and function in his society.
The social trait also includes the social function, duty and status of puritan priests and how they manifest their belief to their society and their state of mind. According to the doctrine of Puritan, all members of puritan are obliged to carry out puritan ethics and morality in their daily life. This obligation becomes a must when one chooses his life as a clergy. Puritan regards clergy is a representative of God in the earth so that a clergy has responsibility for the life of God’s thoughts. Besides, a clergy is responsible for the safe of the morals and souls of church members. Considering this fact, this is why a clergy tries very hard to carry out all puritan thoughts, because his responsibility is not only for his souls but also over all the church members. Dimmesdale does so in his duty as a clergy of puritan church.
Puritan church sometimes has sacraments that should be held and led by a clergy, as stated in The Encyclopaedia of Religion, “…the clergy’s role as an administrator of sacraments” (Eliade, 1987: 545). Dealing with this, the obligation of a clergy is to hold and lead a sacrament in the church that may be attended by the congregations, and one of the sacraments reflected in this novel is the confession of sin as it is remarked is Olmstead’s book, “…minister should subscribe to the confession, carry on professional activities in congregation...” (1960: 162). As a minister, Dimmesdale has done his duty to hear his congregation’s confession of sin. It is a custom for the Puritan congregation to confess their sin before a clergy in the church, Dimmesdale has also heard these dealing with his position and function as a puritan clergyman. Some dialogues in the novel support this, as can be seen on Dimmesdale’s conversation with Chillingworth:
“Many, many a poor soul hath given its confidence to me, not only for the death bed, but while strong in life, and fair in reputation. And ever, after such an outpouring. O, what a relief have I witnessed in those sinful brethren! Even as in one who at last draws free air, after long stifling with his own polluted breath…” (TSL: p. 130).
Based on the conversation, it can be elucidated that Dimmesdale has done one of his duties as a puritan clergy in order to fulfil his obligation and responsibility upon his congregation.
Another duty of puritan clergy that Dimmesdale has carried out well is to carry out the Election Day to elect new minister once a year. The members of puritan congregation take part in this event. In this novel, Dimmesdale as a good and influential puritan minister should give his election sermon before the procession attended by most of the puritan society of New England of all social classes, included authority, military and civil society. Dimmesdale, in his position as a puritan clergy, is obliged to preach the Bible through his sermon in many occasions, such as in lecture day, at notable deaths, births and at the judgment day when the criminals is being judged.
In the previous pages, it has been elucidated the social functions and the position of reverend in the puritan society and also the Dimmesdale’s characteristic as a puritan priest. Dimmesdale as one of the puritan reverends has a special acceptance in his society. His society respects him deeply as well as loves him. His preaching is obeyed, his voice is heard and his attitude becomes a good example for the congregation to follow. “Hither, likewise, would come the elders and deacons of Mr. Dimmesdale’s church and the young virgins who so idolized their minister” (TSL: p. 147). Among them also say that he is the saint on earth and the godly youth (TSL: p. 122). However, this over respect invites a little bit anxiety. It is hard for Dimmesdale to accept all their respects, because the congregation does not know what in his heart is. “Not withstanding his high native of and scholar-like attainments, there was an air about this young minister an apprehensive, scarlet, a half frightened look…” (TSL: p.122).
This respect makes him feel sick due to his inner conflict. He always talks about the truth and loathes the lie, but what in his heart destroys his inner state. “Alas, if he discern such sinfulness in his own white soul, what horrid spectacle would be he behold in thine or mine!” (TSL: p. 122). Hawthorne simply calls this character as a hypocrite, “the minister well knew - subtle, but remorseful hypocrite that he was!” (TSL: p. 122).
The influence of Puritan on his inner conflicts that leads him to a tendency of being hypocrite comes firstly from his conviction upon the Puritan thoughts that the deed of adultery is a forbidden sin as the Bible states in the Exodus 20:14 : “Thou salt not commit adultery” (The Gideon International, 1975:62). It is also emphasized in James 4: 4: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity on the God?” (1975:917). Then, having realized that his deed of committing adultery is a forbidden sin, it invites a guilty feeling in his heart.
The conflicts presented on the previous pages are also influenced by the conviction of predestination as thought by the Puritan. His conviction of predestination leads him to stay on his duty and then be an elect. However, as his conviction on this matter becomes more and more rooted on his heart, there appears a little bit anxiety, that because of his committing adultery and keep it inside his heart, he would be abandoned to be the elected. On the other side, it makes him work harder than the hardest minister of Salem, but, on one side, it makes him fall into confusion whether all his deeds would be his way to be the elected, or it becomes nothing but the damned. Above all, finally, Dimmesdale finds his own way to cure his pain and to fulfil his guilty feeling by confessing the truth. At the end, Dimmesdale flies with the angels of heaven altogether with his success to beat his coward.
Another type of tendency in the analysis is human-relationship conflict. It includes the conflicts of like and dislike, love and anger and any ordinary communal relationship among human beings. In the previous pages, conflict between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth on their view about Pearl’s parental status is an appropriate example to describe their relationship. Another is about Hester and Chillingworth who quarrel about their marital status.
Having analyzed the novel, it can be concluded that religious conflicts dominate the whole tone of the novel. Then, it comes to the fact that human’s life is full of conflict as described in the analysis. And in accordance to the matter of Dimmesdale’s conflict, it means that he is a man with a tendency of being hypocrite. It can be so since his life is full of conflict that make him fall into an anxiety and confusion, and finally it leads him to his sorrow and gloomy life. He behaves as if he were a pure and innocent man that could show the truth and the true way to heaven for his people, who love, deem and respect him. His attitude looks like a very holy priest that frees from any bad things and sins. However, his heart screams because of his acts and behaviours. His hearts blames him for letting this sin grows that makes him fall into such kind of the confusion and anxious condition.
Psychological Trait
Kenney states that psychological trait is “a trait that relates the character to the inner traits and also characteristic patterns of external observable behaviour such the rhythm of speech, qualities of gesture and also the character’s emotion” (1966: 33).
Realizing that he committed adultery but he kept in his heart, Dimmesdale considers himself as a sinner. To purify himself from a guilty feeling, he does some activities that he thinks he can heal himself.
Self-punishment
Hawthorne wrote, “In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders, laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh” (TSL: p. 122).
He does so as his guilty feeling arises so badly. He plies his shoulder with a scourge and laughs bitterly to satisfy his need to clean his guilty feeling. He does that in his secret room that it is impossible for any other persons to know what he does, even his closest mates. This also shows a bad side of his personality, a coward.
Hard fasting
“It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast-not however, like them, in order to purify the body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination, but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him; as an act of penance” (TSL: p. 123).
Repeated confession
A person who feels guilty tends to do something against his conscious mind. In this relation, Kisker stated about the essence of repeating confession as a means to purify the sin.
“The most direct expressions of guilt feelings are seen in mental patients. During the war-crime trials in German, Ilse Koch broke down and began screaming and breaking the furniture in her cell. She shrieked over and over again…” (Kisker, 1982: 144).
Due to his inner conflict, he often whips himself to purify what pollutes his inner state. Another thing that he often carries out was to repeat his confession for many times. A person who has done a sin and could not confess it at the public view, actually feels guilty. It is clear enough for people who feel guilty will make some confessions in verbal or nonverbal language. It means, besides a verbal confession acted in confession room, nonverbal confession could be a behavioural action that reflect his guilty feeling. Both verbal and nonverbal confessions are seen in Dimmesdale’s case. He makes his confessions in his sermons, however, the people does not realize it. What he preaches seemed nothing but lie.
“More than once, Mr. Dimmesdale had gone into the pulpit, with a purpose never to come down his steps until he should have spoken words like the above. More than once, he had cleared his throat and drawn the long, deep, and tremulous breath, which, when sent forth again, would come burdened with the black secret of his soul. More than once, nay, more than a hundred times- he had actually spoken! Spoken? But how? He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler nation, a thing of unimaginable iniquity; and that the only wonder was that they did not see his wretched body shrivelled up before their eyes by the burning wrath of the Almighty! Could there be plainer speech than this? Would not the people start up in their seats by a simultaneous impulse and tear him down out of the pulpit which he defiled?” (TSL: p. 122)
His guilty feeling is also reflected in his daily activities and his behaviour. Regarding his position as a puritan priest, a sin means more than a whip, because sin that is not confessed will seize him into a kind of inner conflict and it invites a huge of misery in his life. His sin becomes a bitter pain in his heart and become more bitter as he hears and talks a sensitive topic. The bitterness of his pain makes him put his hands over his heart. “…the young minister at once came forward, pale, holding his hands over his heart, as was his custom whenever his peculiarly nervous temperament was thrown into agitation” (TSL: p. 96). He puts his hands over his heart to lessen his pain and to give a little bit of power to fulfil his holy duty.
Sleepwalking or Somnambulism
As his guilty feeling dominates his conscious and even unconscious mind, he begins loosing his control. It is indicated by his physical condition and also his state of mind. He sometimes does what he does not want to do. He sometimes forgets that he is a priest that should be free from any form of sin. A thing that he does unconsciously is his sleepwalking. According to Kisker, sleepwalking or in psychological term is called somnambulism, is a form to escape from reality (1982: 122). In the same page he suggested, “Sleepwalking is a dream being acted out” (1982: 122). Surely it is an unconscious behaviour; because according to Jung in Kisker’s books that he considered the dream to have a reality of its own, quite apart from the reality of consciousness and represents the inner truth and reality (1982: 121).
Sleepwalking or somnambulism reflects a tension, a repressed wish that can’t be fulfilled in reality. This is what happened to Dimmesdale; he experiences sleepwalking to, as clearly written in the novel: “Walking in the shadow of a dream, as it were, and perhaps actually under the influence of a species of somnambulism, Mr. Dimmesdale reached the spot where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hours of public ignominy” (TSL: p. 125)
Then his wish is repressed under his unconscious area, and it arises in his dreams, he becomes a sleepwalker or a somnambulist. He walks along the path, at the night, and directs to the place he wants to go, the scaffold where Hester has stood for hours to take her responsibility for committing adultery. He does it unconsciously, under the shadow of dream. It is impossible to do under the eyes of his congregations. So, it is reflected unconsciously in his sleepwalking. Actually, it is an unconscious effort to fulfil the repressed wish.
As he could not stand covering his inner conflict, he, in his sleepwalking, walks to the spot where Hester had stood there seven years before.
“And thus, while he standing on the scaffold in his vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On the spot in the very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain. Without any effort of his will or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night” (TSL: p. 126).
Dimmesdale does it as a manifestation of his unbeaten inner conflict. “It is done!” muttered the minister, covering his face with his hands. “The whole town will awake and hurry forth find me here!” (TSL: p. 126). Unconsciously, he suddenly laughs that make those who see him surprised. “Carried away by the grotesque horror of this picture, the minister, unawares, and to his own infinite alarm, burst into a great peal of laughter” (TSL: p. 129). So, it could be seen how Dimmesdale looses his bravery and his self-confidence because of his inner conflict.
Conclusion
As one who lives under the shadow of ancestor’s history and Puritan reputation, Hawthorne can not avoid himself from this inheritance. A thing derives from this is his realization toward the importance of having meditative thoughts upon his state of mind and introspection upon his deeds. That is why Hawthorne accustoms himself to look into his inner state of mind and contemplate it carefully.
After analyzing the characterization of Dimmesdale based on the three character traits: physical, social and psychological trait, it can be concluded that Hawthorne presents Dimmesdale as a perfect Puritan Priest whose life is full of conflicts covering all aspects of his life, especially his inner state in spite of his conflicts against other elements of the novel, such as the characters and setting of time. The conflicts are achieved through the analysis which elucidates that they root from the fact that Dimmesdale is a Puritan Priest who should free from any harmful deeds. This really puts a valuable impact to Dimmesdale’s conflicts against himself and other elements of the novel. Then, considering that Dimmesdale is a Puritan priest who voluntarily sacrifices himself for the sake of the Puritan, Dimmesdale’s conflicts have a very close relationship to the Puritan. On the other words, it can be elucidated that the conflicts are religious matter.
Realizing that he has hard religious inner conflicts, Dimmesdale tries to manifest them into kind of compensations. And in the paper, there were two types of compensations, conscious and unconscious compensations. His custom to have regular introspection and contemplation, hard fasting, studying hard in his room, his self punishments in his secret closet, his habit to look his face on the mirror and his custom to put his hand on his heart are some conscious compensations he did as a manifestation of his inner conflicts. Then, somnambulism or sleep walking at night is the manifestation of his unconscious compensation. These compensations closely deal with his hard inner conflicts.
References
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Faust, Clarence H. 1975. The Decline of Puritan, within Harry Hayden Clark (editor), Transition in American Literary History. New York: Octagon Books.
James, Henry. 1973. Hawthorne, within Thomas J. Rountree. (editor), Critics on Hawthorne. University of Miami Press. .
Kaul, A.N. 1996. Hawthorne, A Collection of Critical Essay. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Kenney, William. 1966. How to Analyze Fiction. Monarch Press.
Kisker, George W. 1982. The Organized Personality. New York: McGraw Hill, Inc.
Martin, Terence.1965. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Twyne Publishers, Inc.
Matthiessen, F.O. 1968. American Renaissance : Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Melville, Herman.1973. The Old Apple-Dealer, within Thomas J. Rountree. (editor), Critics on Hawthorne. University of Miami Press. .
Nathaniel Hawthorne. 1994. The Scarlet Letter. London: Penguin Popular Classic.
Olmstead, E. Cliffton. 1960. History of Religion in the United States. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc.
Secor, Robert. 1972. American Literature I (Colonial Period to 1890). New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.
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Kamis, 07 Februari 2008
The Harshness of New Industrial System in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist
Introduction
In the Mid Victorian era, England sat on top of the world, and there were many reasons for it (Mc Kay, et al, 1983:766). One of which is the awareness of science and technology, which made England have enormous lead overall countries in the development of industry. This condition, as well changed England not only in science and technology but also in social relations, economics, and even in political institutions. A new group of industrial capitalist and the workers arose. As a result, the poor get poorer. There is no doubt that Industrial Revolution brought riches and power to Great Britain. At the same time, it also brought great evils with it (Seaman, 1954:51). Many social problems are endemic i.e. poverty, crime, and personal demoralization.
He further explains that the evils of the factory system also gave miseries to their house conditions. It is said that the houses in which the new factory hands lived were built very quickly and very cheaply. The result of this was the disfigurement of huge areas of the north of England by rows and rows of crowded, badly built and unhealthy dwellings, not all of which have disappeared even yet.
Literature is also said to be influenced by these chaotic conditions. It is said that literature in the Victorian Age was characterized by a definite purpose to sweep away error and to reveal the underlying truth of human life (Moody, 1943:295). One of the novel as stated by Hawkins (2001) describes the passage describing London, especially the miserably poor part of London in the 1830-s is Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Lloyd (1959:118) confirms that anyone who reads Oliver Twist will see something of the worst side of industrial development.
Considering the historical background and the work of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, this study attempts to discuss the social cultural conditions of the poor caused by the harshness of the new industrial development. As additional information, briefly, this paper describes the consequences of new industrial which took the poor further away from a world in which they were comfortable and brought them into the conditions which were almost too complex to solve.
Social Problems Caused by the New Industrial System
Industrial Revolution, indeed, brings England both wealth and power. However, it also brings many consequences in the life of the society. In short, the industrial system has already changed the structure of society. It created new social relation and problems as seen in the rise of a new group of factory owners and industrial capitalist. Mc Kay, et al (1983:782) stated that the condition of English workers in Industrial Revolution has always generated the most controversy among historians since England was the first country to industrialize and because social consequences seem harshest there. As factories grew larger, the rich got richer. On the other hand, the condition of workers got worse.
This condition was understandable since most profit had to go back in the business for new and better machinery. As a result, the workers got very small wages that led them to live in poverty. The poor, who were mostly exile from village and could not find a job, had to force themselves in any possible way with the all the capacity they possessed to keep themselves and the families away from dying of starvation. Then, becoming beggars and pick pockets was their solution to stay alive. Poverty had led them to be criminals. In brief, criminals were the product of poverty and hunger. Towns and cities became more crowded and filthier than before. Due to these, parents who could not support their families, put their children in the local orphanages. In these orphanages, parents were expected that their children would be taken care with sufficient food.
However, in fact, these orphanages only gave them suffering rather than comfort. They were exploited and maltreated by the master of the orphanages. Their condition got even worse when they were sent to factories to be laborers. They were given very little pay and often badly treated and terribly overworked in the mills (Mc Kay, et al, 1983:761). For this issue, Mc Kay confirms that people were reluctant to work in factories; this because factory owners turned to young children as a source to labor partly because they could employ them for very little pay. Moreover, exploitation of child labor in factories, gas work, shipyards, shoe makers, construction, chimney sweeping was taken as a business. Here is a part of a dialogue with Mr. John Moss, a governor of the workhouse (Tierney, et al, 1967:179-182):
What were the hours of work? -From five o’clock in the morning till eight at night.
Were fifteen hours in the day the regular hours of work? -Those were their regular hours of work.
Was that regular time all the year through? -Yes
It is clearly that the poor and abandoned children were the exact objects for the factory owners to gain more profit. From the text above, cruel exploitation upon abandoned children at that time was absolutely bad: hours were long, wages low, bad working conditions. The impact of this exploitation towards children cannot be avoided, especially to the children’s health since the bony system was still imperfect.
Gaskell (2001) further shows how miserable the children life was.
Factory labour is a species of work, in some respects singularly unfitted for children. Cooped up in heated atmosphere, debarred the necessary exercise, remaining in one position for a series of hours, one set or system of muscles alone called into activity, it cannot be wondered at, that its effects are injurious to the physical growth of a child.
William Blake in Mc Kay, et al, (1983:782) called the early factories “Satanic Mills” and protested against the hard life of the destruction of the rural way of life and the pollution of the land and water. Friederich Engels also criticizes,” I Charge the English middle classes with mass murder, wholesale robbery, and all other crimes in calendar” (Handerson and Chaloner, 1968:xxiii).
The depictions above have shown that Industrial Revolution indeed not only brought England both wealth and power but the evil of the factory system also gave the long run consequences that cannot be ignored on the lives of the society. The transition to an industrial economy has exacted a cruel price in terms of human suffering upon a great number of people.
Poverty as Reflected in Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist
From the very beginning, Charles Dickens brings his readers to a world stricken by poverty since the poor are in the worst possible condition of poverty. One of the main factors is over population in cities caused by the urbanization. It is because their own villages became the victims of industrialization. With the faint hope of finding jobs in big factories they exiled to big cities. The effect of new urban settlement was overpopulation that created social unrest. It creates not only hunger but also a multiple social problems. In Oliver Twist, Dickens reflects poverty in England especially in London as an impact of the Industrial Revolution. The aspects discuss mainly deals with the situation in town related to the problem of housing, health, clothing, hunger and orphanage.
Housing A house is one of the human basic needs. It is not only the place to live in but also a place for the protection against the climate. Furthermore, a nice atmosphere of the house, indirectly, influences the personality of people who live in it. Normally, people who live in a house with a pleasant atmosphere have a good personality, although there are exceptions to the rule. A house is also very important to create the feeling of security and harmony in the family. For poor people since they cannot afford to buy a good house, they only rent a cheap, old and sometimes a decaying one (p.35).
These conditions are unavoidable because the factories where people work only gave them very small wages. Those who did not have a job build a den which did, of course, not deserve to be called as a house in which they live did not support a feeling of security and harmony of the inhabitants. Dickens even describes those dens in an extremely awfully condition. Moreover, he refers to them as filthy kennel so that it is questionable whether their inhabitants could maintain proper health, “The kennel was stagnant and filthy. The very rats, which were here and there lay putrefying in its rottenness, were hideous with famine” ( p.35).
What a tragic case it was, the poor built houses in an unhealthy environment of slum and filth area where rats lay here and there. They forced themselves to live in such a condition since a house at least could protect them against the harsh climate in wintertime when it is extremely cold. Dickens illustrated this novel that it was piercing cold and the atmosphere was gloomy and black (p.156). It was winter, but the poor did not have proper house to live in. In contrast, the rich people stayed in a big warm house with a beautiful fireplace in it.
Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless, starving wretch to lay him down and die (p.165).
Here, Dickens brings his readers to see the real condition of the poor people, which is undebatably in an awfully condition. He wants to show that poor people were indeed in a very bad condition. They lived in absolutely poverty and lived in filth as they could not fulfill one of the basic needs to acquire a proper house.
Hunger. Food is necessitated to keep human being alive, especially those who live in areas with four climates. In winter time people must have sufficient food to keep them warm, without which they will miserable. Dickens captures this condition into his novel where they live in hunger with the extreme worst condition of dying from starvation (p.36). From the portrayal above, we can see that huger causes death if it was not met by good response. In a trying time like that children were sent to orphanage, since their parents could not support them any longer. In fact, rather being fat they were cruelly mistreated and starved to death. Cruel mistreatment of children in the orphanage seems to be prevalent during those days, and Dickens even shows instances of this.
Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild wit hunger …that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him. (p.12)
A small bowl of gruel is good for children who are dieting, meanwhile, when children are in the growing period, it is normal when they have an excellent appetite to support their growth. They were totally desperate with hunger until they were afraid of eating each other if hey were not given some more food. What a gruesome impact of hunger it is, when the children become beasts rather than human if they are extremely hungry.
Clothing. Another human’s basic need is clothing, which should be fulfilled by al human beings. It is not only for covering the body, but also protects the body against the climate. However, to those who live under the poverty line, the old and torn ones are supposed to be enough. As long as it can cover their body, it is considered to be sufficient for them. Even the poor infants, in this case Oliver, an old yellow rag was prepared and wrapped around Oliver when he was just born in the workhouse.
What an excellent example of the power of dress, young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering…that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow in the same service. (p.3)
A newly born-infant, indeed, needs a warm comfortable clothing since he still cannot adapt himself to the weather directly. But what had happened to the infant in the orphanage, an old blanket which had turned to yellow is all he had.
Health. So far the discussion has been focused on poverty because the condition of poor people in England especially poor children at that time was thoroughly bad. The cause that may be directly connected with their bad conditions is that they did not have enough money to support themselves and their family. This is reflected in their house, meal and clothing which were far below the standards. All of these, of course, affected their health condition especially those who had inadequate food.
The child was pale and thin; his cheeks were sunken; and his eyes large and bright. The scanty parish dress, the livery of his misery hung loosely on his feeble body; and his young limbs had wasted away, like those of an old man. (p.121)
Here, Dickens described Dick, a friend of Oliver in the workhouse where they were beaten and starved by the workhouse master, a s an example of poor children’s condition at that time. He shows that insufficient food made them lose weight and became very pale. The more so, they lived in slum which became an additional threat to health. Many diseases are endemic, but mostly they are connected with the problem of hunger. These conditions run to extreme when poor people mostly die because of starvation. “I say she was starved to death. I never know how bad she was, till fever come upon her; and then her bones were starting through the skin. There was neither fire nor candle; she died in the dark!-in the dark! (p.36)”
That she died in the dark indicates the very poor condition of the house in which there is no ventilation, and such a house is not adequate to support health. Bad housing with its poor facilities- bathing, toilets, kitchen, and also ventilation, creates many diseases, take for instance, skin disease, tuberculosis, etc. From the fact above, it can be concluded that inadequate food and poor housing with its poor facilities are direct factors that are hazardous for health.
Orphanage. It cannot be avoided that the prevalence of poverty will produce many social problems: housing, health, starvation, education and crime. It is because poor people or the immigrants themselves are badly prepared for the new way of life related to the newly developed industrial system. Unemployment and street children become rampant. One solution to this problem can be achieved by providing social care, such as workhouses and orphanages for the poor and abandoned children who used to be street children. This social care also helps the government to control the poor. Kaste (1965:8) further stated:
A new concept was adopted to deal with the vexing issue of pauperism. The Poor Law of 1834 provided that all able-bodied paupers must reside in workhouse. This plan was successful from one standpoint, for within three years the cost of poor relief was reduced by over one-third.
However, this concept was taking them away from a world in which they were comfortable, since this system brings them into starvation, instead. This is illustrated by Dickens when the inmates of the workhouse became the victim of the Poor Law. They were suffering from hunger since they only got only smallest portion of food from Mrs. Mann the matron of the workhouse. She was the of the opinion that providing the children with the smallest portion of the weakest possible food (p.5) was the best policy in handling the children, whereas she regarded herself as needing the biggest portion of food.
Following Mrs. Mann’s system, Dickens considers that the inmates of the workhouse become the victims of social injustice because he sees corruption deliberately done by Mrs. Mann. She let poor orphan suffer from hunger, on the other hand she lived in prosperity. Dickens then mocked her in his ironical statement that the elderly female was a woman of wisdom and experience; she knew what was good for herself. The unfortunate orphans not only suffered from hunger but they were also exploited by the workhouse authorities. They should work for the workhouse and receive only seven pence-halfpenny per small head per weak (p.4).
…that Oliver should be ‘farmed’, or, in other words, that he should dispatched to a branch-workhouse some three miles off, where twenty or thirty other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws, rolled about the floor al day, without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing, under the parental superintendence of an elderly female, who received the culprits at and for the consideration of seven pence-halfpenny per small head per week. (p.4)
From the quotation above, it can be seen that the poor orphans in orphanages were cruelly maltreated. They were forced to work with very low wages, less food and clothes. They were absolutely exploited. Dickens then, shows this exploitation and puts them into his novel. He, indirectly, wants to promote reform and simultaneously eliminate the abuses and malpractices in the orphanages. The orphanages which were at first intended to help the poor children, in practice they were used by the administrator of the workhouse where they committed corruption.
Various Life Attitudes of People at that Time
Long standing starvation and social injustice towards the poor led them to every possible way in order to protect themselves and their family away from starvation. These impoverishing conditions forced the slum inhabitants to become beggars. In the meantime, they had to satisfy their basic need i.e. to have food to keep themselves and their families alive by begging, they were sent to prison.” I begged for her in the streets; and they sent me in the prison. When I came back, she was dying; and all the blood in my heart dried up, for they starved to death (p.36). He then illustrates the ironical situation as Oliver and his friends’ companions suffered the tortures and slow starvation. On the contrary, the workhouse were fat and healthy (p.12) when the donation was actually intended for the orphans and not for the masters.
This indicates that the master had sufficient food although hunger was a major threat for the orphans. It clearly shows that poverty, in effect, degrades someone’s moral and makes one lose his sense of humanity. While other desperate of fulfilling their need, the rich are busy of fulfilling their greed. From this standpoint, it becomes clear how poverty affects society very badly, even the rich ones since naturally men carry two different sides: good and bad. When an unpleasant thing comes over them, mostly they intend to do the bad things. It means that the bad side is more dominant than the good ones. This also make one become apathetic about other suffering. They will do anything to survive from hunger. Even becoming criminals is another solution for them.
The viler consequences of this is when the poor are out of the necessity and become acquainted with crime, and the worst is that when they really become criminal and join an organization for the criminals which in modern term is called: a Mafia. Later, in Oliver Twist, Dickens also described that at that time gangs of criminals was so widespread. There was one notorious gang of criminals which was led by Fagin. To the poor and abandoned children Fagin was a Godfather. This was felt by one of his member, Jack Dawkins or The Artful dodger as he offered Oliver to join Fagin’s gang. He told Oliver that Fagin would provide free lodging for the homeless especially poor children.
‘I’ve got to be in London to-night; and I know a’ specable old genelman as lives there, wot’ll give you lodgings for nothink, and never ask for the change- that is, if any genelman, he knows interduces you. (p.54) “Offering you something for nothing and never ask for change” (p.54)
are generally, the Mafia’s most effective reasons to exploit and create a good image to the poor for they are homeless and powerless. Dickens also gives a vivid portrayal that poverty, indeed, robbed her childhood and youth. He describes Nancy, one of Fagin’s members, she exploited by Fagin, since she was child. Fagin also made her old in the experience of evil in the underworld criminal which is, of course, a tragic existence for the unfortunate girl, “It is my living; and the cold, wet, dirty street are my home; and you’re the wretch that drove me to them long ago, and that’ll keep me there, day and night, day and night, till I die!” (p.116).
The underworld criminals also give the author a chance to show the ugly realities of human nature. It was when they were happy of hunting poor Oliver without knowing what actually happened by crying out, ‘Stop thief! Stop thief!’ and people were chasing him. There was a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast (p.67). This chance is used by the author to show the true criminal morality at work. After The Dodger and Master Bates thieved the man, both of them were running away at full speed to the corner since they did not want to attract public attention. When they saw Oliver run of seeing their mode of work, these two boys, then roared and shouted behind him to provoke others as if Oliver was real thief.
They no sooner heard the cry, and saw Oliver running, than, guessing exactly how the matter stood, they issued forth with great promptitude; and, shouting ‘Stop thief!’ too, join in the pursuit like good citizens. (p.66)
The immediate effect of poverty as it has been stated above, indeed, changed the life attitude of the people. Begging in the street and becoming a street musician, then, is an alternative legal way of earning money and the worst feature of this is when becoming criminals is a common thing. Here, it becomes clear that the bad impact of the Industrial Revolution is the price that should be paid in terms of suffering and demoralization when they come to the deadly environment of the under world criminal.
Conclusion
From the findings and discussion, it can be seen that Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist clearly depicts the socio-cultural conditions portrayed during the Industrial Revolution. Dickens describes this social conditions related to the problems of housing, health, clothing, meal, and orphanage. He depicts all these things since the conditions of the poor at that time were very awful.
The more so was the conditions of the poor and unfortunate orphans. They were beaten and tortured by their supervisors. With the immense popularity of his novel, Dickens satirically and effectively criticizes the atrocious situations during the Industrial Revolution in England. It is clear that in Industrial Revolution, the poor became the victims of the rapidly changing social conditions since they did not have the resources for defense. This was very sad condition. However, the Industrial Revolution in England can be taken as a good example and lesson for serious considerations when other countries are administering an Industrial Revolution.
References
Barnard, Robert. 1984. A Short History of English Literature. Norway: Basil Blackwell.
Chesterton, G.K (Eds.).1992. Oliver Twist. London: Everyman’s Library.
Cody, David. 2001. Child Labor, (Online), (http:// landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/ history/ hist 8. html, diakses 7 September 2001).
Easton, Stewart C. 1996. The Western Heritage (from the earliest times to the present). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Fielden, John. 2001. The Curse of the Factory System, (Online), (http: // 65. 107. 211. 206/ victorian/ history/ worker 2. html, diakses 6 Mei 2001).
Gaskel, P. 1833. The Manufacturing Population of England, (Online), (http: // 65.107.211.206/ Victorian/ history/ worker 2, html, diakses 6 Mei 2001)
Handerson, W.O. and W.H. Chaloner. 1968. The Condition of the Working Class. Standford: Standford University Press.
Langbaum, Robert. 1967. The Victorian Age: essays in history and in social and literary criticism. New York: A Fawcett.
Lloyd, P.G. 1959. The Story of British Democracy. London: Mac Millan.
Long, William J. 1945. English Literature. New York: Ginn.
Mashburn, S. 2001. Oliver Twist describes social problem in Victorian England, (Online), (http// www. Literature notes. com, diakses 6 Mei 2001).
Mc Kay, John P., Bennett D. Hill, John Buckler. 1983. A History of Western Society. USA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Moody, William Vaughm. 1943. A History of English Literture. New York: Charles Scribners Sons.
Seamen, L.C.B.1954. A Short Social History of England. London: Longmans.
Slater, Michael (Ed). 1992. Oliver Twist. Everyman’s Library.
Tierney, Brian, Donal Kagan and L. Pearce Williams. 1968. Great Issues in Western Civilization. New York: Random House.
Widya Nirmalawati
Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto
In the Mid Victorian era, England sat on top of the world, and there were many reasons for it (Mc Kay, et al, 1983:766). One of which is the awareness of science and technology, which made England have enormous lead overall countries in the development of industry. This condition, as well changed England not only in science and technology but also in social relations, economics, and even in political institutions. A new group of industrial capitalist and the workers arose. As a result, the poor get poorer. There is no doubt that Industrial Revolution brought riches and power to Great Britain. At the same time, it also brought great evils with it (Seaman, 1954:51). Many social problems are endemic i.e. poverty, crime, and personal demoralization.
He further explains that the evils of the factory system also gave miseries to their house conditions. It is said that the houses in which the new factory hands lived were built very quickly and very cheaply. The result of this was the disfigurement of huge areas of the north of England by rows and rows of crowded, badly built and unhealthy dwellings, not all of which have disappeared even yet.
Literature is also said to be influenced by these chaotic conditions. It is said that literature in the Victorian Age was characterized by a definite purpose to sweep away error and to reveal the underlying truth of human life (Moody, 1943:295). One of the novel as stated by Hawkins (2001) describes the passage describing London, especially the miserably poor part of London in the 1830-s is Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Lloyd (1959:118) confirms that anyone who reads Oliver Twist will see something of the worst side of industrial development.
Considering the historical background and the work of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, this study attempts to discuss the social cultural conditions of the poor caused by the harshness of the new industrial development. As additional information, briefly, this paper describes the consequences of new industrial which took the poor further away from a world in which they were comfortable and brought them into the conditions which were almost too complex to solve.
Social Problems Caused by the New Industrial System
Industrial Revolution, indeed, brings England both wealth and power. However, it also brings many consequences in the life of the society. In short, the industrial system has already changed the structure of society. It created new social relation and problems as seen in the rise of a new group of factory owners and industrial capitalist. Mc Kay, et al (1983:782) stated that the condition of English workers in Industrial Revolution has always generated the most controversy among historians since England was the first country to industrialize and because social consequences seem harshest there. As factories grew larger, the rich got richer. On the other hand, the condition of workers got worse.
This condition was understandable since most profit had to go back in the business for new and better machinery. As a result, the workers got very small wages that led them to live in poverty. The poor, who were mostly exile from village and could not find a job, had to force themselves in any possible way with the all the capacity they possessed to keep themselves and the families away from dying of starvation. Then, becoming beggars and pick pockets was their solution to stay alive. Poverty had led them to be criminals. In brief, criminals were the product of poverty and hunger. Towns and cities became more crowded and filthier than before. Due to these, parents who could not support their families, put their children in the local orphanages. In these orphanages, parents were expected that their children would be taken care with sufficient food.
However, in fact, these orphanages only gave them suffering rather than comfort. They were exploited and maltreated by the master of the orphanages. Their condition got even worse when they were sent to factories to be laborers. They were given very little pay and often badly treated and terribly overworked in the mills (Mc Kay, et al, 1983:761). For this issue, Mc Kay confirms that people were reluctant to work in factories; this because factory owners turned to young children as a source to labor partly because they could employ them for very little pay. Moreover, exploitation of child labor in factories, gas work, shipyards, shoe makers, construction, chimney sweeping was taken as a business. Here is a part of a dialogue with Mr. John Moss, a governor of the workhouse (Tierney, et al, 1967:179-182):
What were the hours of work? -From five o’clock in the morning till eight at night.
Were fifteen hours in the day the regular hours of work? -Those were their regular hours of work.
Was that regular time all the year through? -Yes
It is clearly that the poor and abandoned children were the exact objects for the factory owners to gain more profit. From the text above, cruel exploitation upon abandoned children at that time was absolutely bad: hours were long, wages low, bad working conditions. The impact of this exploitation towards children cannot be avoided, especially to the children’s health since the bony system was still imperfect.
Gaskell (2001) further shows how miserable the children life was.
Factory labour is a species of work, in some respects singularly unfitted for children. Cooped up in heated atmosphere, debarred the necessary exercise, remaining in one position for a series of hours, one set or system of muscles alone called into activity, it cannot be wondered at, that its effects are injurious to the physical growth of a child.
William Blake in Mc Kay, et al, (1983:782) called the early factories “Satanic Mills” and protested against the hard life of the destruction of the rural way of life and the pollution of the land and water. Friederich Engels also criticizes,” I Charge the English middle classes with mass murder, wholesale robbery, and all other crimes in calendar” (Handerson and Chaloner, 1968:xxiii).
The depictions above have shown that Industrial Revolution indeed not only brought England both wealth and power but the evil of the factory system also gave the long run consequences that cannot be ignored on the lives of the society. The transition to an industrial economy has exacted a cruel price in terms of human suffering upon a great number of people.
Poverty as Reflected in Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist
From the very beginning, Charles Dickens brings his readers to a world stricken by poverty since the poor are in the worst possible condition of poverty. One of the main factors is over population in cities caused by the urbanization. It is because their own villages became the victims of industrialization. With the faint hope of finding jobs in big factories they exiled to big cities. The effect of new urban settlement was overpopulation that created social unrest. It creates not only hunger but also a multiple social problems. In Oliver Twist, Dickens reflects poverty in England especially in London as an impact of the Industrial Revolution. The aspects discuss mainly deals with the situation in town related to the problem of housing, health, clothing, hunger and orphanage.
Housing A house is one of the human basic needs. It is not only the place to live in but also a place for the protection against the climate. Furthermore, a nice atmosphere of the house, indirectly, influences the personality of people who live in it. Normally, people who live in a house with a pleasant atmosphere have a good personality, although there are exceptions to the rule. A house is also very important to create the feeling of security and harmony in the family. For poor people since they cannot afford to buy a good house, they only rent a cheap, old and sometimes a decaying one (p.35).
These conditions are unavoidable because the factories where people work only gave them very small wages. Those who did not have a job build a den which did, of course, not deserve to be called as a house in which they live did not support a feeling of security and harmony of the inhabitants. Dickens even describes those dens in an extremely awfully condition. Moreover, he refers to them as filthy kennel so that it is questionable whether their inhabitants could maintain proper health, “The kennel was stagnant and filthy. The very rats, which were here and there lay putrefying in its rottenness, were hideous with famine” ( p.35).
What a tragic case it was, the poor built houses in an unhealthy environment of slum and filth area where rats lay here and there. They forced themselves to live in such a condition since a house at least could protect them against the harsh climate in wintertime when it is extremely cold. Dickens illustrated this novel that it was piercing cold and the atmosphere was gloomy and black (p.156). It was winter, but the poor did not have proper house to live in. In contrast, the rich people stayed in a big warm house with a beautiful fireplace in it.
Bleak, dark, and piercing cold, it was a night for the well-housed and fed to draw round the bright fire and thank God they were at home; and for the homeless, starving wretch to lay him down and die (p.165).
Here, Dickens brings his readers to see the real condition of the poor people, which is undebatably in an awfully condition. He wants to show that poor people were indeed in a very bad condition. They lived in absolutely poverty and lived in filth as they could not fulfill one of the basic needs to acquire a proper house.
Hunger. Food is necessitated to keep human being alive, especially those who live in areas with four climates. In winter time people must have sufficient food to keep them warm, without which they will miserable. Dickens captures this condition into his novel where they live in hunger with the extreme worst condition of dying from starvation (p.36). From the portrayal above, we can see that huger causes death if it was not met by good response. In a trying time like that children were sent to orphanage, since their parents could not support them any longer. In fact, rather being fat they were cruelly mistreated and starved to death. Cruel mistreatment of children in the orphanage seems to be prevalent during those days, and Dickens even shows instances of this.
Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild wit hunger …that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him. (p.12)
A small bowl of gruel is good for children who are dieting, meanwhile, when children are in the growing period, it is normal when they have an excellent appetite to support their growth. They were totally desperate with hunger until they were afraid of eating each other if hey were not given some more food. What a gruesome impact of hunger it is, when the children become beasts rather than human if they are extremely hungry.
Clothing. Another human’s basic need is clothing, which should be fulfilled by al human beings. It is not only for covering the body, but also protects the body against the climate. However, to those who live under the poverty line, the old and torn ones are supposed to be enough. As long as it can cover their body, it is considered to be sufficient for them. Even the poor infants, in this case Oliver, an old yellow rag was prepared and wrapped around Oliver when he was just born in the workhouse.
What an excellent example of the power of dress, young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering…that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow in the same service. (p.3)
A newly born-infant, indeed, needs a warm comfortable clothing since he still cannot adapt himself to the weather directly. But what had happened to the infant in the orphanage, an old blanket which had turned to yellow is all he had.
Health. So far the discussion has been focused on poverty because the condition of poor people in England especially poor children at that time was thoroughly bad. The cause that may be directly connected with their bad conditions is that they did not have enough money to support themselves and their family. This is reflected in their house, meal and clothing which were far below the standards. All of these, of course, affected their health condition especially those who had inadequate food.
The child was pale and thin; his cheeks were sunken; and his eyes large and bright. The scanty parish dress, the livery of his misery hung loosely on his feeble body; and his young limbs had wasted away, like those of an old man. (p.121)
Here, Dickens described Dick, a friend of Oliver in the workhouse where they were beaten and starved by the workhouse master, a s an example of poor children’s condition at that time. He shows that insufficient food made them lose weight and became very pale. The more so, they lived in slum which became an additional threat to health. Many diseases are endemic, but mostly they are connected with the problem of hunger. These conditions run to extreme when poor people mostly die because of starvation. “I say she was starved to death. I never know how bad she was, till fever come upon her; and then her bones were starting through the skin. There was neither fire nor candle; she died in the dark!-in the dark! (p.36)”
That she died in the dark indicates the very poor condition of the house in which there is no ventilation, and such a house is not adequate to support health. Bad housing with its poor facilities- bathing, toilets, kitchen, and also ventilation, creates many diseases, take for instance, skin disease, tuberculosis, etc. From the fact above, it can be concluded that inadequate food and poor housing with its poor facilities are direct factors that are hazardous for health.
Orphanage. It cannot be avoided that the prevalence of poverty will produce many social problems: housing, health, starvation, education and crime. It is because poor people or the immigrants themselves are badly prepared for the new way of life related to the newly developed industrial system. Unemployment and street children become rampant. One solution to this problem can be achieved by providing social care, such as workhouses and orphanages for the poor and abandoned children who used to be street children. This social care also helps the government to control the poor. Kaste (1965:8) further stated:
A new concept was adopted to deal with the vexing issue of pauperism. The Poor Law of 1834 provided that all able-bodied paupers must reside in workhouse. This plan was successful from one standpoint, for within three years the cost of poor relief was reduced by over one-third.
However, this concept was taking them away from a world in which they were comfortable, since this system brings them into starvation, instead. This is illustrated by Dickens when the inmates of the workhouse became the victim of the Poor Law. They were suffering from hunger since they only got only smallest portion of food from Mrs. Mann the matron of the workhouse. She was the of the opinion that providing the children with the smallest portion of the weakest possible food (p.5) was the best policy in handling the children, whereas she regarded herself as needing the biggest portion of food.
Following Mrs. Mann’s system, Dickens considers that the inmates of the workhouse become the victims of social injustice because he sees corruption deliberately done by Mrs. Mann. She let poor orphan suffer from hunger, on the other hand she lived in prosperity. Dickens then mocked her in his ironical statement that the elderly female was a woman of wisdom and experience; she knew what was good for herself. The unfortunate orphans not only suffered from hunger but they were also exploited by the workhouse authorities. They should work for the workhouse and receive only seven pence-halfpenny per small head per weak (p.4).
…that Oliver should be ‘farmed’, or, in other words, that he should dispatched to a branch-workhouse some three miles off, where twenty or thirty other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws, rolled about the floor al day, without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing, under the parental superintendence of an elderly female, who received the culprits at and for the consideration of seven pence-halfpenny per small head per week. (p.4)
From the quotation above, it can be seen that the poor orphans in orphanages were cruelly maltreated. They were forced to work with very low wages, less food and clothes. They were absolutely exploited. Dickens then, shows this exploitation and puts them into his novel. He, indirectly, wants to promote reform and simultaneously eliminate the abuses and malpractices in the orphanages. The orphanages which were at first intended to help the poor children, in practice they were used by the administrator of the workhouse where they committed corruption.
Various Life Attitudes of People at that Time
Long standing starvation and social injustice towards the poor led them to every possible way in order to protect themselves and their family away from starvation. These impoverishing conditions forced the slum inhabitants to become beggars. In the meantime, they had to satisfy their basic need i.e. to have food to keep themselves and their families alive by begging, they were sent to prison.” I begged for her in the streets; and they sent me in the prison. When I came back, she was dying; and all the blood in my heart dried up, for they starved to death (p.36). He then illustrates the ironical situation as Oliver and his friends’ companions suffered the tortures and slow starvation. On the contrary, the workhouse were fat and healthy (p.12) when the donation was actually intended for the orphans and not for the masters.
This indicates that the master had sufficient food although hunger was a major threat for the orphans. It clearly shows that poverty, in effect, degrades someone’s moral and makes one lose his sense of humanity. While other desperate of fulfilling their need, the rich are busy of fulfilling their greed. From this standpoint, it becomes clear how poverty affects society very badly, even the rich ones since naturally men carry two different sides: good and bad. When an unpleasant thing comes over them, mostly they intend to do the bad things. It means that the bad side is more dominant than the good ones. This also make one become apathetic about other suffering. They will do anything to survive from hunger. Even becoming criminals is another solution for them.
The viler consequences of this is when the poor are out of the necessity and become acquainted with crime, and the worst is that when they really become criminal and join an organization for the criminals which in modern term is called: a Mafia. Later, in Oliver Twist, Dickens also described that at that time gangs of criminals was so widespread. There was one notorious gang of criminals which was led by Fagin. To the poor and abandoned children Fagin was a Godfather. This was felt by one of his member, Jack Dawkins or The Artful dodger as he offered Oliver to join Fagin’s gang. He told Oliver that Fagin would provide free lodging for the homeless especially poor children.
‘I’ve got to be in London to-night; and I know a’ specable old genelman as lives there, wot’ll give you lodgings for nothink, and never ask for the change- that is, if any genelman, he knows interduces you. (p.54) “Offering you something for nothing and never ask for change” (p.54)
are generally, the Mafia’s most effective reasons to exploit and create a good image to the poor for they are homeless and powerless. Dickens also gives a vivid portrayal that poverty, indeed, robbed her childhood and youth. He describes Nancy, one of Fagin’s members, she exploited by Fagin, since she was child. Fagin also made her old in the experience of evil in the underworld criminal which is, of course, a tragic existence for the unfortunate girl, “It is my living; and the cold, wet, dirty street are my home; and you’re the wretch that drove me to them long ago, and that’ll keep me there, day and night, day and night, till I die!” (p.116).
The underworld criminals also give the author a chance to show the ugly realities of human nature. It was when they were happy of hunting poor Oliver without knowing what actually happened by crying out, ‘Stop thief! Stop thief!’ and people were chasing him. There was a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast (p.67). This chance is used by the author to show the true criminal morality at work. After The Dodger and Master Bates thieved the man, both of them were running away at full speed to the corner since they did not want to attract public attention. When they saw Oliver run of seeing their mode of work, these two boys, then roared and shouted behind him to provoke others as if Oliver was real thief.
They no sooner heard the cry, and saw Oliver running, than, guessing exactly how the matter stood, they issued forth with great promptitude; and, shouting ‘Stop thief!’ too, join in the pursuit like good citizens. (p.66)
The immediate effect of poverty as it has been stated above, indeed, changed the life attitude of the people. Begging in the street and becoming a street musician, then, is an alternative legal way of earning money and the worst feature of this is when becoming criminals is a common thing. Here, it becomes clear that the bad impact of the Industrial Revolution is the price that should be paid in terms of suffering and demoralization when they come to the deadly environment of the under world criminal.
Conclusion
From the findings and discussion, it can be seen that Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist clearly depicts the socio-cultural conditions portrayed during the Industrial Revolution. Dickens describes this social conditions related to the problems of housing, health, clothing, meal, and orphanage. He depicts all these things since the conditions of the poor at that time were very awful.
The more so was the conditions of the poor and unfortunate orphans. They were beaten and tortured by their supervisors. With the immense popularity of his novel, Dickens satirically and effectively criticizes the atrocious situations during the Industrial Revolution in England. It is clear that in Industrial Revolution, the poor became the victims of the rapidly changing social conditions since they did not have the resources for defense. This was very sad condition. However, the Industrial Revolution in England can be taken as a good example and lesson for serious considerations when other countries are administering an Industrial Revolution.
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Widya Nirmalawati
Muhammadiyah University of Purwokerto
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