In Victorian
times, the image of London was a very dark one. Thus, Charles Dickens and Ford
Madox Hueffer used grotesque imagery to portray the dark side of London.
Charles Dickens to show the dark side used the metaphor of the Fog to show the
confusion in the Lord Chancellor’s office. Ford Madox Hueffer explains routine
lifestyle of the workforce to portray the same.
The authors set
the scene by describing the weather of London. Both examined the weather
through the mud that collected in the city. Charles Dickens describes the scene
as “ As much mud in the streets as if the waters has but newly retired from the
face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Meglosaurus, forty
feet long or so, waddling, an elephantine lizard up the Holborn Hill.” (Bleak House, pg 255) The hyperbole
“Meglosaurus” emphasizes the amount of mud that was collected on the street. The
description “elephantine lizard” also helps describe the shape of Holborn Hill,
and the length of the hill. Ford Hueffer describes the mud as “sticky mud” (The Soul of London: A survey of a Modern
City, pg 257), the diction portrays the inevitableness of the situation.
Through the mud the authors convey the way mud is almost immortal. In addition,
it adds to the problems that are prevalent in the city. Charles Dickens also
uses the personification of the “smoke lowering down the chimney-pots” (Bleak House, pg 255) that have “gone
into mourning” to show sympathy for the situation in the city. On the other
hand, Hueffer uses the personification of the “weeping sky” (The Soul of London: A survey of a Modern
City, pg 257), which not only portrays the rain but also makes the reader
sympathize for London.
Furthermore,
the authors explain the chaos in the streets of London through the “horses” in
the city and the people. The description Charles Dickens painted was “Horses
scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers” (Bleak House, pg 255). The description of “splashed to their very
blinkers” conveyed the fact that every inch of the horses was completely
soaked. It emphasized on the fact that even horses were stuck in the bleak situation.
Ford Hueffer added a more darker image of the horses: “of the monstrous figure
of a horse ‘down’ in the sticky streets with its frantic struggles…and then its
lying still” (The Soul of London: A
survey of a Modern City, pg 257). The horses also act like
Dickens explained the situation of the
people as “Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general
infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street corners” (Bleak House, pg 255). The “general
infection” showed that the anger of the people was “contagious” due to their
struggle. The “jostling” of umbrellas emphasized on the struggle that the
people endured. Furthermore, the author adds “ and loosing their foot-hold at
street corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been
slipping and sliding” (The Soul of
London: A survey of a Modern City, pg 257). The author emphasizes the frustration through ‘tens
of thousands of other foot passengers’ that face the same issue. Ford Hueffer
describes the crowd as a “chaotic crowd”, the alliteration draws attention to
the chaos created. The author continues with “like that of baggage wagons
huddled together after a great defeat”. The simile of “baggage wagons”
emphasizes on the number of people on the streets, and the diction “great
defeat” conveys the reason behind the chaos. Thus this phrase helps the reader
picture the intensity of the chaos.
Charles
Dickens, through the description leads to the symbolism of the Fog. Through
antithesis statements the author adds depth and length to the fog. He starts
with “Fog everywhere” (Bleak House,
pg 255). The general statement asserts the stretch of the “fog”. Further
Dickens adds “ Fog up the river, where it flows among the green aits and
meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls among the tiers of shipping and the
waterside pollution of a great city” (Bleak
House, pg 255). The personification of the fog gives more depth to the fog.
While “Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights” (Bleak House, pg 255), adds to the length
of the fog. Furthermore, through the fog the author describes different parts
of the city conveying his cynical view. Moreover, the “fog” acts as a symbol of
the tension throughout the city, and adds to the monotonous life of the
Londoners. To emphasize on the confusion and tension in the Chancellor’s office
the author wrote, “The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is the densest,
and the muddy streets are muddiest” (Bleak
House, pg 256) and “ the very heart of the Fog, sits the Lord High
Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery” (Bleak
House, pg 256).
Ford
Hueffer explains the business wheel to portray the monotonous life of London’s
workforce. He begins the paragraph with an opening statement: “All work in
modern London is almost necessity routine work: the tendency to specialize in
small articles, in small parts of a whole, insures that” (The Soul of London: A survey of a Modern City, pg 257). Here the
author explains that the routine is a “necessity” because of the fact that each
part of the expertise is a part of a bigger whole. However, after Hueffer
explains this he further argues that “In the mind of the workers, work itself
becomes an endless monotony” (The Soul of
London: A survey of a Modern City, pg 257) and thus it “crushes out the
individuality” (The Soul of London: A
survey of a Modern City, pg 257). Everyone due to industrialization becomes
a small fish of the big pond. There is no respect left for the craftsman who
creates a product from start to end.
Thus,
both the authors put forward a pessimistic view of London through their
descriptions. Both explain that the chaos itself is extremely monotonous
because it is a part of the routine. The description of London still is the
same due the increase in industrialisation and the continuous rain. However,
instead of horses there are cars. In conclusion, Dickens and Hueffer give the
reader a thought to ponder about through the views that the authors put
forward.
Citations:
2. Hueffer Ford, "The Soul of London: A survey of a Modern City". In The Secret Agent. Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press,2009.
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