Text analysis and general recommendations

In this connection special attention should be paid to the repetition of the word "dead", to the metaphor "she saw him murdering that fond idea". Their significance cant be overestimated, they indicate at the death of any normal human relations between any members of this family.

But further on, even Mr. Dombey, who is accustomed to being obeyed to in everything, having understood that Edith isn't going to fulfil his orders, that it is an open rebellion on her part, loses his temper and flies into a passion. His manner of speech changes. In his last remark he uses plenty of exclamations, repetitions, interjections and rhetorical questions. (See: "Good heaven, Mrs. Dombey!..." up to "you are absurd"). The author managed to convey this change in Mr. Dombey's state of mind and feelings brilliantly. At first he seemed to be a person as if made of stone, [22] devoid of any emotions, then irritation and anger appeared, and they were caused by Edith's defiance, by the fact that she had dared to say something against him. Only this managed to arouse some emotions in Mr. Dombey's heart of stone. Of course no love or affection, parental or that of a spouse can be dwelt upon here.

Mr. Dombey had practically never experienced such feelings and that's why only anger and irritation were able to arouse some emotions in him. Of course, he is pictured by Dickens only from one side. Not a single positive, or at least, human feature can be found in him. He is represented as a heartless stony monster, devoid of any human feelings, he is a real embodiment of cruelty and hatred, as the author directly puts it in the final lines of the extract. In the same way Edith may be called an embodiment of pride and the spirit of disobedience, freedom and independence. She is not a dynamic character in the extract and that's why, maybe, not so interesting as Mr. Dombey. In the very beginning the author declares that there was an air in her face «which seemed to separate her hopelessly from Florence and from every one, for ever more.» She intentionally cut herself off from everybody, she is too far from the others, and there will never be any connections between her and the other inhabitants of this house. Her persistence and perseverance are accentuated by her manner of speech, full of repetitions. Her defiant, self-willed, independent character is outlined to the best advantage in the climax of the text (the scene of plucking off the jewellery and leaving the room). But like Mr. Dombey, she is too flat a character to discuss it in detail Thus, their characters may be reduced to one feature, he to cruelty, she to pride. The central conflict of the extract (between husband and wife) is the conflict of two totally dissimilar outlooks, two absolutely different sets of values. Roughly it may be reduced to the everlasting conflict between Money and Beauty. It is interesting enough that some parallels with Galsworthy's "Man of Property" can be drawn, particularly with the opposition between Soames and Irene.

As for Florence, she is patience and virtue in flesh. Perhaps she is the character who arouses the warmest feelings in the reader, we can't but feel pity for her. She is represented as a peace-maker, as a girl, who, having lost her mother, sincerely loves her father and wants to love her stepmother, at least to establish good relations with her. And it is not her fault that she fails in her good intentions.

Characterizing the style of Dickens one must first of all mention the vividness of narration, brilliant technique of character drawing and his mastership in creating a certain atmosphere. The writer uses a number of expressive means and stylistic devices to achieve his aim. Repetitions and parallel constructions are rather favoured by Dickens here and their ample use can be accounted for by the aim of conveying to the reader all the shades of the emotional state of his characters. By changes in the syntactical patterns, by the extensive use of exclamatory and interrogative sentences the author brilliantly managed to convey Mr. Dombey's anger and frenzy and Edith's proud and independent nature. [23]

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И. В. Арнольд. Стилистика современного английского языка М. 1990 .

L.V. Bonsova. Interpreting Fiction. Minsk. 1987 3.1.R. Galpehn. Stylisics.

V.M. Pavlovsky. Read. Learn. Discuss. СПб. 1999

Y.M. Skrebnev. Fundamentals of English Stylistics. M. 1994 :

A.M. Sokhan, T.D. Antonova. Readings From English Literature.M. 1972

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