Subjects:
I will Begin this essay with a brief introduction to the word “UTILITARIANISM”.
Utilitarianism is a system of ethics (morals) that judges human conduct in relation to the extent to which it conduces to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people.
Utilitarianism faces a number of key issues during the course of the novel, one of which is that its discards feeling and emotion. The problem is that morals and emotions can’t be quantified statistically quite as easily as burglary rates or profits accounts.
Im “Hard Times”, Dickens is attacking the ways of thinking and acting that became associated with utilitarianism thought. Dickens attacks the extremes of mechanisation, statistical analysis and rationality.
This novel is not a work of social criticism but a moral satire. Evidence of Dickens satire to utilitarianism is in the first chapter of “Book the first-sowing”.
The chapter begins with a short introduction. Inside a classroom, “the speaker” repeats the exclamation “now, what I want is facts”. Dickens presents the
. . .
Dickens accuses Utilitarianism being responsible for the social malaise: the destruction of personality; for robbing people of probably the only real valuable thing they have- THEIR INDIVIDUALITY! ; For oppressing the women and the working class; and finally of depriving the children of a special stage of their life- THEIR CHILDHOOD!
Dickens feels that Utilitarianism is wrong, which is the main reason to his satire towards it throughout the novel. Her decision to marry Bounderby is a Utilitarian one. Chimney smoke is referred to as “evil serpents” and Bounderby calls his labourers “hands”. There are lessons that can be learned that we would still do well to heed today. The school room is as hard and plain as the teachers’ teaching style.
Here: Dickens satires the idea that a society can be regulated by self-interest. In addition, Dickens satire is sharp and pointed.
Bounderby is a gross caricature of utilitarianism. Many of the details of Coketown are based on truths about industrial town, but Dickens exaggerates them to focus the reader’s attention on the points he would like to.
Dickens feels that many people simply abused the theory of utilitarianism to indulge their egoism.
The worker as referred to as “hands”- that is, the utilitarianism society is only interested in their ability to work.
“Fact, Fact, Fact, everywhere in the material aspect of town, Fact, Fact, Fact everywhere in the immaterial”
This summarises the Utilitarianism that the town is drenched in – everything serves a material purpose. These utilitarianism characters are Thomas Gradgrind and Bounderby. It was believed that higher industrial output would increase the wealth of the country and therefore be desirable.
Dickens develops his main satire upon utilitarianism when the issue revolves around ‘work’.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.