Extract B. ( Martin Chuzzlewit’s Peckniff)
Now watch Mr Pecksniff take over his ‘stage’ and perform his self-appointed role as a magnanimous confidant.
Think about the manner in which Pecksniff inhabits his strategy of apparent benevolence through his use of mirroring in language. Once again, as we witnessed with Uriah Heep, it seems as if Pecksiff is mocking the very virtue he is imitating.
`And how,’ asked Mr. Pecksniff, drawing off his gloves and warming his hands before the fire, as benevolently as if they were somebody else’s, not his: `and how is he now?’
`He is better, and quite tranquil,’ answered Mrs. Lupin.
`He is better, and quite tranquil,’ said Mr. Pecksniff. `Very well! Ve-ry well!’
Here again, though the statement was Mrs. Lupin’s and not Mr. Pecksniff’s, Mr. Pecksniff made it his own and consoled her with it, it was not much when Mrs. Lupin said it, but it was a whole book when Mr. Pecksniff said it. `I observe,’ he seemed to say, `and through me, morality in general remarks, that he is better and quite tranquil.’
- Pecksniff’s ‘warming his hands before the fire’ is a small action that reveals the duality of his character. He is so concerned with communicating his ‘goodness’ that even his hand warming is now a performance and act of theatricality. ‘As benevolently as if they were someone elses’s, not his.’ How weird and wonderfully knowing is this action! Outside and inside collide in this expertly created moment.
- When Pecksniff echoes the words of Mrs Lupin, the tone and repetition of her words followed by his own, ‘Ve-ry well!’ Alert us to his subterfuge and palpable charlatanism. He is thinking on his feet! The hyphenation reveals the processing of Pecksniff’s linguistic strategy.
- Yet how far is Pecksniff even consciously aware that he is literally not being himself? If he can wash his hands as if they do not belong to him, then his performances may bury his authentic self out of sight- perhaps even from himself? He may be truly self-estranged.
- Or is Pecksniff enjoying the freedom of NOT being himself and conning his own body well as his audience? Hence the humour of the scene. I love the theatricality of Pecksniff. The world is definitely a stage for him!
- Once again, the use of repetition lends power to characterisation and injects both humour and something more grotesque perhaps into our writing.
- Repetition in Dickens regularly places TRUTH in CRISIS!
Now return to your writing and use repetition within direct speech to extend your characterisation.