Copperfield Text / Essays & Tools / Dickens Resources / Forum / Creative Writing | Donate
|
|
Copperfield Text / Essays & Tools / Dickens Resources / Forum / Creative Writing | Donate |
Page 25
Unlike earlier Dickens heroines, though, Bella wants to become "something so much worthier than the doll in the doll's house," and does. Both Bella (the Estella figure) and Eugene (the Pip figure) prove themselves after marriage, when the real tests come. Marriage is no longer an end for Dickens, the symbol of order and success. Rather it is something that needs to be worked at and worked out. And Bella, who proves to be "true golden gold at heart," and Lizzie, whom Eugene calls a "heroine," live together with their husbands in London where, for Dickens, the real work needs to be done. Dickens celebrates the moment of Bella's marriage with John with the message that has been central to his vision from the beginning: and "O there days in this life, worth life and worth death. And O what a bright old song it is that O 'tis love 'tis love, that makes the world go round."
Our Mutual Friend ends with Mortimer Lightwood, who feels that, like Dickens, he has "the eyes of Europe upon him" as he tells his stories at the Veneerings' dinner parties, seeking the true voice of society while he reports the story of Eugene and Lizzie. He discovers it in Twemlow, who knows what it means to act nobly. Dickens must himself have been wondering about the voice of society with regard to his personal situation, and probably with Mortimer's perspective. Neither Dickens nor Mortimer participates directly in the happiness of those they tell stories about. But they share the vision and take joy in seeing the results of the stories and the effects those stories have on their audiences.
