Date of Award

6-1927

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Communication

Abstract

It is given to us, to aid our inadequate intellects, that we may understand not only by simple comprehension of a statement of fact, but by the process of comparison and contrast. Thus, to plumb the depths of George Eliot's peculiar greatness, we compare and contrast her to Charles Dickens. She is everything that he is not. Whereas he had the utmost power of rendering the external traits of people, she had the utmost power of rendering their internal traits, their psychological characters, their conceptions of life, and their emotions. Charles Dickens takes the human creature and portrays his behavior; George Eliot takes the human creature and disects the motive for his behavior: he tells us what, she tells us why. The outside estimate, in short, is his work, and it amuses us; the inside estimate, in short, is her work, and it saddens us.

Comments

A Thesis submitted to fulfill partially the requirements for The Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy

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