Culture and Anarchy · Character

Philistine

The prosperous middle-class Englishman whose defect in delicacy of perception makes him mistake mechanical rule and stock maxims for the law of his own humanity.

supporting

Also known as the Philistine, Philistines, the British Philistines

First appearance: Culture and Anarchy

As a supporting figure in Culture and Anarchy, Philistine is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

The middle class, described as the stronghold of Puritanism and narrow-mindedness.

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He is the solid, liberty-loving, chapel-going man of business whom the narrator neither scorns nor flatters, but seeks to perfect by cultivating in him a delicacy that can be a law to itself. His tragedy is that he narrows his spiritual and intellectual life for the satisfaction of his ordinary self, remaining insensible to the finer shades of feeling in love and marriage while trusting external rule to govern what only inward tact can. He matters because the whole argument turns on whether his best self can be developed, not merely his ordinary self liberated.

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the Liberal supporters elevate personal liberty to an absolut…

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In the story

Philistine appears across 10 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Culture and Anarchy
The middle class, described as the stronghold of Puritanism and narrow-mindedness.
Sweetness and Light
Described as the 'aphyēs' or one lacking sweetness and light, representing the opposite of the cultivated ideal.
Doing as One Likes
Representing the middle class, with its focus on trade and Dissent.
Barbarians, Philistines, Populace
Described as the middle class, with a defect of helpless inaptitude for great works and lack of self-satisfaction.
Porro Unum Est Necessarium
Represented by the middle class, exemplified by Mr. Smith's dual concerns of poverty and eternal loss, and by the narrow mechanical conception of life.
Our Liberal Practitioners
Represented by the British Philistine who celebrates population growth as divine, and by free-trading Liberals who mechanically pursue wealth and population increase.
Chapter II: Doing as One Likes and the Real Estate Intestacy Bill
The Philistines (middle class) are described as being misled by the false ideal of wealth and station.
Chapter III
Described as having a defect in delicacy of perception; the target of Arnold's critique.
Chapter IV: Hebraism, Hellenism, and the Social Question
The Philistine middle class is addressed as being complicit in mechanical thinking about population and prosperity.
Conclusion
Represented as the middle class that seeks to inherit the heritage from the Barbarians, but whose ordinary self also falls short of the best self.

Chapter companion notes

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