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The Footsteps at the Lock · Theme
Class and Aestheticism
How The Footsteps at the Lock develops Class and Aestheticism.
The contrast between Derek's conventional, dissipated lifestyle and Nigel's affected aesthetic poses highlights tensions within the English upper classes, with Nigel's disdain for 'unforeign' things and his theatrical 'river-man' costume.
Where it surfaces
- I: Two Cousins
Nigel's deliberate cultivation of an aesthetic, rebellious persona contrasts with Derek's conventional dissoluteness, reflecting class and cultural tensions.