The Nature of a Crime · Question
How does The Nature of a Crime develop the theme of Class and Respectability?
Answer
The Nature of a Crime by Joseph Conrad develops Class and Respectability across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The book critiques the Edwardian upper classes, contrasting the outwardly respectable Edward Burden with the narrator's hidden criminality, and exploring how reputation and wealth mask deeper corruption.
The narrator critiques the desire for material security and social standing, suggesting that women err in preferring a 'loaf-cutter' (a lady) over being an Ideal, and that a false position is intolerable to a true poet.
The narrator critiques the 'eternal Haves' and the hypocrisy of respectable society.
Evidence in the book
- Chapter V
The narrator critiques the desire for material security and social standing, suggesting that women err in preferring a 'loaf-cutter' (a lady) over being an Ideal, and that a false position is intolerable to a true poet.
- VII
The narrator critiques the 'eternal Haves' and the hypocrisy of respectable society.