The Wealth of Nations · Character
Common Servants
Ordinary household workers whose wages and upkeep Smith tracks to show how the price of labor settles across an entire economy.
supporting
Also known as common servants, Their, their
First appearance: iii of the accumulation of capital or of productive and unproductive labour
As a supporting figure in The Wealth of Nations, Common Servants is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.
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They are the baseline case, the workers whose pay reflects nothing but the going rate for unskilled hands. Their situation dramatizes the gap between what keeps a laborer alive and what lets him raise a family, a gap…
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See Common Servants in iii of the accumulation of capital or of productive and unproductive labourCharacter Web
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Relationship types
- Other
Character groups
- Domestic and colonial entities
- Ancient authorities and examples
- Labor and wage dynamics
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Open in readerNarrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the story's dramatic climax because it presents the emotional and psychological peak of Smi…
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