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THE INFLUENCE OF THE PANTOMIME CLOWN ON THE EARLY NOVELS OF CHARLES DICKENS (GESTURES, MASKS, PERFORMANCE)
Abstract
Charles Dickens' fascination for the figure of the pantomime clown becomes a graphic technique of literary expressivity in his fiction. The clown's performing body and expressive face come to represent for Dickens, the very animating spark and the mask that for him helps humanity keep going in the face of the overwhelming difficulties inherent in his view of life. The clown's silent, emotive expressivity is behind the creation of Dickensian characters and the expressivity determines how they function in his world. Dickens' own tendencies towards hilarity and brooding color the space his clownlike characters create in his world: the wild antics disrupt the propriety of stiff Victorian society and enliven it while the brown study or contemplative state draws the silent performing body closer to death than to life. In the early novels with a comic emphasis, Dickens uses full body antics or performances profusely. For early novels with a more somber tone, he focuses on the exceptionally expressive human face/mask. The clown's spontaneity and magic show the way towards openness of heart while eschewing the greed and social considerations that are anathema to Dickens. The wonder of life for him resides in this figure who embodies and enacts the purest emotions and qualities known to human experience. Openness of heart is the ultimate goal for Dickens, particularly in his early novels. For Dickens, the clown is also an hypnotic presence who holds up the pantomimic mirror of life to other characters to point up both the absurdity of existence and the full range of human possibilities or lived-out qualities and emotions. Moral conversion occurs as quickly as placing on one mask for another. The hallucinatory quality of Dickens' fiction draws part of its drama from the silent, emotive presence of his characters whether they are performing wildly or are weighted down under a veil of sorrow. The reader's need to visualize Dickens' characters above and beyond their verbal acrobatics stems from the clown's animating spark. This spark holds the power to heal and transform, if only temporarily, the pain of everyday life.
Subject Area
British and Irish literature
Recommended Citation
KENSICK, HELEN LORRAINE, "THE INFLUENCE OF THE PANTOMIME CLOWN ON THE EARLY NOVELS OF CHARLES DICKENS (GESTURES, MASKS, PERFORMANCE)" (1984). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI8410301.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI8410301