28 pages • 56 minutes read
Virginia WoolfThe Duchess and the Jeweller
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1938A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Pearls
The symbol of pearls informs the story’s themes of Authenticity Versus Deceit, Materialism and Greed, and Social Climbing and Status. The pearls are the key to Oliver unlocking the closed doors of the aristocracy, the highest social status in England. They are the price he must pay to access this elite circle. Furthermore, the pearls symbolize the currency of trust and mistrust that circulates between Oliver and the Duchess. Though genuine pearls are valuable, for Oliver their real worth rests in his gaining an invitation from the Duchess to her country house if he buys them. Consequently, their authenticity is not of paramount importance to him.
Pearls symbolize purity in Western culture and are often worn at weddings. Due to their association with water and their shape, they are also associated with tears. The pearls from the Appleby cincture prompt the Duchess’s tears as she acknowledges they are the last of her saleable possessions. Pearls are also associated with the idiom “pearls of wisdom.” However, in Oliver’s case, they represent folly as he ignores his instinct to have them tested. This foolishness also recalls the Biblical phrase “cast not your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). This equates to a warning not to waste valuable gifts on people who may not appreciate them. So the Appleby pearls come to represent foolishness, folly, and carelessness.
Animal Imagery
The narrator uses animal imagery to describe many of Oliver’s physical characteristics. His laugh resembles a horse’s neigh, while his swaying walk is like a camel’s gait. These are unflattering comparisons, portraying Oliver as less-than human. The animal imagery centers on Oliver’s nose and his ability to “snuffle out” hidden things. Compared to an elephant’s trunk, his nose “seemed to say by its curious quiver at the nostrils (but it seemed as if the whole nose quivered, not only the nostrils) that he was not satisfied yet” (249). The portrayal of Oliver’s nose taking on a life of its own and “speaking” is a modernist device that uses absurdism to create a vivid image. The narrator also inserts themself here, to clarify that the whole nose quivered. This self-referential breaking of the “forth wall” is used to comedic effect. Oliver’s nose is used as a synecdoche to convey that his entire being is dissatisfied. Tipping into caricature, the description is distorted and exaggerated in order to satirize his character. The animal imagery informs the themes of Materialism and Greed and Social Climbing and Class.
Truffles
Truffles are a highly prized and expensive edible mushroom or fungus. Rare and hard to find, they are akin to a culinary diamond. In the story, the truffle is a metaphor for the unnamable “thing” that Oliver desires but has not yet obtained.
The truffle is not any one thing; rather, it is a symbol of the never-ending need to acquire. The metaphor of a rooting hog searching for larger, juicier truffles “further off” suggests that the object of his desire is unattainable and that Oliver will never be satisfied. Oliver has a talent for sniffing out opportunities and this has contributed to his enormous success. However, no matter how successful he currently is, he seems compelled by the idea of the next truffle. It is perhaps the thrill of the hunt that is attractive to Oliver.
The metaphorical truffle the Duchess holds out to Oliver is access to the highest levels of nobility, and to the possibility of marrying into those ranks through her daughter Diana. This is the “truffle” that he cannot resist and that clouds his judgement about buying the pearls. Though truffles are a delicacy, the story associates the fungi with decay: “This, then, was the truffle he had routed out of the earth! Rotten at the centre—rotten at the core!” (253). The assertion applies not only to the fake pearls but also the aristocracy to which Oliver aspires. Overall, the truffle motif informs the themes of Authenticity Versus Deceit, Materialism and Greed, and Social Climbing and Class.
Related Titles
By Virginia Woolf
