Simon Tuggs
Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens
Being some kind of short stories collection, it is difficult
to pick an interesting character from this Sketches By Boz. I usually like
characters that are experiencing character switch within the story, which is
impossible to find in a short story. However, I’ll try to discuss about a
character which appeared in 20 pages of chapter IV in ‘Tales’ section.
This is what Dickens described about a young man named Mr.
Simon Tuggs:
“He was as differently
formed in body, as he was differently constituted in mind, of the remainder of
his family. There was that elongation in his thoughtful face, and that tendency
to weakness in his interesting legs, which tell so forcibly of a great mind and
romantic disposition.”
Frankly speaking, I didn’t quite get in the plot very well,
but from what I gathered, Simon is a son of a grocer who had just possessed
twenty thousand pounds from a will. The family didn’t take any longer to close
the grocery and moved to Ramsgate. On the ship to Ramsgate, the family got acquainted
with a couple: Captain Masters and Mrs. Belinda Masters. Shortly enough, Simon
found himself attracted to Belinda, who seemed to return the feeling, despite
of her marriage with Captain Masters. And after six week being together, Simon
fell in love with Belinda, a feeling that they both called “platonic love”.
From Dickens’ description, I can see that Simon is
physically weak and emotionally romantic. When the solicitor announced that the
Tuggs had won the will, Simon fainted twice (the sign of weakness). And seeing
how quickly he became attached to Belinda, only showed that he is a romantic
person. It seems from this story, that weakness and romanticism are not a
perfect combination, actually it’s a dangerous combination. Add a large sum of
money (remember what the Tuggses just got from the will?) in it, and bad people
can use someone like Simon.
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