How the writers of 3 different Victorian short stories create morals, heroism and religion with particular attention to language and allegory.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

I have read recently several Victorian short stories I noticed that many had similar styles and contents. But the three stories that I found most interesting were: The Persons of the tale and The House of Eld both by R L Stevenson and The Superstitious Man’s Story by Thomas Hardy. In these three stories I found that they were linked by the use of a narrator to tell the story of what had happened to the main characters through their fear, heroism and morality.

The House of Eld and The Persons of the Tale both have a moral to them. They are both written by the same author and although the moral in The House of Eld is shown at the end and The Persons of the Tale is a little harder to find both need to be worked out with great thought. The moral of the Persons of the Tale is that people although they are all different they are all needed in one way or another to complete life and the moral at the end of The House of Eld relates to the story. In the story the boy Jack thinks that everything will be perfect if he gets rid of the Sorcerer and therefore the gyve, but in fact in the process he kills his uncle, his father and his mother. The moral puts across the point that if you get rid of something important to your family you get rid of them too. R L Stevenson has written these short stories in the style of Aesop’s Fables, each with their own meaning and moral. He has done this in an updated version for their time to help the readers and listeners understand the meaning of life.

In both the R L Stevenson stories there is a hero. In the House of Eld, the hero is Jack. He shows heroic characteristics like braveness, the will to win and determination. In the Persons of the Tale the hero is Captain Smollett but Long John believes he is too. They both believe they are the author’s favourite but the moral is proven that even if the author’s favourite was the hero, there would not be a hero without a villain and this makes both the characters as important as each other.

The heroism in each story ...

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The heroism in each story is put across by the language of the writer. Jack is put across brave and courageous whereas Captain Smollett is just put across as a wise and intelligent hero. R L Stevenson has used different types of language to portray different characters with the same original ideas. Jack is described as ‘a grave lad’ meaning he was solemn or apprehensive. Whereas the captain is not described with specific words but his characteristics are put across through his speech and actions.

In the Persons of the Tale the author uses allegory. This is when certain things in the story represent something else. This helps R L Stevenson put across his moral easily for younger readers. The author mentioned in the story represents God and the characters Long John Silver and Captain Smollett are merely human beings living in the world. Long John Silver is someone who does not believe in God and Captain Smollett is a Christian of some sort. Long John believes that if there is a God then it has favourites but Captain Smollett teaches him that everyone is important in some way. This is the moral of the story. In the Superstitious Man’s story allegory is also used but in a different way. Although things in the story represent something else they are superstitions of the past and that is how the author Thomas Hardy puts across his allegory in this story. The church porch in the story this is a superstition that if it is sat upon on midsummer’s eve then the death of a neighbour will occur sometime during the next year. This happens in the story so represents the truth and beliefs of the Victorian people. The white moth in this story that comes out of William Privett’s mouth is a symbol of a peaceful death. It is a free and happy soul. This is another superstition but again signifies and helps the people to believe the superstitions are true.

I believe these three stories were written to scare the Victorians in to being good Christians. I believe this because the stories have a fearful message in them. In the Superstitious Man’s story, there is a fear of believing the superstitions are true. This frightens the people so that they won’t believe in them and turn to God instead. In the House of Eld, the fear is created by the sorcerer and Jack fighting. This is scary in itself but the moral to the story scares the people more. It is telling people that if you get rid of something very important and something you have never lived without you will get rid of the most important things to you. This implies that if you reject God then you can lose everything important to you and your family. And finally in the Persons of the Tale the message that God has no favourites and that everyone is important teaches the Victorians to love each other as everyone is just as important as anybody else.

Overall these three stories are enjoyable, thought provoking and educational for the readers and listeners. The authors have written with great language and techniques and have produced good short stories. They have considered the interests and views of readers in the Victorian times and they are enjoyable to read.

Phillippa McElroy