Thomas+Carlyle's+Past+and+Present

Thomas Carlyle was born on December 4th, 1795 in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire Scotland and died February 5, 1881. Described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as a “well-known author, biographer and historian,” Carlyle is depicted as someone who valued literacy and education early in life (Kaplan para 1). Carlyle was raised in a strict Calvinist household and despite religious reservations, this upbringing influenced his writing later in life. He was widely received in Victorian society, and became known as a “Sage of Chelsea”, which was an affluent area of London frequented by upper-class intellectuals at the time. His style of prose was unique, and lead to the development of ‘Carlylese’ a term coined for his unusual phrasing featured in many of his written works.

The excerpts presented in //The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Prose// feature Carlyle’s popular 1843 text, //Past and Present//, which provides insight into his principles on economics in English society. Susie L. Steinbach determines that //Past and Present// was written in response to the debate that had arisen in the 1840’s concerning the “Condition of England,” a term coined by Carlyle in one of his previous essays written in 1839 (Steinbach 85). She states that //Past and Present// refers to what Carlyle says is the depletion of the “moral condition of a nation that had both a growing economy and a large number of poor people, [who should] call on government and employers to take responsibility for the industrial poor” (Steinbach 85). In the text, Carlyle attacks laissez-faire policies and sympathizes with the working poor by contrasting his present society with that of medieval history, specifically the monasteries. He references the “cash nexus,” which defined is: “a relationship constituted by and usually consisting solely in, monetary transactions.” Carlyle’s argument is centered around the idea that the “Leaders of Industry,” must take charge and “form a new, natural aristocracy capable of creating prosperity and establishing a social hierarchy based on preserved class difference, loyalty and mutual respect” (Diniekjo para 3). Carlyle condemns the emphasis put on the cash nexus as the basis of Victorian society and insists that, in order to have a balanced economic climate in Britain, compassion must be utilized in the workplace.

__ Book 3, Chapter 2: Gospel of Mammonism __

This excerpt focuses on the Gospel of Mammonism—a devotion to the pursuit of wealth—a serious social issue according to Carlyle. He discusses the ideas of humbleness and generosity and how these qualities are non-existent in society because of the capitalist mentality that was at the heart of the Victorian way of life. Carlyle employs biblical parables, a reference to his upbringing, to reinforce the idea that there is a lack of compassion in a consumer society. He states that hell today is the “terror of not succeeding…of not making money, or [achieving] fame” (98). This fear of ‘hell on earth’ Carlyle explains, is the main contributor to the Gospel of Mammonism. The example of a rich mill owner is utilized to display the lack of human compassion witnessed. The mill owner exclaims, “My starving workers? Did I not hire them fairly in the market?...What have I do with them more?” (99). The lack of empathy the mill owner feels for his employees represents the importance placed on cash-payment as the sole relation of human beings. Carlyle employs a parable here to allude to the biblical story of Cain and his brother where Cain states, “Did I not pay my brother //his// wages, the thing he had merited from me?” (99). Carlyle’s examples help the reader to understand the context of the wider debate that was occurring in England at the time. The topic of this debate was how to improve working conditions for those who had little power over their professional affairs, including fair wages, safety concerns, fair hours, and childcare.

__ Book 4, Chapter 4: Captains of Industry __

Carlyle uses a didactic approach in his writing to appeal to what he refers to as the “Captains of Industry” otherwise known as Victorian society’s aristocracy and business owners. He believes that these elite members of society are the only ones who can effect change and subsequently he directs his readership towards them. Carlyle’s abstract prose can be quite difficult to follow and his use of complex language suggests that his audience was of a higher social status than the working class, simply because they would have been the individuals to receive the education necessary to decipher his prose. He also utilizes capital letters where they would normally not be capitalized to emphasize what he deems important words or phrases. For instance, he capitalizes the phrase, “Problem of Organizing Labour” (101) in the middle of a sentence to stress the magnitude of the problem that workplaces faced. To Carlyle, “work, in a secular context, was the counterpart of faith in a religious one, and its efficacy too was regarded as infallible doctrine” (Altick 168). Satire is also a common motif of Carlyle’s prose, and is employed in the text to highlight the atrocities that are committed in the workplace and in traditional Victorian society. = = // Past and Present // appeals specifically to the industrial leaders of English society in order to “rebuild society on more compassionate grounds” (98). He states that, “The Leaders of Industry…are virtually the Captains of the World…Fighters against Chaos, Necessity and the Devils and Jötunn” (102). Carlyle’s reference to giants in Scandinavian mythology (Jötunn) compares the pursuit of wealth to a terror that needs to be eradicated from society. He makes the point that England cannot remain the way it is currently economically structured as the Captains of Industry have degenerated into the Captains of Idleness—Carlyle’s way of saying that once an individual has achieved success financially, they become indifferent to the struggles of others. In his view, Steinbach argues, “industrialized, free-market Britain created individual poverty of both body and spirit in the midst of profit and plenty” ( 85). He claims that a “Chivalry of Work” must also be implemented so as to make those who are responsible for the well-being of others accountable in the workplace. Also discussed in this chapter is the idea of organized work, which Carlyle believes will propel society forward stating that “all human interests, combined human endeavours, and social growths in this world, have required organizing: and Work, does now require it” (104). He acknowledges the fact that implementing these changes will not be easy, but they are necessary in his opinion, for the success of England in the future.

__ Questions Resulting from the Reading __ After reading and analyzing these excerpts from Past and Present, I am left wondering about the validity of Carlyle’s arguments and how effective his ideas of how to improve Victorian society actually were. Capitalism has persisted until today, which goes against his idea that the workplace must become more equal and less focused on achieving profit and success. His push for compassion in the workplace reflects this philosophy; however, is not entirely realistic in execution. I believe that the Gospel of Mammonism still exists today, despite Carlyle’s efforts to quell the capitalist way of life that began to develop during this era. SC/Engl387/Fall2014/UVic Works Cited

Altick, Richard D. //Victorian People and Ideas//. New York: W.W Norton & Co., 1973. Print.

Carlyle, Thomas. From //Past and Present// //. The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Prose //. Ed. Mary Elizabeth Leighton and Lisa Surridge. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview Press, 2012. 97-104. Print.

"Cash Nexus.1." // Oxford English Dictionary Online //. Oxford University Press, September 2014. Web. 27 October 2014.

Diniejko, Dr. Andrzej. “Carlyle’s Belief in Meritocracy and his Captains of Industry”. //The Victorian Web.// n.p. 29 December, 2009. Web. 28 Oct 2014.

Kaplan, Fred. “Carlyle, Thomas (1795–1881).” //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oct. 2008. Web. 29 Oct. 2014

Steinbach, Susie. // Understanding the Victorians: Politics, Culture, and Society in Nineteenth-Century Britain //. London: Routledge, 2012. Print.