The didactic spirit in novels by Dickens, Austen, and Lawrence

¶ … Home Exam

When a critic speaks of the infusion of the didactic spirit into the novel, he or she means the 'teaching spirit' of the novel in either its plot structure, character development, or the way the author philosophically uses the novel to teach the reader, by reflecting upon the good or bad fates of the novel's protagonists. The eminent critic who referred to the didactic spirit of the novel thus meant that it is not surprising, given the teaching or instructive spirit of novels that novelists show readers how they ought to behave or how life ought to be using the examples of fictional characters. Novelists thus could be called prophets or seers because they use what happens to the interior or exterior life of their characters for instructive purposes, as if these characters were living in myths, or as if the characters had mythical significance.

Dickens clearly functions as the most didactic of all novelists in his plot structures. His characters are like fables, where the bad are punished and the good are, after many trials, rewarded at the novel's end. In David Copperfield, the good and hard working David and Agnes are rewarded at the end of the tale, while the less-than exemplary characters are rewarded with ill fates, such as the silly Dora and the glamorous but unreliable Steerforth. Dickens suggests, like a prophet, this is how things should be. Jane Austen in a different fashion uses her novels for morally instructing and uplifting, or 'teaching' purposes as well, as is seen in Emma. But rather than punishing Emma, however, with a bad fate, in direct contrast to Dickens, Austen morally educates her main character. In other words, in Dickens, bad things happen to bad people, and good characters may suffer but are rewarded. Austen shows characters capable of moral change, even if they begin badly. Dickens thus is a prophet of plot, while Austen a prophetic seer of human character.