(a) Describe the rise of Oliver as a jeweller
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Answer:
The Duchess and the Jeweller is a short story by Virginia Woolf. In the story, the duchess is apparently a woman of means and privilege and Oliver prides himself on having been able to rise above his own lowly status to a point where he is in a position to consider and either accept or decline "cards of invitation... from duchesses, countesses, viscountesses and Honorable Ladies." To Oliver this reveals his importance. However, he soon admits that he "began life in a filthy little alley." This fact makes Oliver feel insecure and he "dismantled himself often and became again a little boy in a dark alley..." It is apparent to the reader that his childhood has left Oliver feeling unbalanced and filled with self-doubt. Surrounding himself with wealth is the answer for Oliver in attempting to overcome his vulnerabilities.
The reader also learns more about Oliver's poor and seemingly difficult childhood when he recalls an occasion when "he had been done" or arrested for illegally trying to...
One possible theme is the way in which money corrupts people, making them do things they really shouldn't do. Oliver Bacon has money, plenty of it, but the one thing he lacks is social respectability. Despite his enormous wealth, high society still looks down on him as an upstart and a parvenu. The Duchess' financial embarrassment provides him with the opportunity he's been waiting for for a very long time: a chance to gain an entree into the very highest echelons of English society.
The Duchess has social respectability in abundance, but little in the way of hard cash thanks to her reckless gambling habit. So she turns to Bacon in the hope of easing her somewhat reduced circumstances. In their squalid little arrangement, both Bacon and the Duchess compromise their integrity to gain something they both desperately need.