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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Oliver's described as having a nose like an elephant's trunk—long and flexible. Like an elephant sniffing out for food, Oliver's always sniffing out for new opportunities, in this case...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Thanks for the question! The relationship between the duchess and the jeweler in Virginia Woolf's short story is complex. Before we place this relationship under the microscope, it might be helpful...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
In one particularly notable passage near the beginning of the story, Oliver Bacon looks down admiringly at his perfect trousers, his boots, and his spats. All of them were made in Saville Row by...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Woolf describes Oliver's physical appearance at the beginning of the short story. As part of this description she compares his nose, "which [is] long and flexible," to "an elephant's trunk." She...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Oliver Bacon has become a very successful businessman as a phenomenally wealthy jeweler. He has as much money as he can spend and leads a suitably lavish lifestyle. However, the one thing he lacks...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Though fantastically wealthy, Oliver Bacon has one thing missing in his life: social status. It doesn't matter how successful in business he becomes, or how much money he makes, he will never be...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Virginia Woolf's short story "The Duchess and the Jeweller" focuses on a wealthy London jeweler and his purchase of ten false pearls from the Duchess of Lambourne. The Duchess is described as "very...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The relationship between these two characters is somewhat complex. Oliver Bacon is in awe of the Duchess. So in that way, he is subordinate to her. The Duchess looks down on Oliver and people...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
At the end of the story, Oliver discovers that the pearls that the Duchess has given him are worthless. They are not real and so that means he has paid her a huge amount of money for fake jewels....
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Oliver Bacon the Jeweller most definitely experiences "loss" in a material sense in the transaction with the Duchess. Specifically, he loses the twenty thousand pounds that he pays to the Duchess...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The Duchess and The Jeweller is a short story by Virginia Woolf which explores the lengths people may go to in order to attain a level of perceived success. Oliver Bacon is fairly smug in his...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
I guess this depends on which aspect of his character you look at. On the one hand, he is appealing because of his past. He was born poor and he has made it to the point where he can buy all these...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Oliver Bacon is a man of habit and is the jeweller in The Duchess and the Jeweller. In the very first paragraph, the reader is introduced to a seemingly pedantic man, shallow and "proper" with the...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Mr. Bacon, the jeweler is in sorrow; he pines for a woman to care for him. Although he is rich from the jewels he owns, there is something missing in his life: So the great jeweller, the greatest...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The Duchess of Lambourne needs Oliver to provide her with the money to pay her gambling debt, and Oliver needs her to provide him the opportunity to court her daughter Diana because he is not...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The Duchess and The Jeweller is a short story by Virginia Woolf who recognizes the often conceited and pretentious upper classes and the plight of many within the British working classes. She is...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
We really are not told very much about Oliver Bacon's childhood. All that we really know is that A) it was a poor childhood where he had to work hard (and break laws) to get ahead and B) that he...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Virginia Woolf delves into the theme of the affect of greed on decision making in her story “The Duchess and the Jeweller.” In the story, both the Duchess and the jeweler have agendas, and both...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The Duchess and the jeweler need each other. She needs his money, and he needs her daughter Diana. They have an unusual bond. The two of them are intimately contrary to one another. They are...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
In the short story "The Duchess and the Jeweller," Oliver Bacon is shown in his stock room and his private residence. To give an understanding of the wealth and success he has achieved, the reader...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
In the short story “The Duchess and the Jeweller” by Virginia Woolf, the Jeweller is a dissatisfied with a life that includes the finest material things, servants, and a burgeoning jewelry...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
In my opinion, the Duchess does this to try to distract Oliver Bacon and to make him more likely to accept her "jewels" and pay a high price for them. The Duchess is really in a desperate situation...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
There are several settings in Woolf's short story. It begins in Oliver Bacon's home "overlooking the Green Park." He then walks along Piccadilly, on his way to his shop on Bond Street. All of these...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
I do not think the story reflects actual moral decadence. I think, instead, that it reflects the age in which Woolf wrote it. During that time, English people probably felt that their world was...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The point of Virginia Woolf's essay is to question the role of a female writer's in society. This is a common theme in many of her essays. She poses this question to ask the reader to consider...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Although Woolf does say that these two people are friends as well as enemies, she does not really mean that they are friends in the way we generally use the term. These are not people who really...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
More than anything else, Oliver craves social respectability. He has the money, he has the success, but the one thing he doesn't have in life is social standing. That explains why this hard-headed...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The most abiding theme in the story is the way that money corrupts people, making them do things they really should not do. The jeweler, Oliver Bacon, has money, plenty of it, but the one thing he...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Ah, an interesting question. Truffles are considered quite precious. (They are very expensive food!) For one to be rotten is a terrible disappointment. Pigs are often used to sniff out truffles,...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
In The Duchess and The Jeweller, Oliver Bacon, has not always been "the richest jeweller in England." Oliver, in fact, had very humble beginnings and remembers his life "in a filthy little alley."...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
By making these comparisons, the author is bringing out the theme of class conflict. She is showing A) how hard Oliver has had to work to get himself up from poverty and B) how much he resents...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
When Oliver hears Diana's name, he feels and thinks several things. First and most immediately, he loves her, so any mention of her name brings forth a surge of fond emotion and fantasy. He wants...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
We are not able to write whole essays for you on this site. It is recommended that we answer in around 90 words. I will try to help point you in the right direction. If I had to agree with that...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The duchess is deceitful in two crucial and related ways. First, she takes advantage of the jeweler's desire for Diana, and does so artfully, as seen in this passage: " “You will come down...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
Ah, a subtle question. First and most simply, we're told that the jeweler loves Diana. Therefore, the first association is that of love. After that, though, hearing her name reminds him that there...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The Duchess and the Jeweller exposes the superficial environment in which so many people exist. In an effort to appear to be privileged and successful, Oliver Bacon, who was not actually born into...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
There is a good summary here: http://www.enotes.com/duchess-jeweller-qn But basically, Woolf's story is about a Duchess who goes to a jeweller to sell her Jewels. Because the Duchess has a title,...
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The Duchess and the Jeweller
The single word, "again", suggests a great deal in this line and in this story. It means that the jeweller, Oliver Bacon, knows that the Duchess is dishonest when it comes to selling her jewelery;...