Martin Chuzzlewit

by Charles Dickens

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"He'd Make A Lovely Corpse"

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. . . stooping down, she pinned his wandering arms against his sides, to see how he would look if laid out as a dead man. Hideous as it may appear, her fingers itched to compose his limbs in that last marble attitude.
"Ah!" said Mrs. Gamp, walking away from the bed, "he'd make a lovely corpse."

This quote from "Martin Chuzzlewit" illustrates the darkly comic character of Mrs. Gamp, one of Dickens' most memorable creations. Her offhand remark about the dying Dr. Lewsome captures her callous nature, revealing a disturbing fascination with death rather than a concern for human life. Dickens uses Mrs. Gamp's grotesque insensitivity to offer a satirical critique of certain societal attitudes towards mortality and the medical profession. Her indifference highlights the moral decay Dickens perceived in a society that often placed appearance and personal gain above genuine compassion. Through her character, Dickens exposes the hypocrisy and self-deception prevalent in people who, like Mrs. Gamp, mask their selfish motives with a veneer of respectability. The quote underscores the absurdity and grim humor that Dickens often employed to address serious themes within his works.

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