English Language and Literature Commons^™

Keeping Up With The Lammles: The Impact Of Wealth And Identity On Victorians In Charles Dickens's Our Mutual Friend, Haydn Jeffers

English Class Publications

These lines, taken from Part III of Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend, come from a chapter entitled “A Marriage Contract.” Dickens named the chapter very well, as the marriage that takes place in it is indeed a contract between two people who, while not in love with each other, are in love with the idea of gaining wealth and improving their social status. Alfred and Sophronia Lammle are both led to believe that the other is rich by their so-called dear friend, Mr. Veneering, who believes himself to be a matchmaker. The illusion of wealth is the driving force …