The Duchess and the Jeweler

Virginia wolf

Guide reading

Virginia Woolf (1882— 194 1) is a British woman writer.

Virginia is one of the pioneers of modern novels. She tries hard to try new creative methods, pays attention to revealing the inner activities of characters, and despises the trivial description of objective activities. She tried to reform the traditional concept of time, ignoring clock time and attaching importance to psychological time. Her first experiment was Jacob's Room (1922). In this work, she used the technique of stream of consciousness for the first time, which made time and scene change frequently. In a short clock time, it reproduces the growth activities of the protagonist. Her "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925) shows that she has completely got rid of the traditional creative track. To the Lighthouse (1927) is generally regarded as Mrs. Wolf's best work. This novel is set in the author's childhood, with autobiographical elements. In this work, Mrs. Wolf developed her writing skills and used symbolism to express the deep consciousness of the characters. Mrs. Wolf's other works include the historical fantasy novels Orlando (1928), The Waves (1931), The Years (1937) and The Intermittent. Tide is a typical stream of consciousness novel. This novel is very obscure because it uses a lot of inner monologues. Mrs. Wolf is also a famous novel critic. She has made great explorations in modern novels.

The Duchess and the Jeweler is one of Mrs. Wolff's short stories. The hero of the novel is a big jeweler in London, who is attracted by wealth and status. He is rich and successful, but he can't shake off the memory of his poor childhood, so he is more and more eager to get a noble position, so he made a deal with the duchess. Although the novel is not long, readers can still get a glimpse of Mrs. Wolf's stream of consciousness technique. The story happened in a short time in the morning, but through the inner activities of the protagonist, the reader learned about his childhood life, growth experience and even future plans. One of the characteristics of Mrs. Wolff's processing time is to compress the surface activities in a very short time, while expanding the psychological time of the characters' inner activities indefinitely.

From the beginning, the novel shows readers a luxurious house in the center of London, which strongly exaggerates the wealth and luxury of the protagonist Bacon, a great jeweler. However, under the exquisite clothes and gorgeous appearance, it is a psychological activity of another scene. Bacon can't forget growing up in a dirty alley, stealing other people's dogs and wallets, and then taking Sanzuan as his home, he gradually became a big jeweler in London and even the world. He didn't live a well-behaved life as a poor child under his mother's pleading, but succeeded in his own way-in his words, "the bet won!" " "Mr Bacon is very satisfied with this memory. After all, he is very rich now. He came to his shop with great pride and admired his treasure in his private room. At this moment, the duchess came. With his wealth, he kept the duchess waiting in the shop for ten minutes for no reason. But unhappy childhood memories crawled back into my heart. In order to overcome the inferiority complex brought by childhood life and add motivation to himself, Mr. Bacon took out the most expensive luxury. However, the duchess's incomparable nobility and arrogance suddenly overwhelmed the big jeweler. In the silent contest between them, although the jeweler tried to keep himself, he was still led by the duchess because she held the temptation of status in her hand-Mr. Bacon saw the beautiful scene of the Prime Minister and the Duchess rowing. Although the great jeweler is already very rich, his poor background always torments him. He has to sacrifice money to get close to the powerful, and finally he will reach the supreme position of being either rich or expensive. Therefore, the shrewd businessman has been cheated many times, but he can't interrupt the deal with the duchess.

This novel not only successfully reflects psychological activities, but also describes the plot with distinctive characteristics. The author evokes the reader's vision, hearing and smell. There is a long passage and several other places in the novel that highlight Mr. Bacon's nose and compare his pursuit of fame and fortune to a wild boar sniffing truffles, thus vividly depicting the image of a greedy and shrewd jeweler. It is mentioned twice in the article that the noise of Pound Street comes from Mr. Bacon's dark and quiet private room, which is in line with the comfortable mood of wealthy businessmen when they taste success and wealth alone. In addition, there are many descriptions of light in the article, and there are more than a dozen "flashing" lights. All these flashing lights highlight the attractive and dazzling side of wealth and status. After reading this novel, readers will feel that they are not only reading, but also smelling, listening, watching and watching, which is very vivid.

(Reference)

The Duchess and the Jeweler

Oliver Bacon lives on the top floor of a house overlooking Green Park. He owns an apartment. In the apartment, the chair is placed in front, with an appropriate angle and fur; The sofa filled the gap in the window and was carpeted. Exquisite screens and gorgeous satin curtains hang on three long windows, which is quite suitable. The mahogany sideboard is well decorated, and it is full of high-grade brandy, whisky and spirits. Looking down from the middle window, you can see the fashionable cars parked on Piccadilly Street, and the roofs are shining. Is there a better place than his residence? At eight o'clock in the morning, he will ask the footman to bring in the breakfast tray, and the footman will open the scarlet morning floor for him. He picked up the letter with long pointed nails and pulled out a thick white invitation with the seals of the Duchess, Countess, Viscount and Maid-in-waiting. Then he bathes, eats and reads newspapers under bright electric lights.

"Look at Oliver," he often calls out his name. "You were born in a dirty alley, and you …" At this time, he will look down at his legs, his trousers are cut to fit, and how exquisite the workmanship is; Then look at leather shoes and shoe covers. All his clothes are quite scratched and shiny, made by famous teachers in Savi Street, using the best materials. However, he often disarms himself and reduces himself to a little boy in a dark alley. He once thought that the best hope was to sell the stolen puppy to the modern women in Whitechapel. Once, something happened to him, and his mother cried and said, "Oh, Oliver, when will you be sensible, son?" After that, he stood at the counter, sold cheap watches, stole his wallet and took it to Amsterdam ... Every time he remembered these experiences, he always snickered proudly-an old Oliver was remembering the young Oliver. Not bad. He made a fortune with three Jin Gangzuan, and he got a lot of commission for selling that emerald. After that, he moved into a private room behind Hatton Garden Store, which contained a balance, a safe and a thick magnifying glass. Then ... then ... he couldn't help laughing again. On a hot night, whenever jewelers get together to discuss prices, gold mines, diamonds and news from South Africa, if he walks past them, one of them must cover his nose with Yin and say "hmm" in a low voice. Just a gentle "mmm", just a touch on the shoulder, or a finger on the nose, or a chirp among jewelers gathered in Hatton Garden on a hot afternoon. Ah! It was many years ago, but now he still feels that the quiet "hmm" sound and touching his shoulder are as refreshing as a cool dewdrop, because they are saying, "Look at him, young Oliver, young jeweler, here he comes." He was very young then. His clothes are becoming more and more luxurious; First, I have a two-wheeled carriage, and then I bought a car. I first went to the box to see the play, and then sat in the front row of the stalls. He has a villa by the Richmond River with a rose stand in the yard. At that time, every morning, Miss France would pick a flower and pin it on his chest.

"Hmm …" Oliver Bacon stood up and stretched his legs: "Hmm …"

He stood in front of the portrait of an old woman above the fireplace and raised his hands. "I fulfilled my promise," he folded his hands as if worshiping her. "I won the bet." In fact, he became the richest jeweler in Britain. However, the nostrils of his long nose, which is as elastic as a tree trunk, are strangely trembling (but it seems that the whole nose is shaking, not just the nostrils), as if to say that he is not satisfied because he smells something on the ground not far ahead. Imagine a wild boar. It arches out countless mycorrhiza on a piece of grass rich in mycorrhiza, but smells that there are bigger and more mature mycorrhiza hidden in the field not far ahead. In this way, Oliver can always smell the bigger and more mature truffle roots in "May City".

He adjusted the pearls on his tie, put on a beautiful blue coat, yellow gloves and crutches, swaggered downstairs, sniffed and hummed all the way with his long, pointed nose and came to Piccadilly Street. Although I saw that I had won, I was still unhappy and dissatisfied, and I always wanted those treasures that I hadn't dug up.

He waddled along, just like a camel in a zoo waddled along an asphalt road. The asphalt road is crowded with grocers and their wives. They took something out of the paper bag to eat. They crumpled up the pieces of tin foil and threw them on the road. Camels look down on these grocers and are dissatisfied with their fate. They look forward to the blue lakes and palm trees in front of them. As a result, the world's largest jeweler, the Great Jeweler, walked on Piccadilly Street in an instant, although he was well dressed, wearing gloves and leaning on crutches, but his heart was still not satisfied. In this way, he came to his small, dark shop not far from Pound Street, which is famous in France, Germany, Austria, Italy and the United States.

As usual, he strode through the store without saying a word. Four shop assistants, two old men-Marshall and Spencer, and two young men-Hammond and Wilkes stood staring at him with envy. He just shook a finger with brown gloves to show that he knew they existed, then went into his private room and closed the door.

He opened the security net on the window, and immediately there came the noise of Pound Street and the horn of distant vehicles. Sunlight is reflected by the mirror behind the shop. There is a tree outside the window. It's already June, so the trees are covered with green leaves. However, Miss France married Mr. Peder of the local brewery, and no one put roses on his chest anymore.

"So," he seemed to sigh and hum, "so ..."

He pressed a button on the wall and the panel slowly opened. It's full of steel safes, five, no, six, all made of shiny steel. He turned the key, opened one, and then opened the others. Every cupboard is lined with crimson velvet cushions, and every cupboard contains jewels-bracelets, necklaces, rings, crowns and duke's crowns; There are also gems scattered in the glass clip, such as rubies, emeralds, pearls and Jin Gangzuan. Every piece of jewelry is kept safely and properly, and every piece shines brightly. Although it feels cold, it burns a concentrated and never-extinguished flame.

"tears!" Oliver looked at the pearl and said.

"Blood comes from the heart!" He looked at the ruby and said.

"gunpowder!" He went on and fiddled with the diamonds to make them shine.

"These gunpowder can blow up the city of May! Blow it up Blow up to heaven! " He raised his head and hissed like a horse.

The telephone on the desk seems to be very pleasing, too. It hums humbly. He closed the safe.

"In ten minutes," he said, "you can't come before this." He sat down at his desk and stared at the head of the Roman emperor engraved on his cufflinks. Once again, he unloaded his equipment and reduced himself to a little boy, playing with stones in the alley where people sold stolen dogs on Sunday. He became that sly and clever guy again, and his lips were as rosy as wet cherries. He reached into the tripe pot, picked up a few pieces and dipped them in the fish frying pan. He ran around in the crowd. He is slender, agile and has bright eyes. Now-now-the pointer is ticking, one, two, three, four. The Duchess of Lambert is waiting. The Duchess of lambourn's father is more noble than a hundred counts. She will wait in the chair by the counter for ten minutes and meet you there. She will wait until he is willing to see her. He looked at the clock on the pearl cover, and the hands kept walking. Every time he walks, there will be a luxurious crystal, a glass of champagne, a good brandy and a cigar worth a guineas. These things appeared on the table one by one with the tick of the clock, and they were all beside him ten minutes later. Then he heard soft footsteps from far and near, and there was a rustle in the corridor. The door opened and Hammond stood upright against the wall.

"Here comes the Duchess!" After the announcement, he will stick his body straight on the wall and wait.

Oliver heard the swish of the duchess's skirt and stood up. She came from the other end of the aisle, and then she appeared at the door, bringing a fragrance. Her splendor, arrogance, glitz and all the arrogance of the duke and duchess were together. All this merged into a huge wave and rushed into the room. She sat down, and the waves immediately spread, splashing layers of waves and drowning the great jeweler Oliver Bacon. Green, rose, purple ... all kinds of dazzling colors, all kinds of tangy attacks, and all kinds of dazzling flashes covered him. The ring on her hand is shining, the feathers on her head are shaking frequently, and the satin on her body is shining. She is a monster. Tightly wrapped in taffeta, youth is gone. She is deeply trapped in the leather sofa, like a parasol with flounces and a peacock with feathers.

"Good morning, Mr. Bacon." The duchess said, pulling out her hand from the white glove, and Oliver bent down and took it. As soon as their hands touched, their relationship was established again. They are friends and enemies at the same time. He is the master and she is the mistress. They cheat each other, need each other and fear each other. Both of them know this, and every time they shake hands in this small and dark room, they can realize it. At this time, the sun is always shining outside, trees are shaded, and traffic is busy in the distance. They are always in front of the safe.

"Today, Duchess-what can I do for you today?" Olanfo asked softly.

The duchess expressed her difficulties, which she seldom revealed to others. With her mouth wide open, she sighed, and without saying a word, took out a long and narrow leather bag of Pippi lamb, which looked like a thin Yellow weasel. Pearls fell out of the ferret's stomach, ten pearls, one, two, three, four-they rolled out of the ferret's stomach, just like the eggs of some fairy bird.

"That's all I have, dear Mr. Bacon," she said bitterly. Five, six, seven pearls rolled down between her knees, like rolling down a hillside into a narrow valley. Eight, nine, ten, and finally rolled into pink taffeta with Yao's heel, * * * ten.

"This is Abu Dhabi's belt," she murmured. "That's all."

Oliver reached out and picked up a bead with his forefinger and thumb. It is really round and smooth. But is this true or false? Did she lie again? Does she dare?

She pressed her fleshy fingers to her lips and said softly, "If the Duke knew …, dear Mr. Bacon, I was a little unlucky this time …"

She went gambling again?

"It's the villain! That liar! " She screamed.

That guy whose cheekbones are as sharp as blades is a total villain. If that straight-backed, bearded duke knows everything I know, he will certainly disinherit her and put her in prison, Oliver thought, glancing at the safe.

"Ella Minda, Daphne and Diana," she snorted, "are for them."

Miss Ella Minda, Miss Daphne and Miss Diana are her daughters. He knows them and worships them. His sweetheart is Diana!

You know all my secrets. Shy eyes, tears rolling down, like diamonds washed away the powder on the face, and tears rushed out of the cheeks as red as cherries.

"Old friend," she murmured, "old friend!"

"Old friends," he repeated, "old friends." He seems to be trying to figure out the meaning of this word.

"How much does it cost?" He asked.

She covered the pearl with her hand.

"Twenty thousand." She whispered.

But is this in his hand true or false? Beads on Abu Dhabi's belt.-Didn't she already sell them? He wants to call Spencer and Hammond and say to them, "Take it to test." He reached for the bell.

"Come to our house to play tomorrow?" She interrupted him eagerly. "Your Excellency the Prime Minister is here ..." She paused and then added, "Diana ..."

Oliver, get your hands off the bell.

His eyes crossed the back of the building where she stayed on Pound Street, but instead of the house on Pound Street, he saw a gurgling brook with trout and salmon jumping. He saw the Prime Minister, himself in a white vest, and Diana. He looked down at the beads in his hand. How can he verify the authenticity of this pearl under the shining light of the stream and Diana's eyes? However, it was the duchess's eyes that stared at him at this time. "Worth 20,000!" She muttered, "on my honor." Swear on the honor of Diana's mother! He picked up his checkbook and took out his pen. "Uh-"he wrote, but stopped. The old woman in the portrait is staring at him-that's his mother's eyes. "Oliver!" She warned: "wake up, don't be silly!" " "The Duchess of Oliver pleaded-her name is Oliver, not Mr. Bacon. "You must come to my house for a long weekend!"

Alone in the Woods with Diana! Riding alone in the forest with Diana!

"-ten thousand," he finished writing and signed his name.

"Take it," he said.

The duchess rose from her chair. In an instant, the lotus leaf of the sun umbrella is all opened, the peacock's feathers are all unfolded, shining and the sword shadow is flashing. When he led her through the store to the door, two old guys and two young people, Spencer and Marshall, Wilkes and Hammond, stood straight behind the counter and looked at him enviously. He waved his yellow gloves in front of them, but she stuck to her reputation-he signed a check for 20 thousand pounds.

"Are these beads real or fake?" Oliver asked as he closed the door. Ten pearls are placed on the blotting paper on the table. He took the beads to the window and took a photo through the transparent mirror in front of the sun. ..... So, this is the mycorrhiza he dug out of the mud! Rotten truffle root It sucks.

"Oh, forgive me, Mom," he sighed and raised a hand, as if begging for the forgiveness of the old woman in the painting. He became a little boy in the alley where people sold stolen dogs on Sunday.

"Because," he muttered with his hands folded, "it will be a long weekend!"

(End)