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Motifs
Definition of Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two contradictory terms or ideas are intentionally paired in order to make a point—particularly to reveal a deeper or hidden truth... read full definition
An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two contradictory terms or ideas are intentionally paired in order to make a point—particularly to reveal... read full definition
An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two contradictory terms or ideas are intentionally paired in order to... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Mere Attachment:
Dickens begins Chapter 1 of Nicholas Nickleby with a description of Mr. and Mrs. Nickleby's relationship. In this description, Dickens utilizes both oxymoron and satire to juxtapose the couple's loving marriage with the conventional, fiscally-driven marriages commonplace at the time:
There once lived, in a sequestered part of the county of Devonshire, one Mr. Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy gentleman, who, taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get married, and not being young enough or rich enough to aspire to the hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an old flame out of mere attachment, who in her turn had taken him for the same reason. Thus two people who cannot afford to play cards for money, sometimes sit down to a quiet game for love.
The narrator refers to Mr. and Mrs. Nickleby's marriage for love as an arrangement borne from "mere attachment," sublimating love to money by understating and diminishing the importance of the former. This is paradoxical because it appears contradictory to refer to love as "mere" anything, especially when many a person's greatest aspiration in life is to fall in love. Dickens utilizes paradox here to satirize materialistic views of marriage (and materialism generally).
Related Themes:
