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Book 4, Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Our Mutual Friend, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Society, Class, and Character
Greed and Corruption
Marriage, Adoption, and Family
Education vs. Real-World Experience
Misfits and Outcasts
Summary
Analysis
Boffin talks with Venus about when he expects Wegg to make his next move. When Wegg does indeed come by, Boffin greets him at first like nothing’s wrong. Wegg asks if Boffin wants him to read, then suddenly says he won’t read anyway and is done being Boffin’s “slave.” Wegg declares that now he will be master of the house.
Although Boffin has sometimes been hard on Wegg, Wegg overstates the issue by saying that Boffin has turned him into a “slave.” Wegg isn’t satisfied with just making a good living—he wants to be master of the house, showing how greed has made him insatiable.
Themes
Wegg asks Boffin if he knows that he’s in possession of property that doesn’t belong to him. Boffin says he’ll cooperate and do whatever Wegg asks, but Wegg promises to show no mercy. Boffin protests that he’ll be ruined and die in a workhouse. Wegg also accuses Boffin of hiring the dishonest Rokesmith, but Boffin says Rokesmith has already been fired. Boffin asks for just 15 minutes of mercy, which Wegg reluctantly grants.
Wegg continues to show how corrupted he’s become. Boffin gets Wegg to show the worst side of himself, revealing that in spite of his interest in intellectual pursuits like reading, at the end of the day he is ultimately just as consumed by greed as many of the other characters in the novel. In this way, he mirrors Headstone, who is educated but also immoral.
Themes
After taking a short walk with his 15 minutes, Boffin comes back and asks to see the document that Wegg claims to have that will ruin Boffin. Wegg agrees and leads him to Venus’s store, where they’ve been keeping it. Wegg lets Boffin see old Mr. Harmon’s will, making sure that his arms are behind his back. Pleased to have seemingly defeated Boffin, Wegg tells him to go home and imagines what it will be like to have Boffin in his power.
Wegg doesn’t know that Boffin went into this meeting with a plan, and so by gloating he continues to show his lack of character. He seems to delight in bringing Boffin down, enjoying the sense of control and not caring for Boffin’s own well-being, in spite of how Boffin took care of him by hiring him off the street in the first place. After all his time as a miser, Boffin begins to become sympathetic again now that he is a victim of a scheme.
Themes
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