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Hyperbole
Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Book 1, Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Sweat of My Brow:
In Book 1, Chapter 12, Rogue Riderhood ducks his head into Mortimer Lightwood and Eugene’s vacation house. Prefacing his “’tickler business,” he confesses in passing that he lives off “the sweat of my brow”:
‘Lawyer Lightwood,’ ducking at him with a servile air, ‘I am a man as gets my living, and as seeks to get my living, by the sweat of my brow. Not to risk being done out of the sweat of my brow, by any chances, I should wish afore going further to be swore in.’
Riderhood’s idiom traces its origins to Genesis, in which God condemns Adam to grow his own food by the “sweat of your brow” after he eats from the Tree of Knowledge. As the human couple gets banished from Eden, the saying suggests labor and self-reliance. It is an appeal to honest work and a consequence of disobedience.
The expression becomes Riderhood’s calling card through the remainder of the novel. In classic Dickensian caricature, the self-declared “honest fellow” professes that he lives off “the sweat of my brow” at almost every opportunity. And yet, for his nagging lip service to hard, honest labor, Riderhood ironically does very little of it himself. In all likelihood, he speaks more than he actually sweats. The fabulist concocts lies to incriminate Gaffer Hexam and leeches off Bradley Headstone. Riderhood’s work—if any—consists mostly of devising strategies for blackmail.
Riderhood’s ironic twist on the biblical allusion suggestively attacks England, corrupted and “fallen” itself. The waterside scavenger joins an entire class of other characters—Silas Wegg, Fledgeby, and Mr. Lammle, for instance—who would rather dream of wealth rather than commit themselves to any genuine, meaningful labor.
Related Themes:
