The Impact of Surroundings on the Characters inThe Prince and the Pauper

罗 艺

（北京林业大学外国语学院，中国 北京 100083）

0 Introduction

The Prince and the Pauper,written by the famous American writer Mark Twain,is based on a popular legend in England at the time.By intensive delineation of children’s inner activities,actions and dialogues,Mark Twain displays their characters completely （Howells 1977）.The two boys,the prince and the pauper,change their clothes because of mischief,which leads to a series of incidents and tribulation.Although their nice nature returns them a perfect ending,their conscience and natures experience a serious test.This paper is trying to probe into the way how the surroundings mould the two boys’characters and the significance of the plot arrangement.Three distinctive marks are divided here:before and after the clothes changing and changing back to the original.

1 Their original different birth conditions

The two boys in this novel,like all other children,just after their birth,don’t know how to cultivate themselves,let alone other matters,like nature.Based on this consciousness,the formation of nature depends largely on their birth and earlier surroundings （Sundquist 1994）.Thus the two boys’original characters are determined by their birth and earlier surroundings.While the whole country celebrated Edward’s birth,no one took care of Tom except his own mother and kind sisters.Being lack of love and experiencing torments from his father and those rich people,Tom understood those abstract concepts as love,kindness and poverty,and was sympathy to other poor people and kind in nature.By growing up,he also learned a lot from a tender,respectable poor priest who had a great impact on Tom’s temper （Allen 1980）.The very conditions determine the two boys’ natures.Therefore,it’s natural that Prince Edward was spoilt,stubborn and indulgent,while Tom was benevolent,candid,and generous.

At the beginning of the story,the author exhibited two different worlds to readers.On an autumn day,in the second quarter of the sixteenth century,two boys were born in England,one to a poor family by the name of Canty who lived in Offal Court,and the other to a wealthy and high-placed family by the name of Tudor.No one cared the former one except his mother and sisters,while the latter was spoiled by everyone,just as the following description:

All England wanted him too.England had so longed for him,and hoped for him,and prayed God for him,that,now that he was really come,the people went nearly mad for joy…Edward Tudor,Prince of Wales,who lay lapped in silks and satins…（15）

Their different birth circumstances caused the two children’s original characters:one was honest,kind;while another stubborn and indulgent(Budd 1982).But children’s innocent leads to the two boys’happy ending.

2 The development and alteration of their characters

The heroes’characters were developing and altering with the changes of environments after they exchanged clothes,and exchanged their social status in essence(Ferguson 1943).

The prince and the pauper lived in quiet different worlds now compared with those original ones.In this part,by conversations,inner monologues and narrations of the two main spot clues,Mark Twain displayed the two boys’special experiences by his unique humor,plain short words and sarcastic writing styles,succeeding in creating the glamour of figures’ personalities.

This part takes up a large in this novel and bespeaks the protagonists’chief aspects in their trait and their changes in characters caused by the shifty special surroundings.And the variation of the two boys’characters are illustrated by their own psychological activities,although,this aspect isn’t obvious.Children read this novel only for its interesting plots and humor,but in deeper sense,the symbolism is used here,in which the clothes stand for social status.Maybe that’s what the author really wanted to express.Thus the clothes changing can be seemed as the turning point.

In the first part,the two boys’natures influenced by their original surroundings are dissected.However,after they exchange their clothes representing their new identities,the new status change their surroundings in reverse.Then their new conditions gradually alter the nature,take Tom for instance.He didn’t adapt to the royal life at early and felt he was a bird cooped in the big birdcage.He couldn’t do whatever he wanted to do by himself because everything had been done or ordered by servants instead of by himself.The saltation caused the changes of Tom’s temper and his painful feeling.Thus,at the beginning,he always wanted to confess that he wasn’t the Prince of Wales at all,because he was honest,innocent in his nature.But Tom is so timid and fearful that he afraid to speak out the truth.When someone called him Lord,his reaction described in the book can testify our judgments well:

Tom’s breath was nearly failing him;but he made shift to stammer out:“Ah,be merciful,thou!In sooth [sic]I am no Lord,but only poor Tom Canty of Offal Court in the city…”(33)

At last,he decided to tell the truth,but no one believed his words.As the time went by,Tom became more enchanted with his charming luxurious royal life.The extravagant life changes him and he begins to like hearing adulation.His personality,even his conscience,was distorted little by little,as the following described:

“And by little and little the vanished monarch(Prince)faded almost out of his(Tom)thought;and finally…he (Prince Edward)became an unwelcome specter,for he made Tom feel guilty and ashamed.”(185)

Tom only satisfied the pursuit of material enjoyment and even forgot his mother and two kind sisters.When Tom just entered the palace,he often missed them and longed to see them,but later he feared they would find him and drag him back to penury and degradation.The subtle changes of psychological activities and thoughts reveals some changes in his trait and human frailties as greed,selfishness to some extent.Besides,it also exposes the conflicts in Tom’s mind.Under Mark Twain’s pen,even if the protagonists are innocent children,they are real,round and alive,showing the essence of human being.If we seek the underlying reason from the environmental angle,it’s obvious to find there are two points:the first is that the pauper is so young that he couldn’t refuse material tempts and secular enjoyment;the second is the extra-luxurious royal life rioted the boy’s mind and heart.

In the Recognition Procession,his real mother recognized Tom and cried, “Oh.My child;my darling! ”(190),but he pretended not to know her “I do not know you,woman!”(190);however,after that episode,Tom felt regretful and dizzy and always said to Duke in a dead voice,“she is my mother” (192).Here,Mark Twain described Tom’s psychological struggles and agony vividly by writing down his reaction,actions,using a motive form:denied firstly,and then confessed.But he was only a child,essentially a good boy.He couldn’t bear the suffering from his conscience.In the bottom of his heart,he loved his mother and sisters.So the changes of Tom’s characters also reflect the conflicts between individuals and reality.

On the other hand,the real Prince Edward’s condition was much worse.By taking Tom at his word and being eager for the different and free life outside palace,Prince Edward exchanged clothes with Tom.Consequently,he became a little beggar and boxed on the ear by a guard solider and later insulted and derived by his peers in Christ’s Church.Although Edward was indulgent and stubborn;he’s also innocent,cute,honesty.These features in trait are flashpoints in humanity and make this character round and alive.After a series of miserable experiences in serious contexts and tasting the masses’torturous lives,Prince Edward became realistic rather than romantic before,pessimistic instead of blind optimistic.He was no naive any more.He saw the ugliness of society.Then,he was full of depression just like Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s work.It’s the changes of living conditions that altered his outlook and attitudes towards life,society.In novel,there were some chapters describing his tramp and toil as a prison.The process of ordeal is equal to one of growing up to mature.In this journey Edward fought against unfair social surroundings and himself as well,which made the journey more meaningful.As the dignified Prince of Wales,his innate selfrespect remains forever no matter how the extra-environments varied.This facet of his character can be illustrated by his reaction to the maltreatment by Tom’s father John Canty and his words to this demon.He only castes a firm and indignant gaze on the man’s face and said:“Tis[sic]but ill-breeding in such as thou to command me to speak… I am Edward,Prince of Wales,and none other.”(57).But Tom’s mother gives her all love to Edward although she knows he isn’t her boy.The interweaved feeling from cruelty and goodness shocks the prince and brings out the conflicts in his heart.Under Tom’s mother’s unselfish love,Edward’s egoism began to melt and disappear and he understood the love and friendship between people,and realized his own responsibility as well.Facing the abuse from Canty and help from Tom’s mother,Edward shouted out bravely: “Thou shalt not suffer for me,madam.Let these swine do their will upon me alone.”(58).Here Edward began to grow up and take his responsibility lonely.At the gates of Guildhall,Edward was proclaiming his rights and misfortunes,denouncing the imposter.When the crowd taunted and mocked at him,he stood his ground and defied the mob right royally.His intrepid facet was crystallized by his ordeal here.Edward’s fighting in that very circumstance is described to gasp his subtle internal feelings properly.Readers are easy to be stirred up a great compassion to the poor prince while reading here.His reactions to people’s contempt and jeer show Edward’s obstinacy,but also reflect his courage and integrity.This prince,as other characters under Mark Twain’s pen,seems real,round and hasmany facetsin nature.The complicated delineation of protagonists is left a deep impression in readers’ mind.

When thetwoboysunderwentthese incidentsbeyond their imagination and many matters they never met before,their natures have also been changed and even been mature.Here,special arrangement is used here as the following:one chapter is written for Tom’s,the next for Edward’s.The obvious comparison aimed by the writing arrangement exposes the unfair social disparity between the poor masses and the rotting royal classes,which represented by Edward and Tom respectively now,and reveals the social significance too.

3 Their endings after returning to their original surroundings

Although Tom liked extra-luxurious royal life and became greedy,his goodness and mercy in nature made he fight against the unfair England Laws and sympathy to poor people.During his reign period,he did lots of good for his people.As he once claimed: “Then shall the king’s law be law of mercy,from this day,and never more be law of blood! ..” (68).Tom’s goodness and actions also speak out the voice of the author who held a great compassion to his people(Lauber 1990).

With Tom’s help,Edward could ascend his throne.After the ordeal like a long nightmare,Edward became a wise,gentle,kind king.He knew his people,especially the bottom bank in society,and sympathized to them.He once said to one of his dukes, “What dost thou know of suffering and oppression?I and my people know,but not thou.” (215).He also did lots of good for his people.To some extent,he became an ideal king in Mark Twain’s heart.Meanwhile,the author’s desirable pursuit to democratic society was revealed as well in this part.

Both boys were cute,kind;and they were children,the corruption and shadows of monarch didn’t impact them deeply.They returned to their original places at last.However,the ridiculous transformation reflects its social meaning:the sharp class contradiction and the corrupt upper society.Besides the realistic surroundings affect the protagonist’s characters to show its beauty,so the novel,The Prince and the Pauper,can radiate art glamour.

4 Conclusion

Characters for surroundings are always changing,never being.The development of one’s characters depends largely on the changes of his concrete social,cultural,political contexts apart from his inherent ones.Just as what the English master Henry Fielding wrote in his classic The History of Tom Jones,a Foundling-Jones’characters changed according to his very living environments:the countryside,the city and the countryside.The two boys in this novel also underwent such changes.It’s the changes that caused conflicts and glamour in the novel.

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