Postive Mimesis -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 11:03:06 02/09/08 Sat
Author: Erin Risch
Subject: Postive Mimesis
In reply to: Erin Risch 's message, "Mimesis in David Copperfield" on 20:49:52 02/06/08 Wed

I was writing my paper on David Copperfield today and I found a case of positive, beneficial mimesis.

Just by way of a quicky summary: Uriah Heep tells Dr. Strong that everyone suspects Mrs. Annie Strong of cheating on him with her cousin. Dr. Strong insists on the integrity of his wife, even though everyone else believes she is certainly unfaithful.

When they finally confront one another, Annie explains that her unfaltering good faith in Dr. Strong prevented her affections from ever straying, and that indeed she has always been faithful. It seems that Dr. Strong's good character, his great faith in the goodness of his wife, has actually engendered this same goodness in her. Dr. Strong's character, chiefly characterized by his faith in others, becomes what keeps Annie from faltering and binds her affections to him. Annie declares, "I do not hope that any love and duty I may render in return, will ever make me worthy of your priceless confidence; but with all this knowledge fresh upon me, I can lift my eyes to this dear face, revered as a father's, and solemnly declare that in my lightest thought I have never wronged you; never wavered in the love and the fidelity I owe you" (Chapter XLV)!

The language of "owing" and "duty" has its obvious sense, but Mrs. Strong doesn't sees her goodness only as a sort of payment for a debt. Instead, inside the context of the book, it emphasizes a relationship between the goodness of the two characters. Mrs. Strong wanted to be good because of the goodness of Dr. Strong, not because she felt obligated to repay his kindness. You see the same thing in Agnes, who engenders goodness in everyone she encounters.

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