Date of Award
1969
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
English
Abstract
Because it leads an individual to increasing loss of perspective, George Meredith considered sentimentality a real tragedy. The deluded sentimentalist convinces himself that all his efforts and attitudes bear him steadily down the road of spiritual progress, when actually he is using his ideals of society as an excuse for willful blindness, a shifting of responsibility, and self-deception. The sentimentalist's primary concern is to cushion himself against hard fact instead of training himself for encountering it, and he accomplishes this by drugging himself against the perception of truth.
Recommended Citation
Scott, Joyce Stanley, "Evan Harrington : George Meredith's use of comedy as a corrective to sentimentality" (1969). Master's Theses. 1026.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/masters-theses/1026