The Duchess and the Jeweller Summary
The story “The Duchess and the Jeweler” reflects the English society of writer’s time. It was an age of change. The high-ups were coming down because of their moral decadence and the commoners were coming up.
Once Oliver Bacon was very poor and lived in a filthy, little alley. He worked very hard and used fair and unfair means to become the richest jeweler of the England. He enjoys his present position. He is suffering from inferiority complex.
There is a great difference between his present and past condition. He has become so important that each day he receives invitation cards from the aristocracy of the city. He has become very rich, but he is so greedy that he wants more and more wealth.
One day the Duchess of Lambourne comes to sell some fake pearls. She induces him into buying those fake pearls very cleverly. She uses her daughter Diana as bait. She also invites him to the party where all the aristocracy will be present.
Oliver Bacon buys the fake pearls because he wants to attend the party and spend the weekend with Diana. He loves Diana very much. Besides, he wants to move among aristocratic circles.
He signs the cheque for twenty thousand pounds. The Duchess takes the cheque and leaves. Later, he asks pardon of the picture of his mother.
Note: If you pay attention to statistics, most of the graduates do not work in their specialty. Teachers, doctors and other specialists because of very small wages go to work as secretaries, administrators, sellers. For some reason employers want to see a cleaner with a higher education or a guard with knowledge of English at their workplace. Everyone dreams of having a diploma of higher education. Now, higher education institutions suffer from a shortage of young teaching staff, research works are very rare, new innovative technologies are not being developed. And the reason for all this is that graduates with the necessary education simply do not have the opportunity to translate their skills into practice. People with a magnificent mind and a desire to create something new, sell their achievements to other countries, where they find worthy financial support for further work. In these countries they really know what education is for, and they use it safely. And the small part of the population who work as teachers and doctors, no gratitude, no decent wages will not wait. So why do you need education? Everyone decides for himself. Having an education will not make you a person. You can become a worthy citizen of society without him. But, of course, it will become a solid foundation on the way to your dream