Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1988

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Coyle, William

Abstract

Thomas Love Peacock is best known for the five unique "novels of talk" that he wrote between 1815 and 1860. The first, Headlong Hall, contains humorous satire of topical issues in a dialogue format, with a weak love plot linking the episodic action. Most characters are based partially on real people and bear extreme and unyielding points of view. These two-dimensional ideologues debate the main theme, the perfectibility of man. In Gryll Grange, written some forty-five years later, the plot is a more believable love story with realistic characters. The tone mellows, Peacock's focus turns from social to personal, and the theme of living the best possible life results in comedy but not in sharp satire. Love and happy marriage constitute a symbol of Peacock's hope for the resolution of the real and the ideal.

Extent

72 p.

Comments

FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1988.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identifier

FADT14475

Format

pdf

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