The Duchess and the Jeweler by Virginia Woolf/Summary

"The Duchess and the Jeweller" (1938) is a short story by Virginia Woolf. Woolf, being an advocate of addressing the "stream of consciousness," shows the thoughts and actions of a greedy jeweller; Woolf makes a thematic point that corrupt people do corrupt actions for purely selfish motives (and often without regret). It was first published in British Harper's Bazaar Magazine in April 1938.

The Duchess and the Jeweller by Virginia Woolf is a short story about a greedy jeweler named Oliver Bacon. Oliver was born poor and has worked his way up to being the wealthiest jeweler in England. He did this rather dishonestly. He stole dogs that he would then sell to rich women. He would also put steeper prices on cheap watches and sell them for a profit. The other main character, the Duchess, is a woman with a gambling problem. They have a very tenacious relationship. She has social status that he enjoys. He buys jewels and jewelry from her when she is low on funds. It is an interesting relationship, based more on mutual needs than enjoyment of one another's company.

Summary of The Duches and The Jeweler 

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.

Plot Summary of The Duches and The Jeweler 

Oliver Bacon is this story's protagonist. Once a poor boy in the streets of London, he has become the richest jeweler in England. As a young man, he sold stolen dogs to wealthy women and marketed cheap watches at a higher price. On a wall in his private room hangs a picture of his late mother. He frequently talks to her and reminisces, once chuckling at his past endeavors.

One day, Oliver enters into his private shop room, barely acknowledging his underlings, and awaits the arrival of the Duchess. When she arrives, he has her wait. In his room, under yellow gloves, he opens barred windows to get some air. Later, Oliver opens six steel safes, each containing endless riches of jewels.The Duchess and the Jeweller are described as "... friends, yet enemies; he was master, she was mistress; each cheated the other, each needed the other, each feared the other..." On this particular day, the Duchess comes to Oliver to sell ten pearls, as she has lost substantial money to gambling. Mr. Bacon is skeptical of the pearl's authenticity, but the Duchess manipulates him into buying them for twenty thousand pounds. When the Duchess invites him to an event that includes a cast of royalty and her daughter Diana, Oliver is persuaded to write a check.In the end, the pearls are found to be fakes, and Oliver looks at his mother's portrait, questioning his actions. However, what Oliver truly bought was not actually the pearls: it was Diana.

Character analysis of The Duches and the Jeweler 

Oliver bacon : Oliver Bacon is a man of habit and is the jeweller in The Duchess and the Jeweller. In the very first paragraph, the reader is introduced to a seemingly pedantic man, shallow and "proper" with the "right whiskies" ensuring his status in life. It does not take long for his lowly beginnings and his past to be revealed.                             Unfortunately, however, for all of Oliver's progress in life and being "the richest jeweller in England," he is not satisfied and still strives for something that is missing from his life. "So Oliver snuffed always in the rich earth of Mayfair another truffle, a blacker, a bigger further off." Oliver finds some satisfaction in the fact that he, a poor boy who used to play "marbles in the alley where they sell stolen dogs on Sunday," can keep the "daughter of a hundred Earls" waiting.                                                                                       The relationship between Oliver and the Duchess is confirmed in Oliver's acknowledgement that :They were friends, yet enemies; he was master, she was mistress; each cheated the other, each needed the other, each feared the other...                                                       Oliver is apparently desperate to be a part of the circle in which the duchess mixes, especially as her daughter - Diana- is in his sights. The duchess teases him with talk of Diana and he allows the duchess to cheat him with fake pearls for the chance to be in Diana's company, and ride "alone in the woods with Diana!' It is revealed that the pearls are in fact fake: "This, then, was the truffle he had routed out of the earth! Rotten at the centre — rotten at the core!"                                                                                                   “It is to be a long week-end” is the excuse he offers by way of apology to his dead mother, "the old woman in the picture." Thus Oliver's acceptance of the price he must pay to be part of the inner circle, amongst the rich reveals his true character and his vulnerabilities are exposed as he is once again reduced to "a little boy in the alley where they sold dogs on Sunday."

Relation between the jeweller and the Duchess: The relationship between these two characters is somewhat complex.  Oliver Bacon is in awe of the Duchess.  So in that way, he is subordinate to her.  The Duchess looks down on Oliver and people like him yet, at the same time, she needs him badly.  So each is superior in a way to the other.Oliver comes from a poor, lower-class background.  Because of this, he wants badly to be accepted by people of the Duchess's class and status.  This is why he allows himself to be fooled by the Duchess's pearls.  Even though he is materially much better off than the Duchess and even though she needs him, he still feels inferior to her.The Duchess is an aristocrat and so she thinks she is better than everyone else.  But she has no money and so she needs Oliver.  She is trying to ingratiate herself with him, trying to buy him off by giving him access to her social class.  In this way, she is begging from him even though she looks down on him.So there is something of a complicated relationship between the two with each being both superior to and subordinate to the other.   Although Woolf does say that these two people are friends as well as enemies, she does not really mean that they are friends in the way we generally use the term.  These are not people who really care about each other.  Instead, they are more of allies -- they are allies and enemies at the same time.You can call them "friends" because they need each other and they come to one another in time of need.  The Duchess needs Oliver's money, Oliver wants the social status that comes with dealing with an aristocrat like the Duchess.  So each has something the other needs and they are, in that sense, friends.They are enemies at the same time because they are each (as Woolf says in the same sentence where she calls them friends) trying to cheat the other all the time.  Each of them is really trying to exploit the other.  This is how enemies treat one another -- just trying to use the other person to advance their own ends.                                                                                                                                     The Duchess and the jeweler need each other. She needs his money, and he needs her daughter Diana. They have an unusual bond. The two of them are intimately contrary to one another. They are friendly enemies. One fears the other. They have a strange relationship that involves cheating one another:They were friends, yet enemies; he was master, she was mistress; each cheated the other, each needed the other, each feared the other, each felt this and knew this every time they touched hands...                                                                                                                                One would say that there is a lack of integrity on his part and her part. She is willing to sell an invitation to see her daughter, and he is willing to buy that invitation. Truly, the two have a business relationship. They use one another for each other's personal gain. She knows that he needs her, and he knows that she needs him. He knows her personal weakness, such as her gambling addiction. He is willing to sustain her in her gambling addiction for an opportunity to see Diana. She knows his weakness. She knows that he is writing a check for fake pearls because he desires to see her daughter Diana.No doubt, the Duchess detests the jeweler's weakness, and he detests hers. Still, they agree to use one another:...his conversation/negotiation with the Duchess is an exercise in duplicity, deception, and hypocrisy. Under the veneer of good manners and social graces, Bacon and the Duchess are just vicious animals.   

Questions and Answers for the duchess and the jeweler 

The story “The Duchess and the Jeweler” by Virginia Woolf mirrors the society of England. Discuss.                                                                                                          Whenever there is an age of change, the higher come down and lower downs go up. Discuss.                                                                                                                                      The story describes the decadence of the aristocracy and the rise of the commoners. Comment. The story is a criticism on Victorian Society.

No doubt, the writer of the story “The Duchess and the Jeweler” reflects the English society of her time. It was an age of transition. The high-ups were coming down because of their moral decadence and the commoners were taking lead in spite of their psychological fixations.To fulfill her purpose, the writer introduces characters – the Duchess and the jeweler. The Duchess represents the high-ups. The jeweler represents the commoners. His name is Oliver Bacon. At the start of the story, the writer talks about commoners through Oliver Bacon, the jeweler. She tells the reader how the commoners took lead. Oliver Bacon was a commoner because he used to live in a filthy, little alley. Then slowly he took lead and became one of the high-ups of the English society. Now he lived at Piccadilly. It was the most fashionable and expensive place in London.He had become so important that each day he received invitation cards from the aristocracy of the English society. Even the Duchess of Lambourne waited for his pleasure outside his private office.Then the writer talks about the high-ups. To get her desired twenty-thousand, the Duchess had forgotten all her nobility. She was always in financial difficulties because of her moral decadence. She gambled. To arrange for the money she sold fake pearls to Oliver twice but this was not all. She had so much moral decadence that she used Diana, her daughter, to entrap Oliver Bacon.Therefore, we can conclude that the writer has very beautifully reflected the English society of her time. The high-ups were coming down because of their moral decadence and the commoners were taking lead. (276)

Did the Duchess of Lambourne sell the pearls to Oliver Bacon real?  If not, why did the jeweler buy them?

No doubt, the pearls sold by the Duchess of Lambourne to Oliver were false. Oliver Bacon bought them and paid twenty thousand because of two very strong reasons. Firstly, Oliver Bacon wanted to move among aristocratic circles. It was his greatest desire. He was a commoner. He used to live in a filthy, little alley. He worked hard to get to that position of the richest jeweler of England. Now it was his greatest desire to attend parties of the aristocrat. The Duchess induced him into buying fake pearls by telling him that the Prime Minister was going to attend the party.The second reason of buying his fake pearls was that he loved Diana. She was the daughter of the Duchess. The Duchess induced him by referring to Diana repeatedly. She said, “The Prime Minister – his Minister – his Royal Highness…” She stopped. “And Diana…” She added. Now he started imagining the party and its atmosphere.He still hesitated. Now the Duchess addressed him by his Christian name. He offered him to come for a long weekend. There he would be able to go to the woods alone with Diana fro riding. He could not resist and wrote the cheque for twenty-thousand. His words spoken at the end of the story are very important. He said, “For it is to be a long weekend.”Therefore, we can conclude that Oliver Bacon bought the fake pearls because he wanted to attend the party. He wanted to spend a weekend with Diana. He loved Diana very much. (259)

Why did the jeweler dismantle himself?                                                                            Why did the jeweler remember his past life when he was very poor and lived in a filthy, little alley?

It was very surprising that Oliver, who was one of the richest jewelers of England, dismantled himself repeatedly. However, when we read the story “The Duchess and the Jeweler” carefully, we find that he dismantled himself because of his inferiority complex. There was a great difference between his present and past life. He used to live in a filthy, little alley. His greatest ambition was to sell stolen dogs to fashionable women at that time. Therefore, he sold stolen dogs. Then he became a salesperson and sold cheap watches. Therefore, he was a commoner.Now Oliver Bacon was the richest jewelers of England. He lived at Piccadilly, the most fashionable and expensive place in London. He wore expensive clothes. The best tailors in Seville Row stitched those clothes. He had become so rich and important that each day he received invitation cards from the aristocracy of the city. Therefore, he dismantled himself just to enjoy his present life of a very rich jeweler. The writer describes his feelings in these words, “…at the memory he would chuckle – the old Oliver remembering the young.”When the Duchess of Lambourne came to see him, he kept her waiting outside his office and dismantled himself again. He wanted to enjoy his present condition. It was a great achievement that a boy, who used to live a filthy, little alley, was keeping a Duchess waiting. The writer describes his feelings very beautifully. It appeared to him that keeping her waiting; he was enjoying a very big feast.Therefore, we can conclude that the jeweler dismantled himself because of his inferiority complex. He wanted to enjoy the present condition of the richest jeweler of England. (282)

Why did Oliver Bacon, the jeweller keep the Duchess of Lambourne waiting?

The jeweller kept the Duchess of Lambourne waiting because of his inferiority complex. He wanted to enjoy his present position of the richest jeweler of England.When we read the story “The Duchess and the Jeweller”, we find that Oliver Bacon used to live in a filthy, little alley. At that time, his greatest ambition was to sell stolen dogs to fashionable women and he did sell. Then he became salesperson and sold cheap watches. Then he did some other jobs to become rich. Therefore, he was a commoner. He did not anything common with the aristocratic class of that time. Now by working hard, he was the richest jeweler of England. There was a great difference between his past and present life but he has not forgotten his past. Therefore, when the Duchess of Lambourne came to see him, he kept her waiting just to enjoy his present position of the richest jeweler of England. It was a great honor for a boy of a filthy, little alley. The writer comments, “The Duchess of Lambourne, the daughter of a hundred Earls. She would wait for ten minutes on a chair at the counter. She would wait his pleasure. She would wait till he was ready to see her.” It was as if he was enjoying a very big and desirous feast. The jeweler who was once a commoner was now keeping a Duchess waiting. What a great achievement that was!Therefore, we can conclude that the jeweler kept the Duchess waiting just to satisfy his inferiority complex. He wanted to enjoy his present position of the richest jeweler of England. (272)

Throw light on the greedy nature and inferiority complex of the jeweler.                           What psychological fixation did Oliver Bacon have in spite of becoming one of the richest jewelers of England?

Psychological fixation means a strong unhealthy feeling of love or obsession. We find that the jeweler had two obsessions. Firstly, he wanted more and more wealth. It appears that his greed did not have an end. Secondly, he had inferiority complex and wanted to move among aristocratic circles to satisfy this complex.When we the story “The Duchess and the Jeweler” carefully we find that to show how greedy Oliver Bacon was the writer gives the examples of a giant hog and a camel. Oliver was greedy like a hog that always wants a bigger and blacker truffle. The writer means to say that Oliver Bacon wanted to become more and richer. Then the writer gives the example of a camel and says, “The camel is dissatisfied with its lot…” Therefore, Oliver Bacon had a strong, unhealthy love for wealth. He was very greedy and was never satisfied.Secondly, Oliver Bacon had a very unhealthy feeling of inferiority complex. To satisfy his inferiority complex, he kept the Duchess of Lambourne waiting outside his private office. He accepted the fake pearls because he wanted to move in aristocratic circles.  He wanted to go to the party where he could see the Prime Minister and Diana.Therefore, we can conclude that the jeweler had two obsessions. Firstly, he wanted more and more wealth and it appears that his greed did not have an end. Secondly, he had inferiority complex and wanted to move among aristocratic circles to satisfy this complex. (248)

How did the Duchess deceive Oliver Bacon, the jeweler?                                               How did the Duchess induce Oliver Bacon into buying fake pearls?

The Duchess induced Oliver Bacon, the jeweler, into buying fake pearls very cleverly. Oliver Bacon hesitated thrice, but each time she induced him by using different tactics. She had many cards up her sleeve. She also had a trump card that she played at the last moment.She started inducing Oliver very cleverly. Firstly, she started in a very friendly way. She called him ‘dear Mr. Bacon’. Secondly, she mentioned the name of her daughters and told him that she was selling the pearl only for them.  She knew that Oliver loved Diana. She was her daughter. Thirdly, to impress him, she started shedding tears. Fourthly, she called him an ‘old friend’ four times just to induce him.Oliver hesitated. He was doubtful about the pearls. He wanted to test them to know whether they were real. When she saw him hesitating, she used some different tactics. She invited him to a party at her estate. She induced him by telling him that the Prime Minister, his Minister, his Royal Highness, and Diana would be there. Therefore, she tried to take advantage of his inferiority complex and of his love for her daughter. He wrote twenty on the chequebook but hesitated again.When the Duchess saw him hesitating, she again used some tactics. Firstly, she called him by his Christian name just to create frankness. Secondly, she used her trump card. She again invited him to her estate for a long weekend. There he would go for riding in the woods alone with Diana. He could not resist any more. He wrote thousand and signed the cheque.Therefore, that was how the Duchess induced Oliver into buying fake pearls. (279)

They were friends, yet enemies; he was master, she was mistress; each cheated the other, each needed the other, each feared the other. Comment.

This question has three parts and we shall discuss them one by one.Firstly, we discuss “They were friends; yet enemies.” When we read the story “The Duchess and the Jeweler”, we find that Oliver Bacon was a commoner. Later, he became the richest jeweler of England. On the other hand, the duchess was the member of the aristocracy by birth. Therefore, there was a great class difference between the two. These two classes could never be friends. However, the duchess was forced to call him an ‘old friend’ because o her moral decadence and financial problems. That was how they were friends; yet enemies.Secondly, we discuss “He was master, she was mistress.” When we read the story “The Duchess and the Jeweler” carefully, we find that Oliver became the richest jeweler of England by using fair and unfair means. Therefore, he was a master in the sense that he a great cheat. On the other hand, the Duchess was a mistress. She was a cheat too. She induced the jeweler into buying the fake pearls so cleverly that she appears to be a mistress in this sense.Lastly, we discuss “Each cheated other the other, each needed the other, and each feared the other.” When we read the story, we find that each cheated the other. The Duchess cheated the jeweler and sold the fake pearls. The jeweler cheated the duchess in a sense that he kept her waiting without any proper reason. Similarly, both needed each other. She needed him for money and he needed her to go the party and to the woods with her daughter. In spite of that, both feared each other because each knew the secrets of the other. (286)

Write a note comparing the characters of the Duchess and the Jeweler?

When we compare the characters of the Duchess and the jeweler, we find that the following statement is true for both of them:”They were friends, yet enemies; he was master, she was mistress; each cheated the other, each needed the other, each feared the other.” We shall discuss some points of this statement.Firstly, we discuss the second part of the statement:  “He was master, she was mistress.” When we read the story “The Duchess and the Jeweler carefully we find that Oliver became the richest jeweler of England by using fair and unfair means. Therefore, he was a master in the sense that he was a great cheat. On the other hand, the Duchess was a mistress. She was a cheat too. She induced the jeweler into buying the fake pearls very cleverly.Secondly, we discuss the third part of the statement: “Each cheated the other, each needed the other, and each feared the other.” When we read the story, we find that each cheated the other. The jeweler cheated the duchess in a sense that he kept her waiting without any proper reason. He knew that the Duchess was telling a lie about the pearls, but he did not show it. It reason was that he wanted to go alone with Diana to the woods for riding. This was a kind of cheating.Similarly, both the jeweler and the Duchess needed each other. She needed him for money and he needed her to go to the party. In spite of that, both feared each other because each knew the secrets of the other. (265)

Describe the meeting between the Duchess and the jeweler?

The Duchess of Lambourne came to sell ten fake pearls to Oliver Bacon, the jeweler. However, the jeweler kept her waiting for ten minutes. During those ten minutes, he enjoyed his present position of the richest jeweler of England. After ten minutes, the Duchess came in and tried to sell his fake pearls. She started inducing the jeweler and used different tactics.Firstly, she started in a very friendly way. She called him ‘dear Mr. Bacon’. Secondly, she mentioned the names of her daughters and told him that she was selling the pearls only for them. Thirdly, to impress him, she started shedding tears. Fourthly, she called him an ‘old friend’ four times just to induce him.Oliver hesitated. He was doubtful about the pearls. He wanted to test them to know whether they were real. When she saw him hesitating, she used some different tactics. She invited him to a party at her estate. Therefore, she tried to take advantage of his inferiority complex and of his love with her daughter Diana. She tried to move him by telling him that her honor was at stake. Now she was not an ordinary woman, she was the mother of Diana.  He wrote twenty on the chequebook, but he hesitated again.When the Duchess saw him hesitating, she again used some tactics. Firstly, she called him by his Christian name just to create frankness. Secondly, she used her trump card. She again invited him to her estate for a long weekend. There he would go for riding in the woods alone with Diana. He could not resist any more. He wrote thousand and signed the cheque. The Duchess of Lambourne took the cheque and departed. (284)

Write a note on Oliver Bacon’s journey from filthy, little alley to the Bond Street?

By birth, Oliver Bacon was a commoner. He was very poor. He used to live in a filthy, little street. At that time, his greatest ambition was to sell stolen dogs to fashionable women and he did sell.However, his mother stopped him from doing that. Then he became a salesman and sold cheap watches.After that, he took a wallet to Amsterdam. He earned a lot of money from three diamonds. He earned commission on the emerald. He bought a shop in Hatton Garden. He started sitting into the private room behind the shop. In the room, there were scales, a safe and thick magnifying glass.As soon as he became rich, he started dressing better and better. First, he bought a handsome cab then a car. He also bought a villa at Richmond. Then he bought a grand house at Piccadilly. It was the most central position in London. After that, he bought a shop in the street off Bond Street. His shop was famous in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and in America.Now he had become so important that people from the aristocratic circle started sending him invitations to their parties. Even the Duchess of Lambourne waited for his pleasure outside his private office.Therefore, that was how Oliver Bacon became the richest jeweler of England. (219)    

From The Duchess and The Jeweller, explain the statement about things being "rotten at the core" in the context of the narrative. 

In The Duchess and The Jeweller, Oliver Bacon, has not always been "the richest jeweller in England." Oliver, in fact, had very humble beginnings and remembers his life "in a filthy little alley." He has been able to amass his own wealth and mixes in high circles, with "duchesses, countesses, viscountesses and Honourable Ladies" sending him invitations to dine and spend time with them. Despite his apparent success, Oliver's life still lacks substance and Oliver strives to find a depth to his existence in all the wrong places.Oliver attributes qualities to precious stones and relishes his ownership of them, giving him a power not unlike “Gunpowder enough to blow Mayfair — sky high, high, high!” He gets satisfaction from being able to make the duchess "wait his pleasure....till he was ready to see her" and he wishes to be able to mix in the same circles as the prime minister and the duchess's daughters, especially Diana.When he is offered an opportunity to spend the weekend in the presence of Diana, he can think of nothing better but he knows, if he does, he must effectively pay the duchess for what he thinks may be worthless pearls. He has been invited for the whole weekend but must authenticate the pearls. He agrees and, upon looking at them again after the duchess has left, he confirms what he suspected.The duchess, for all her finery, all her luxury and opulence, is shallow and manipulative. He knows that what he strives for, the upper echelons of society, are worthless as are the pearls that the duchess claims to be authentic. They look beautiful but are "rotten at the core." The things he desires, the gems, the company of beautiful ladies, everything is not what it seems.  

In the story "The Duchess and the Jeweller", how is the duchess deceitful? details of how shes more deceitful than the jeweller?   

The duchess is deceitful in two crucial and related ways. First, she takes advantage of the jeweler's desire for Diana, and does so artfully, as seen in this passage: " “You will come down to–morrow?” she urged, she interrupted. “The Prime Minister—His Royal Highness . . .” She stopped. “And Diana . . .” she added."Second, she sells false jewels for money, knowing he'll take them because of his clumsy desires for Diana.