Fake Personalities Reveal the Foolishness in Society In Mark Twain’s famous novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, society is constantly fooled by certain characters. Two characters that display the foolishness of society are the king and the duke. Characters such as Jim, Huck, and the Wilks sisters are victims of the king and the duke’s deceiving tactics. Their purpose in the novel is mainly to demonstrate the foolishness of society. The king and the duke are able to con members of society by first impersonating a king and duke to Huck and Jim, claiming to be “world renowned tragedians”, and convincing a town that they are brothers of the deceased Peter Wilks. When Huck and Jim encounter the men for the first time, the men immediately
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When they first meet, the king and the duke beg Huck to save their lives by rowing them away from land. Huck agrees, and upon arrival, the duke reveals to Huck and Jim that he is the Duke of Bridgewater. Huck demonstrates his foolishness by saying, “He said we ought to bow, when we spoke to him, and say ‘Your Grace,’ or ‘My Lord,’ or ‘Your Lordship’...and one of us ought to wait on him at dinner, and do any little thing he wanted done” (Twain 104). The duke cons society by tricking Huck and Jim that he is above them because he holds a powerful title. Because Huck and Jim believe the duke’s lie, he looks down upon them and tells them to treat him as their master. This shows that Huck and Jim are foolish because both believe that the one man with them is an actual duke. In addition, Huck and Jim are conned by the other man who claims that he is a king. He tells Huck and Jim that he is the “rightful King of France,” and Huck says, “So Jim and me set to majestying him, and doing this and that and t’other for him, and standing up till he told us we might set down. This done him heaps of good, and so he got cheerful and comfortable” (105). The purpose of the king and the duke is …show more content…
An attempt to deceive society is on one of their tragedy bills where they call themselves, “The world renowned tragedians, David Garrick the younger, of Drury Lane Theater, London, and Edmund Kean the elder, of the Royal Haymarket Theatre, Whitechapel, Pudding Lane, Piccadilly, London” (116). Society is deceived when the king and the duke refer to themselves as world renowned tragedians because they are not actually professional tragedians. The two are only seeking profit from the show and to accomplish that, they are lying about their roles at the theatres stated on the bills in London where they have performed. The king and the duke believe that faking their acting skills may draw a big crowd to gain profit. Although their representation of Romeo and Juliet fails, the king and the duke put out different bills that state the performance of another tragedy for three nights, however they still refer to themselves as world-renowned tragedians. On the third night of their new performance, the audience is crammed and as the place fills totally, the duke and Huck move to the stage door. They do not go to the stage door to start the performance, but instead to leave the theater. This becomes clear when the duke states, “Walk fast, now, till you get away from the houses, and then shin for the raft like the dickens was after you!” (128). The
When they first meet, the king and the duke beg Huck to save their lives by rowing them away from land. Huck agrees, and upon arrival, the duke reveals to Huck and Jim that he is the Duke of Bridgewater. Huck demonstrates his foolishness by saying, “He said we ought to bow, when we spoke to him, and say ‘Your Grace,’ or ‘My Lord,’ or ‘Your Lordship’...and one of us ought to wait on him at dinner, and do any little thing he wanted done” (Twain 104). The duke cons society by tricking Huck and Jim that he is above them because he holds a powerful title. Because Huck and Jim believe the duke’s lie, he looks down upon them and tells them to treat him as their master. This shows that Huck and Jim are foolish because both believe that the one man with them is an actual duke. In addition, Huck and Jim are conned by the other man who claims that he is a king. He tells Huck and Jim that he is the “rightful King of France,” and Huck says, “So Jim and me set to majestying him, and doing this and that and t’other for him, and standing up till he told us we might set down. This done him heaps of good, and so he got cheerful and comfortable” (105). The purpose of the king and the duke is …show more content…
An attempt to deceive society is on one of their tragedy bills where they call themselves, “The world renowned tragedians, David Garrick the younger, of Drury Lane Theater, London, and Edmund Kean the elder, of the Royal Haymarket Theatre, Whitechapel, Pudding Lane, Piccadilly, London” (116). Society is deceived when the king and the duke refer to themselves as world renowned tragedians because they are not actually professional tragedians. The two are only seeking profit from the show and to accomplish that, they are lying about their roles at the theatres stated on the bills in London where they have performed. The king and the duke believe that faking their acting skills may draw a big crowd to gain profit. Although their representation of Romeo and Juliet fails, the king and the duke put out different bills that state the performance of another tragedy for three nights, however they still refer to themselves as world-renowned tragedians. On the third night of their new performance, the audience is crammed and as the place fills totally, the duke and Huck move to the stage door. They do not go to the stage door to start the performance, but instead to leave the theater. This becomes clear when the duke states, “Walk fast, now, till you get away from the houses, and then shin for the raft like the dickens was after you!” (128). The