Proceedings of the 8th International Academic Conference on Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh and Bergson’s Theory of Laughter: Ridiculing The Mechanization in Late Victorian Society
Berna Bozdag
ABSTRACT:
Samuel Butler (1835-1902) witnessed the second half of the Victorian period when the prevailing values of his time were challenged by the rise of the working class, religious disbelief, and societal upheaval. His novel The Way of All Flesh is marked with various changes in the political arena, including the Evangelical Movement, Tractarianism, The Vestiges, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny and Franco- the Austrian War, which are briefly referred to in the work. All these changes are traced through the Pontifex line, which is under the influence of Victorian rigidity and religiosity. The semi-autobiographical work exemplifies Butler’s theory of evolution in his Life and Habit, suggesting the transmission of personal traits, emotions, and memory in the family line. Contrary to Darwinian thought, for Butler, evolution does not happen arbitrarily, and habitualized action, personality, and behavior mark not only the individual’s destiny but also the future of succeeding generations. This study posits that The Way of All Flesh can be scrutinized in conjunction with Henri Bergson’s conceptualization of comedy in deciphering the relationship between the mechanic behavior of the Pontifex family and social degradation. The novel portrays that the individual choices, when transcending mechanical behavior, can impact succeeding generations, fostering true individuality and a novel, ethical behavior despite inherent personality traits and societal pressure. The study establishes a connection between Butler’s scientific stance and his fiction and Bergson’s ideas on creative evolution and laughter, exploring the impact of scientific thought in their understanding of satire.
keywords: laughter, creative evolution, mechanic behavior, rigidity