Hypocrisy in The Man in Black: A Critical Analysis

Mary Raymer; Neha Mahawar

doi:10.34293/english.v9i3.3872

Mary Raymer Assistant Professor, St. Aloysius’ College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India
Neha Mahawar St. Aloysius’ College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34293/english.v9i3.3872

Keywords: Hypocrisy, Self awareness, Character, Society, Oliver Goldsmith, The Man in Black, Albert Bandura, Social learning theory, Reasons for hypocrisy, Psychoanalysis of a hypocrite, Ways to cope with hypocrisy, Empathy, Sympathy

Abstract

Oliver Goldsmith’s The Man in Black is a brilliant literary illustration of an unspoken social evil-hypocrisy. There is nothing without a reason, thus, hypocrisy was dissected to reveal the inner truth and various practical ways were found to get some more essence of humanity back to its true owners, humans. The depth of hypocrisy within the society and how it manages to continue to prevail was also discussed in detail with a strong affirmation of the essay, hypocrisy and Albert Bandura’s “Social Learning Theory”. It is intriguing how a literary text lies in complete understanding of a theory put up more than a century later.

The research paper has a psychological, philosophical and literary attributes orchestrated to highlight the social reformations needed in the world. With the world getting smaller, our souls need to get bigger to live a life worth living.