Thomas Carlyle's Argument

In Sartor Resartus, Carlyle seeks to show, by means of an elaborated ironic conceit, that the society of mankind can find a way, in its very humanness, to express its highest moral aspirations. To do this, he makes use of an extended metaphor that equates the origin of the use of clothing with the origin of civilization itself:

Man is a Spirit, and bound by invisible bonds to All Men; . . . he wears Clothes, which are the visible emblems of that fact. Has not your Red, hanging individual, a horsehair wig, squirrel skins, and a plush gown; whereby all mortals know that he is a Judge?--Society, which the more I think of it astonishes me the more, is founded upon Cloth (48).

The argument is a rather subtle one, for it is encased by the presentation of the narrative as the edited memoirs of one Professor Teufelsdrockh. But contained within it is a case for the morality of life lived with moral and public decorum, and an implicit criticism of the society as Carlyle experienced it. A connection is made between the soul or spirit of a human being and the highest and best use of physical human potentialities. The fact that of all the animal kingdom man clothes himself deliberately is put forward as an index of the special place of human beings in nature.

This argument made, Carlyle proceeds to a discussion of various social details of early Victorian England, in particular the philosophi

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society, on this view, have a definite claim to make on the actions and attitudes of those who comprise the society. Indeed, what is required is an allegiance of human beings to something higher than themselves, and when that is achieved there will be a virtual rebirth of first principles and of what amounts to heroic action. This is in the background of Carlyle's characterization of tailors as heroes, which is a metaphorical call for informed action on the part of the artistic, political, and educational community. In the "clothing" of a treatise on clothes, Carlyle develops his real aim--a treatise of social commentary. Bradshaw, John. Bradshaw on: Healing the Shame That Binds You. Deerfield Beach, Florida: Health Communications Inc., 1988. In order to understand the distinction between body and body image and what that distinction means for a theory of clothing and fashion as an ego defense, it is necessary to explore how modern commentators are looking at the constituents of the ego. Bradshaw's book is important in this regard because it focuses on shame, which can be thought of as the "opposite" of the ego, or at least of the healthy ego. The reason that Bradshaw's argument has relevance for a theory of clothing an
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Approximate Word count = 1219
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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