“The Duchess and the Jeweller� by Virginia Woolf is a short http://write-my-essay991.mystrikingly.com/ story about Oliver, a poor man who has become a successful jeweler, and his interaction with a Duchess. In the story, Oliver struggles with the Duchess over social power, where she has the ability to cheat him by selling him fake pearls in exchange for a weekend spent with her daughter whom he is in love with – a classic battle of the sexes. While the conflict between man and woman is evident, Virginia Woolf uses flashback, point of view and imagery to also convey the dispute between the rich and the poor.
Oliver is first introduced as a man who lives very well “with the right brandies, whiskeys and liqueurs� (Woolf 90), in a house where “a more central position could not be imagined� (90). He is a man of power who has “his breakfast brought in on a try by a manservant� (90) and receives invitations from “duchesses, countesses, viscountesses and Honourable Ladies� (90).
