“This George Talboys was the life and soul of vessel; nobody knew him or what he was, or where he came from, but everybody liked him. He sat at the bottom of the dinner table, and assisted the captain in doing the honours of the the friendly meal. He opened the champagne bottles, and took wine with every one present; he told funny stories, and led the laugh himself with such a joyous peal, that the man must have been a churl who could not have laughed fore pure sympathy. (19)”
I thought this was an interesting character development for George. The way he is described very much made me think of a simple person who would make others laugh and was a joy to have around. However we later learn that this changes so quickly as the time on the Argus comes to an end. It made me think if he was truly this joyous person to be around or if this was a act of some sort while he was on board. It is mentioned that his personality change started as they were a fortnight’s sail from port (A fortnight is two weeks) which also made me think that maybe he was the a true bright life on the ship and he just did not think about his situation at home as much until they were close enough that it became so real but was not while he possibly distracted by the sea. regardless I think if was interesting that they decided to include this part about his character specifically how he was viewed on the Argus in this chapter. As well as the way it is mentioned earlier just how “average” George is I found this interesting as I felt after mentioning his qualities it always circled back to this.
I like how you mentioned how his mood changed from being the bright spot on the boat when they were getting closer to home because his situation there has gotten real and he realized that he was almost back. He did run away from home and went to a completely different continent and there are consequences for that. I think that when his mood changed he finally realized what those consequences could be and didn’t want to face them or maybe was scared to face them.
Yes I agree with you, the development of his character is really strong and of course that changes due to the conditions that follow afterwards. I believe that the emphasis of his character and personality matches with the emphasis given on Lady Audley which might turn out to be a correlation between the two characters in the book. They are both characterized as charismatic and colorful which seems to be a common theme around the book and I think that Lady Audley’s secret is somewhat connected to George Tallboys and his disappearance.
This is an interesting way of describing George, especially with the knowledge of his deep mourning after his wife died. His entire personality and being somehow shifted from a carefree man, to one that became deeply depressed for around a year. Going back to your point about being distracted by the sea, I do not think this is the case. The narrator describes George, even before going to Australia, as being a joyous man who was deeply in love with his wife. Even when they were struggling with finances, George kept his familial love and attitude in the troublesome times.