Sartor Resartus · Chapter
VI: Old Clothes explained
Teufelsdröckh reflects on the spiritual and symbolic significance of old clothes, describing his visits to Monmouth Street in London as a form of worship.
What happens
Teufelsdröckh reflects on the spiritual and symbolic significance of old clothes, describing his visits to Monmouth Street in London as a form of worship. He argues that empty garments, purged of human vice and passion, deserve reverence as pure emblems of humanity. The chapter also explores his philosophy of universal courtesy, asserting that every human body is a temple and that true politeness should be extended to all, regardless of wealth or birth.
Themes in this chapter
Clothing as Symbol
Teufelsdröckh venerates empty clothes as pure emblems of humanity, purged of vice and passion, and uses them to critique superficial social reverence for attire.
Spiritual Crisis and Faith
The chapter describes Teufelsdröckh's quasi-religious devotion in Monmouth Street, where he seeks spiritual meaning and hears 'Ghosts of Life' whispering secrets.
Critique of Society and Materialism
Teufelsdröckh criticizes the worship of fine clothes over the person, and contrasts the purity of empty garments with the hypocrisy of social deference to wealth and rank.
Characters to notice
- Diogenes Teufelsdröckh
Describes his meditative walks through Monmouth Street and his philosophy of reverence for old clothes and universal courtesy.
- The Editor
Provides commentary on Teufelsdröckh's descriptions, noting the lack of an authentic diary of his London sojourn and reflecting on the overcharged nature of his prose.
- Herr Hofrath Heuschrecke
Mentioned indirectly as the source of the Paper-bag Documents, which contain no authentic diary of Teufelsdröckh's London meditations.
Key passages
“Often, while I sojourned in that monstrous tuberosity of Civilised Life, the Capital of England; and meditated, and questioned Destiny, under that ink-sea of vapour, black, thick, and multifarious as Spartan broth; and was one lone soul amid those grinding millions;—often have I turned into their Old-Clothes Market to worship.”
During his stay in London, a vast and oppressive city, Teufelsdröckh frequently sought solace by visiting the second-hand clothes market, where he engaged in a form of spiritual contemplation.
Teufelsdröckh describes his London sojourn and his habit of visiting Monmouth Street for worshipful meditation.
“Shall Courtesy be done only to the rich, and only by the rich? In Good-breeding, which differs, if at all, from High-breeding, only as it gracefully remembers the rights of others, rather than gracefully insists on its own rights, I discern no special connection with wealth or birth: but rather that it lies in human nature itself, and is due from all men towards all men.”
Teufelsdröckh argues that courtesy is a universal human duty, not a privilege of the wealthy or well-born, and that true good breeding respects others' rights rather than asserting one's own.
Teufelsdröckh expounds his philosophy of universal courtesy, independent of social rank.
“There is but one temple in the world,' says Novalis, 'and that temple is the Body of Man. Nothing is holier than this high Form. Bending before men is a reverence done to this Revelation in the Flesh. We touch Heaven, when we lay our hands on a human Body.”
Quoting Novalis, Teufelsdröckh asserts that the human body is the only true temple, and that bowing to another person is an act of reverence for the divine manifested in flesh.
Teufelsdröckh uses Novalis's words to support his view of the sacredness of every human being.