The Real Thing

Similarly, tea is symbolic of the period’s social customs, and the serving of tea preordains one’s role within society. Although he is only of the middle class, the artist, as an employer, is accustomed to having his models also serve him tea. In being served, the narrator positions himself as superior. Miss Churm fulfills this subservient role without complaint until the narrator asks her to serve the Monarchs. Miss Churm bristles at this request but abides. Because characters like Miss Churm and Oronte are of a lower social class, they must adhere to social customs in both public and private spheres.

To maintain an appearance of being “established,” the narrator instructs his models to cater to the Monarchs. In doing so, he reinforces public social roles within the private sphere of his studio at his models’ expense. However, when the dejected Monarchs attempt to fulfill subservient roles, the artist is “uncomfortable.” In witnessing this “perverse” role reversal—in which the upper-class Monarchs adopt roles of the lower class—the narrator can’t reconcile the “dreadful” scene and pays them to leave.

When the artist draws Major and Mrs. Monarch, he depicts them as larger than intended, and they appear taller in their drawings than in real life. The way the narrator perceives the Monarchs’ height illustrates the themes of Perception and Authenticity in Artistry and Social Hierarchy in Late 19th-Century England. Due to Mrs. Monarch’s lack of expression, the artist is unable to “transform” her into anything but a seven-foot-tall lady. Despite his best efforts, the artist cannot seem to accurately capture the couple’s true form: “The case was worse with the Major—nothing I could do would keep him down, so that he became useful only for the representation of brawny giants” (150). He admits the Monarchs are only of normal stature, yet that doesn’t change how he draws them. The artist’s own shortness has made them loom large in comparison, and his mind struggles to properly comprehend their regular size.

The arrival of Oronte, who is short but can be drawn proportionately, reveals the artist’s own class biases. Although the artist commends Miss Churm and Oronte’s modeling abilities, he views them as more pliable due to their lower social class. When Major Monarch indicates that Oronte may not be the ideal vision of “an English gentleman,” the artist retorts with an outburst that reflects his personal feelings of being seen as small and insignificant: “I can’t be ruined for you!” (159). In this way, representational height is a motif that underscores the artist’s struggle to maintain authenticity when faced with “the real thing.”