The Contrast- Jessamy's Vernacular as a Flag of his Affiliation

The vernacular and manner of speaking of a character certainly carry with them the power to command the way in which the character is perceived by the audience. Keeping that in mind, there are two ways one can really tell what kind of air the characters Jessamy and Jonathan might have been intended to have for the performances of The Contrast, in its era:  their difference in mannerism, and their difference in vernacular. While mannerism is bound to be left to be subject to their actors in particular, a look at the two kinds of speech displayed by the two characters is non-negotiable in comparison, in part because of its blatancy and in part because of the fact that it was written into the play manually. Keeping in mind that the author was in need of appealing to a split audience and their opinions regarding the two different types of characters in the play, it becomes evident what his goal was with these two characters: to make them appear equally detestable by the other camp. To illustrate this, Jessamy will be considered.

For Jessamy, the fashionable, sharp-tongued aide to Mr. Dimple, his vernacular gives away a few things from the start. For one, he obviously places much value in the ideals of the English Statesman Philip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield. To quote the text directly, “--I was going to be guilty of a vile proverb; flat against the authority of Chesterfield.---“ Here, his reverence to this very English (and therefore very unpatriotic) material can be made no more obvious, and as further evidence, the references made to Chesterfield continue throughout the play by both Mr. Dimple and Jessamy, perhaps enough to warrant their consideration as a comedic structure. In addition, Jessamy is seen to use the French language often in his conversation, such as in his introduction to Jonathan at the very beginning of Act 2, Scene 2: “Votre, tres-humble serviteur, Monsieur. I understand Colonel Manly, the Yankee officer, has the honour of your services.” Like the repetition of the Chesterfield references, the repeated use of French was probably intended to display the loathable qualities of those who were very much “un-American” in the play, or to describe it differently, to show that that character and his affiliates placed more value on the customs of Europe than the true-blue colonists did. (Note the coquettish Charlotte utilizes the French language a few times herself.) Jonathan even calls Jessamy out on his “outlandish lingo” a few lines later, just after their introductions in the second act.