Beau Tibb his character and family essay

Beau Tibb his Character and family

Beau Tibb his Character and family is an extract from The Citizens of the World written by Oliver Goldsmith. He is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. These letters are written in the perspective of Lien Chi Altangi, a Chinese philosopher living in London.

Goldsmith's essays are humorous. Rickett writes, "He was a poet of talent, a prose man  of genius, a prose man, moreover, of distinctive and original genius".

Beau Tibbs is a character in Goldsmith's "Citizen of the World," noted for his finery, vanity, and poverty”. He is an elderly man concerned about his dress. Mr. Tibbs is a poor man but he concealed his poverty.  The writer remarks, “Heaven has made him poor”.  He has an eccentric and ridiculous nature.

Beau Tibbs is perfect in the art of flattery. His looks were pale, thin and sharp. He wore a broad black ribbon round his neck and in his bosom a buckle studded with glass. He wore a newly washed cloth which has turned yellow by long service. He boasted that  he often dined with those Lords and Ladies of high social status. He claims that “an intimacy with the great will improve one’s appearance.”

Beau Tibbs pleases everyone with the first part of his conversation. But at the end of his conversation he demands for money. Beau Tibbs represents a satirical view of the contemporary English nobility. Hopkins says, “Beau Tibbs embodies Goldsmith's theory of humour and serves a satirical function which a mere surface view of Beau Tibbs will fail to comprehend.”

Beau Tibbs is a satirical character. Goldsmith sucessfully portrays the degeneracy of English Nobility through the character of Beau Tibbs.