Money In William Hazlitt's The Want Of Money

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The Effects of Money In the passage “The Want of Money” by William Hazlitt, Hazlitt uses various rhetorical strategies to establish his perspective on money. These rhetorical strategies used offer a deeper meaning on how the lack of money affects a person’s everyday life from the way they are judged by society, how they live their daily lives, and their views on themselves internally. With the lack of money and the abundance of it comes different experiences and issues arising from its core foundations. Society often regards someone of high income with respect, love, and appreciation, but the opposite gains only suspicion, distrust, and hatred. Hazlitt explains this phenomenon by stating “it is not to have your opinion consulted or else rejected with contempt, your acquirements carped out and doubted”(Lines 6-7). Society does not take into account the beliefs of someone of lower class, nor their success when rightfully earned. Society either bids them with either “envy and falsehood, or to be a favorite with public for awhile, and then thrown into the background- or a gaol,”(Lines 31-33). From the success achieved, society can choose whether someone deserves glory and fame or shame and defamation. Nevertheless, ultimately society also determines, based on someone’s …show more content…

The lack of money is an issue many people face everyday and creates the perception that without it we wouldn’t have our lives the way we would like them to be. Money is a source of reliability, it connects us to others and ourselves. A lack of money implies our failure in ourselves, therefore we search for it as a sufficient answer implying our triumph. Consequently, our dependence on money is the frequent way of reassuring everyone and ourselves that we are in perfect state both in our physical life and mental