Literae Humaniores

Philip Wagner

2/5/14

2A

“Continentals - and by and large the Celts, as you will no doubt agree - are as a rule unable to control themselves in moments of strong emotion, and are thus unable to maintain a

professional demeanour other than in the least challenging of situations. If I may

return to my earlier metaphor - you will excuse my putting it so coarsely - they are

like a man who will, at the slightest provocation, tear off his suit and his shirt and

run about screaming. In a word, 'dignity' is beyond such persons. We English have

an important advantage over foreigners in this respect and it is for this reason that

when you think of a great butler, he is bound, almost by definition, to be an

Englishman” (Ishiguro 43).

    Stevens describes and explains the reasoning for why only English butlers become truly “great” butlers. The term “great” is used a significant amount of time throughout the novel and is the thematic question based around The Remains of the Day. There can be a multitude of different definitions and perspectives when referring to the term “great”. A person can be truly great whether it is positive or negative. There are multiple definitions for “great”, but one that is not thought of in this sense is the British definition of Literae Humaniores. The honors course in classics, philosophy, and ancient history at Oxford University is the definition of Literae Humaniores when presented with the British definition of great. Literae Humaniores is latin for “the more human studies”. This definition could explain Stevens reasoning for saying that only the English have the important advantage over foreigners in respect to dignity and becoming a “great” butler.

    This is the first time in which Stevens is more specific with his regards to the definition of a truly “great butler”. Stevens explains that dignity is within a great butler. He had names of people who were seen as great butlers and some stories involving his father that hinted at his “greatness” of being a butler, but never truly went into detail. Stevens finally furthers his definition of a great butler with adding “dignity” to the interpretation.