Dupont Remains Of The Day Essay

The overlapping characteristics of M. Dupont and Edouard Daladier in The Remains of the Day are illustrated from the descriptions given by Stevens and dialogue between characters such as Mr. Lewis and Lord Darlington. The descriptions and dialogue points out that the presence of Dupont and/or Daladier during the conference was crucial to the Treaty of Versailles’ outcome. Dupont is presented as a fictional character built on top of Daladier and is described as an “extremely illustrious Frenchman” and is Stevens calls him “‘M. Dupont’”(76). He is also portrayed as a figure who “needed to bring to the gathering at Darlington Hall” and the politically viewed as “one French gentleman with ambiguous influences over his country’s foreign policy”
Ishiguro uses Dupont’s presence at the conference to show Lord Darlington’s view of revising the Treaty of Versailles is important to the future of the three countries, Britain, France and the Russian Empire, since he thinks that he made the Treaty of Versailles so harsh; and therefore, wants Dupont to approve the treaty to become more lenient. Lord Darlington states “‘The fate of Europe could actually hang on our ability to bring Dupont round on this point’” because he wants to persuade Dupont to the idea to change the conditions listed on the Treaty of Versailles to be less harsh due to the fact that Lord Darlington feels as if he is responsible for Bremann's death, a friend of Lord Darlington, who committed suicide because the of the economic status of Germany which may have been affected by the Treaty of Versailles
Lord Darlington also wants to preserve the idea of being presented as a British aristocrat, and therefore, takes action to revise the treaty to seem as an aristocrat. During the conference, Dupont thinks of himself as a figure that “maintains diligently the appearance of having come to Darlington Hall entirely for pleasure and friendship” while Lord Darlington brought Dupont to the hall in order to have the Treaty of Versailles altered (90). The perspectives of Lord Darlington and Dupont are different because Lord Darlington wants to discuss political aspects of the treaty while Dupont came to Darlington Hall entirely for his own enjoyment. Although Stevens has no power to change the ongoing conference designed to revise the Treaty of Versailles, he observes the conference with a discerning eye, saying “so far as I could observe” in order to suggest that although Stevens is only a butler, he is able to observe others actions, and get a feel of the conference’s situation. Stevens says “to underline all the more the feeling that it was M. Dupont who somehow held the key to the outcome of the following days” (91). Here, Stevens talks about how important M. Dupont is to the conference - without M. Dupont, revising the Treaty of Versailles would not be