2. The following quote to describe the Emperor’s fondness for clothes: “He had an outfit for every hour of the day, and just as they say of a king, “He is in the council chamber,” so they always said of him, “The Emperor is in his dressing room.” The author is pointing out that the Emperor spends more time with his clothes than he does running his empire. This shows that he is not a very good ruler.
3. The author states that the swindlers “claimed they were weavers and said they could weave the finest cloth imaginable. “Their colors and patterns, they said, were not only exceptionally beautiful, but the clothes made of this material possessed the wonderful quality of being invisible to any man who was unfit for his office, or was hopelessly stupid.” This shows that the swindlers are planning to take advantage not only of the emperor’s love of clothes, but also of his pride as a ruler. They plan to keep the expensive materials for themselves while "weaving" the garments, which would bring them a profit.
4. The Emperor thought, “Those must be wonderful clothes.” He thought that they must be the clothes for him.
5. The emperor hopes to figure out who is unworthy of their position. By wearing the clothes, the Emperor believes that he “should be able to find out which men in my empire were unfit for their posts, and I could tell the clever from the stupid.”
6. The Emperor sends someone else because deep down he fears that he may be stupid or unfit for office. The author states:
“But
he felt rather uneasy when he
remembered that whoever was not fit for his office could not see it. He
believed, of course, that he had
nothing to fear for himself, yet he thought he would send somebody else first
to see how things were progressing.” The Emperor chose “honest, good,
intelligent” officials.
He wanted to make
sure everyone else could see them because he doubted himself. “Am I stupid? Am I unfit for office?”
7. When the emperor realizes he does not see any clothes, he begins to think he is stupid and unfit to rule. "What
is this? ...I do not see anything at all. This is terrible! Am I stupid? Am I
unfit to be Emperor?” Everyone the Emperor sent to see the material
reported back that it was beautiful. He had probably been pleased to know that
the people working for him were smart and fit for their jobs, but now his own
intelligence and fitness as a ruler were called into question.
8. They can envision the material because it is described elaborately by the swindlers and because the Emperor and the officials do not want to admit to being unable to see anything which would make them unfit for office or stupid. The officials repeat to the Emperor the descriptions of the cloth that were given by the swindlers. The swindlers described the colors to the old minister and explained the curious pattern. The old minister listened carefully so he might tell the Emperor what they (the weavers/swindlers) said. “Is it not a beautiful piece of cloth?” said the two swindlers, showing and explaining the magnificent pattern. When the officials accompanied the Emperor to see the cloth, they both repeated again about the cloth being “beautiful”.
9. The child possesses innocence and honesty, whereas the
Emperor and his trusted officials are afraid of being exposed as unworthy of
their positions. Once the child, who did not need to be fit for any office,
could see that nothing was there, then everyone else (except the Emperor and
his servants) could admit it too. Compared to the quality of the material, the
quality of the child’s honesty is truly wonderful.
10. The Emperor was too proud and afraid to back down. He could not admit that he was fooled; he had to maintain his dignity. As stated in the text: “And he held himself stiffer than ever, and the chamberlains walked on, holding up the train which was not there at all.”
11. The swindlers are great actors and
convincing salesmen. They craft their con around people’s insecurities. The
swindlers are good liars.
“They
set up two looms and pretended to be
very hard at work…”
“..they
worked at the empty looms till late into the night.”
The Emperor and his councilmen were
worried that they were unfit for office because they could not see the cloth.
Their own insecurities prevented them from stating what was right in front of
their eyes.
“I
will send my honest old minister to the weavers,” thought the Emperor. “He can
judge best how the cloth looks, for he is intelligent, and nobody is better
fitted for his office than he.”
“Heaven
help us!” “Why I cannot see anything at all,”
“I am
not stupid,” thought the man, “so it must be that I am unfit for my high post.
It is ludicrous, but I must not let anyone know it.”
“Doesn’t my suit fit me beautifully?” And he
(Emperor) turned once more to the mirror so that people would think he was
admiring his garments.
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