The Virtual Coffeehouse

In the text Sartor Resartus, Carlyle has the narrator briefly pose the question of what defines power by presenting the analogy involving the Russian Smuggler on pg 1016. Although the Russian Smuggler is clearly the physically powerful superior within the situation, he isn't able to dominate the narrator because of the narrator's intellect and possession of a gun. He suggests power is defined now by "inventive Spiritualism" rather than mere brawn and the body. This creates a shift from the perspective that manliness and power are possessed by the physically superior to the idea that power is wielded by the intellects.