Oliver Goldsmith - The Vicar of Wakefield PDF

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Lecture notes on The Vicar of Wakefield...

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Oliver Goldsmith - The Vicar of Wakefield Context - Published 1766 - Has never been out of print - was hugely popular and remained so - “Singular novel” - difficult to characterise The Vicar - Uncertainty and attraction centre on the Clergyman/Vicar himself - First person narrative of his own tale - written by the Vicar himself - “A stranger to men” - lives in isolation - Not experienced in navigating social situaitons - naive yet being learned - Doesnt really understand human nature - not acquainted with fashionable society - Simple man Story - Biblical account of Job - righteous man who loses everything but remains steadfast in faith - maintains faith - Limitations of human beings - Profound moral questions - how can the all-powerful God let the innocent suffer? - But the novel itself is comic The Vicar as Patriarch - He is keen on authority but cannot control his family - Not a perfect character - Moemnts with Goldsmith making fun on the narrator - Eventually the Vicar does exert power and authority in the proper, dignified way - he becomes an exemplary figure Morality - When he loses Olivia - “the first of our real misfortunes” - shows that people are more important than things - he doesnt reject her when she is found - Prodigal Son story - Sexual morality in the 18th century was absolutely total in some spheres - Some considered a woman’s loss of virginity as going against conventional morlaity - Vicar acts according to true Christian morality of forgiveness - shows true moral calibre The Idyll of tradition rural life - The Primroses became part of pastoral life - “equal strangers to opulence and poverty” - social ideal - Domestic world - simplicity, enjoyment, contentment - Pastoral natural world - easy landscape and civilised - Problems arise in the predatory sexuality of Mr. Thornhill - Also as seen in the women, the lure of “the Town” and “to be fine” in appearance - Operations between the country and the city seen in text

Nadir: The Prison - Lowest point of the novel, but for Primrose it is the most effective - The prison becomes a utopian space where one can imagine reform Extra -

Town vs. country Modernity vs. idyllic tradition Country vs. prison progress (modernity) Tradition vs reformation Absent ruler device of drama Deus ex machina, but also a very real authority figure Role of Mr. Burchell/Mr. Thornhill The Vicar of Wakefield and the larger structures of authority...