The Vicar of Wakefield is a novel written by Oliver Goldsmith. Released in 1766, it tells of the travels and misfortunes of the titular vicar. Though published largely for money, it has become one of the best-known novels of its time (if only due to its influence on several Dictionaries and references in various works).
Scholars are torn on whether Vicar is intended to be a moralistic and sentimental novel or a satire of those novels.
Characters[]
- Dr. Charles Primrose - the titular vicar and our narrator
- Deborah Primrose - the vicar's wife
- Olivia Primrose - one of the vicar's two daughters
- Sophia Primrose - one of the vicar's two daughters
- Mr. Burchell - a poor man whom the vicar befriends
- Squire Thornhill (or Mr. Thornhill) - a local landowner described as being a womanizer
- Sir William Thornhill - Squire Thornhill's uncle
- George Primrose - the vicar's oldest son
- Moses Primrose - the vicar's second son
- Dick Primrose - presumably, the vicar's third son
- Bill Primrose - the vicar's youngest son
- Ephraim Jenkinson - a conman and associate of Squire Thornhill
- Lady Blarney
- Miss Carolina Wilelmina Amelia Skeggs
- Miss Arabella Wilmot - a young woman whom Charles marries George off to
- Mr. Wilmot - the father of Arabella
Publisher's summary[]
'He loved all mankind; for fortune prevented him from knowing there were rascals.'
Oliver Goldsmith's hugely successful novel of 1766 remained for generations one of the most highly regarded and beloved works of eighteenth-century fiction. It depicts the fall and rise of the Primrose family, presided over by the benevolent vicar, the narrator of a fairy-tale plot of impersonation and deception, the abduction of a beautiful heroine and the machinations of an aristocratic villain. By turns comic and sentimental, the novel's popularity owes much to its recognizable depiction of domestic life and loving family relationships.
Regarded by some as a straightforward and well-intentioned novel of sentiment, and by others as a satire on the very literary conventions and morality it seems to embody, The Vicar of Wakefield contains, in the figure of the vicar himself, one of the most harmlessly simply and unsophisticated yet also ironically complex narrators ever to appear in English fiction.
Plot[]
In the town of Wakefield lives one Dr. Charles Primrose. The local vicar, Charles is happily married and has several children (including two daughters with "romantic names" and several sons). The Vicar and his family are kept in good fortunes by an inheritance. Charles decides to marry off his eldest son George to a young woman named Arabella. Right before the wedding, Charles gets into an argument with the young woman's father over monogamy (which Charles is a fervent believer in) and learns that he has been left destitute after his merchant investor was made bankrupt and fled. Due to his sudden bankruptcy, Charles is forced to leave Wakefield.
While George (already educated at Oxford) is allowed to set up on his own, the rest of the Primrose family move onto land owned by one Squire Thornhill - whom Charles learns is a womanizer. Shortly after arriving, Charles Primrose meets a poor man named Mr. Burchell and befriends him. While the two talk about Thornhill's uncle (who is said to be extremely generous if overly emotional) before they notice Sophia being carried away by a nearby stream. Mr. Burchell dives into the stream and saves the young woman from drowning. As the Primroses begin to acclimate to their new environment, they meet Squire Thornhill. Though Olivia is besmirched with the Squire, her father is hesitant to even like the Squire - finding him to be a free-thinking trophy hunter.
While Mr. Burchell begins to bond with Sophia, Squire Thornhill begins to visit the Primroses regularly. During one of these visits, Squire Thornhill invites the Primroses to a ball. While there, he introduces two "ladies of great distinction". Shortly after this ball, Charles finds his family succumbing to vanity. Though he thinks that his family have returned to their humble ways after an embarrassing incident with the family's two horses, they are still visited by members of high society.
The Primroses decides to sell one of their horses. Though Charles is initially hesitant to be rid of the horse, he folds and sends Moses (who is said to have an adept eye for deals) to the market with the horse. After several hours, Moses returns with a box of glasses - having been artfully swindled into buying "worthless" green spectacles. Shortly after this, Deborah has an argument with Mr. Burchell (whom she believes is only staying with the family due to his designs upon their daughters) and effectively boots him from their house. The family decides to sell their other horse, with Charles taking the horse to the market. Unfortunately, the Vicar is swindled by the very same man who swindled his son. On returning, Charles finds his family in tears due to Mr. Thornhill informing them that there is a "malicious person" among them.
After a pocket-book is found, the identity of the "malicious person" is discovered - Mr. Burchell. Shortly after learning of this, the family spots Mr. Burchell walking towards their house. They confront him about his "malicious" nature but Mr. Burchell is completely unfazed by this. Angered, Charles bars him from his house forevermore. After this, the family is seemingly free from all troubles - with their only crisis being the commissioning of a painting which they discover is too large to be moved through their home. Charles attempts to marry off Mr. Thornhill to one of his daughters but the Squire refuses. Shortly after this, the first major crisis that the Thornhills have experienced since moving commences. One night, Olivia is spirited away by a suitor in the middle of the night. Though Charles tries to rush out and catch up with the suitor, his family persuades him not to do so.
Though Charles briefly thinks that the suitor is Thornhill, he is convinced by an unknown person that it is not Thornhill and decides that it must be Mr. Burchell. He sets off in pursuit of his daughter and whom he thinks is Mr. Burchell but is struck down by illness and has to stay in an alehouse for some time. On recovering, Charles meets with the cart of a theatrical company before meeting with someone whom he thinks has ties to the government and being invited to his house. The two engage in a lengthy philosophical debate before the real owners of the house (alongside Arabella, whom is their niece) arrive. Charles learns that the man with whom he had the debate with was their butler. Though the owners of the house wish to fire their butler, Charles convinces them to forgive their butler. Shortly after this, Charles and Arabella watch a play given by the aforementioned theatrical company and discover that George has become an actor.
On seeing his father, George flees but meets with him shortly afterwards to tell his story. Though extremely learned, George found little work for his talents. He began writing a book which included "three paradoxes" within it but this book brought little attention. He soon met Squire Thornhill, who gave George a letter to send to his uncle. Though George thought that this was the start of a job with the exceedingly rich Sir Thornhill, he was severely disappointed. Shortly after this, George was (presumably) sent to the office of one Mr. Crisp. Crisp tried to trick George into permanent slavery but he was saved by a sailor. The sailor offered him a job teaching England in Amsterdam but it was only on arriving in the city that he realized that he did not know a word of Dutch. George then traveled to the University of Louvain intending to teach Greek but got rejected. He then travels through France before meeting one of his "cousins" who had gotten rich by dealing in paintings. This cousin offered to lodge George until his commission ended. During this time, the cousin set up George as a possible tutor. Soon, George became ward to a young heir who was only interested in money. Soon, George is rid of the young man and returned to England shortly afterwards, where he joined the theatrical company.
Once George finishes his story, the two are joined by Squire Thornhill. The Squire announces that he has found a position for George within the military and that he has continued to visit the Primroses. Though his motives seem altruistic, Charles learns from the landlord of a public-house that the Squire is a known womanizer and conman. He also discovers that his wayward daughter is staying at the same public-house and welcomes her back. Though he at first still assumes that his daughter was spirited away by Mr. Burchell, she reveals that it was Thornhill whom stole her away for the purposes of a false marriage. Charles returns home to discover that his house is ablaze. Though Charles' family is able to escape, almost all of their worldly possessions are destroyed.
Shortly after this loss, Squire Thornhill visits the Primroses. The Squire attempts to invite the Primroses to his upcoming wedding with Arabella Wilmot, but Charles absolutely refuses and declares that he will never accept the wedding. The Squire then leaves and Charles is arrested. While he is being brought to the county gaol, a crowd tries to free Charles but he is able to convince them to let justice take its path. Once in jail, Charles meets the swindler who targeted him and Moses and forgives the man. He is soon joined by his family and decides to reform his fellow prisoners. Though at first his fellow prisoners only mock him, they soon begin to listen to the Vicar and his sermons.
A fortnight into the Vicar's sermons, he is visited by Olivia once again. The Vicar finds that his daughter is extremely ill. Olivia (alongside one of the prisoners) attempt to convince him to give his blessing to the wedding but he still refuses. He does agree to send a letter to Sir Thornhill explaining what happened. Three days later, Charles learns that Olivia has died and that Sophia has been kidnapped. Around the same time, Charles' wife sends a letter to George explaining what has happened. Though Charles is worried by this, he is briefly calmed by a letter from George explaining that things are going well within the military (though he has not yet left England). This lasts all of two seconds before George is brought into the jail to be executed for attacking the Squire after receiving his mother's letter.
Seemingly, there is nothing left for Charles in this world but after he gives a lengthy sermon on religion, he learns that Sophia was rescued by Mr. Burchell. Charles (who learned from Olivia that Burchell's motives in sending his letter were to warn them about Squire Thornhill) forgives the savior of his daughter for former missteps. Mr. Burchell soon learns of George's circumstances and reveals himself to be Sir William Thornhill, the Squire's uncle. He has the Vicar released (though he does not yet release Charles) and sets up a meeting with his nephew.
Initially, Sir William sees little wrong with what his son has done but as more and more pieces of the Squire's misdeeds emerge, he sees his son for the conman that he is. Due to this, he decides to pardon George from execution. Arabella soon arrives and learns everything. Though she refuses to go through with the wedding, the Squire reveals that he still has control of her finances. George (whom still loves Arabella) resolves to marry her even if the two have to live in poverty. To spite his "friend", one of the Squire's acquaintances reveals that (instead of using fraudulent papers) he used an actually binding contract in the Squire's marriage to Olivia. As such, the Squire has absolutely no claim to Olivia's fortune. Shortly after this, Charles sees his supposedly dead daughter returning to him. It is revealed that Olivia's death was faked in the hopes that her father would accept the Squire's marriage and save himself.
The next day, Charles learns that his merchant investor has been arrested and that his fortune has been returned to him. That day, Sir Thornhill marries Sophia while George and Arabella get married.
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candide | Voltaire | 1759 | An Early Modern novella with a similar misfortune-filled plot |
| The History of Rasselas | Samuel Johnson | 1759 | An Early Modern novella written largely for money |
| Book of Job | ~7th-3rd century BC | A Biblical book with a similar plot | |
| Joseph Andrews | Henry Fielding | 1742 | A major novel of the Early Modern era with a vaguely similar plot |
| The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling | Henry Fielding | 1749 | A major novel of the Early Modern era |
| Tristram Shandy | Laurence Sterne | 1759-1767 | A major novel of the Early Modern era |
Sources[]
- Wikipedia