The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman. General and romantic analisis about this breaker book

The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman. General and romantic analisis about this breaker book

Depression, fatal and inevitable destiny, calamity, unfair sistem, enger, furious, rage  etc.

Tristam Shandyis plenty of romantic aspects. However this fack, it could be more related

with the self-consciousness´s mainstream. In the first chapter we will observe a miserable

men, who complains about a despotic system that limits liberty. Later we will notice the

allusion about fatal invitable and ineludible destiny when Tristram Shandy would cover

the issue of his future (in which he is at a standstill and he can't improve) with rage anger,

and a bit of desperation. 

The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy gentleman, which is well know as Tristram

Shandy starts whit a men who is going to express that he was born when their parents

had economic problems so we can perceived that by when he had grown he may have

problems relateds to money and social classes. Moreover, we are going to see an unfair

system which separates lower classes from upper classes and from well-to-do classes. 

The romantic idea of a wretched men is intensified in the chapter III when we advertise

that Tristram Shandy has to live in a tensión familiar atmosphere due to the writer

represents the situation of his mother being selfish and not understanding anything, so

her partner criticised her saying that she only cares about her own things and didn't

bother herself to understand anything. Not the case of Toby Shandy, who understands it

perfectly. 

In chapter VI the idea of him as an unhappy and fed up person is restarted and developed

accompanied by a critic of what he considers and unfair social classes system. 

In this chapter VI we can see how Tristram Shandy is ironic by saying that he would have

preferred not to have been born at first place, due to the fact that he describes hearth as an

evil and disastrous place with plenty of calamities by saying that If you are born with

rights and privileges, you will be able to achieve a good title or degree as he doesn’t have

any of those. Also, even though he said that the world is not as good as anyone could

have expected, it is good enough in case of having those privileges. However, even if you

have privileges, you will have to make an effort to achieve your objectives. We can also

see irony and humor when he speculates about what planets would like to be born and

what planets he wouldn't, this contributes to make a transformation of the cruel vision of

the world that he has by comical comments to  relax the situacion. 

In addition, we can see that he humanizes himself by admitting that he is not perfect and

that he has suffered many calamities (he describes him as a sustancial and basic hero

stoned by life). This resource helps us to see him in a real and close way.  Furthermore,

by this way, he serializes the complaint about the difference between social classes. 

In this chapter (chapter VI) The protagonist has very low self-esteem because he

represents himself as an idiot that needs to put on a fool's cap with a bell on it and by the

way we see that he describes himself as a fool in a very humiliating way.

These depressing facets are fortifieds in chapter VII when he did the description of his mather in that moment. Tristam Shandy´s mother was at this moment a widow who was forty seven years old (whose husband had gone) with three or four young children. At that moment she had a good reputation and she didn't speak much. She was an object of sympathy with many anguish and silent, this fact caused the wife’s parish priest to feel pity for this widow (Tristram Shandy´s mother). The priest´s wife felt sorry for the widow having often lamented the inconvenience that she had with her husband’s flock had been exposed for many years ( since there was no midwife, of any kind or degree, the case had never been so urgent).

The priest´s woman thought that it would be a good option  to the parish and to the child

(I think that it must be referring to Tristram Shandy when he was young) teaching him

about how the job functioned in order to help him to manage it. This event occurred to

him and for that it would be a reasonable and kind way to the whole parish, as well as to

the poor creature himself, to instruct him a little, in some of the basic principles of the

business so that he would settle in it. 

In truth, the priest joined his interest to that of his wife in the whole affair; and to do

issues as they should be, and give to the soul such a good title by law to exercise, as his

wife had given it by institution, he himself gladly paid the ordinary license fees, which

amounted, in total, eighteen shillings and four pence. Here we can perceive an speck of

benefit in Tristram Shandy´s life, but this only happens in this case. All the other stories

are touched by calamity. 

The tension which hide the Tristram Shandy family became to be seen in chapter XV

onwards in which happen that:

Chapter XV

Tristram Shandy show us his mother´s  marriage sttelmen to refer her desire to have her

child in London. However, if she had his baby in London she would lose a great deal of

privileges, which finally occurred. 

Chapter XVI

The father was annoyed due to the great expense that they had to face going to London,

as well as the fact that his crops were neglected. He was disappointed for having lost a son,

for this reason he complained all the way. The clause that established that the wife would

lose his privileges if the husband did what the wife wanted was put by Toby.

Chapter XVII 

The father demanded to fulfill the clause, forcing her to have her following baby on the

farm.

Chapter XVIII

The mather decided that the midwife would be the one to assist her birth. The father was

afraid of losing his child o the farm, since people could blame him for not letting his wife

to have the baby in London. The father tried to convince his wife to call the scientific

operator (the men that wrote about labour who was mention before) who was an expert in

midwifering but the mother relied on the midwife.

Chapter XX

The author is angry due to the fact that he thinks that you have been distracted in the last

episode. As a punish, he required you (he refers you like if you were a woman) to read

again the last chapter. 

The author sais that he won't apologise for that, because people should internalize the

lecture (searching it's erudition and knowledge) , owing to advance only to search their

adventures. 

Tristram Shandy insists on the fact that you have to read the antepenultimate line of the

last chapter which said that he would have been born before to have been baptised.

People don't focus on scientific, philosophical and moral aspects due to theier impatience. 

He wait the fact that the reader did not have lost many knowledge and moral while they

were reading the book as has happened whit the women lector which the author refers,

who are you. He hope that everyone who are good, learn to read and to think correctly. 

Chaos and rupture

Mistery thought the literary term of obfuscation and thought paranormals and similars

phenomena is other romantic characteristic that we notice when Tristram Shandy speaked

about that the silly question that formulated his mother had shooed away his animals

protectors spirits. This is a metaphor used to express that he was angry with his mather.

Furthermore due to this expressed in an unclear way we are going to see chaos not only

in the way of expression, or in the obfuscation by using estilistic figures, but also in the

fack that they are going to happen things that they are going to be cahotics by themselves

(The future abortion which didn´t want neithern Mr Shandy nor Mrs Shandy, the Yoricks

priest´s dead, the fear of his father of losing other baby, the fack that the mather would

give birth to her child in London since there must be better medical attencion, searching

control the situation and finishing losing his baby anyway etc.)

The romantic chaos in this book is strengthen if we take into account the strong rupture

which mades with the Aristotelian precets. Nevertheless to start we will have to explain

the basic Aristotelian´s canons which are four. There four canons are the unity of time, space, action and clarity, which say that: 

Time in the work shouldn't ocupate more than one day. In addition this must be linear

without flashbacks or anything which would affect time owing to searching that receivers

don´t get lost following the development of the actions. 

It isn´t recommended that two actions happen at the same time since people might be confused which is related to the units of space and action. 

Least but not least Aristoteles established in his Poetics that every book and work must be

expressed in a clear way to be understanded

Obfuscation is also seen when he names himself homunculus instead of saying baby.

Furthermore, it express and described him as an infant in a quite unclear way

These qualities are so visible that the main author shows them speaking about them in

chapter IV in which Shandy classifies people between readers and non readers, he refers

to the non readers as some good people, but there are some of them whose actitudes

change when it comes to understanding some disruptive opinions from the writer. So he

tried to please them by suppressing some of his assumptions. In addition, he also speaks

about the fact that his ideas and nature (that could allow everything) stands out in the

world in a way that would create some disturbances even at some jobs and areas of the

society which he is part of. Also, Shandy defines his book as Montaigne did, he was

afraid of not being accepted by the rules that literature has, but as we see on further lines.

Tristam Shandy sees as an important issue consulting people and goes slowly with his

explanations and referring to other authors ideas , so for this reason he is also proud of

himself for having begun this book where he has represented his life (going slowly and

referring to many authors and ideas. . 

However, he knows that if he narrates his history by this way(making time jumps,

interrupting again and again the principal action, etc.), he won't obey the Horace precepts.

(Horace established in his Poetics, the Aristotelian precepts who said that only one action

could happen  in order to achieve that people don’t lose in the story. For this reason he also

established that there shouldn't be time jumps and that the story and action shouldn’t to be

prolonged over time telling that the story shouldn't spend more than twenty four hours.)

Nevertheless, he dares to write something that is not attached to any rule and also drops

that there are different writes(owriters?) which cannot be compared for their similarities.

Tristram Shandy suggests by an indirect way that we don’t have to be so inflexible with

the use of the classical rules by making an advertation to us, remarking that this chapter is

only for curious and inquisitive people. Furthermore, we can see that he will play with that

fact known as breaking classical rules or that he will be trying something new. 

Tristram Shandy makes a flashback in which he speaks about when he was conceived. He

refers to something that happened before he was born in order to allude to the reason why

he is so particular. However, he didn’t explain that anecdote. 

We can perceived that as occurs with self-consciousness, not only he goes to one point to

another in what seems an irregular  chaotic and random manner, aparentaly used to address

one specific issue, but still works as an excuse to express and  vent his personal and

internal feelings and the fact that he needed to express himself. He is continuously

breaking and playing whit the Aristotelian rules, as a result of this we observe that in

chapter IV Tristram Shandy plays with the classical lineal development of the action by

breaking it. In the first place, at the beginning it seems that he will explain the anecdote

shown before by using his father's figure alluding to the fact that his father knew that

anecdote, but then, we can rapidly realise that speaks about his father saying that he was a

man with very fixed regular habits.

In chapter VI he recognized that his way of expression is very unclear until that point that

he finally end saying that he is sorry for that.  In chapter VI he apologises for having said

so many calamities about his life, and for having exposed upon the reader his frustrations

and negative energy. Nevertheless says that he is going to continue explaining his life in

the same way. We can think that he refers to his confusing way of expression, in which

when he is speaking about a topic he constantly strays/goes out of that topic. He could

have also referred to the fact that he usually repeats the same issues or ideas. Other point

that he made is his narrative way of expression that can be seen as the reader continues

the story about the life of Tristam Shandy, who is the writer of the book and this is the

main reason why he characterizes himself as a tedious person. Due to the fact that he is

not going to change his way of expression, he starts to ask you about having patience with

him and affirms that if you have gone so far, you must know something about him

(Tristram Shandy) and that this probably will end in a nice friendship. 

In chapter VII we observe again obfuscation in form and in the way of expression because

instead of saying that he was born told us that he went out of a little hole which must be

the vagina of his mother, to another bigger hole which is their parent’s farm. Nevertheless

in the book he didn't clarifies after a while in any moment that any of that holes could be

neither his mum´s vaginas nor his father´s farm,  since later only speaked about that the

big hole was the farm. 

The importance of self expression

The Romantic significance importance  of the expression of the internal feelings is

showed i chapter III in which we perceive that he has a close affection to his uncle Toby.

What is more, in chapter III Tristam Shandy said that he is in debt with his uncle Toby. 

This is also showed in chapter VI in which we see that Tristam SHandy really needs to

show his life and feelings as a necessity more than a craving.

In chapters VIII and IX Tristram Shandy speaks about that he wants to sell a dedication

and aks if anyone want to buy it. Next of this he describe his dedication as an incredible

and remarcable masterpiece by idealising aspects of it in a quite hiperbolic mode that it

could be considered ridiculous.After this said that he was going to give the sum of money

to Mr Dodsley (which is confusing since in first place he speak about selling it and he

finish giving money money for it, which is absurd). Nevertheless the absurd is common

and normal in this book. This could be related whit chaos

In chapter X we perceived a connection between the priest Yorick and Don Quixote in a

comparison which characterises Yorick as an antiheroe if we based in the similarities that

they maintain them and their horses, and what´s more both were beaten. 

Here we can see fatal destiny due to even if Yorick's friend told him that he ought not to

ridiculing and mocking about everyone every time he could, and even if he advice him

that this may bring horrible consequences, Yorick didn't notice and regret until it was too

late and was murdered by an anger crowd. The romantic remarcable aspects would be that

Yorick´s friend could´t do anything to avoid this tragedy and that Yorick's death sorrows

in Tristram Shandy and in Yorick´s friend(Eugenious) . This fact is strenhed in The black

folders  which represents Tristram´s sadness and mourning due to the death of his beloved

Yorick. This mourning text also works as an epitaph and as an elegy. Yorick is killed in

chapter XII. The efusive way in which Yorick and his friend Eugenious say goodbye to

each other is really sad and emotional which intensifies romanticism in the work.