The Men of Tristram Shandy
It is important
to note the frequency of the words “uncle,” “Toby,” and “father” through all
nine volumes of The Life and Opinions of
Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. After removing the articles, these words are
the most frequently used within the book, showing the characters that are most
important to the narrator/author.
The narrative is a collection of the accounts of how these men impacted
and shaped the narrator’s life and opinions. While the narrator does include
women as characters in the narrative, specifically his mother, the widow
Wadman, and Suzannah, the low frequency of their use within the novel suggests
that they are simply minor characters with a specific, practical purpose in
shaping the narrator’s life.
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Gender Identification
The gender
disparity within the novel is further examined when gender specific pronouns
are singled out. Tristram Shandy is
primarily a novel about the men in the narrator’s life and how their specific
obsessions helped shape his personal narrative. “He,” “his,” and “man” occur significantly
more than “she” and “woman.” The feminine possessive “hers” does not occur
anywhere within the novel, suggesting that women simply exist within the
context of men within the narrative. As readers, we are given great detail into
the background of the men – why they have the particular hobby-horses they do,
how they think about their world, the impact they have on those around them,
and most importantly – in what capacity they have shaped Tristram’s life and
opinions.
Fortune (and fortunes) appear a combined total of
thirty-three times throughout the novel, while misfortune and misfortunes
appear a total of thirty-nine. Fortune is defined by the OED
as “Chance, hap, or luck, regarded as a cause of events and changes in men's
affairs,” and fortune is also “[o]ften (after Latin) personified as a goddess,
‘the power supposed to distribute the lots of life according to her own humour’
(Johnson).”
While Tristram does occasionally use fortune in terms of his
wealth, the majority of the uses are referring either to his luck or chance, or
to Fortune as a woman. One of the novel’s biggest concerns is what determines
the outcome of one’s life and in many cases, Tristram attributes what happens
to himself and to others to Fortune and to fate or the Fates, also personified
as deities. Most of Tristram’s problems, and the problems of other people, are
attributed to chance or luck, or, in other words, fortune. This suggests that
Tristram believes that what most affects the outcome of one’s life is out of
our hands—gods, fortune, and accidents.
Laurence Sterne Unbridled
“They ran the scent the wrong way. – The world bridled his
ass at the tail. – And when the exstreams of DELICACY, and the beginnings of
CONCUPISCENCE, hold their next provincial chapter together, they may decree
that bawdy also” (279). – Laurence Sterne, Tristram
Shandy
The above graph shows the frequency of usage of the
words: horse, horses, reins,
bridle and bridled. From the quote
that follows it, we can see that being bridled is not necessarily referring to
horses, but more to the control that the writing and publishing community (even
society in general) was trying to have over Laurence Sterne. Immediately after the use of bridled,
he speaks of concupiscence and the bawdiness of the next chapter. Sterne seems to be making a statement
against being controlled in his writing.
He wished to continue to write as he wanted. While not all of the references to horses and bridles in the
text are statements to that effect, enough of them clearly are that it would be
beneficial to examine all of the other such uses more closely.
Reining in the Hobby-Horse
In the graph, the full term of hobby-horse has been
excluded. Of course, hobby-horse
is a term very frequently referred to by Sterne in Tristram Shandy. Since
it has been established in the previous observation that bridled is used in
terms of the control that Sterne is rebelling against, it would also help to
speak briefly of hobby-horses and the frequent references to them. In terms of control, the characters in
the novel have a difficult time in controlling their various hobby-horses: Uncle Toby and Trim have their war
reenactments. Walter has, it would
seem, many hobby-horses that he rides.
Tristram also hops on the hobby-horse from time to time in his multiple
digressions. Laurence Sterne’s own
hobby-horse of rebellious, bawdy writing is equally uncontrolled or unbridled
as it flies in the face of the editors, publishers and other judges of
publishable literature in Sterne’s time.
Even the general public at the time, despite rushing out to buy the volumes
as soon as they were available, would judge him as bawdy and raunchy. We all must have our hobby-horses.
I was surprised
at the lack of the word pettifogging in the text despite Tristram and Yorick
being tricksters. This word is only used twice throughout the entire
novel. Pettifogging is defined in
the OED as “That is, or acts as, a pettifogger; of, relating to, or
characteristic of pettifoggers; mean, shifty (now rare). Now usually:
petty, quibbling.” Even though that word is only used in Vol. II and Vol. V, it
is prevalent throughout the novel. In the the beginning of the novel, Mrs.
Shandy uses trickery in the form of lying about her being pregnant to give
birth in London. Yorick is known to be a trickster so I believe this word
personifies Yorick.
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