The Way of the Classical Age as Seen in The Vicar of Wakefield: Reasonablenessin Religion

概要

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Major literary works are, as is generally admitted,a mirror in which multiple currents of any particularage are faithfully reflected. Upon readingGoldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield (hereafterreferred to as The Vicar, 1766), one cannot resist animpression that this is especially true of the work.What strikes us is a pervasive atmosphere of harmonybetween man and nature and a keen sense ofpoetry to be enjoyed heartily in the characters' dailylife. These are reflected in the narration byPrimrose the protagonist and Anglican clergyman.True we see in the work signs of an uneasy relationshipbetween the haves and the have-nots due inpart to the abuse of power by the former at the sacrificeof the latter; and due in part to the age's legacyof surviving brutality, the miserable condition of life,and the resulting social ills in the lower order ofsociety. Also, we discern in it signs of the incipientdecay of the traditional village community. Still, thevillage life retains its wholeness and integrity in thefabric of a close-knit human network based on itsagricultural way of life.
2007-06-25