Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tristram Shandy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Truth, Fiction, and Storytelling
Language and Comprehension
Travel, Space, and Time
Sexuality and Propriety
Science, Technology, and the Enlightenment
Summary
Analysis
Slawkenbergius’s Tale. Tristram includes the original Latin alongside his translation of Slawkenbergius’s tale, He points out that the original is written more concisely and with more “Latinity” than Slawkenbergius’s philosophy. The tale goes as follows: One day in August, a stranger rides a mule into Strasbourg. At the gate, he tells the sentinel that he is coming from the Promontory of Noses and will continue on to Frankfurt before returning to Strasbourg in a month on his way to Crimea. The stranger’s enormous nose shocks the sentinel. After the stranger has passed him by, he argues with a drummer over whether the nose is real. A similar argument unfolds between a trumpeter and his wife. When the trumpeter’s wife declares she will touch the nose to find out, the stranger exclaims that he will never let anyone touch his nose. An innkeeper and his wife also argue about the nose, and after the innkeeper’s wife also tries to touch it, the stranger rides away.
Tristram’s “translation” of Slawkenbergius’s tale clearly includes a great deal of invention, too, as it is much longer than the original. This story, like much else in Tristram’s novel, draws heavily from Cervantes’s Don Quixote and is simultaneously a parody and a homage. It is unclear if the Promontory of Noses is a real place or not; likewise, it does not geographically make sense that the stranger will return to Strasbourg from Frankfurt on his way to Crimea, as Strasbourg is west of Frankfurt and very far from Crimea (today part of Ukraine). The scandal caused by the stranger’s nose once again suggests the lewd interpretation of “nose” as “penis,” despite Tristram’s strenuous denials that that is the case.
Themes
Though the stranger has left town, news of his nose has thrown Strasbourg into a frenzy. The stranger ignorantly rides on to Frankfurt, all the while pining for his mistress Julia, before stopping at an inn and peacefully falling asleep. Back in Strasbourg, all the nuns, monks, and priests are awake all night thinking about the nose. Social order breaks down, and all the residents are desperate to touch the nose. The witnesses gather together to educate the populace, debating if the nose could be real or not. The debate turns to the Promontory of Noses, then to theology. Tristram digresses, explaining a contemporaneous debate between the Protestant and Catholic universities of Strasbourg, who used astrology to calculate the exact time of Martin Luther’s damnation—more proof of Tristram’s father’s theory of names.
The theological debate prompted by the stranger’s nose casts an embarrassing light on religion, as the various religious sects use any opportunity to argue that their position is the correct one. Tristram’s reference to Martin Luther and his supposed damnation is equally damning for the religious universities; using astrology, a pagan practice, to calculate the exact moment of Martin Luther’s damnation is itself a deeply sinful act, though this irony is lost on the theologians.
Themes
The citizens are Strasbourg soon split into Nosarians and Antinosarians, with the Catholics joining the former and the Protestants the latter. On the day the stranger is due to return, an enormous group intercepts him on the road. Slawkenbergius’s calculations, Tristram comments, are so improbable that they must be incorrect. Slawkenbergius emphasizes that this is the “catastrophe” of his tale and divides the previous events into categories of Greek drama as follows: A traveler, on the way to Strasbourg, reasons that he does not have enough money to travel to such a majestic city and returns to the inn instead. There he meets the stranger whom he recognizes as Diego, the man he has been looking for: the traveler, Fernandez, is Julia’s brother and has been looking for Diego (Julia’s lover) on her behalf.
The social divisions that the stranger’s nose has caused in Strasbourg recall the division between Catholicism and Protestantism, as Slawkenbergius (or Tristram?) pokes fun at the human desire to interpret any event as proof of one’s own pre-existing beliefs. The revelation of the stranger’s Spanish background once again hints at the story’s indebtedness to Cervantes. Slawkenbergius’s commentary on his own tale, comparing it to Greek tragedy, also jokingly alludes to the unoriginal nature of the story.
Themes
Fernandez gives Diego Julia’s letter imploring him to return to her and apologizing for sending him away. Diego agrees to return to Julia and writes the first stanza of an ode to Julia on the wall of the inn before departing with Fernandez. Meanwhile, the citizens of Strasbourg wait for three days on the road before returning home in disappointment. Slawkenbergius then places his tale in the context of Strasbourg’s history, explaining how the populace was too proud to accept imperial guards and subsequently fell under the influence of France. While the citizens were waiting for the stranger, the French army entered the open city. This is neither the first nor the last fortress captured by Noses, Slawkenbergius cautions.
The disappointment of the citizens of Strasbourg quickly turns to tragedy as Slawkenbergius weaves his tale into history itself, claiming (implausibly) that the stranger’s nose led to the French capture of Strasbourg. Slawkenbergius’s cryptic warning that this is not the only fortress captured by noses again suggests that the sexual innuendo is indeed deliberate, and that “noses” refer to penises and “fortresses” to virtue or virginity.
Themes
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Chapter 1. Tristram argues that given the significance of noses to Walter, it is no surprise that he reacted so dramatically to the news of Dr. Slop crushing Tristram’s nose. Tristram then returns to Slawkenbergius, though he says he won’t reveal whether the stranger’s nose was real until after he’s told the tenth tail, “The Intricacies of Diego and Julia.” Tristram then stops short, praises the strange excellence of Slawkenbergius’s writing, and declares that he is not capable of translating this tale from Latin.
After a long, long, digression, Tristram has finally explained why his father was so despondent at the news that his newborn son’s nose had been crushed. Tristram’s declaration that he is incapable of translating the rest of Slawkenbergius’s tales from casts doubt on the accuracy of the tale he has just told, especially given the obvious liberties he has already taken with the translation.
Themes
Chapter 2. After an hour and a half of lying still on the bed, Walter begins to tap his foot on the floor. Toby is relieved but still refrains from consoling his brother, fearing that he will misspeak and upset Walter more. Toby’s smile, however, heartens Walter as he turns around.
Toby’s gentle nature is able to comfort Walter more than his words ever could, yet another instance in which the unconscious passions of the human mind trump logic and reason.
Themes
Chapter 3. Walter asks Toby if a man has ever suffered so many lashes as he has. Toby answers that a grenadier in Makay’s regiment received the most he ever saw, and Walter collapses back onto the bed in frustration.
Walter’s metaphorical use of “lashes” goes over his brother’s head, causing Toby to respond literally.
Themes
Chapter 4. Toby asks Trim for the details about the whipped grenadier, and Trim immediately becomes emotional, proclaiming the grenadier’s innocence. Trim cannot think about the grenadier or his brother Tom without crying. The three of them went to school together. As Trim bemoans the tragedies that befell Tom and Dick Johnson, the grenadier, his sincerity makes Walter blush. Despite his powerful sense of empathy, Trim affirms that he has no sorrow of his own, and Toby promises to care for him for the rest of his life. This further heartens Walter, until Toby confesses that he has left Trim the bowling green and a pension.
Trim’s sense of justice is easily enflamed, and his grief is so genuine that it moves Walter despite the fact that it was prompted by a complete misunderstanding. Toby’s confession reveals both the depth of his love for Trim and, once again, his total lack of financial responsibility, as he promises Trim gifts rather than saving and investing in his family’s wealth.
Themes
Chapter 5. Walter asks himself how Toby can talk about pensions and grenadiers at a time like this.
Having briefly forgotten himself, Walter remembers the source of his grief—and with it, his annoyance.
Themes
Chapter 6. Tristram describes Walter’s position on the bed after he has collapsed again. Walter slowly rises up after Trim has left the room, making the same small movements, and turns to address Toby.
Tristram’s elaborate description of his father’s pose reflects his belief that human passions and ideas are revealed in subtle, unconscious, and often physical ways.
Themes
