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
Chapter 1. Pausing briefly before continuing, Tristram urges the reader to take a seat and consider the countryside they have passed through already, which he describes as a wilderness full of jackasses.
Tristram is intentionally ambiguous in describing his “jackasses,” which could refer to his own stories and characters, his critics, his competitors in the literary market, or even his audience.
Themes
Chapter 2. Walter, once he has finishing asking about the white bear with every possible auxiliary verb, proclaims that he will educate Tristram with this method and make him conjugate every word in the dictionary. Yorick suggests that the historical genius Vincent Quirino must have been educated by the same method; Walter adds Alphonsus Tostatus and Peireskius to the list. When Peireskius is mentioned, Toby excitedly reminds his brother of Stevinus’s flying chariot. Walter continues to name child prodigies until Yorick mentions Lipsius, who composed a work the day he was born. Toby comments that this work should have been wiped up.
Walter and Yorick both get carried away, as they impossibly attribute the genius of multiple historical figures to Walter’s newly invented and probably nonfunctional educational system. Toby is utterly lost, becoming interested again only at the thought of Stevinus, and so he completely misunderstands Yorick’s reference to Lipsius. Toby, thinking the “work” Lipsius composed must be some kind of excrement, is disgusted rather than impressed.
Themes
Chapter 3. Dr. Slop attempts to apply his cataplasm to Tristram, asking Susannah to hold a candle for him. Susannah is too squeamish to look and, closing her eyes, accidentally sets fire to Dr. Slop’s wig. Dr. Slop swears at her, and she retorts that she at least never destroyed anyone’s nose, causing Dr. Slop to throw the cataplasm at her as they argue.
This slapstick comedy scene ridicules both Dr. Slop and Susannah. Not only are they both responsible for Tristram’s various disfigurements, but they cannot even focus on treating him as they bicker with each other.
Themes
Chapter 4. Dr. Slop and Susannah continue to argue before going to the kitchen to prepare a different remedy for Tristram.
Tristram is left unattended once again, the cataplasm having failed.
Themes
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Chapter 5. Walter explains to Toby and Yorick his plan to place Tristram in the care of a governor. He insists on having the very best of governors, as the governor will be a tremendous influence on his son, consciously and unconsciously. Walter describes the ways in which a person reveals their true character unthinkingly and demands a governor that does not lisp, squint, wink, pick his nose, walk too fast or too slow, and so on. After Walter has listed off every possible positive quality in a teacher, Yorick adds that the governor should be gentle and good. Toby exclaims that he knows just the man: Le Fever’s son. A tear comes to Toby’s eye, and Tristram promises the reader will see why as they read Le Fever’s story, which he will tell in the next chapter.
Entrusting a child to the care of a governor or governess was common practice in the eighteenth century. It seems impossible, however, than any individual could possess the many qualifications Walter demands from Tristram’s would-be governor—indeed, many of the characteristics are mutually exclusive. Toby, in typical fashion, is moved not by his brother’s long list, but by Yorick’s suggestion of gentleness and goodness as the most important characteristics— characteristics Toby believes that Le Fever’s son embodies.
Themes
