Literary Analysis for The Vicar of Wakefield.
The Vicar of Wakefield, written by Oliver Goldsmith in 1766, is a story of a family and their struggles with life. From the beginning to the end, the Primrose family is faced with adversity after adversity, until in the end, where all the wrongs are "righted". This book has many unique characteristics, which sets it apart from most other books, as it also easily keeps the interest of the reader because of all the plot changes. From action to character to point of view to setting to style, The Vicar of Wakefield is a story unlike any other of its time.
First, the action of the story makes The Vicar of Wakefield a story very unique to its time. From beginning to near the end, the Primrose family is faced with many unlikely struggles of life. As soon as they would recover from one major catastrophe, another would follow. There are many examples of this. First, the Primrose family must move from the wealthiest class in England to the lowest class because Dr. Primrose loses his job as a priest. Finally, after months of convincing, the Primrose family moves on and accepts the fact that they all will have to work together to support the family. But shortly after that, their eldest daughter Olivia and their best hope to get them out of poverty by marrying a rich man is kidnapped. This sets the family into a frenzy. They all seem to be lost until Dr. Primrose pulls the family together. Just as he pulls the family together and makes them realize that they will not see Olivia again, another struggle rears its ugly head. As they come home from a hard day's work, they find their house on fire. It burns to the ground, and the family loses everything. Then, a couple days later, the owner of the house says that it was their fault the house burned down, and since they are late on many rent payments, he puts Dr. Primrose in jail. Everything seems to be all but over for the family, but a miracle happens.
The Vicar of Wakefield: Notes on Chapters 25-32 This section opens with the Dr. ... Primrose's parishioners who have come with weapons to defend the Vicar. ... After the other prisoner begins a educational verse, the Vicar realizes this is the old man who swindled him out of a horse. ...
Before Charles was 12, the boy had read the contents of the paternal library, which consisted of "Roderick Random," "Peregrine Pickle," "Humphrey Clinker," "Tom Jones," "The Vicar of Wakefield," "Don Quixote," "Gil Blas," "Robinson Crusoe," "The Arabian Knights," "Mrs. ...
