The Vicar of Wakefield n/e (Oxford World's Classics)

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Arabella and her father, on learning of the vicar’s arrest, arrive at the jail. Arabella resolves to end the engagement. However, Thornhill is not moved as he had been granted the contract for Arabella’s endowment, and would not need the real marriage.

As it seems like the girls will indeed soon leave for town, the vicar decides to sell the family’s other horse to obtain a better one. This time, he travels to the fair himself.The clearest instance of this disconnect comes through the vicar’s feelings about the women in his family. The vicar’s daughters – both tellingly named after romance heroines – are lovely but silly, and Deborah, though intelligent, is a mother overly-concerned with social status, who lives vicariously through her daughters’ successful romantic matches. Much of the novel’s comedy comes from the mismatch of the vicar with these women. Though he recognizes their vanity, he frequently capitulates to them and gets privately invested in their potential partners even though he refuses to admit it aloud. By chapter ten, the vicar’s entire family “began to think ourselves designed by the stars for something exalted, and already anticipated our future grandeur” (45).

Squire Thornhill begins to visit the family more frequently, and the vicar notes that “the hopes of having him for a son-in-law [as Olivia’s husband], in some measure blinded us to all his imperfections” (70). The greatest evidence of the squire’s intentions comes when the family commissions a portrait of themselves posed as great historical figures, and the squire asks to be included. He is painted as Alexander the Great, sitting at Olivia’s feet. Though the family is overjoyed by his request, they are dismayed to realize that the painting is far too large for their modest home, and hence must be awkwardly propped against a wall. Many townspeople make fun of the situation. there as decently as possible, for who knows what may happen?’‘Your precautions,’ replied I, ‘are highly commendable. A One could see this inconsistency in the vicar as an expression of his love for family. Because he values them above all else, he wishes great things for them, even if what they want contradictions his virtue. Of course, this attitude necessarily means a compromise in virtue. Thomas Preston suggests that one of the novel’s main themes and arcs comes with the vicar’s “purging of his pride of family” so that he can return them to the purity of the hermetic life that enjoy at the novel’s beginning. A poor and eccentric friend, Mr. Burchell, whom they meet at an inn, rescues Sophia from drowning. She is instantly attracted to him, but her ambitious mother does not encourage her feelings. The vicar is a virtuous, religious man who encourages his family to avoid the traps of worldly pleasures, especially after they lose their money. It is telling that he loses his money to a shrewd crook; the fact that he placed all of his money in the hands of one merchant indicates that he truly does not concern himself with financial matters. Instead, the vicar is concerned with his family and values their hermetic, sheltered life in Wakefield. Some critics, like Thomas Preston, have excoriated the vicar as a “pious fraud who is really a money-conscious, fortune-hunting materialist, practising benevolence as a good business investment and his children as annuities for old age.” Certainly, one can see that despite his assertions that money should not matter, he sees the world largely in terms of how much money a person has. Regardless of how one interprets this issue, it is undeniable that he takes great pride in his family.The family endeavours to cope with their betters. The miseries of the poor when they attempt to appear above their circumstances Imagery: The vivid and detailed imagery in the novel creates a rich and immersive reading experience, bringing the setting and characters to life.