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Originally Posted by bfisher
Could the story of The Vicar of Wakefield fairly be described as man-in-a-hole? |
Perhaps it could be a Cinderella plot because of a few good turns in the beginning including George's engagement to Arabella, but overall I think you're right that Man in a Hole is probably more correct. It seems I suppose similar to Pride and Prejudice from the article in that it could be either. The difference is the fall comes later in the Austen so if push comes to shove I'd say Pride and Prejudice is a Cinderella plot and The Vicar a Man in a Hole.
The interesting thing about The Vicar of Wakefield and these plots is how long the fall and how quick the rise. I'm imagining what the similar graph it would have compared to the others in that article and the fall would look precipitous and turn sharply and steeply upwards at the end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bfisher
The second half of this novel reminded me very much of Candide, and losing satirical edge.
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The humour and satire took a back seat the second half. It was almost like an entirely different genre of book since the humour was almost completely replaced by seriousness and sentimentality. I wonder if the humour had been maintained similarly all the way through if it would have held up even more famously through the centuries.
One piece of humour I did like near the end was the wife's unhappiness at not being able to sit in a particular position at the table to carve the meat for everyone. Perhaps I appreciated it the more for the dearth of humour the last half of the book compared to the first, but I just found it funny how easily Goldsmith creates humour from short sentences of small annoyances.