18th Century Prose ( Assignment Paper 8 )
The eminent critic Matthew Arnold has rightly called the 18th century “the age of prose and reason”. The 18th century literature was mainly the product of reason and intelligence. The dominance of reason made the literature of this period critical, didactic and satirical. The reason manifested itself such as good sense, rationalism, intellect, wit, and was opposed to excessive emotionalism, sentimentalism, extravagance, and imagination. A general search after rationality which set in the age of Dryden culminated in this age. A great bulk of 18th century prose is devoted to the journalistic issues, pamphlets and magazines. Moreover the age saw the rise of two popular genres of prose literature, the novel and the periodical essays. The prose of this age has the qualities of modern style characterised by simplicity, lucidity and clarity.
Daniel Defoe works can be divided into two groups, political writings and fictions. Defoe wrote a number of political tracts and pamphlets. Many of them were published in his own journal, ‘The Review’ which is considered to be the fore runner of ‘The Tatler’ and ‘The Spectator’. Its main aim was to make the English people acquaint with the thoughts of Defoe on international politics and commerce. ‘The Review’ comes nearer to the periodical essay proper in the section called ‘Advice From Scandalous Club’ which is described as “being a weekly history of nonsense, impertinence, vice and debauchery”. Later, it was separated from the main portion and was distinguished by the title ‘The Little Review’ in which the element of news took all the gossip and moral criticism. He contributed number of essays on the vices and follies of society and on the minor morals of the day.
His works in fiction were all produced in the latter parts of his life. The first work being ‘Robinson Cursoe’ . It was followed by ‘Duncan Campbell’ ( 1720 ), Memoirs Of Cavalier ( 1720 ), ‘Captain Singleton’ ( 1720 ), ‘Mollflanders, A journal of the plague year ( 1722 ), ‘Roxana’ ( 1724 ), and ‘A New Voyage Round The World’. These stories in fiction are all picaresque in matter and form. The hero who is the narrator constitutes the chief element of unity. Defoe conceals his personality behind that of the hero yet his personal attitude towards life is revealed clearly in each. Robinson Cursoe is Defoe’s masterpiece and one of the most enduring fables of western culture. The story is derived from the experience of ‘Alexander Selkirk’ who was wrecked on the island of Juan Fernandez off the coast of chile and who remained their for 5 years. Crusoe makes a kingdom of his own on this new island. His relations with first xeury then with his manfriday is of master and slave. Crusoe can also be seen as a coloniser, who establishes on the island a model of his own society. Defoe’s best known heroine ‘Mollflanders’ is an autobiography of a prostitute. It shows the writer’s knowledge of English social and economic life. Moll uses her beauty to achieve financial security and it becomes a commodity and she tries to sell it in the higher market. The stories of Defoe presents a realistic narrative with a matter of fact, business, lifestyle appropriate to the stories of actual life.
Jonathan Swift published on a variety of topics. He is called as ‘prince of English satirist’. In his satires he lashes at all kinds of aberration ( disorder ), every kind of affectation, hypocrisy, folly and pretension comes under his lash. The most important of his satires are ‘The Battle Of The Books’ ( 1704 ), ‘A Tale Of A Tub’ ( 1704 ) and ‘Gullivers Travels’. The theme of the first is the dispute between ancient and modern authors. A Tale Of Tub was meant to be a satire on the numerous and gross corruption in religion and learning. It represented the church of England as the best of all churches in doctrine and discipline and also lashed at the shallow writer and critics of the age. Gulliver’s Travels is the most famous of swifts work. In it he savagely indicated ( accused ) “ that animal called man”. Though it had been considered a comic fable for children but it is a severe attack on the political parties of the time and on the pointlessness on religious controversies between different denominations within Christianity. ‘The Voyage To Liliput’ and ‘Brobbingnay’ satirises the politics of England and Europe that to Laputa mocked the philosophies and the last to the country of Houyhnhnms, lacerated and defiled the whole body of humanity. Houyhnhnms presented, was a race of rational, clean, civilised horses who are contrasted with the foul, brutal, uncivilised Yahoos, a race of ape - like beasts. The beastly yahoos represents Swifts conception of man. This book shows him to be a misanthrope ( hater of man ).
Swift despises all unnecessary ornamentation. His style is masked by directness, vigour and simplicity. So, convincing in his prose that the reader never looses the sense of reality, of being present as an eyewitness of the most impossible events. According to him, “proper words in proper places makes the true definition of style”.
Joseph Addison has written nearly 400 essays which are nearly uniform in length. He attacks all the little vanities an all the big vices of his time, not in Swift’s terrible way, which makes us feel hopeless of humanity, but with the kind of ridicule and gentle humour which takes a speedy improvement for granted. His essays reflect the distant observations of the life of the time. He sets out to be mild sensor of the morals of the age. Most of his composition deals with topical subjects such as fashion, manners, modes of conversation and vices like gambling, drinking, duelling ( fight between two person ). Addison’s first contribution to ‘The Tatler’ which Steele began appeared first in number 18. Henceforward, he wrote regularly for the paper contributing about 42 essays in number. In the same year Steele began ‘The Spectator’ which was issued daily. In ‘The Spectator’, Addison rapidly became the dominating spirit, wrote 274 essays out of a complete total of 555. Addison also made remarkable contribution to literary criticism. In his essays, he sort to develop the literary taste of his readers. He discussed drama and poetry in his essays. In the Spectator, he published 18 papers on the Paradise Lost helping the readers to have a better understanding and appreciation of Milton.
Credit goes to Addison for painting pictures of men and manners admirably outside the genre of drama. His papers of The Spectator dealt with such leading figures of The Spectator club as ‘Will Honeycomb’ a middle aged man of fashion, ‘Sir Andrew Freeport’, a merchant and Mr. Spectator, a shy person who hears some resemblance to himself, and especially with the eccentricities of the amusing Tory Squire, Sir Roger De Coverley. Though in scattered papers of the Spectator, one cannot have the sustained interest which is must for a novel but we cannot regard but this great development in the characterisation as a stage in the evolution of the genuine novel. Some of his essays, concerning episodes from Sir Roger De Coverley’s life makes it a modern novel in germ. While commenting on Addison’s contribution to the development of the English novel, ‘E Albert says :
“If Addison had pinned the Coverley papers together with a stronger plot, if instead of only referring to the widow who had stolen the nights affection, he had introduced some important female characters, we should have had the first regular novel in our tongue…”
Addison contribution to the development of English prose style is equally praiseworthy. He perfected English prose as an instrument for the expression of social thought. It was he who, more than anyone else invented the middle style, something between the grave stately diction of formal writing and the free, easy speech of everyday. The style that is needed in almost all human discourse.
Richard Steele finds his place in literature as a miscellaneous essayist, his fertile mind gave literature many inventions. He started ‘The Tatler’ in 1709, ‘The Spectator’ in 1716 and several other short timed periodicals such as ‘The Guardian’ ( 1713 ), ‘The Englishman’ ( 1713 ), ‘The Reader’ ( 1714 ) and ‘Chit-Chat’ ( 1716 ). Steele’s working alliance with Addison was so close and so constant that comparison between them is inevitable. Together they gave people their most loveable characters such as ‘Will Honeycomb’ and ‘Sir Roger De Coverley’. Around the later many essays were built ( composed ), sweetened with good natured and light humour. ‘The Tatler’ was a single sheet paper that came out 3 times a week and in the beginning consisted of short paragraphs or topics related to domestic, foreign, literature and theatre and gossip. Each topic fell under the heading of a specific place such as a coffee house where the discussion was most likely to take place. He gave expression to the public dislike of gambling and argued that duelling was senseless and gusty practice. Another innovation brought about in ‘The Periodicals’ was the publication of letters to the Editor, ‘brought new point of views’ and created a sense of intimacy to the readers. The feature evolved into a forum for readers to express themselves, engaged in a discussion an important event or question, conduct a political debate or ask advice on a personal situation. Steele even introduced a separate lovelorn column in the Tatler and The Spectator. He desired to bring about reformation in the contemporary society manners and is notable for his consistent advocacy of womanly virtues like decency and modesty and the ideals of the gentleman, courtesy chivalry and good sense.
Steele writes as a rule less from his head than from his heart. His humour is kindly and genial, his sympathies quick springing and compassionate, his instincts uniformly on the side of what is good, honest and manly. Apart from their moral qualities, there is in Steele’s essay’s an open frankness. He is all the more sincere because frequently his self revelation is unconscious thus in Steele we have the beginning of what genial intimacy of the writer with the reader which was rare was found much later in the writing of Elia, Hazlitt and Thackeray.
18th century prose with the rise of periodicals, journals, satire, letters indeed suited the new temperament of the age. The emergence of the social essay, the middle style in prose spoke against the coarser vices of the time. Addison’s prose is the model of this middle style, eventually a prose suitable for miscellaneous purposes defining periodical essays of time William Hazlitt remarks :
“ It makes us familiar with the world of men and women records their actions, assigns their motives exhibits their whims …exposes their inconsistencies, holds the mirror up to nature and shows the very age and body of the time, its forms and pressure…”
