Joseph Addison's essay on Sir Roger de Coverley
The age of Queen Anne is marked by the development of what may be called " social prose " . This is usually in the form of the short story or essay, and subject is usually some of the aspects of contemporary life. This form and its beginning are to be found in the Tatler and Spectator of Addison and Steele. Addison's prose is simply and intelligible and although he undoubtedly took great pains to make it finished and was about the first to regard prose writing as an art, it always appears natural and unaffected.
In his essay readers find some glimpses of a country gentleman named Sir Roger. His unique personality and household affairs have been described. He has been represented as a very good man from the bottom of his heart. He treated even his servants with cordiality and love. Joseph Addison has presented Sir Roger as a living character who had a humanistic attitude in a developed society.
Sir Roger de Coverley is an individual as well as a type character in fiction. In the shape of a Tory character he was created to serve as a farcical squire stereotype of the bygone era by the Whig authors, Addison and Steele. His character is a well mixture of hospitality, humanity, love, helpfulness, disappointment, superstition, singularities, kindness, manliness, prowess, honesty and goodness. Although the character was created to deride the Tory mannerisms of the bygone era, Addison’s satire is very mild, and that makes Sir Roger a rather agreeable character. Sometimes his behaviour appeared to be very odd but they originated from his good sense. He is beloved rather than esteemed by all who know him.
(Joseph Addison sketch version) Sir Roger portrayed the antiquated rural gentleman stereotype, allowing for The Spectator to deride him as a nostalgic relic. The traditional paternalistic attitude of Sir Roger when dealing with his tenants and servants is another example of a rural trait that the author attempted to mock. Instead their efforts resulted in Sir Roger appearing sympathetic and commendable, as the attitude stood in sharp contrast to the new generation of hard-hearted landed aristocrats. Unlike the new landed gentry, Sir Roger continued to observe traditional forms of rural hospitality and simplicity.
After receiving invitation from Sir Roger, the author went to Sir Roger's country house. There readers see that he was very hospitable and did everything possible to make his friend happy, comfortable, free, untroubled and undisturbed.
In “Sir Roger at Home”, Sir Roger’s treatment of his servants is adequately dealt with. He liked each of them and he maintained a friendly relationship with them and inquired of their health and family. His nice behaviour towards them helped them develop such love for him that if they were not employed, they seemed discouraged. The servants in the household of Sir Roger considered themselves quite fortunate to have a master like him. They seemed to enjoy doing whatever he demanded them to do. He believed in the concept of equality of master and servants. It carries the testimony that his treatment to his servants was ideal. Even his pet dog or a retired horse was not left unloved or overlooked . The love between the master and the servants developed in such a degree that if he simply coughed or showed any infirmity of old age, there appeared tension in the looks of his servants.
To some extent Sir Roger can be considered to be eccentric with his oddities. In the essay "Sir Roger at Church" his eccentricity can be observed in the action in which he exercised his authority. While the healthy living and paternalistic communal relations demonstrated by Sir Roger are portrayed with subtle admiration, his dealings with the local church are highly satirized in "Sir Roger at Church". Mr. Spectator could not suppress a hint of bemusement over Sir Roger’s complete authority in the church writing that, ‘As Sir Roger is Landlord to the whole congregation; he keeps them in very good order, and will suffer no body to sleep in it besides himself…’ . The Spectator is of the opinion that the worthiness of his character made these behavioural oddities seem like foils rather than blemishes of his good qualities. He also noted that none of the other parishioners were polite or well educated enough to recognise the ridiculousness of Sir Roger’s behaviour in and authority over the supremacy of church. These observations of Sir Roger’s love of the high-Anglican church in the countryside are essential to the authors’ original purpose for creating the character, to mock the seemingly backwards rural Tory.
In the artistic essay, the essayist has given blood and life to the character of Sir Roger. He turns up like a character of a novel. No doubt, this essay is replete with ease and grace. It includes typical humour of the essayist. It is full of genial conversation. Words are appropriate and sentences are very simple. Thus this essay represents the genius of Addison as an essayist.
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