If there is pathos as well as humour, and
deepening the humour, in the figure of the distraught knight-errant
talking so hopelessly over the head of his attached squire's morality,
so too there is pathos, giving depth to the humour of the eccentric
philosopher, shooting so hopelessly wide of the intellectual
appreciation of the most affectionate of brothers. One's sympathy,
perhaps, is even more strongly appealed to in the latter than in the
former case, because the effort of the good Captain to understand is
far greater than that of the Don to make himself understood, and the
concern of the former at his failure is proportionately more marked
than that of the latter at _his_. And the general _rapport_ between
one of the two ill-assorted pairs is much closer than that of
the other. It is, indeed, the tantalizing approach to a mutual
understanding which gives so much more subtle a zest to the humour
of the relations between the two brothers Shandy than to that which
arises out of the relations between the philosopher and his wife.
The broad comedy of the dialogues between Mr. and Mrs. Shandy is
irresistible in its way: but it _is_ broad comedy.
Pages:
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225