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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Vicar of Wakefield, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humility in the Face of Adversity
The Possibility of Redemption
Family and Society
Equality, Justice, and the Law
Travel, Home, and Belonging
Summary
Analysis
The Primrose family returns home, and Mrs. Primrose envisions her daughters’ future successes, feeling assured of Squire Thornhill’s recommendation. Dr. Primrose is less optimistic, cautioning his wife’s optimism. Mrs. Primrose then reveals her next scheme: to sell Colt and buy a riding horse. Dr. Primrose is strongly opposed at first but ultimately gives in, and the next day he sends Moses to make the sale, as Dr. Primrose has a cold, and he feels fully confident in his son’s business sense. Dressed in his finest clothes, Moses leaves for the fair. The family then receives a message that the Squire has given Olivia and Sophia his recommendation; Mrs. Primrose is overjoyed.
Though Dr. Primrose lacks the emotional fortitude or convincing arguments to oppose his wife’s plan, he still tries to temper her enthusiasm, albeit without success. The family’s unshakeable faith in Moses’s business acumen foreshadows an unfortunate conclusion to the horse-sale; the reader will recall the Dr. Primrose, when describing Moses as destined for business, said in practically the same breath that Moses was but young and had seen very little of the world. Indeed, it is unclear if Moses has every successfully closed a deal before. In light of the Squire’s recommendation, however, he dismisses all doubt.
Themes
Mr. Burchell visits the Primroses; he’s come from the fair and arrives with trinkets for the children. The Primroses ask Burchell for his advice regarding the town ladies, but his unenthusiastic response suggesting caution displeases them. Mrs. Primrose becomes rude and irate, and Dr. Primrose quickly changes the subject, wondering aloud what is keeping Moses at the fair. As Mrs. Primrose reaffirms her faith that Moses will make a successful trade, he returns without any horse or money, having spent the profits on a case of silver spectacles. Dr. Primrose quickly realizes that the spectacles are only copper, that Moses, along with Flamborough, has been cheated by two men who tricked him into making the purchase.
Despite Mr. Burchell’s generosity and the good rapport he enjoys with Dick and Bill, his failure to gratify Mrs. Primrose is enough to set her against him, as she has become solely focused on her scheme. Dr. Primrose, still annoyed at Burchell for reasons he is unable or unwilling to fully admit to himself, struggles to play the role of mediator. Moses’s having successfully been cheated overshadows all of these conflicts, however, with the overpowering sense of disaster preventing the family from critically examining the excessive confidence that led them to this point. Moses’s failure, moreover, can be attributed not only to his gullibility, but also to his attempt to enter the speculative market and turn a profit by resale. Though such business offers great rewards, it also bears risks that simple trading does not.
Themes
