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Chapter 15
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
While Sophia misses Mr. Burchell’s company, the rest of the family find that Squire Thornhill’s increasingly frequent visits make up for it. The Squire tries to entertain the Primrose daughters to make up for the disappointment of not going to London with the town ladies. Mrs. Primrose takes advantage of this to recommend Olivia to the Squire, always attributing the cooking, gooseberry wine, or other aspects of the home to her. Though Mrs. Primrose thinks she is being secretive, her ploys are obvious to everyone. However, the Squire is pleased nevertheless.
Sophia, motivated by her own personal affections, is the only member of the family to acknowledge that their break with Mr. Burchell does not entirely make sense. But the presence of Squire Thornhill, whose interest in Olivia becomes more and more evident, quickly overshadows any misgivings the family might have. The Primroses, however, may be seeing only what they want to see, reading flirtatiousness as serious courting. Mrs. Primrose’s emphasis on Olivia’s qualifications as a homemaker is doubly ridiculous, as it is not only completely transparent, but irrelevant—a Squire’s wife has no need of cooking or cleaning skills, as she would have servants to do that for her.
Themes
Visiting Flamborough, Mrs. Primrose and her daughters find the Flamboroughs have had a limner paint their portrait, and they insist on having one done of their family, too. The Primroses insist on a more interesting style than that in which the limner painted the portrait of the Flamboroughs, and to fulfill their request the limner paints the Primroses as historical or mythical figures: Mrs. Primrose as Venus, Dick and Bill as Cupids, Dr. Primrose with his religious pamphlets, Olivia as an Amazon, Sophia as a shepherdess, and Moses in a hat with a white feather. The Squire insists on being included too, and the limner paints him as Alexander the Great at Olivia’s feet, convincing the Primroses that he wants to marry Olivia and become part of the family
Still jockeying for social position, the Primroses attempt to one-up the Flamboroughs to assure themselves that they are superior—in the process, however, they cause their biggest gaffe yet. The limner’s portrait illustrates to what extent the Primroses are utterly without taste, as they commission a completely incoherent pastiche of characters. This kind of maximalism does not, as they believe, show distinction, but merely their embarrassing desperation to hold a higher social rank. Dr. Primrose, in encouraging his family, betrays his own aesthetic principles, which are opposed to classicism and mythical motifs in favor of pastoral simplicity.
Themes
Literary Devices
While the Primroses are thrilled by the finished painting, they realize upon completion that it is too large to be hung in their house, forcing them to lean in against the kitchen wall much to their neighbors’ amusement. Rumors begin to circulate about the Squire and Olivia, prompting Mrs. Primrose to test out a new scheme: asking the Squire’s advice about another suitor for Olivia. Dr. Primrose only grudgingly accepts this plan with Olivia’s promise that she will marry that suitor if the Squire does not propose to her, though he is still uneasy. When Mrs. Primrose suggests to the Squire that Olivia may marry farmer Williams, he strenuously opposes the match but refuses to make any commitment to her of his own, leaving the Primroses unsure what to think of his passion.
The Primroses’ inability to physically hang the painting on their wall drives home and makes clear to the Primroses the obscene grandiosity of the family portrait. The portrait becomes a material example of the family’s hopeless, misguided ambitions. Because the painting does, however, seem to nudge Olivia and the Squire’s courtship a step further, Mrs. Primrose is emboldened not only to try her next scheme, but also to win her husband over to it. Dr. Primrose, equally guilty of seeing only what he wants to see, accepts this plan because he finds the possibility of a marriage between Olivia and farmer Williams redeeming, with part of him secretly hoping for that outcome instead.
Themes
