Themes

Chapter 16
The literature in general of the Augustan age, revolved around the political and religious controversies
of that time. The conflict of political parties, especially the Whig and the Tories, is reflected in Gulliver’s
Travels by Jonathan Swift. It goes without saying that the political and religious themes catered to the
governing policies, propagandas and corruption in both. In terms of religion, the writers focused upon
the many controversies surrounding the Anglican Church.

The reason and empiricism, which marked the age, found its way in literary works, for example,
Gulliver’s Travels is mostly about reason and rationality, forming the basis of an ideal society. Alongside
this, literary works, especially novels, featured self-awareness, plausibly an aftermath of Enlightenment
and the social shift in class boundaries.

Although the neo-classists followed strict patterns of writings of the old, they however, liked to feature
common people, namely the middle class, as the subject matter of their works. Often, while portraying
the middle class, the frivolities of the elite would be satirized, of which Rape of the Lock, is an excellent
example.

Chapter 18
The novels of the latter half of the eighteenth century, from Richardson to Austen, expressed a greater
understanding of the complexities of human nature and life, than the works before them had done.
These novels, in common, display moral patterns, in the tension between public and private lives of
characters, of which Richardson’s Pamela, and Fielding’s Joseph Andrews, are famous examples. For
these two authors and their followers, morality, gentility, marriage, class divide, and social abuse were
important themes, which show the authors’ understanding of human psychology. With class divide,
there are further themes in play like hypocrisy, virtue and chastity, as well as innocence and ignorance in
matters of immoral conduct.

Authors following Richardson and Fielding, like Smollett, continued with the travelling and adventurous
themes of the picaresque tradition, maintaining their focus on the common people. There was a definite
growing interest in the “idiosyncrasies of the human mind” and the “individual consciousness”, as in the
case of Tristram Shandy. However, as this transitional age moved towards the Romantic era, a new
thematic trend appeared in the novels, with Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. This novel was the
first Gothic novel, bringing to literature the excitement of horror, mystery, and the supernatural.

Despite, the trend of the Gothic genre, the novel of manners had a few names under its banner to, with
Jane Austen being the most famous. Combining wit, irony and humor, Austen’s novel featured personal
morality, social hierarchy and economic propriety, all revolving around the constant subject of marriage.