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The Columbia History of the British NovelEven lesser characters have their hobbyhorses, for example, the grotesque Lismahago, a Scottish soldier scalped by North American Indians, "a tall meager figure, answering with his horse, the description of Don Quixote mounted on Rozinante," whose imagination dwells on his exotic adventures. Of the five main figures, Jery and Matt play off each other: young and old, sensible and irritable, rational and sentimental. Careful scrutiny of Bramble is needed before his type of sentimentalism is understood, but there are also similarities between the two men when it becomes evident that Bramble's earlier libertinism accompanied an ingrained benevolence. Indeed, this coupling of robust sexuality and human goodness seems to be one of Smollett's main themes, and literally produced the hero for whom the book is named, Humphry Clinker-Matt's real son. The remarkable twist in character development is that Bramble's satiric proclivity wanes as he recovers the "good life" (as described above). Smollett suggests through his satiric persona that the healthier we grow, the less we carp about the physical and moral decay surrounding us; and he defines «health» as equally partaking of "mind and body." Still, Smollett's materials did not end here ...» |
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