Moral Sentiments Concerning Harmonious Personal Relations:a Study Of Tristram Shandy

Laurence Sterne, an English novelist in the eighteenth century, is considered to be the father of sentimental novels. He is not a prolific novelist, with only two novels published:The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. And Tristram Shandy is his masterpiece.Tristram Shandy is quite a controversial novel to readers and critics, but has, to a certain extent, been a hot topic of critical studies. Up to now, researches have been made from different aspects, such as narrative techniques, languages, themes and so on. However, scarcely have they been done concerning moral sentiments embodied in the personal relations in the novel. The novel has been regarded as immoral by some people; however, the present author believes that the novel achieves its moralizing goal by implying the moral sentiments to create harmonious personal relationships.Based on Ethical Literary Criticism and drawing on theories of moral sentiments, this thesis focuses on the analysis of various personal relations in Tristram Shandy and reveals the moral sentiments Sterne promotes in building a harmonious Shandy Hall, which is a mini-society and an ideal world built by him.Sterne’s emphasis on moral sentiments is not accidental. It has a close relation to his own life experiences and the social background of the eighteenth-century England. Based on these and after a close examination of the personal relationships between relatives, friends and strangers in the novel, the thesis proposes that the novel has mainly exhibited four kinds of moral sentiments:love, toleration, respect and sympathy, which contribute greatly to the building of a harmonious Shandy Hall.Love, a sentiment to be endowed or received, exists everywhere in Shandy Hall and helps to build a happy world for the characters. Toleration, which is closely related to characters’concession and sometimes to the sacrifice of their own benefits, makes great contribution to the creation of the positive living atmosphere there. Emphasis on respect, a higher level of sentiment which requires not only agreement to but also acceptance of others’behavior, indicates Sterne’s advocacy of humanity which helps to safeguard characters’rights to the maximum. The last but most important sentiment is sympathy, the original source of moral behaviors, which plays a significant role in enhancing closeness and getting people united. Finally, this thesis reaches the conclusion that Sterne proposes these moral sentiments for the establishment of the harmonious mini-society of Shandy Hall and that it indicates Sterne’s concern for the whole society in an attempt to set up new moral standards in order to build a harmonious society.This thesis hopes to provide readers and researchers with a new vision for the study of Tristram Shandy and help them to fully understand the ethical and moral value of this novel.