Toby
Uncle Toby
Uncle Toby, in Tristram Shandy, is known as one of the classic characters
in English literature. Uncle Toby is the antithesis of Walter Shandy,
Tristram's intellectual father. If Walter Shandy were cold reason, Toby
would be hot passion. Compassionate and sympathetic, Toby is the perfect
sentimentalist. His dedication to his HOBBY-HORSE, building
fortifications and knowledge in military history, is not merely a passion
but an obsession. Toby's HOBBY-HORSE is his psychological relief from the
anxieties caused by the pains of the wound on his groin received in
battle. His over dramatization of different situations provides the
perfect contrast to Walter's cold, rational view of them. It is the
interaction between these two extremes of human character: reason (Walter)
and passion (Toby), that brings out the critics and often comical
situations in the Shandian world.
Click here for the first passage on Toby
in Volume I.
Click here for the first passage on Toby
in Volume II.
Characters
| Toby |
Yorick |
father (Walter Shandy) |
mother |
Trim |
Tristram |
Dr Slop |
Themes
| HOBBY-HORSE |
Lillabullero |
Don Quixote |
Noses |
Names |
Mainpage
Last modified May 12, 1996. Maintained by Keith Earley.
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