The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman · Chapter
Chapter VI explained
Tristram addresses the reader directly, explaining that he deliberately withheld the details of his birth in the previous chapter and will reserve them for a separate chapter.
What happens
Tristram addresses the reader directly, explaining that he deliberately withheld the details of his birth in the previous chapter and will reserve them for a separate chapter. He outlines his narrative approach: writing both his life and opinions, hoping that familiarity with his character will make his story more engaging. He asks for the reader's patience and indulgence as he tells his story in his own way, occasionally digressing or appearing foolish, but ultimately seeking a friendly understanding.
Themes in this chapter
Digression and Narrative Form
Tristram explicitly discusses his narrative method, including digressions and the playful use of a fool's cap, as he asks the reader to bear with his unconventional storytelling.
Modesty and Obscenity
Tristram's coyness about revealing too many personal details at once touches on the theme of modesty in self-disclosure.
Characters to notice
- Tristram Shandy
Narrator and author of his own life and opinions, addressing the reader directly.
Key passages
“In the beginning of the last chapter, I informed you exactly when I was born; but I did not inform you how . No , that particular was reserved entirely for a chapter by itself”
At the start of the previous chapter, I told you the date of my birth, but I deliberately saved the manner of it for a separate chapter.
Tristram teases the reader by withholding the details of his birth.
“I have undertaken, you see, to write not only my life, but my opinions also; hoping and expecting that your knowledge of my character, and of what kind of a mortal I am, by the one, would give you a better relish for the other”
I am writing both my life story and my thoughts, hoping that understanding my character will make you appreciate my opinions more.
Tristram explains his dual purpose in writing.
“Or, if I should seem now and then to trifle upon the road,—or should sometimes put on a fool’s cap with a bell to it, for a moment or two as we pass along,—don’t fly off,—but rather courteously give me credit for a little more wisdom than appears upon my outside”
If I appear to be wasting time or acting foolishly along the way, please don't abandon me, but instead assume there is more wisdom beneath the surface.
Tristram asks the reader to be patient with his playful and seemingly trivial digressions.