Summary Tristram Shandy MAIN CHARACTERS: Tristram Shandy - the narrator and "hero" who is scarcely mentioned throughout

the novel and is born only in Volume III. Walter Shandy - Tristram's father, an inborn philosopher, without the proper training to become one, and somewhat divorced from reality. Tristrams mother Toby Shandy - Tristram's Uncle Toby, an old soldier who, after suffering an embarrassing accident, delights in recalling his past campaigns. Corporal Trim - Uncle Tobys loyal servant. Dr. Slop - A rude and incompetent doctor. Mr. Yorick - A clergyman. Widow Wadman - An amorous widow who lives near Shane Hall and hopes to entice Uncle Toby into marriage. THE PLOT: Tristram Shandy has always attributed his oddity to the fact that, just moments before being conceived, his mother asked his father whether he had wounded up the clock. After Tristrams conception, which took place sometime between the first Sunday and the first Monday of March 1718, Walter Shandy travelled from London to Shandy Hall, the family estate. After intense debate and following their highly sophisticated premarital arrangement, the Shandys finally decide that the child be born in London, and not at the countryside. Ironically, the child is born at Shandy Hall and delivered by a midwife, not by a real doctor, as Walter would have preferred. A compromised is reached when Tristrams mother is assisted by the midwife, while doctor Slop sits in the other room, drinking wine with uncle Toby and Walter Shandy, getting paid for it, too. Before the actual birth, uncle Toby and Walter engage in a passionate conversation on their past life. It is revealed that Toby was an honourable soldier in his day, but during the Siege of Namur in 1695 he was wounded in the groin and, therefore, retired to the countryside and waited four years to recover after the injury. He was joined by Corporal Trim who suggested a pleasant pastime for him: to build a miniature battlefield and reconstruct his past campaigns by means of toy fortifications, soldiers and trenches (his own hobbyhorse). Tobys foray in the past is usually interrupted by Walters meditations, often monologues, on philosophical matters. Walters speculations are usually highly ingenious, but they are never even slightly applicable to the problem at hand. One such example concerns the reasons why Tristrams mother preferred a midwife instead of a more qualified doctor. Uncle Toby timidly suggests it might be because of female modesty, but Walter engages in a wide-ranging and fervent monologue on the complex nature of women. The talk is interrupted by the arrival of doctor Slope who, following his usual incompetence, mistakes the babys head for his hip and accidentally flattens his nose with his forceps. Another unfortunate event in Tristrams life takes place during his childhood when, after relieving himself from a window, accidentally circumcises himself. All these misfortunes are the direct consequences of his name. According to his father, the name of a person determines his/her life and character

and of all the names in the universe, he had the most unconquerable aversion for TRISTRAM which was unison to Nincompoop. Unfortunately, the maid sent to the priest to announce the name of the baby alters the intended name, Trismegitus, into Tristram. Walter arrives too late to change anything, so the only salvation of the child can be done through proper education (TRISTRA-paedia). Tristams childhood is blighted by the death of his brother, Bobby. The family reacts in different ways to this tragedy: Mr. Shandy meditates on the nature of death, the maid finds a positive aspect in inheriting Mrs. Shandys dresses when she goes into mourning, and Trim delivers a moving speech, while dramatically dropping his hat as if he was dead as well. The Shandys attention now focuses on what tutor to choose for young Tristram, but this narrative is overshadowed by the story of Uncle Tobys pursuit by Widow Wadman. One day, she asks Toby where exactly he was wounded. He says he will let her touch the exact spot, so he takes out a map of Namur and points to the place on the battlefield where he received his injury. Trim explains to Toby that Widow Wadman would like to know the place on his body that was injured, not the one on the battlefield. Realizing this, Toby decides against any type of marriage. At the end of the novel, Tristram's mother asks: "Lord, what is all this story about?" "A Cock and a Bull," replies Yorick, "and one of the best of its kind I ever heard."