Main Characters

Tristram Shandy-The narrator and "hero" is an ill-starred nonentity who is not even
born until halfway through the novel.
Walter Shandy-Tristram's father, fond of far-ranging hilosohical seculations on
the subtlest oints, but somewhat divorced from reality.
Toby Shandy-Tristram's !ncle Toby, an old soldier and "indly gentleman who
delights in recalling his ast camaigns.
Cororal Trim-!ncle Tobys loyal and innocent servant.
Mr. #oric"--$n absurdly fanciful clergyman.
%r. Slo-$n ill-humored, inet &uac" doctor.
Widow Wndman-$n amorous widow who lives near Shane 'all and hoes to entice
!ncle Toby into marriage.
The Story
Tristram Shandy can always attribute the eculiarity of his nature and the strange
events of his life to the fact that, when he was on the oint of being conceived, his
mother as"ed his father, the eccentric, henec"ed Walter Shandy, whether he had not
forgotten to wind the cloc".
(mmediately after Tristram's concetion, which occurred sometime between the first
Sunday and the first Monday of arch, )*)+, Tristram's father ,ourneyed from Shandy
'all, the ancestral estate, to -ondon, a tri his sciatica had hitherto revented him
from ma"ing. .oth noteworthy occurrences can be verified in Mr. Shandy's
meticulously "et diary.
The reason that Tristram was born in Shandy 'all, instead of in -ondon, and
delivered by a mere midwife, instead of a real doctor, is ascribed to the eculiar
marriage settlement between the elder Shandys. $ccording to its terms, Mrs. Shandy
would be allowed to bear her child in -ondon, but if she ever falsely ersuaded her
husband to ta"e her to the caital, she surrendered this right and would have to settle
for a home delivery. Since she has done this once, Mr. Shandy feels ,ustified in
saring himself the e/ense of ta"ing his wife on a second tri to -ondon, although he
en,oys going there by himself.
0n the night Tristram is born, his father and his !ncle Toby are comfortably debating
some comlicated and endless issue before a cheerful fire. When Susannah, the maid,
informs them of the imending birth, they send for a midwife and for %r. Slo, a local
&uac" ractitioner who had once written a chea amhlet on the history of childbirth.
%r. Slo's chief function at local births is to allow the midwife to do the delivering
while he charges a handsome fee for drin"ing the father's best wine.
.efore either doctor or midwife can arrive, Walter Shandy and his brother have some
fine conversations about their ast life. !ncle Toby was an honorable soldier in his
day, but during the Siege of 1amur in )234 he received a wound in an embarrassing
lace and left the army to retire to the country. 'is loyal servant, Cororal Trim,
,oined him and suggested an ideal occuation for the retired military man. 1ear
Shandy 'all is a atch of lawn where Trim constructed a miniature battlefield. There
!ncle Toby reconstructs his camaigns by means of toy fortifications, trenches, and
soldiers.
'is delight in this astime is not, however, shared by his more hilosohical brother,
who constantly interruts his long-winded tales of vanished military glory with
e&ually long-winded hilosohical seculations. Walter Shandy has theories about
everything, and they are often highly ingenious, but they are never even remotely
alicable to the roblem at hand, and usually get bogged down in oceans of arcane
facts and meaningless, if charming, lore. 0ne such hilosohical divertissement,
begun while the brothers await the arrival of the midwife and %r. Slo, concerns itself
with the reasons for Mrs. Shandy's reference for a female rather than a male
attendant at her delivery. !ncle Toby suggests it might ,ust be female modesty, but
this idea is too simle to suit Walter Shandy who goes into a long and
incomrehensible hilosohical harangue about the comle/ nature of women.
The tal" is interruted by the arrival of %r. Slo. While Cororal Trim diverts the
Shandy brothers with the reading of a long sermon, %r. Slo goes about his wor" with
tyical inetitude. Mista"ing the infant's hi for his head, the doctor flattens
Tristram's nose with his forces. $nother ortion of Tristram's anatomy will receive
an insult on a later occasion when, as a boy, Tristram relieves himself out of a
window only to have the window come crashing down on him. These eisodes,
Tristram feels, with some ,ustice, have blighted life.
5inally, the lad is born, while Mr. Shandy reads the comany his translation from a
-atin treatise on nses by 6erman scholar named 'afen Slaw"enbergius. 7.oth
author and wor" are Sterne's inventions.8 When Mr. Shandy hears of the nearly
disastrous eisode with the forces, he fears for his child's safety. -earning that the
baby is unusually sic"ly, he sends immediately for the local arson, Mr. #oric", to
bati9e the infant before any further mishas occur.
'astening to dress for the event, Mr. Shandy sends Susannah on ahead to tell #oric"
that he wants his son bati9ed "Trismegistus" in honor of his favorite hilosoher. .ut
Susannah finds the odd name difficult to remember, and by the time she conveys the
re&uest to Mr. #oric", she has transformed the name into Tristram, which also
haens to be the clergyman's first name. This coincidence thrills Mr. #oric". The
child is bati9ed accordingly, and by the time Mr. Shanc arrives, fully clothed at last,
he is too late to change matters, although he thin"s Tristram is the worst name in the
world and can only bring bad luc". The only hoe for this disaster-hounded child now
is a roer education.
Tristram's boyhood is marred by one sad event - the death at Westminster School of
his older brother, .obby. %ifferent members of the family react differently to the
untimely tragedy: Mr. Shandy hilosohi9es about the nature of death; in her grief,
Susannah finds ,oy in the thought that she will inherit all her mistress' dresses when
Mrs. Shandy goes into mourning; and Cororal Trim symbolically dros his hat as if
he himself had died and delivers a magnificent funeral oration on the sot.
The Shandy family's ne/t roblems concern the sort of tutor, if any, to get for
Tristram and the age at which the boy will be ready to wear long trousers. .ut these
ractical considerations ta"e second lace to the tale of !ncle Toby's ursuit by the
Widow Wadman, a bu/om lady who lives near Shandy 'all. The gentle !ncle Toby
bears u well under the widow's efforts to win his heart.
0ne day, however, the Widow Wadman, more an/ious than ever to be married, as"s
!ncle Toby an embarrassing &ues-tion: recisely where was he wounded< 'e assures
her he will allow her to touch the actual lace where he received his famous wound;
he then roduces a ma of 1amur and uts her trembling finger on the aroriate
ortion of the battle-field.
Cororal Trim, less naive if ,ust as good-hearted as !ncle Toby, has to oint out to
him that it is the sot on his erson, not on the battlefield, that the Widow Wadman
has in mind. When he is finally made to reali9e the awful truth, !ncle Toby beats a
hasty retreat from any idea of marriage.
$t the end of the novel, Tristram's mother as"s, reasonably enough, "-ord, what is all
this story about<"
"$ Coc" and a .ull," relies #oric", "and one of the best of its "ind ( ever heard."
Summary
The action covered in Tristram Shandy sans the years )2+=-)*22. Sterne obscures
the story's underlying chronology, however, by rearranging the order of the various
ieces of his tale. 'e also subordinates the basic lot framewor" by weaving together
a number of different stories, as well as such disarate materials as essays, sermons,
and legal documents. There are, nevertheless, two clearly discernible narrative lines in
the boo".
The first is the lot se&uence that includes Tristram's concetion, birth, christening,
and accidental circumcision. 7This se&uence e/tends somewhat further in Tristram's
treatment of his "breeching," the roblem of his education, and his first and second
tours of 5rance, but these events are handled less e/tensively and are not as central to
the te/t.8 (t ta"es si/ volumes to cover this chain of events, although comaratively
few ages are sent in actually advancing such a simle lot. The story occurs as a
series of accidents, all of which seem calculated to confound Walter Shandy's hoes
and e/ectations for his son. The manner of his concetion is the first disaster,
followed by the flattening of his nose at birth, a misunderstanding in which he is
given the wrong name, and an accidental run-in with a falling window-sash. The
catastrohes that befall Tristram are actually relatively trivial; only in the conte/t of
Walter Shandy's eccentric, seudo-scientific theories do they become calamities.
The second ma,or lot consists of the fortunes of Tristram's !ncle Toby. Most of the
details of this story are concentrated in the final third of the novel, although they are
alluded to and develoed in iecemeal fashion from the very beginning. Toby
receives a wound to the groin while in the army, and it ta"es him four years to
recover. When he is able to move around again, he retires to the country with the idea
of constructing a scaled relica of the scene of the battle in which he was in,ured. 'e
becomes obsessed with re-enacting those battles, as well as with the whole history and
theory of fortification and defense. The >eace of !trecht slows him down in these
"hobby-horsical" activities, however, and it is during this lull that he falls under the
sell of Widow Wadman. The novel ends with the long-romised account of their
unfortunate affair.