Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Masters Theses & Specialist Projects Graduate School 7-1976 Samuel Butler’s Way of All Flesh as a Sociological Novel David Carter Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses Part of the European History Commons, and the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Carter, David, "Samuel Butler’s Way of All Flesh as a Sociological Novel" (1976). Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 1375. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1375 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses & Specialist Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SNIUEL BlITL ER ' S I<AY OF AU FLESH AS A SOC I OL OGICAL NOVEL A Thesi s Presente d to the Faculty o f the De partment o f English We ste rn Ken tucky Unive rsity Bowling Gr een, Kentucky In Pa rtia l Ful f illment of the Requirements f or the De gre e Mas t er o f Arts by Da vid E. Ca rter July. 1976 SAI'IUEL BUTLER ' 5 \~A Y OF ALL ~" L E SH AS A SOC10 L UG 1CAL NLlVEL Re col!l11ended 7 - .J / - 7 c: (da t e ) r;-"v,'v Co:..- \ \1.... "'-.\."-.._ Dire c t or of The sis ' , \ - .,., -?/ A pp r ove d 7_ _ n '" - "- ( da t e ) Dean of t he Gr a dua t Coll ege iii Acknowl cugcments To the English de pa rtme nt of Western Kentucky Unive rsity who inspired my l ove of lite r a ture To Dr. George l-1cCelvey, my very patient thesis director To J.E.C. and P.D. C. But most. of a ll, to S.J. C. -typist, ins pira tion, friend, a nd wife. i v TAII LE OF ClNTEN TS Intro duction ................................. .......................................................... i Cha pte r I. Butle r 1 s Li f e a s Backgr o und f o r Th e \.Ja y o f All Flesh ......................... .. .................. 1 Cha pter II. Years of Wasted Ef fort: Ern e st Pontifex and Victorian Ed ucation •.•• 27 Cha pter Ill. The Victorian Clergy : Hypocrites or Dullards •••••...•..••.•• • •••• 42 Cha pter IV. The Victorian Family: Butler's Worst Eneroy •••••••••.•..•••••••••. 54 Cha pter V. Th e Victorian Problem and, Butler's Solutions •• 69 Ch a pt e r VI. Conc lusions Summa ry. The Reputa tion of The Wa y of All Fl esh a nd It s Inf luence ..•....•..•.•..•.••• 80 Bibliogra phy ...................................................................................... 89 v SAHLI 8UTLER' $ '''AY Ufo ALL FL ESH AS A SOCIOLllGICAL NOVEL David E. Cc'1 r ccr July 1976 94 pages Directed by: G. E. NcCe l vey , D. t-1ct-1ahon and J. Sur vant Department of En g lish West e rn Ke ntucky Unive r si t y To schol a r s of Vi cturian l i::eratur e , Samu e l But l e r h as a l ways been a r ebel who strik es o ut a t society with wide -ra nging c riticism. Aft e r yea r s of studying subj ects as va rie d as music , a r c , b i o logy . literature , a nd the olugy . Butle r felt (like ma ny Victoria n writers) tha t he could make va lua ble social c omme nts with his satires , trave logu es , bi ol ogica l studies , a nd one novel. Critica l s tudies of Butle r ha ve t ended to trea t in broa d outline a ll facets of hi s l ife a nd work . This study, however, examines in d e pth Butle r's nove l The Way of All Flesh. a s the foca l point of his critical a n a lysis o f Victoria n socie t y . It treats the work as a sociological n ovel showing the ma in cha r a cter Ernest Pontifex manipu­ l a t ed by ha r sh s ocie t a l forces a nd presents the thesis that ma n needs to be f r eed f r om r estrictive social de t e rminism. I t i s t h us t he purpose of this study to suggest tha t Samue l Butle r wrote The Way o f All Flesh to s ummarize his criticism of Victoria n society a nd to set forth his plea for a society g ove rne d b y the principle of r a tiona l mod e r a tion in human affairs. To demonstrate this thesis, the present study will begin with Butle r's life , e mpha ­ s i z ing his s tudy with schoolmasters , exposure to the cle rgy, vi a nd li f e with his pa r e nt s in a n a ttempt tu show the d e velopme nt of his unconve ntiona l a ttitude t o\.Ja rd con­ t empora r y society . A short introduction to Butle r' s li fe is pa rticula rly important for a s tudy of The Way of All Fl e sh beca use this nove l conta ins a gr eat deal of pure a utobiog r a phy. Following this introduction, the three strongest ar eas of sociological comment will be examined as they appear in The Way of All Flesh. Victorian schoolmasters, clergymen, and parents All force Ernest Pontifex to suffer a r epr essive ex istence . An inquiry into Hutler's criticism of these t hr ee social types and their influenc e in Victor­ ian society will form the main body of this study. The next chapter of this thesis will be devoted to explaining how Butler proposes to solve the proble ms that h e has intro duce d with his social criticism. Following this cha pter, the conclusion will summarize the main ideas of this s tudy and will deal with Butler's critica l reputa­ tion. Also the conclusion will show the debt our freer society owes to Samuel Butle r's Way of All Flesh by examin­ ing s ome similariti e s between his nove l's social criticism a nd othe r t a r gets of social criticism found in four in­ fluentia l twe ntieth c e ntury novels of r ebellion. lt will finally be seen that Samuel Butler was not a flawless vi i noveli s t ( or for t ha t matter. a f l awl ess phil osoph e r) t but t he critical message of his Way of All Fl esh far outwe ighed t he strengths or weaknesses of its a rtis tic form f or a who l e gene r a tion of anti- Vi c toria ns . CHAPrER 1 Butler ls Life a s Ba ckground for The Wa y of All Fl esh &lmue l Butle r (or Erewhon Butle r as h e i s o f t en c a lle d t o distingui sh him f r om the seventeenth-century English s a tirica l poet) wa s born a t Langa r Rec t or y on the f ourth of Dec emb er in 1835 . His fa the r Thomas Butle r was the r ector a t La nga r. and his gr andfa t he r Dr. Sa mue l Butle r wa s the well-known headma s t e r of Shrewsbury School. Butle r' s mo t her wa s Fanny Wors l ey , the da ughter of a Bristol suga r r efiner. Thoma5 Butler b ega n his formal educa tion a t Shrew sbury with his f a ther as headmaster. Aft e r gr a dua t ion f r om Shr ewsbury, Thomas c ontinued his educa t i on a t St. J ohn' s College , Cambridge gra dua ting wi t h a B. A. in 1829 a nd being o rda ine d a s a p rie st the following yea r.l The writing of back gr ound inf orma tion on a man's fa mily is oft en B ver y min or de t a il in a n y s tudy . But lHe nry Fest i ng Jone s, Samue l Butl e r: A Hemoir , 2 vol s . (London: ~~ cmill a n and Co . , 1919 ; r e print cd., New York: Octagon Books, 1968), 1: 1, 12-13. All s ubse qu ent biog r a phica l da t a a re f rom this source unless othe rwise i n d ica t e d. 1 2 (or Sa muel Butl e r, the inf lue n ce of his g nmd a the r i s extr e mel y i mporta nt . \,,'ith the emphasis on edu ca tiona l discipline tha t Dr. Bu tle r instituted a t Sh r ewsbur y, his son e n dure d a g r eat deal of punishment ,.. ·i th his father B S hea dmaster. \.fhat makes this information so pertinent to Butle r 's li fe i s (as Ph yllis Gr ecnacr e calls it) Thomas'"turning of the t a bles " on Samuel to make his son live unde r a more strict en vir onment than he e ve r had t o experi ence.