Humour and Pathos in Charles Lamb's essays

Charles Lamb is a great artist in showing humour and pathos in a single row. He had as keen a perception of the funny side of life as he had of the tragic. The funny side and the sense of humour never desert him. And we find a curious mingling of there two (humour and pathos) ingredients in his works. Laughter is followed by tears of sympathy in many of his essays. Moreover, humour may be described as an extreme sensitiveness to the true proportion of things and pathos that appeals to our feelings of compassion and evokes sympathy. In some essays, we have Pathos and Humour alternating each other, in others we have the two elements coexisting in the same passion that we see pathos and humour as facts of the same thing.



In the essays "South Sea House", we see humour and pathos existing side by side. Here we find the touch of humour and pathos at the same time. Here we have a melancholy note in his wistful description of the decaying building. We, the readers, feel sorry for its decadence. But the clerks of this company are masterpieces in comic characterization, where the groups of the clerks are described as "a sort of Noah's Ark" and "odd fishes". We laugh at John Tipp for making horrible sound while singing. Here Lamb says that John Tipp sang certainly, but "with other notes than to the Orphean lyre." What can e more effective way of saying that he did not sing well. The characterization of each clerk cannot fail to amuse but even while we laugh at the aristocratic pretensions of Thomas Tame. Lamb says, "He had the air and stoop of a nobleman." By stoop the author means "that gentle bending of the body forwards, which, in great men, must be supposed to be the effect of an habitual codescending attention to the applications of their inferiors." Amidst all the humour, one feels sorry for he pathetic situation of Thomas Tame who had developed an aristocratic air, not, we are told, to insult others, but to save himself from the insult of others. He was a poor man whose shallow intellect was cheered by the thought of aristocratic connections. The author says that Thomas Tame's intellect was "of the shallowest order" and that " A sucking babe might have posed him."



Similarly, in the essay "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago" we find the touch of humour and pathos at the same time. We feel sympathetic towards the boy who got inadequate and ill-cooked food in Christ's hospital. Although Lamb describes it humorously, our heart shakes when Lamb says, "There was love for the bringer; shame for the thing brought, and the manner of its bringing; sympathy for those who were too many to share in it; and, at top of all, hunger (eldest, strongest of the passion !) predominant, breaking down the sunny fences of shame, and awkwardness, and a troubling over-consciousness."



Even, we feel sorry for the psychology of the child who speaks of the home seekness. Here Lamb says in the guise of Coleridge, "I was a poor friendless boy." Again he says, " O the cruelty of separating a poor lad from his early homestead ! The yearning which I used to have towards it in those unfledged years ! How, in my dreams, would my native town (far in the west) come back, with its church, and trees, and faces!" However, humour is not far off - the account of Hodges' pet ass, which he kept in the dormitory, is funny. It is hilarious to read about how the ass betrayed itself and its patron by braying loudly.



There was also fun and games which relieved the darkness and gloom because of the comic characterization of these two masters. The Upper Master and the Lower Master presented a remarkable contrast. Field, The Lower Master, was a mild and lenient man who did not enforce discipline. Hue Upper Master Boyer, was very strict and heavy handed with his beatings and students feared him. He had two wigs which gave a clue to the mood he was in for the day. One wig denoted that he was in a good mood and would not beat anyone that day; the other denoted a bad mood and that day the boys would be in for a terrible time.



Similarly, the comments that he makes in "A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People" are humorous as well as pathetic. Here the essayist tries to find out a number of weaknesses in married people in a humorous way and therefore finds much consolation in this state of bachelorhood.



He tells about some of the bitter experiences and expresses his agony for the behaviour of the married people whom he thinks pretend lovers. Here he says, " What oftenest offends of at the houses of married persons where I visit, is an error of quite a description:- it is that they are too loving". He thinks that the married people generally show that they are "too loving" and they show these things to the unmarried people "so shamelessly". This type of behaviour of the married people is painful to him.



This kind of display is an insult to a bachelor. He says that wife has the tendency to show that she is the happiest creature in the world. He amused us by telling of the young married lady who could not believe that a bachelor could know anything like the best-mode of breeding oysters. The tricks adopted by the wives to cut of the relation between their husband and the bachelors also amuse us. The most amusing event in this essay is Lamb's attitudes towards children. He says that children are not rare thing, they are common. So, couple should not be proud of them. He says,



"If they were young phoenix indeed that were born but one in a year there might be a pretext. But which they are so common..."



There is another expression bears a find humour as well are pathos, that the wife who kept him waiting for dinner two or three hours beyond the usual time and she passed on a more savoury dish to her husband, recommending a less savoury one to Lamb.



In the concluding part it can be said that in Charles Lamb's essays humour and pathos are inseparable and for these things his essays become rich and stylistic.

Autobiographical elements in Charles Lamb’s essays

Autobiographical elements in Charles Lamb’s essays

Charles Lamb's attitude in his essays is autobiographical-for his essays convey such elements from where we get to know his personality, nature, character, relatives, work places and people around him. Thus the subjective note in his essays is vital. As he belongs to the romantic age, the personal “I” is prominent is his essays. In almost all the essays, we find and we learn something about his life. Thus he speaks about his life, likings, whims and feelings. Lamb talks to the reader as if he were his friend and confesses and confider in him. Lamb's own personality is the basis for most of his essays. His own memories are reflected in them.
Actually autobiography is that kind of writing in which the writer's states, life and conditions are delineated. His personal experiences are revealed in autobiography. Moreover, the facts of personal life of the writer and the activities, relatives, friends, likings, dislikings, character etc. are written by the writer himself. In Charles Lamb's essays, we find the autobiographical touch. However, the autobiographical elements that we can get from his essays are written below:-

From his essays, we, the readers, come to know about Charles Lamb's life and we learn certain facts of his life- he was born at the Inner Temple and he was schooled at Christ's Hospital and he worked at South Sea House and India House as a clerk. We know that he was a bachelor; we also know that he apparently loved but was refused by his early beloved. We get to know a great deal about his school life in the essay "Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago". We know that he had some privileges in his school. He says about himself in the guise of Coleridge, "I remember L. at school, and can well recollect that he had some peculiar advantages, which I and others of his school fellows had not". Again he says "His friends lived in town, and were near at hand; and he had the privilege of going to see them, almost as often as he wished". Moreover, he got his "extraordinary bread and butter" "from the hot-loaf of the Temple".


The reason for why his essays appeal autobiographical is his subjective note which is predominant in all his essays. The subject of the Essays of Elia is Lamb himself. In all of them, he makes some reference to himself. And the personal "I" is so abound in his essays that readers ere sometimes fretted, although some critics consider that use as an extra charm of Lamb's essays. In almost all the essays, he talks about himself, his family, relatives, and friends. From these essays, we come to know about his personality, nature and character which are revealed by himself. After reading his essays, we know all about his stammer, his work al India House and his companions there. It is this quality of self-revelation and confidential tone that entitles Lamb to be called the "Prince of English essayists".

We also come to know about his relatives and friends. In the essay "The South Sea House”, he writes about his colleagues and gives the readers a very clear view about them. Similarly, In "Christ's Hospital", he tells about his relatives and friends. Some of his relatives and friends lived in London and who were, no doubt, very caring to him. They used to bring delicious foods for him in Christ's Hospital and used to look after him very cordially. He says in “Christ’s Hospital”, in the guise of Coleridge, "He had his hot plate of roast veal, or the more tempting griskin...., cooked in the paternal kitchen...., and bought him daily by his maid or aunt". In the same essay, we have collections about a number of other friends who studied with him. We know his friends lived in town. In “Christ’s Hospital Five And Thirty Years Ago”, he says, "His friends lived in town, and were near at hand".


From the essays like “The South Sea House”, “Christ’s Hospital Five And Thirty Years Ago”, “A Bachelors Complaint”, we got to know about his activities and the jobs that he used to do in his student and professional life. In the essay “Christ’s Hospital Five And Thirty Years Ago”, we see that he was not like his other school fellows and enjoyed much concessions than other's. We also come to know that "he was a home-seeking lad" and did not enjoy him much with other boys. Other essays tell his feelings, ideas, dreams and unfulfilled longings. But through all the essays shine the personality of a man who was alive to the absurdities of the world, sympathetic towards others' sufferings and tolerant towards shortcomings.

As we know that Charles Lamb was a bachelor and worked at The South Sea House and India House, he had experiences some bitter and humorous experiences from there. These experiences sometimes seem humorous and sometimes seem pathetic. In the essay “A Bachelors Complaint”, he tells about some of the bitter experiences and expresses his agony for the behaviour of the married people whom he thinks pretend lovers. Here he says, " What oftenest offends of at the houses of married persons where I visit, is an error of quite a description:- it is that they are too loving". He thinks that the married people generally show that they are "too loving" and they show these things to the unmarried people "so shamelessly". This type of behaviour of the married people is painful to him.

Charles Lamb is a true lover of the past. He loves past people, books, buildings and fashions, and does not care much about future. Memories of the past haunt him; recollections of events of the past are more important than the present; old familiar faces hold more attraction for him. In the essay, “The South Sea House” and “Christ’s Hospital Five And Thirty Years Ago”, Lamb is seen as a visualizer of the past memories. In “The South Sea House”, he says about the building as "it was forty years ago, when I knew it- a magnificent relic". Here he recollects the memory of the old building, its damp and dark rooms, the inner rooms which were even more sparsely peopled and the gloomy cellar which saw no light of the sun.

Although Charles Lamb loved the past things, he loved his life and was loath to die. Like all other man, he loved the sun, the breeze, solitary walks, the very green earth. He declares his love for good food and drink. He also loves the theatre, books, good company, gossip and scandal. And again from many of his essays, we come to know that he likes irony, jokes, pun and paradox. He never wanted to hide his likings, dislikings, whims and oddities. He frankly confesses all these things to the readers. He desires the friendship of his readers, and not merely their respect. He confider in them all about his own weakness, follies and foibles.

As Charles Lamb loved fun, he sometimes used to mystify the readers by declaring something true to be false, or by mischievously changing names and speaking under assumed personality. In the essay, “Christ’s Hospital Five And Thirty Years Ago” , he writer in the guise of Coleridge. And it is the last three or two paragraphs when he unveils the curtain and writes as Charles Lamb.

Lamb speaks of his personal reactions to various aspects of life in all his essays. Even in the essays like “Christ’s Hospital Five And Thirty Years Ago”, “The South Sea House” , where he is primarily concerned with other people, he is talking about them from his personal point of view. In “The South Sea House”, he delineates the characters of Evans, Thomas Tame and John Tipp by his thoughts and feelings. And the comments about them are his own. He comments about John Tipp, "He sang, certainly, with other notes than to the orphan lyre". Them again he comments about the clerks of The South Sea House, “they formed a sort of Noah's ark” .

In most of the essays, he reveals the incidents, people and glories of the past. As a result he picturizes not only other people's conditions and states, but also his own conditions, feelings and character. In fact, his own life is revealed by his essays. So, considering the subject matter of his essays, it can be said that a large portion of Lamb's biography can be written from his essays.