In, F: The Adventures of David Simple: A Study in Contrasts

This book proposes to scrutinize and analyze the contrasts that abound in Sarah Fielding s novel, The Adventures of David Simple. Contrasts pervade the novel because they exist in the themes, between the paired protagonists, and between part one and part two. The hero, David Simple, is characterized by his extreme benevolence that rarely exists among us. He seems uncommon by prioritizing friendship over anything else. He is an extremist in point of godliness, innocence, spirituality, sentimentality, and benevolence. With like-minded friends, David sets up a utopian community that grows from four to eleven members, but at last only two female members survive. The annihilation of David s secluded utopia brings about the enigma that good seems to go unrewarded. This book attempts to draw on feudalism and capitalism to explain the decline of David s utopia by analyzing the patron-client relationship that evolves between David Simple and Mr. Orgueil. To sum up, the threshold of heavenly happiness is death. The prerequisite for an approach to that threshold of permanent happiness is benevolence, which avails to transcend sublunary happiness.