Wakefield.
Although Primrose’s new home is clearly in England, Goldsmith’s description of it probably draws upon his childhood memories of Lissoy, Ireland, which was undoubtedly also the model for the town celebrated in his meditative poem The Deserted Village (1770). In The Vicar of Wakefield, the hero comments on the fact that the farmers still hold to the old ways and live by the old virtues. They work hard, live frugally, go to church on the Lord’s Day, and find their pleasure in the traditional festivals that every season brings. However, when the vicar returns home one evening, he sees his house on fire and his family in danger and realizes that no place on Earth is truly safe. Moreover, though the local villagers are mostly virtuous people, the vicar’s neighbor and landlord, wealthy Squire Thornhill, has all the vices of “the town,” that is, London.
“The town” (London). Eighteenth century term for London, the center of English society, luxury, and pleasure. It is a place of great appeal but of even greater peril. After the vicar’s son George is dissuaded from applying for a job in a London boarding school, he tries to become a writer, but fails, then becomes a dependent of Squire Thornhill, only to be used and finally abandoned. The evils associated with the town can also invade the country, exemplified by Squire Thornhill’s success in bringing his easy manners and easier morality into the vicar’s cottage, where he seduces the vicar’s susceptible daughter Olivia, who he carries off to London in his coach. Because he is wealthy, there is little that the Primroses can do to set matters right.
Road. Path leading away from the vicar’s cottage. The road is not the biblical narrow way of the virtuous but the broad path that leads toward town and temptation. When the vicar’s son Moses takes the road to a village fair, he is cheated out of his horse; when Olivia steps into the coach, she forfeits her virtue; and when George reaches London, he finds only disappointment and betrayal. At the same time, however, the vicar’s venture onto the road ends with his finding and rescuing Olivia. Moreover, the same road brings back Mr. Burchell–who turns out to be Squire Thornhill’s uncle, the virtuous Sir William Thornhill–thus assuring that good will be rewarded and evil punished.
Arnold country house. Estate visited by the vicar while he is on the road looking for Olivia. He is invited to the house by a well-dressed man who is actually the butler; however, when the Arnolds arrive with their niece Arabella Wilmot, George’s former fiancé, they invite the vicar to stay on. He appreciates the beauty of the country house, its impressive facade, its elegantly decorated rooms, and its magnificent grounds and gardens. However, he assumes that because of his own carelessness, his children can never become part of the world the estate represents.
Village gaol. Jail in which the vicar is briefly held prisoner. The gaol consists of one large common room and a number of cells, in which the prisoners sleep on straw with only their garments for covers. Because the vicar utilizes his imprisonment there as a heaven-sent opportunity and betters the lives of the other prisoners, for him the gaol symbolizes not defeat and disgrace but spiritual triumph.