Short summary of the essay - Sir Roger at Church

 Sir Roger has been characterized vividly by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Sir Roger is presented in these essays as kind, generous, lovable, and sometimes as a peculiar person. But in the hand of Joseph Addison, Sir Roger’s character is conveyed ironically. For that reason, he sometimes seems odd. Although he is gentle and mild and lovable to people, he has some eccentricities and oddities. And all these things are delineated superbly in these essays.

Joseph Addison’s essay Sir Roger at Church is about a unique individual named Roger. Addison begins the essay by saying that the observance of Sunday as a holy day keeps mankind civilised and polished. On Sundays people are at their very best. They appear clean and talk to other people on boring topics. Just like a merchant discusses exchange rates, the Parish people discuss the affairs of the parish.

The Spectator links this ancient wisdom to Sir Roger de Coverley’s sensible and honorable dealings with his servants, which, in turn, encourages the servants to act nobly

Sir Roger is a man of humanity and has a large heart. Moreover, he is mild. He loves not only the servants of his house but also the people who live around him. In the essay “Sir Roger at Church,” we see that he is asking about the condition of the people who are absent in the church. It suggests that he is very kind-hearted and generous for who he is very aware of others.

He is a regular church goer and encourages other to come to the church.His mind is set for religious purposes and he does a lot of jobs for religion. In the essay “Sir Roger at Church”, we see that he has decorated end beautified the church on his own accord and at his own expense so that the country people would be encouraged to come to the church enthusiastically.

His eccentricity: To some extent Sir Roger can be considered as eccentric. In almost all the essays regarding him, we find its full expression. In the essay “Sir Roger at Church” his eccentricity is seen in which he exercised his authority. He wanted that his tenants should behave well in the church. They must not sleep or make any noise during the church service but he himself did so.Sometimes when everybody was on their knees, he stood up. In summing up, it can be said that in spite of being a man of great honour, Sir Roger is regarded as a humorist and sometimes eccentric because of having some oddities or peculiarities in him.

However, the ultimate aim of Addison was not to show his humorous expressions to make up laugh only, rather to make up correct for our follies and absurdities. But the main intention of Addison, the Spectator, was to correct the society, to reform every corner of life by presenting the character Sir Roger.