Theme: The essay begins with a humorous account which it seems that Lamb’s friend Thomas Mann has shared with him. The essay describes the discovery of the exquisite flavour of roast pig in China in a time when all food was eaten raw (saying Confucius designated a kind of golden age by the term Cho-fang, literally the Cooks’ Holiday).
A swineherd named Ho-ti left his son, a lubberly boy called Bo-bo, in charge of the pigs, and the lad happening to play with fire, set their cottage alight and with it a fine litter of nine new-farrowed pigs, a much esteemed delicacy. The distressed Bo-bo then smelt something neither he nor anyone else had ever smelt before and in seeking to find out whether any pig was still alive, he burnt his fingers and sucked them. Both smell and taste were delicious, and he soon convinced his father to try.
It was noticed thereafter that their cottage burnt down with surprising frequency, and they were eventually caught and put on trial for this impious horror. The evidence being passed round to the jurors, they all burnt their fingers, sucked them, and acquitted. “The insurance offices, one and all, shut up shop”, as news of the invention spread, and houses all over the country burnt down over and over again.
Lamb then goes on to say the pig must be a young and tender suckling, and it must be roasted, not boiled, and the crackling must not be over-roasted. Then “he is – good throughout. No part of him is better of worse than another. He helpeth, as far as his little means extend, all around. He is the least envious of banquets.”
He discusses whether the former custom of whipping pigs to death to make their meat tender could be justified as giving so much pleasure to the eater as might outweigh the cruelty to the pig. He recalls a debate upon it, but “I forget the decision”.
Prose Style
Bacon wrote in a formal and aphoristic style; Addison in a satiric, scholarly, journalistic and humorous style. However, it is difficult to describe a typical Lamb style; it has a charm all its own. Rickett writes that “His style (of writing) is a mixture certainly of many styles, but a chemical, not a mechanical mixture”. Lamb’s hallmark is immense variety. The numerous essays he has written suggest this variety. He wrote in a chatty, gossipy manner. He could be reflective, fanciful, witty, grave and didactic. He was elevating and imaginative, playful and poetic, and finally a man of the world depending on the theme of his essay. Purely in terms of language, Lamb is a romanticist who brought to prose the finest qualities of romanticism.
A word, lastly, about Lamb’s peculiar style which is all his own and yet not his, as he is a tremendous borrower. He was extremely influenced by some “old-world” writers like Fuller and Sir Thomas Browne. It is natural, then, that his style is archaic. His sentences are long and rambling, after the seventeenth-century fashion. He uses words many of which are obsolescent, if not obsolete. But though he “struts in borrowed plumes”, these “borrowed plumes” seem to be all his own. Well does a critic say: “The blossoms are culled from other men’s gardens, but their blending is all Lamb’s own.” Passing through Lamb’s imagination they become something fresh and individual. His style is a mixture certainly of many styles, but a chemical not a mechanical mixture.” His inspiration from old writers gives his style a romantic colouring which is certainly intensified by his vigorous imagination. Very like Wordsworth he throws a fanciful veil on the common objects of life and converts them into interesting and “romantic” shapes. His peculiar style is thus an asset in the process of “romanticising” everyday affairs and objects which otherwise would strike one with a strong feeling of ennui. He is certainly a romantic essayist. What is more, he is a poet.
In A Dissertation upon Roast Pig, Lamb refers to the reader while describing the cottage of Bo-bo in the beginning Paragraph, “a sorry antediluvian make-shift of a building, you may think it.” Hence, the essays are made interesting in keeping with the prevalent traditions and through this personal, interactive streak, have been made universal.
A Dissertation upon Roast Pig, Elia remembers this one incident when he was young and her aunt had given her a cake and after thrusting it upon a beggar “the odour of that spicy cake came back upon my recollection, and the pleasure …” Then there is the acceptance of the sagacity of the old when he says “Our ancestors were nice in their method of sacrificing these tender victims.” It is in human nature to long for the past. Irrespective of how content a man must be at the present, the past seems more serene. At some point of time, especially in the old age, people have this longing for the active years of the past. This is something everyone can relate to and thus, even in this century can be relative.
Fantastical story on the origin of roast pig is related to an ancient Chinese manuscript, and by dealing with it like it is a scholarly piece of writing, he has actually tried to provide some authenticity to his word.
In Dissertation upon Roast Pig, antithesis is employed in the case of the pig that is being beaten or “whipped to death” so that their meat is made tender. This misery of the pig evokes a deep sympathy for the pig whose pain is almost likened to that of Christ. And yet, Lamb goes on to justify this very tradition and for “It might impart a gusto.” In giving both sides of the argument, Lamb makes the applicability of his essays very wide. The ambivalence of Elia is a also characteristic of any human mind. Man is prone to all sorts of uncertainties and there is a good chance that he will not reach a satisfactory conclusion. Thus, this side of human psychology has been prevalent forever, making Lamb’s essays universal.
There is use of excessively sensual language in both the essays. This imprints the essay on the reader’s mind since it not only provokes the mind but also stimulates the senses. The experience of reading these essays is in its own right a wholly sensuous experience. In Old China, the description of the pictures on the teacups is very vivid, “the same lady … is stepping into a little fairy boat, moored on the hither side of this calm garden river …” In A Dissertation upon Roast Pig, the explanation of the roast as “crisp, tawny, well-watched, not over-roasted, crackling,” the aroma that “assailed his nostrils” and the “sorry antediluvian make-shift of a building” all stimulate the tongue, nose and eyes. The ability of these essays to evoke these senses even in this century proves the universality of the language and the approach used by Lamb.
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