Point out the chief characteristics of the Picaresque novel.

The picaresque novel is the autobiography of a picaro, a rogue and in the form a satire upon the conditions and persons of the time that gives it birth.’ The picaresque novel represents a rogue relating his adventures. He is born of poor and dishonest parents, who are not often troubled with gracing their union by a ceremony nor particularly A pleased at his advent. He comes up by hook or crook as he may. Either he enters the world with an innate love of the goods of others, or he is innocent and learns by hard raps that he must take care of himself or go to the wall. In either case the result is much the same, in order to live he must serve somebody, and the gains of service he finds himself obliged to augment with the gains of roguery. So he flits from one master to another, all of whom he outwits in his career, and describes to satirist in his narrative. Finally, having run through a variety of strange vicissitudes, measuring by his rule of roguery the vanity of human estates, he brings his story to a close.

The picaresque novel is a realistic portrayal of criminal life in which criminal and their tricks constitute the chief source of interest. It is the life story of a rogue or picaro or clever and amusing adventurer of low social class who earns his livelihood by tricks and roguery rather than by honourable industry. The story is usually told by a picaro in the first person, as an autobiography. Episodie in nature, the plot consists of a series of thrilling incidents only slightly connected and strung together without organic relationship. They are without pattern. If at their best the picaresque stories had a beginning, they had no end. They were published in parts and the main aim of the novelist was to introduce adventure after adventure in the life of picaro. The hero wanders from place to place as well as from job to job. The adventures and wanderings in different social settings permit the picaro to meet people of all classes-bankers, politicians, the clergy, doctors, lawyers, actors and society-folk. He is provided with the opportunity of satirising corruption and hypocrisy of a whole society and epoch, The picaresque novel is in consequence a study of manners.

The picaresque novel is anti romantic and attacks indirectly the romance of chivalry. It may be described as a novel of character. In the novel of incident the interest is directed to what happens and the characters come more by the way. It is essentially an exciting story. A tale is made to centre round a hero and it has got to kept going. The object of the picaresque novel is to take a central figure through a succession of scenes, interview a great number of characters and build up a picture of society.

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