Torn with tenterhooks, heart-strings ground with his teeth.

After reading the first section of Caleb Williams, I have to say the most interesting character so far is Mr. Tyrrel. Don't get me wrong; he's a disgusting, loathsome, pitiful beast of a human being but interesting nonetheless. I have always held a terrified fascination with people who mock wisdom, feel contempt for the intelligent, etc. These people are rare: most anybody of any level of intelligence wants to improve themselves in some way, even if they feel envy for those smarter than them. But few are the people who hate knowledge and they are very dangerous.

Tyrrel is described on page 16: "His stature, when grown, was somewhat more than six feet, and his form might have been selected by a painter as a model for that hero of antiquity, whose prowess consisted in felling an ox with this fist, and then devouring him at a meal." It also states "he was eminently expert in the arts of shooting, fishing, and hunting... added the practice of boxing, cudgel-play and quarter-staff."

The troubling characteristics start appearing on page 19: "For his own part he never saw anything come of learning but to make people foppish and impertinent." Furthermore, he is jealous of Falkland: "While he saw nothing in Mr. Falkland but matter for contempt, they appeared to be never weary of recounting his praises."

Basically, the way I read it, Tyrrel is a stereotypical big dumb jock straight out of an 80's rom com. And he hates the bookish Falkland for getting the attention he feels should belong to him. This line is particularly eyebrow-raising: "I should be glad to see him torn with tenterhooks, and to grind his heart-strings with my teeth."

One observation I have made is that although Tyrrel is cruel and boorish he is still part of the upper class. Godwin seems to be suggesting here that money and birth don't guarantee benevolence and so there is really nothing admirable about the aristocracy. They just have money.

Tyrrel is interested in using his powerful position to his advantage in an unjust way. Falkland attempts to speak sense to him: "We must not use the advantage that accident has given us, with an unmerciful hand." It's understood that later in the book Falkland to becomes terrifying, but in this first section he's quite benevolent and his merits are distinct from his social status.

In conclusion, I was really interested in the differences between these two characters. The description of Tyrrel makes me so uncomfortable, and I shutter to think there are such brazen, intentionally stupid people in the world, and that they have some degree of power and authority.