Pepys' famous diary is marked by a certain frank earthiness, especially in relation to sex. Pepys lived through an astonishingly eventful period in English history, a time of plague, rebellion, restoration, and revolution. But what's interesting about the Diary is the way that Pepys intersperses his chronicling of the momentous...
Unlock
This Answer NowStart your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
events around him with the more mundane aspects of his daily life. Surrounded by death, disease, and political upheaval, Pepys adopts an attitude of "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die," throwing himself into a life of pleasure, especially in relation to the pleasures of the flesh. Pepys' diary is studded with references to the many casual sexual encounters he had with countless women.
Pepys hired numerous female domestic servants, and proceeded to have affairs with virtually all of them. One of them, Deborah Willet, was summarily dismissed by Pepys' wife after she caught them in the act. In his earthy attitude towards sex, Pepys was very much a man of his time. Most of his Diary covers a period of English history known as the Restoration, when King Charles II sat on the throne. Charles, nicknamed "The Merry Monarch" had a reputation as an incorrigible libertine, a man who fathered no fewer than twelve illegitimate children with his bevy of mistresses. (Yet who ironically never fathered any children with his wife, Catherine of Braganza, as she was barren.)
Charles set the tone of his age, a more liberal, sexually promiscuous age than the stern, godly Puritan era which had proceeded it. And Pepys, like many of his fellow countrymen, was only too happy to play "Follow My Leader."
Samuel Pepy's The Diary is, of course, a diary, so there are numerous personal elements in it. "Personal trait" is a bit vague (physical characteristic? writing style? what he experiences?), so I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for, but I'll do what i can.
I guess I will mention one personality trait. The author is reflective. In his entry for Sept. 14, 1615, he writes:
When I come home I spent some thoughts upon the occurrences of this day, giving matter for as much content on one hand and melancholy on another, as any day in all my life....
Of course, reflecting must surely be a natural act for a diarist, but it is as well a personality trait of Samuel Pepys.