Chapter V

Henry Fielding and the Women Characters in Eds Fiction.

(i)

Henry Fielding (1707-54) was bom in a family, which was not very affluent

but it had aristocratic connections. The world into which he was bom is faithfully

described in his works. He was the son of Edmund Fielding a half-pay army

officer. The half-pay officers had a miserable life as they could not expect any

advance in rank nor could their widows claim any pension. Henry Fielding was

aged seven when his father chose to be a half-pay officer. The result was disastrous

for the family. Fielding’s bitter experience of his childhood days begrudged him

against this horrible system. His writings bore the stamp of resentment at the

corruption of military life. He particularly ventilated his feelings towards the half­

pay officers. Fielding in Tom Jones has also depicted the plight of the half-pay

officers by portraying a lieutenant who had been promoted on the field but had

remained in the same rank for 40 years. This was a dramatised and exaggerated

description of his father’s case. In Amelia too, we have the similar case of the half­

pay officers and the corruption of the army life, which gives shape to the plot.

Fielding had been enrolled at Eton at the age of twelve, when its headmaster

was Henry Bland, who was responsible for organising tutorials. The teaching of

literature in those days was based upon poetry, and tradition therefore required that

one should memorise long passages of Homer, Virgil, and other poets. Fielding

was thus acquainted with the classical literature. He came under the influence of

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu a second cousin of his. She had no great opinion of

the morals of the English society under the premiership of Sir Robert Walpole.

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Fielding wrote a comedy Love in Several Masques and dedicated the drama to her.

The play was approved by Colley Cibber and Robert Wilks and it was staged at

Drury Dane on 16 February 1728. It did not become a stage success, but it proved

that the young author could manage a pastiche style of Restoration comedy. The

play suggested a capability of imitating rather than writing original dialogues. The

play revolved round Helena the niece of Sir Positive Trap an abrasive and grasping

country squire. Helena sums up her predicament by saying, “To be sold! To be put

up at auction! To be disposed of as a piece of goods, by way of bargain and sale?l

Helena can be construed as the voice of the women whose position in the male

dominated society was relegated to be just a commodity for trade. The play also

reflected the society of the times and of the runaway marriages, which took place

between heiresses and opportunistic males. In the last scene when the runaway

marriage is discovered Sir Positive warns the abductor by commenting, “She is an

heiress and you are guilty of felony and shall be hanged with the whole company

of your abettors.”2 It was a kind of warning that Fielding had himself received

when he was a young man. In 1725 Fielding while staying at Lyme Regis had been

enamoured of Sarah Andrew, a girl of fifteen who had the makings of a

considerable beauty. Her two brothers had died leaving her an heiress and she lived

with her uncle Andrew Tucker. Fielding’s plans of marrying her were negated and

it also brought ill-fame to him. He later confided to a friend James Harris that there

were two kinds of women, there was one type who inspired love, and the other

who inspired lust. Fielding has also utilised the satiric appropriation of masculine

powers by women to expose the government’s low ideals of commercial

exploitation in his play Love in Several Masques. He utilised the female characters

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of the play to articulate upon the socio-political and economic issues of the times.

The two female characters discuss the meaning of the word feminine and its

implications, thereby mocking the male ideals.

Vermilia. 0 constancy! thou art a virtue!

Lady Matchless. It is indeed, for virtues, like saints, are never canonised till they

are dead - which poor Constancy has been long ago.

Vermilia. I am afraid it proved abortive, and died before it was bom. But if it ever

had being, it was most certainly feminine; and indeed, the men have been so

modest to allow all the virtues to be of our sex.

Lady Matchless. 0! we are extremely obliged to them; they have found out

housewifery to belong to us too. In short, they throw their families and their

honour into our care, because they are unwilling to have the trouble of preserving

them themselves.” 3

In the year 1732 he staged another play in Drury Lane called The Modern

Husband, the theme of which was the prostitution of a wife for financial gain.

Through the play The Modern Husband Fielding wanted to deliver a moral, to the

audience about the evils of wife selling or exploiting the wife for financial gains by

the husband. Fielding was inspired by Aphra Behn’s The Lucky Chance (1687) and

Elizabeth Haywood’s A Wife to Lett (1723). The theme of The Modern Husband is

that a wife is a commodity and is burdensome and can be gainfully exploited for a

profit. Charles B Wood has remarked that Fielding’s attack was “directed against

not a private but a public evil, a state of affairs which enabled a man to make

money from his wife’s adultery without loss of social prestige.”4 Fielding wanted

to expose that the criminal conversation action was misused and exploited in

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Abergavenny Vs lydell case, where Abergavenny had known of his wife’s

licentious relations, and had trapped the couple to profit 10,000 pounds in

damages. The plot of the drama centers round the marriage of a middle-class

couple, the Modems who aspire to live fashionably in London. The husband had

lost his fortune in the South Sea Bubble, and so he forced his wife to have a

promiscuous relationship with Lord Richly for 1500 pounds. The husband

proposes to procure witnesses to prove his wife’s extra marital liaisons, so that he

may recover the damages. In a parallel plot we find that the Bellamonts had

incurred a few debts and the devious Lord Richly conspires to keep them

impoverished, so that he can force Mrs. Bellamont into an adulterous relation with

himself. He offers Mrs. Modem twenty guineas to pay for her gambling debts,

provided she can procure Mrs. Modem for him. The play exposes the injustice of

marriage and it also shows the willingness of the males to exploit the females for

monetary gains. It also exposes the hypocrisy of the males who while marrying

take the vow to protect and care for the females. Henry Fielding uses Mrs. Modem

to espouse his anger at the duplicity of the males. Mrs. Modem complains, “Have I

secured thy worthless person at the expense of mine? No wretch, ’tis at the price of

thy shame, I have purchased pleasures. Why, why do I say shame? The mean, the

grovelling animal, whom fear could force to render up the honour of his wife must

be above the fear of shame. Did I not come unblemished to thee? Was not my life

unspotted as my fame., till at thy base intreaties I gave up my innocence? - oh!

That I had sooner seen thee starved in prison, which yet I will, ere thou shall reap

the fruits of my misfortunes.”5 Mrs. Modem’s outburst thus illustrates that her

affair with Lord Richly should not be construed as a promiscuous fling but it is the

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husband who should be ashamed for entreating her to commit the deplorable act.

Mrs. Modem also realises that no self-respecting and ethical person would have

committed such an act and would have sacrificed his wife’s honour for money.

He wrote a poem The Masquerade, which was published in 1730. It was a

»

satire on the masquerades, which took place at Haymarket Theatre. The poem

displays Fielding’s moral indignation at the acts, which were committed through

the use of disguise. The poem denounces the vices of the society, that the morals

foundations of the society have become weak, that they are rotten and worm

infested by vice and penury. Fielding wrote, “Cardinals, quakers, judges dance;

Grim Turks are coy and nuns advance.

Grave churchmen here at hazard play;

Cinque-ace ten pound-done, quarter tray.

Known prudes there, libertines we find,

Who masque the face t’ unmasque the mind.” 6

Fielding’s verse assumed an acrimonious detachment, as he wanted to change the

society. Fielding’s era was of the Wesleyan period where the conversion to the

Methodist church was a new fangled idea. His hostility towards the moral order of

the Hanoverian society was profound and uncompromising. He denounced the

government of Walpole for its corruption of the society. He saw the distinction

between the poor and the moneyed class, and from his viewpoint it was the affluent

bourgeoisie who manipulated the power and patronage in the offices of the state.

Like Marx he viewed the division of working class. By forty he had mellowed and

the views of the early Fielding were supplanted by an apologist for social virtue

and enlightened justice. It seemed as if a rake had found redemption and reformed.

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Fielding dealt in moral realism and did not defer to authority, but attacked it

mercilessly. If he found public life corrupt he was vociferous about it in the most

violent and vulgar form. He dealt with the communal masculine world of the

eighteenth century, the world, which represented crime, deceit, brute force and

aspirations of the ambitious. He had no compunction in portraying the society with

all its faults. In Tom Jones Squire Western dismisses bastardy and considers it of

no importance if a girl had an illegitimate child, thereby reflecting the views of the

male dominated society. The readers of Fielding too were not mortified or forsake

him for the sexual indiscretions in the book. He addressed his writings to an

educated audience who were well versed with the Roman poets, the Greek

literature and to the culture of neoclassicism. His novel Joseph Andrews opens

with an essay on epic both ancient and modem. His novel Tom Jones is written in

mock epic style and even in Amelia we find traces of Greek and Latin from

Simonides and Horace. His serious readers might have been offended by his

crudity whereas his easygoing readers might have been bored by his erudition. As

morals and manners were changing Fielding was in no danger of any criminal

proceedings being brought against him, though the tide of moral sensibility was

against him. The new arbiters of the literary class were the wives, daughters and

the servants of the middle class. His works were remarkable as he gradually

unfolds the infinite complexities of the world. He uses such a method, which

prohibits further assessment and the situations in his works are very close to

experiential reality. He used irony with the intention to correct and to prune the

perversions of the society and this is best expressed in his mock-heroic works.

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 (II)
Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela appeared during November 1740. The

novel was written in the epistolary form and the characters were simple and clearly

defined. The plot was uncomplicated as there was a lecherous master who was

lusting after an innocent maid, there were anxious parents and ambivalent lookers-

on. The action was simple, direct, compulsive and non-slacking which rivetted the

attention of the readers, and it became one of the focal points of the British literary

culture of the eighteenth century. Henry Fielding’s sardonic reading of Pamela

sought to accomplish hegemonic power by redefining the original text and

reappraising the meaning of it. Fielding sought to expose the farragoes of the

novel. He saw it as an incoherent and morally damaging fraudulent work, as under

the disguise of piety it was sexually ambiguous and even salacious at times. There

was a voyeuristic sense of peeping into the feminine psyche, as it described how

the master Mr. B resorted to peeping through the. keyhole at Pamela who was lying

in a swoon with her clothes in disarray. Fielding sought to denounce Richardson’s

mingled prudery and prurience through his parodic novel Shamela. Fielding’s

Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews was published on 4 April 1741 as a

pamphlet after three editions of Richardson’s Pamela had appeared in the market.

It was not just a topical parody designed to make fun of Richardson’s novel but it

was also an assault on the inadequacies of the moral and intellectual life of the

times which were propagated through the perspective of the novel. Fielding’s

Shamela sought to expose and identify what may be considered or who may or

may not lay legitimate claim to cultural authority by engaging in a discourse with

declared ideology and its disguised assumptions. In Shamela Fielding’s stratagem

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was to commandeer the ambiguities of Pamela and to mimicry it by making it

seem ridiculous. In the title page Fielding made his intentions clear by stating, “An

Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews, In which, the many notorious

Falsehoods and Miscalculations of a Book called Pamela are exposed and refuted;

and all the matchless Arts of the young politician set in true and just Light.

Together with a full account of all that passed between her and Parson Arthur

Williams; whose character is represented in a manner something different from

what he bears in Pamela''7 This kind of technique of caricaturing existing texts

was quite a familiar practice in the literary world of eighteenth century England.

Fielding transforms his heroine Shamela into an anti-thesis of Pamela. Pamela is a

frightened and gullible female who clings on to her integrity in the face of Mr. B’s

sexual and mental onslaught, whereas Shamela is an accomplished mercenary

prostitute who skilfully deceives the gullible Mr. Booby into marriage with the

assistance of her like-minded accomplices Mrs. Jervis and Parson Williams.

Shamela is the daughter of a prostitute. Her correspondence with her mother

reveals her brazen intention to appropriate Mr. Booby’s wealth by arousing his

sexual interest in the young and attractive servant girl. Shamela lampoons

Richardson’s novel systematically and Shamela’s charade of virtuous resistance

was calculated to drive Mr. Booby wild with desire and she succeeds in her

endeavours. She writes in her letter to he mother, “Pamela, says he, what book is

that? I warrant you Rochester’s poems. - No, forsooth, says I, as pertly as I could..

Why how now saucy chops, boldfaces says he.- Mighty pretty words, says I pert

again. - Yes (says he) you are a d - 4, impudent, striking, cursed confounded Jade,

and I have a great Mind to kick your A -. You kiss - says I. A-gad, says he, and so

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I will; with that he caught me in his arms and kissed me til made my face all over

fire. Now this served purely, you know to put upon the fool for anger, O! What

precious Fools Men are!” 8 Fielding faithfully reproduced the bedroom scene of

Pamela where Mr. B. tries to molest Pamela and she faints. Fielding parodied it by

making Shamela and her accomplice Mrs. Jervis contrive to deceive Mr. Booby.

Shamela writes about the incident to her mother, “Mrs. Jervis and I are just in Bed,

and the door unlocked; if my Master should come - Odsbods! I hear him just

coming in at the Door. You see I write in the present Tense, as parson Williams

says. Well, he is in Bed between us, we both shamming a Sleep, he steals his Hand

into my Bosom, which I, as if in my Sleep press close to me with mine, and then

pretend to awake. -1 no sooner see him, but I scream out to Mrs. Jervis, she feigns

likewise but just to come to herself; we both begin, she to becall, and I to bescratch

very liberally. After having made a pretty free use of my Fingers, without any great

Regard to the parts I attack’d, I counterfeit a swoon. Mrs. Jervis then cries out 0,

Sir what have you done you have murthered poor Pamela; she is gone, she is gone.

0 what a Difficulty it is to keep one's Countenance, when a violent laugh desires

to burst forth.”9 Fielding reverses the role of his heroine, where Pamela was the

victim, Shamela becomes the predator, where Mr. B was rakish Mr. Booby is

oafish. Pamela strives for her integrity, Shamela contrives artifice. Pamela has to

strive hard to prove her worthiness to Lady Davers Mr.B’s sister, but Shamela has

a different task, she has to strive hard to maintain the semblance of a virgin bride

on her wedding night, which she was not. Shamela writes to her mother about how

she was successful in deceiving her master, “In my last I left off at our sitting down

to supper on our Wedding Night, where I behaved with as much Bashfulness as the

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purest Virgin in the World could have done. The most difficult task was for me to

blush; however by holding my Breath, and squeezing my Cheeks with my

Handkerchief, I did pretty well. ... at last I went to Bed, and my Husband soon

leapt in after me; where I shall assure you, I acted my Part in such a maimer, that

no Bridegroom was ever better satisfied with his Bride’s Virginity. And to confess

the Truth, I might have been well satisfied too, if I had never been acquainted with

Parson Williams.”lO Fielding even transformed the coinage of Richardson’s text

when he put Shamela’s objective forward, “I thought once of making a little

fortune by my Person. I now intend to make a great one by my Vartue.’T 1 Fielding

thus tried to propagate that Pamela’s Virtue the thing about which she takes so

much care and goes through torture both mental and physical, is after all nothing

but Vartue a secret desire for social enhancement and an ability for cunning

personal advancement. Fielding rewrote the sexual politics removing the notion

that the women were the victims of men’s predatory instincts, he espoused that the

deceifful are the predators and the gullible are the victims irrespective of gender.

Fielding seized the Pamela phenomenon as an opportunity to castigate the state of

culture of his times. Fielding saw the society as driven by money and external

display of pomp and grandeur inhabited by people hopelessly gullible and lacking

in substance. As Dr. Ian A Bell has written in this regard, “By offering such a

familiar and exclusively literary set of references, Shamela covertly

decontextualises and redirects the sexual ideology of its source. From Fielding’s

perspective the ‘newness’ of Pamela is seen only to be hypocritical veneer, and to

be rather unconvincing one at that.” 12

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 Fielding through Shamela led an attack on those who had lauded Pamela as a

book likely to promote the cause of virtue and religion.Dr. Benjamin Slocock had

recommended Pamela from the pulpits of St. Saviours Church and it was rumoured

that he had received ten guineas for the favour. The idea of introducing clergymen

into the text like Parson Oliver and Parson Tickletext was to attack the related

issues of the day. Parson Oliver espouses Fielding’s view and represents the

sensible reader of Pamela, who can understand the actual artifice of Richardson’s

Pamela. Parson Oliver says, “The instruction which it conveys to Servant-Maids,

is, I think, very plainly this, To look out for their Masters as sharp as they can. The

Consequences of which will be, besides Neglect of their Business, and the using all

Manner of Means to come at Ornaments of their Persons, and that if the Master is
\

not a Fool, they will be debauched by him; and if he is a Fool, they will marry

him.”13 Parson Oliver is contrasted with the credulous Parson Tickletext, who is

infatuated with the steamy book. Parson Tickletext is so infatuated that he joins his

fellow clergymen into extolling the merits of the book from the pulpit. Parson

Tickletext is emulating Dr Benjamin Slocock. Fielding in parodying Pamela has

also provided Shamela with a little library of her own, which contains devotional

books as well as other works. She possesses A Short Account of God’s Dealings

with Reverend Mr. George Whitefield, a book written by Whitefield as a reply to

an attack on Methodism. It seemed to Fielding that the Methodist movement was

giving legitimacy to the form of outward show of ‘faith’ rather than ‘works or

acts’, which was the criterion for piety. Shamela receives from her mother a copy

of Mr. Whitefield’s sermons from which she is inspired to learn how to ensnare her

‘rich fool’ Mr. Booby. Later when she listens to the preaching of Parson Williams

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 /

she draws her own conclusion, which seems to be a grotesque mockery of

Whitefield’s view. She writes about the sermon preached by Parson Williams, “his

Text was, Be not Righteous over much; and indeed he handled it in a very fine

way; he shewed us that the Bible doth not require too much Goodness that are not

so. That to go to Church, and to pray, and to sing Psalms, and to honour the

Clergy, and to repent, is true Religion’ and ’tis not doing good to one another, for

that is one of the greatest Sins we can commit, when we don’t do it for the sake of

Religion. That those People who talk of Vartue and Morality, are the wickedest of

all Persons That ’tis not what we do, but what we believe, that must save us, and a

great many other Things; I wish I could remember them all.”l4 Fielding wanted to

demonstrate through his parody about the proper and improper forms of religious

observation. The simple parody of Richardson’s novel thus became a pretext to

voice wider cultural analysis, which Fielding used as a platform to announce his

own oppositional concerns and attitudes.

(HI)

Joseph Andrews was published in 1742, and is partly a parody of

Richardson’s Pamela, who defends her chastity from the lecherous onslaught of

her master Mr.B. Richardson’s Pamela was intended as a model woman, a working

girl who looks upon her chastity as a virtue. To Fielding Pamela appeared as a

fabrication of the factual world, it was full of improbabilities like the clumsiness of

the persecutor who allowed Pamela to escape, also the voluminous letters, the

magnification of the virtues of the heroine and one theme of the resurrection of the

rake. The life in eighteenth century was whittled down to Pamela and a few

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servants and her persecutor, the conflict between good and evil thus shrunk down

to the physical struggle between Pamela’s defense of her chastity and the lecherous

advances and snares laid by Mr. B to ravish her. Such weakness of the theme led

the comic imagination of Fielding to write Joseph Andrews. The function of the

character and plot of Joseph Andrews is to illustrate the shortcomings of

Richardson and also to lay bare the bones of the eighteenth century life in general.

The dominant theme of the novel is the exposure of vanity and hypocrisy in the

society and the society’s anti-thetical views upon charity and chastity is also

revealed. Fielding in the Preface has written, “Now Affectation proceeds from one

of these two Causes, Vanity, or Hypocrisy: for as vanity puts us on affecting false

characters, in order to purchase Applause; so Hypocrisy sets us on an Endeavour to

avoid Censure by concealing our Vices under an Appearance of their opposite

Virtues.” 15 In order to parody Richardson’s Pamela the plot of Joseph Andrews

revolves around a central moral problem, i.e. the preservation of chastity despite

lustful attacks upon it. Joseph Andrews must protect his virtue from the lustful

advances of women like Lady Booby, Mrs. Slipslop and Betty the chambermaid.

The heroine Fanny Goodwill must withstand the attacks of a lustful beau, a squire,

a rogue and a servant.

In Joseph Andrews Fielding creates a kind of serious criticism of Pamela.

Compared to Pamela’s literacy he creates a heroine who is illiterate, where Pamela

was afraid about protecting her chastity he creates a hero who is in full control of

his chastity, where Pamela rises in the society he causes his hero to stay in the

same social class of the society for the sake of his lover. In the opening chapters of

the novel Joseph Andrews appears as the brother of the illustrious Pamela, this was

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done deliberately as it was Fielding’s method of having a joke at the expense of

Richardson’s heroine. Fielding wrote, “Mr. Joseph Andrews, the Hero of our

ensuing History, was esteemed to be the only Son of Gaffar and Gammer Andrews

and Brother to the illustrious Pamela, whose Virtue is at present so famous.”l6

Joseph serves as footman in the family of Sir Thomas Booby and has arrived in

London from Booby Hall situated in Somerset. Just as we find in Richardson’s

novel that Mr. B’s mother has died so too in Fielding’s novel we find that Sir

Thomas booby has died. Lady Booby contrary to being grief stricken spends six

days playing cards with three of her female friends. She attempts to seduce Joseph

and invites him to her bedroom, where she lay reclined in a state of near

nakedness. Joseph’s virtuousness restrains him from taking advantage of the

situation despite the invitation from Lady Booby. The refusal of Joseph to comply

with his mistress’s demands provides the humour of the scene. Fielding describes

the scene, “Your Virtue! (said the Lady recovering after a Silence of two Minutes)

I shall never survive it. Your Virtue! Intolerable Confidence! Have you the

Assurance to pretend, that when a Lady demeans herself to throw aside the Rules

of Decency, in order to honour you with the highest Favour in her Power, your

Virtue should resist her Inclination? That when she has conquer’d her own Virtue,

she should find an obstruction in yours?”l7 His obtuseness, his inability to

comprehend his mistress’s purpose further infuriates her, and his virtuous

resistance is rewarded with his dismissal from the post. Lady Booby seems to the

reader as caricature of the high society lady, an example of vanity and hypocrisy,

which was prevalent in the society. This would seem that Fielding delighted in a

misogynistic portrayal but it is not true, because he defends her against other

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women for her love affair with Joseph. Fielding reminds us that vanity rules us

even during lust, and Lady Booby’s passion for Joseph interferes with her vanity.

She is physically excited and she has a strong involuntary reaction even when she

meets him accidentally at the end of the book, “She no sooner saw Joseph, than her

Cheeks glow’d with red, and immediately after became as totally pale. ...She

started from her Sleep, her Imagination being all on fire with the Phantom, when

her Eyes accidentally glancing towards the Spot where yesterday the real Joseph

had stood, that little Circumstance raise his Idea in the liveliest Colours in her

Memory. Each Look, each Word, each Gesture rushed back on her mind with

Charms, which all his Coldness could not abate.”l8 Lady Booby cannot expunge

her desires for Joseph, and despite dismissing him from her service she still retains

a soft spot for him. Fielding in portraying Lady Booby was actually ridiculing the

anti-male education, which was indoctrinated in a woman’s education. He

sympathasises with her and tries to illustrate that the passion which governs her is

beyond her comprehension. Fielding explains about the matter, “that as the Passion

generally called Love, exercises most of the Talents of the Female or Fair World;

so in this way they now and then discover a small Inclination to Deceit; ... Miss is

instructed by her Mother, that Master is a very monstrous kind of Animal, ... And

lastly she must never have any Affection towards him; or if she should, all her

Friends in Petticoats would esteem her Traitoress, point at her hunt her out of the

Society. ... To avoid this Censure therefore, is now their only care; for which

purpose they still pretend the same Aversion to the Monster. And the more they

love him, the more ardently they counterfeit Antipathy. By the continual and

constant Practice of which deceit on others, they at length impose, on themselves,

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and really believe they hate what they love. Thus indeed it happened to Lady

Booby who loved Joseph long before she knew it, and now loved him much more

than she suspected.”19 Fielding has also used Lady Booby as a mouthpiece to

condemn the male-dominated society’s demand of virtue from a woman. Lady

Booby’s exclamation about the virtuousness of Joseph, “Did ever a Man’s

Virtue!”20 makes us aware that virtue and chastity was expected only from women

and no male was asked to give proof of his being chaste or virgin. As Jill Campbell

has commented, “Lady Booby has reminded Joseph in their first interview of the

greater physical vulnerability of women, even socially superior women, to sexual

attack (“how should I defend myself?”), and her outrage at Joseph’s resistance

when she voluntarily invites sexual advances reflects a sense that the relative

invulnerability of male chastity to coercion makes it less valued, less available as a

privileged symbol of self-determination.” 21 Fielding has presented Lady Booby as

a woman who is a slave of her passion as in the end she finds another male as the

object of her love and forgets all about Joseph.

Fielding has created another woman character who lusts for Joseph and she is

Mrs. Slipslop. She was the ‘waiting-gentlewoman’ to Lady Booby. Fielding has

described her as, “She was a Maiden Gentlewoman of about Forty-five Years of

Age, who having made a small Slip in her Youth had continued a good Maid ever

since. She was not at this time remarkably handsome; being very short, and rather

too corpulent in Body; and somewhat red, with Addition of Pimples in the Face.

Her Nose was likewise rather too large, and her Eyes too little; nor did she

resemble a Cow so much in her Breath, as in two brown Globes which she carried

before her; one of her Legs was also a little shorter than the other which

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occasioned her to limp as she walked.” 22 In Joseph’s escapade with Mrs. Slipslop

Fielding has drawn a caricature when it is compared with Lady Booby’s seduction.

Lady Booby’s approach at seducing Joseph is subtle, whereas Mrs. Slipslop’s

approach is ridiculous as she is crazed with desire, “Yes, Joseph, my Eyes whether

I would or no, must have declared a Passion I cannot conquer. - Oh! Joseph! - As

when a hungry Tygres, who long had traversed the Woods in fruitless search, sees

within the Reach of her Claws a Lamb, she prepares to leap on her Prey; or as a

voracious Pike, of immense Size, surveys through the liquid Element a Roach or

Gudgeon which cannot escape her Jaws, opens them wide to swallow the little

Fish: so did Mrs. Slislop prepare to lay her violent amorous Hands on the poor

Joseph, when luckily her Mistresse’s Bell rung, and delivered the intended Martyr

from Clutches.”23 Mrs. Slipslop’s function in the novel is to repeat the words and

actions of Lady Booby in a burlesque manner. Fielding’s portrayal of the

ridiculous antics of Mrs. Slipslop crazed with desire to seduce, Joseph is a parallel

of her mistress’s adventures. Robert Alter has commented that Mrs. Slipslop, “ is

both a voice for and critic of the desires her mistress politely conceals, a living

testimony to what lies on the other side of Lady Booby’s fafade of hypocrisy.”24

Mrs. Slipslop is something more than what the critics have written about, she lusts
, *

for Joseph in a natural manner, which is in contrast to Lady Booby’s hot and cold

passion. Mrs. Slipslop is a compassionate person and unlike her mistress would not

have turned Joseph out. She may bemoan about Joseph, but in her heart she has

some sympathy for Joseph and this fact is revealed when she comes to his aid

many times. She is optimistic as she harbours the notion that someday she will

become “Mrs. Andrews with a hundred a year”.

■ri

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 Fielding’s example how social education works, and how passions are

different in women of different social classes. This is illustrated in the behaviour of

Betty the chamber-maid. Betty being employed as a chamber-maid at the inn was

the target of amorous attentions of various kinds of people like the footman,

bartender, soldiers etc. It developed her nature in. such a fashion that she took little

notice of such attentions. Fielding has described Betty as, “She had Good-nature,

Generosity and Compassion, but unfortunately her Constitution was composed of

those warm Ingredients, which, though the Purity of Courts or Nunneries might

have happily controuled them, were by no means able to endure the ticklish

Situation a Chamber-maid at an Inn, who is daily liable to the Solicitations of

Lovers of all Complexions, to the dangerous Addresses of fine Gentle-men of the

Army, who sometimes are obliged to reside with them a whole Year together, and

above all are exposed to the Caresses of Footmen, Stage-Coachmen, and Drawers;

all of whom employ the whole Artillery of kissing, bribing, and every other

Weapon which is to be found in the whole Armory of Love, against them.”25 Betty

despite such attentions from various lovers was not immune to the charms of the

love and her escapades with an ensign had left her devastated. She next fell prey to

the courting of John the hostler and she was in the habit of sharing her bed with an

occasional handsome young traveller. Betty was enamoured of Joseph and finding

him alone she could not control her passions and embraced him. Betty’s

promiscuousness forces her to act like this, and Fielding has sympathised with

these women who were driven by their sexual'desires. He tries to convince the

readers that such behaviours are not an aberration but quite usual. Fielding

describes the scene, “Ever since Joseph’s arrival, Betty had conceived an

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extraordinary Liking to him, which discovered itself more and more, as he grew

better and better; till that fatal Evening, when, as she was warming his Bed, her

Passion grew to such a Height, and so perfectly mastered both her Modesty and

Reason, that after many fruitless Hints, and sly Insinuations, she at last threw down

the Warming-Pan, and embracing him with great Eagerness, swore he was the

handsomest Creature she had ever seen. Joseph in great Confusion leapt from her,

and told her, he was sorry to see a young Woman cast off all Regard to Modesty:

but she had gone too far to recede, and grew so very indecent, that Joseph was

obliged, contrary to his Inclination, to use some Violence to her, and taking her in

his Arms, he shut her out of the Room, and locked the Door.”26

Fielding has shown through his portrayal of the various women characters

like Lady Booby, Mrs. Slipslop and Betty in Joseph Andrews that despite their

differences in social class, they are all victims of unsatisfied sexual desire. This

dissatisfaction causes them to behave in ari unhappy manner. Fielding tries to

expound the ideology that sexual virtue is not in living according to some abstract

principles but is the consequence of sexual inclination. He uses Lady Booby to

espouse his ideology, “Whither doth this violent Passion hurry us? What Meaness

do we submit to from its Impulse? Wisely we resist its first and least Approaches;

for it is then only we can assure ourselves the Victory. No Woman could ever

safely say, so far only will I go."21 It should not be construed that Fielding is

opposed to virtue; he tries to say that sexual desire does exist and one cannot

ignore it. As Jill Campbell has commented, “When Fielding replaces Richardson’s

woman with a man in the position of an embattled servant, he not only displaces

the defense of chastity from its traditional female preserve but also breaks the

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correspondence between socioeconomic and sexual disempowerment in

Richardson’s protagonist. Pamela could become a virtually mythic representative

of the culturally disentitled because her age, gender, and class position all coincide

in powerlessness; the mythologizing of her powerlessness serves complex

ideological functions in Richardson’s novel a vehicle for both progressive and

conservative suggestion. The very associations between class and gender position

employed by critics when they liken Richardson to a woman writer are explored by

Fielding when he replays Richardson’s scenario in a different key, separating the

part of masculinity from the position of social and economic power.”28

(IV)

Tom Jones was published in the year 1749, but it seems that there were

earlier volumes, which were in private circulation by November 1748. A letter

written by the Countess of Hertford to Lady Luxborough on 20th November

testifies it, “I have been very well entertained lately with the two first Volumes of

The Foundling, written by Mr.Fielding, but not to be published till the 22nd of

January; and if the same Spirit runs through the whole Work, I think it will be

much preferable to Joseph Andrevjs ”29 Tom Jones gives a panoramic view of the

society in England in 1745. It is the story of Tom Jones and Sophia Western who

are insurgents against the set norms of the eighteenth century society. They are

depicted as fighting a conventional society whose characteristics are embodied in

Blifil and they do not offer a passive resistance as they struggle. The struggle of

Tom Jones and Sophia is to expose the treachery of Blifil. Squire Allworthy and

Squire Western are both deceived by the treacherous Blifil, as he maintains a

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fafade of respectability with them. The plot of Tom Jones dramatises the moral

view of the human affairs describing the hidden dangers of naivety. The author’s

intention was to encompass a wider audience, as the narrative is rather didactic in

nature. Fielding was castigated for endorsing immoral and licentious fiction. The

novel had many detractors and Dr. Samuel Johnson was one such critic who took

umbrage at Fielding’s novel. Dr.Johnson opined that the novel should have

projected exemplary ideas, and conveyed clear and better ethics, as it would be

read by the young who were of an impressionable age. Sir John Hawkins was

another such critic who observed that Fielding’s work actively inculcated vice and

immorality. Sir John Hawkins described the novel Tom Jones as, “... a book

seemingly intended to sap the foundation of that morality which it is the duty of

parents and all the public instructors to inculcate in the minds of the young people,

by teaching that virtue upon principle is imposture, that generous qualities alone

constitute true worth, and that a young man may love and be loved, and at the same

time associate with the loosest women.”30 These criticisms do not correctly

evaluate Tom Jones as a novel or Henry Fielding as a novelist. Henry Fielding

reacted against the licentiousness of the Restoration by condemning the sexual

exploitation of women, of their being portrayed and reduced to sex objects to be

lusted and leered at. He opposed the double standard of the sexual morality of men

and their libertine views of marriage. Fielding accepted the hierarchical structure

of the eighteenth centum family and the dictum that the women should obey their

parents and husbands. Many critics have labelled Fielding as a ‘manly’ novelist.

Angela Smallwood in her book Fielding and the Women Question argues that

Fielding wrote on female issues within, “the same eighteenth century cultural

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consciousness for which women and ideas of femininity were of great

importance.’^ l Angela Smallwood writes that Fielding promoted the view that

women were considered inferior to men not for the reason that they had a natural

defect or that their mental faculties were of an inferior type, but because they did

not receive proper education.

Fielding’s primary objective in the portrayal of his characters was to give

attention to their subjective lives, to their moral development and to their personal

relationships. Fielding does not tend to individualize his characters but he makes

them of general category. Allworthy as the name implies is a worthy gentleman,

Tom Jones is compound name created out of the commonest names and it signifies

that Tom is representative of manhood in general. Fielding made his intentions

very clear when in Joseph Andrews he wrote, “I declare here once for all, I

describe not Men, but Manners; not an Individual, but a Species.”32 In Tom Jones

we find some of the principal characters were modeled on Fielding’s friends and

acquaintances, “Lyttleton and Allen provided his model for Squire Allworthy,

Sophia Western was modeled upon his first wife Charlotte Cradock- “one,” he

declared before her death in 1744, “from whom I draw all the solid comfort of my

life.” 33 Sophia Western is both the cynosure and the focal point theme of Virtue in

the novel. Fielding hints at about the allegorical meaning of Sophia, as her name in

Greek means Wisdom. She has been type cast as the wisdom that Tom does not

have, and the whole novel is the chronicle of his trying to achieve wisdom and win

Sophia. Sophia is first introduced to the readers in Book IV Chapter 2, and

Fielding uses the most eloquent and flattering language to describe her, “For lo!

Adorned with all the Charms in which Nature can array her; bedecked with

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Beauty, Youth, Sprightliness, Innocence, Modesty and Tenderness, breathing

Sweetness from her rosy Lips and darting Brightness from her sparkling Eyes, the

lovely Sophia comes.”34 Fielding did not rest here but invited the Reader to

conjure up the image of a beautiful woman so as to visualise the beauty of Sophia,

but even that would be inadequate to describe fully her beauty, “perhaps thou hast

seen the Statue of the Venus de Medicis. Perhaps too, thou hast seen the Gallery of

Beauties at Hampton-Court. Thou may’st remember each bright Churchill of the

Galaxy, and all the Toasts of Kit-cat. Or if their Reign was before thy Times, at

least thou hast seen their Daughters, the no less dazzling Beauties of the present

Age whose Names, should we here insert, we apprehend they would fill the whole

Volume. ...Yet is it possible, my Friend, that thou mayest have seen all these

without being able to form an exact Idea of Sophia.”35 Martin C. Battestin gives

the reason why Fielding wished to represent Sophia in such a manner, “Fielding

presents his heroine as the ideal woman, the representative of a beauty of form and

harmony of spirit so absolute as to be a sort of divine vitalizing force in man and

nature alike.”36 As her name implies wisdom Sophia at the tender age of thirteen

demonstrates a far more mature attitude than others, and her understanding of Tom

and Blifil far surpasses that of anyone in the novel. She is an independent spirit but

her existence is never free from her relation to the others round her. Sophia’s

perception about the growing love of Tom for her comes from her wisdom as a

woman.

Fielding’s representation of Sophia as a girl who is motherless but mature

enough to understand the world is truly remarkable. Tom’s involvement with

Molly Seagrim invokes a different kind of response from her. She understands the

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emotional reality between herself and Tom, and she tries in her own way to

stimulate his response and to make him aware of it. The incident about the

illegitimate child of Molly Seagrim, which Squire Western and Parson Supple

were discussing at dinner, confirms her suspicion about Tom’s philandering ways,

but it also kindles the flame of love for Tom in her heart. Sophia’s character has

been much maligned by the critics who opined that she is rather docile. Angela

Smallwood argues that Sophia is a rather courageous girl and she is resolute in her

character, she is also mature and intelligent and that her filial love should not be

misunderstood or misinterpreted as servile obedience. Aurelien Digeon made a

similar observation in 1925 and he compared Sophia with the heroines of

Shakespeare. Didgeon observes, “Sophia Western, too shows the same gay courage

in the face of life as the young women of Shakespeare or Moliere...Sophia

Western, who is motherless and therefore perhaps old for age, looks life in the face

and knows how to make a decision... But for all her firmness, she has no lack of

delicacy. She adores music, has a good taste in it, and likes to play Handel. ...this

pure young girl has no sense of false shame when she goes to the help of an

unhappy unmarried mother, even when this mother is Molly Seagrim, of whose

child Tom is the reputed father...Sophia has in fact, the spirit of the realist, who,

without wasting time in fruitless computations of what life might have given,

hastens to gather all that it gives, and joyfully to make the most of it. She loves

Jones, which certainly, needs courage and even a certain amount of foolhardiness,

for every day some new act of Jones’s seems to warn her against him; yet she

persists in loving him, openly, without subterfuge or pretence.”37

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 Sophia if she is to be compared to Shakespearean women then she can be

compared to Miranda or Rosalind as she acts on passion, which is raging within

her heart. Her passion is the overwhelming force in her. The incident about the

muff amply describes her feeling for Tom. She had given to her maid Honour her

old muff, but when she leams from her maid about the behaviour of Tom and how

he had kissed her muff, Sophia finds an excuse to take it back. She becomes very

attached to the muff and takes to wearing it constantly. Fielding describes another

incident which shows her attachment for the muff, “She was playing one of her

Father’s favourite Tunes, and he was leaning on her Chair, when the Muff fell over

her Fingers, and put her out. This so disconcerted the Squire, that he snatched the

Muff from her, and with a hearty Curse threw it into the Fire, Sophia instantly

started up, and with the utmost Eagerness recovered it from the Flames,”38 Sophia

is portrayed as a woman who does not have subterfuge in her, i.e. she is not a

cunning manipulator like Lady Bellaston. Sophia being a well beloved daughter of

her father could have married a person of her father’s choice and carry on an

extramarital affair. Sophia on the other hand chooses to confess about her love for

Tom. She is determined to change her father’s opinion not through trickery but

through reason. She is not a scheming manipulator as represented by many

misogynist authors in the anti-feminist traditions. Many a misunderstanding has

arisen out of her dotage to her father’s wishes and many readers as well as critics

think that Sophia is meek and servile to her father’s wishes but the story proves

otherwise. Squire Western loved his daughter very much and acquiesced to her

demands. His feelings were amply reciprocated by Sophia, and sometimes she had

to bear the brunt at being laughed for her devotion to her father, “as he loved her

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with such ardent Affection, that by gratifying her, he commonly conveyed the

highest Gratification to himself. She was what he frequently called her, his little

darling; and she well deserved to be so: For she returned all his Affection in the

most ample Manner. She had preserved the most inviolable Duty to him in all

Things; and this her Love made not only easy, but so delightful, that when one of

her Companions laughed at her, for placing so much Merit in such scrupulous

Obedience, as that young Lady called it,. Sophia answered, ‘You mistake me,

Madam, if you think I value myself upon this Account: For besides that I am

barely discharging my Duty, I am likewise pleasing myself. I can truly say, I have

no Delight equal to that of contributing to my Father’s Happiness; and if I value

myself, my Dear, it is on having this Power, and not on executing it.’” 39 Sophia

had vowed that she would not force herself to marry the man chosen by her father,

but neither would she marry a man without his consent. There is something else,

which is behind the submission to this patriarchal authority. It is an

acknowledgement of the bond, which exists between the two of them. It is not out

of deference to her father’s authority that she submits herself, but it is for the bond,

which she cannot ignore or disown. Deep inside her she wants that her father be

happy with her choice that is why she sets this condition. So when she does marry

the man whom she loves, she wishes to have the approval of her father and in the

process she also satisfies her own desires, as she will not suffer from any inner

conflict. The approval from her father can also be construed in a different manner.

Sophia wishes to have the approval because she wants to show her father that she

is not wrong in her choice and that to approve would mean the acceptance of her

individual right to choose her life partner. Squire Western in the end urges her to

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marry Tom the next day instead of waiting for a year to prove his constancy to her.

Sophia readily acquiesces to his demands without saying anything as the custom

forbade her to say anything.

Fielding’s portrayal of Sophia was twofold, he wanted to create a woman

character who would be rather different from the other anti-feminine heroines i.e.

meek and docile, cunning and manipulative. Secondly he wanted to create a

heroine who is emancipated but still retains within her some feminine qualities. Jill

Campbell has remarked upon this, “In creating his heroine in Tom Jones, Fielding

engages directly with the alternative possibilities for female character set up by

Whig pamphlets such as The Female Rebels or A BriefAccount, where the physical

and moral ‘delicacy’ or ‘softness’ timidity, chastity and compassion of a properly

female ‘nature’- are opposed to the passion, strength and willful courage of women

associated with Jacobitism or more generally with an old economic and political

order.”40 Fielding is careful to differentiate the characteristics of Sophia from

those of ‘new woman’ as propagated in Whig pamphlets such as The Female

Rebels in which Flora Macdonald’s feminine virtues are said to be influenced by

irrational feelings, whereas Sophia’s feelings are influenced by ‘strong’ power of

rationality, a trait, which has been illustrated from a very early age. When Fielding

describes the internal conflict, which is raging within Sophia between filial

obedience and romantic love, he is trying to present the conflict between the model

of arranged marriage and that cf companionate marriage. Fielding advocated

companionate marriage since he was very attached to his wife Charlotte and she

was the role model for Sophia. Jill Campbell has written, “the gesture toward his

own life, and toward Charlotte’s purely domestic and personal reign in his heart -

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provides one kind of powerfully affecting “preceding Pomp” to the introduction of

Sophia - an invocation of the increasingly privileged notions of companionate

marriage and of private female character.”4l There is another facet to this conflict

as it shows Sophia’s ‘Gentleness’ harmoniously existing with her ‘Spirit’, and

these contrasting qualities of women are opposed to in the misogynistic criticisms

espoused against the docile new woman and the unruly shrewish one. When

Sophia runs away from her father’s house she evokes the notion of the rebellious

woman, but at the same time she is running away to protect the newly formed

notion of romantic marriage. As Lawrence Stone has written, “In this novel

Fielding presents somewhat ideal stereotypes of the two extremes in attitude to

marriage, and the plot revolves around the clash between the two.”42 Fielding

presents his heroine as the ideal woman, who retains some of the old values of

honour and virtue, and yet has an emancipated out-look towards life. Sophia is as

Fielding’s dedication implies the Lconomatic emblem and the embodiment of the

ideal ‘Wisdom’ Tom’s marriage to Sophia is thus a symbolic union, which

signifies the attainment of true wisdom and is a redemptive act as it restores joy

and order in a man’s troubled world. Martin C. Battestin has written in this context,

“But for one of Jones’s passionate nature the conditions upon which she may be

won are exacting, nothing less, indeed, than the acquisition of prudentia: Tom

must perfect his ‘Understanding’, as Sophia insists (XI. vii), must leam not only to

distinguish between the values of spirit and those of flesh, between the true and the

false, but to discipline his will so that knowledge may govern his life.” 43

Bridget Blifil nee Allworthy in Tom Jones is a remarkable character created

by Fielding. She has been treated in a very unusual manner, as most of the readers

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tend to dismiss her at the first reading. She is hardly the part of action of the story,

but is the originator of it and she seems to be created as a pure necessity of the plot.

She seems to be type cast in a particular role and to be moved around as and when

required in the story. She comes out of this mould and asserts her personality. The

conflicting demands within her give her ambiguities and struggles an identity of

her own. She has been portrayed as a unique individual who has been described by

the critics as the supreme example of characterization. The plot demands an old

maid, a lonely woman who is tender hearted and one who should be above

suspicion. Fielding has described her as, “This Lady was now somewhat past the

Age of 30 an Aera at which in the Opinion of the Malicious, the Title of Old Maid

may with no Impropriety be assumed. She was of that Species of Woman, whom

you commend rather for good Qualities than Beauty, and who are generally called

by their own Sex, very good Sort of Women - as good a Sort of Women, Madam

as you would wish to know... and yet so discreet was she in her Conduct, that

Prudence was as much on the Guard, as if she had all the Snares to apprehend

which were ever laid for her whole Sex.”44

The personality of Bridget develops as the story unfolds, and from a staid old

maid she assumes the characteristics of an amorous lady. The old maid has a lot of

hidden traits, as she turns out to be quite learned too. Fielding it seems takes great

delight in dazzling his readers with his characterizations. The unattractive old maid
<

who has a dour personality, whose opinion is that beauty is an enemy of chastity

and virginity, herself turns out to be amorous and so learned that she can hold

theological discussions. Fielding has taken great pains to gradually develop her

subtle character. Bridget is rather discreet in her dealings and affairs and she also

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seems to have a propensity to have affairs with younger men. Tom is the result of

such an encounter, which she had with Summer, the clergyman, who had been

staying with her brother Squire Allworthy. So discreet was her dealings that the

identity of Tom was well kept secret and the affair was revealed by Mrs. Waters

(Jenny Jones) to Squire Allworthy after her death.(Book 18 Chapter 7) Bridget

Allworthy attracts a lot of male attention and she had about five suitors who

claimed her attention, Summer the clergyman, Dr. Blifil the physician, Captain

Blifil, Thomas Square, and Rev. Thwackum the parson responsible for the

education of Tom and Blifil. Fielding seems to have fun at the expense of the

Methodist as Captain Blifil who ultimately marries Bridget for the sake of her

money professes to have an inclination towards Methodism. Bridget too seemed to

have indulged in a lot of theological discussions implying that Methodical religious

intercourse was fraudulently conducive to sexual outlook or attitude. With the

gradual progression of the plot Bridget seems to grow rather careless about her

sexual escapades. After the death of Captain Blifil, whom she had married in

secrecy after a courtship of one month she accepts the attentions of Thwackum and

Square. Bridget particularly was attracted to Square, “but Square’s person was

more agreeable to her Eye, for he was comely man;” 45 and further Fielding has

described Square as having a rather jovial personality and being a favourite of the

widow. Bridget’s growing intimacy with Square results in malicious whisperings.

Bridget’s passion as Fielding had described them were basically flattery and

courtship, but he subtly also hints that since she was dissatisfied with her marriage

to Captain Blifil she might have indulged in a sexual affair. Fielding writes,

“However, she at last conversed with Square with such a Degree of Intimacy, that

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malicious Tongues began to whisper Things of her, to which, as well for the Sake

of the Lady, as that they were highly disagreeable to the Rule of Right, and Fitness

of Things, we will give no Credit, and therefore shall not blot our Paper with

them.”46

Bridget is also represented as an excellent planner, but fate had deemed it

otherwise, and her best-laid plans are negated. Though in the end Tom does

emerge triumphant but it is ironical as it is through the mismanagement of her

plans. Bridget has been represented as shrewd judge of character, and she had very

carefully studied the character of Jenny Jones and by judging rightly she

meticulously plans her future moves. She knew of the trouble that would arise out

of Jenny’s hobnobbing with Partridge and she also gauged the fact that Jenny

would run away and thereby carry Bridget’s secret away with her. When Bridget

became pregnant and the time for delivery drew near she dismissed her maid and

kept Mrs. Wilkins ready to leave a: the right time. She also managed to send off

her brother Squire Allworthy to London for three months on business. Taking the

help of Mrs. Jones the mother of Jenny, a trusted ally and confidante of her, she

delivers her illegitimate child. She places the child strategically on the bed of

Squire Allworthy, as she knew her brother’s character well. She knew that Squire

Allworthy would not throw the baby out in the streets but would take proper care

of it. She is also a very good actress, for when the baby was brought in the next

morning she keeps silent for a moment and then breaks out in a tirade against the

unknown mother. Fielding describes her action, “However, what she withheld from

the Infant, she bestowed with the utmost Profuseness on the poor unknown

Mother, whom she called an impudent Slut, a wanton Hussy, an audacious Harlot,

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a wicked Jade, a vile Strumpet, with every other Appellation with which the

Tpngue-of Virtue never fails to lash those who bring Disgrace on the Sex.”47 Her

plan succeeds and having ensconced the illegitimate child in the household her

maternal instincts get the better of her, “ for having looked some Time earnestly at

the Child, as it lay asleep in the Lap of Mrs. Deborah, the good lady could not

forbear giving it a hearty Kiss, at the same time declaring herself wonderfully

pleased with its Beauty and Innocence.”48 She keeps up the pretence of being

highly displeased with the child and remarks, “Since it was her Brother’s Whim to

adopt the little Brat, she supposed little Master must be treated with great

Tenderness; For her Part she could not help thinking it was an Encouragement to

Vice.”49 After marriage to Captain Blifil* she tries to balance her plan about

protecting Tom instead of endangering his position. She pretends to take little

interest in Tom and talks against him in private to her brother so as to keep Squire

Allworthy on Tom’s side. She knows that Captain Blifil hates Tom as he thinks

him to be a rival of his own son Blifil. Here too Bridget keeps her relations intact

by deceiving Captain Blifil through her sweet talk, “frequently recommended to

him her own Example, of conniving at the Folly of her Brother, which she said, she

at least as well perceived and as much resented as any other possibly could.”50

Bridget is human after all, for Tom raises the passion of maternal instincts in her.

She pretends to have an aversion towards Tom and has him whipped by

Thwackum, but still Tom holds a special place in her heart as he is her love-child.

The subsequent behaviour of Tom and his gallant attitude towards his mother

endears him to her and she delightedly sought his company. Fielding remarks upon

the change in the behaviour of Bridget, “However, when Tom grew up, and gave

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Tokens of Gallantry of Temper which greatly recommends Men to Women, this

Disinclination which she had discovered to him when a Child, by Degrees abated,

and at last she so evidently demonstrated her Affection to him to be much stronger

than what she bore her own Son, that it was impossible to mistake her any longer.

She was so desirous of often seeing him, and discovered such Satisfaction and

Delight in his Company.”51

By surveying the female characters in Tom Jones we come across a character

who exudes and exemplifies evil. Fielding noted for his characterisations has

created a gem of a character in Lady Beilaston. As Anthony Hassall has remarked

about Lady Beilaston, “She combines the malevolent rhetoric of Milton’s Satan

with the unnerving aim of Lady Macbeth. As a result the London sequence over

which she presides, is more menacing than Blifil’s plotting in the first six books, or

the dangers posed by the assorted ruffians of the central picaresque section.”52

Anthony Hassall has further elaborated upon the characteristic of Lady Beilaston.

He compares the country episodes to that of Paradise and Blifil as the serpent, the

city as Hell and Lady Beilaston as the Devil in Hell. Sophia when she runs away

from her country home and arrives at London, she seeks refuge at her cousin’s

place i.e Lady Bellaston’s. The lady on the other hand exploits Sophia’s innocence

and naivety. Sophia is maltreated by her relative, she is abused, she is imprisoned

and nearly raped by Lord Fellamar. All these incidents take place with the tacit

connivance of Lady Beilaston. Lady Beilaston personifies evil and she is

represented as an evildoer.

Even Blifil pales into insignificance when compared with the deviousness of

Lady Beilaston. She combines her skills of eloquence and sophistication to its

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maximum effect and potential to perpetrate her evil intentions. She is better

motivated than Blifil, as she has much more to lose if Sophia and Tom are united.

Fielding describes her intentions aptly, “Women, notwithstanding the preposterous

Behaviour of Mothers, Aunts, &c. in matrimonial Matters, do in Reality think it so

great a Misfortune to have their Inclinations in Love thwarted, that they imagine,

they ought never to carry Enmity higher than upon these Disappointments; again,

he will find it written much about the same Place, that a Woman who hath once

been pleased with the Possession of a Man, will go above half way to the Devil, to

prevent any other Woman from enjoying the same.”53 She easily seduces Tom

who is unable to match wits and sophistication with Lady Bellaston in the game of

seduction. This sexual transgression is inevitable as Lady Bellaston is enamoured

of Tom. She has listened to the glowing tributes paid to him by her maid and also

had taken a look at him. She with the connivance of Mrs. Fitzpatrick lays the trap

to entice Tom. Lady Bellaston uses the ruse of masquerade to ensnare Tom. Tom

under the mistaken belief that he is speaking to Mrs. Fitzpatrick, who will lead him

to Sophia his true love bares his heart and falls prey to the machinations of Lady

Bellaston. Fielding in using the masquerade sequence to portray the seduction of

Tom reveals his displeasure to his readers about masquerades. He never liked the

masquerades as he considered them to be immoral, so he describes the symbolic

deception, which takes place from behind the masks worn by the ladies. Tom’s

character as represented by Fielding was that of a ‘picaro’, so he was always

susceptible to the charms of the female sex. When Tom was confronted with the

proposition he was not one to backtrack from the situation. Fielding describes

Tom’s feelings, “Jones had never less inclination to an amour than at present; but

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gallantry to the ladies was among his principles of honour; and he held it as much

incumbent uppn him to accept a challenge of love as it had been a challenge to

fight.”54 Tom when he falls prey to the guiles of Lady Bellaston he becomes

enmeshed in her evil designs. He becomes a gigolo, and the generosity of Lady

^Bellaston keeps him bound to her. Tom despite having the affair with Lady

Bellaston harbours a love for Sophia. The best-laid plans of Lady Bellaston to keep

the lovers apart are negated, as they meet by chance at Lady Bellaston’s house

itself. Lady Bellaston suspects that Tom still loves Sophia so she wants Tom to

prove his affection for her. She is like a woman possessed and she in a disordered

state of dress goes to Tom’s lodging to demand the proof of his affection and

remarks, “You see Sir, when Women have gone one Length too far, they will stop

at none,”55 The untimely arrival of Sophia’s maid forces her to hide behind a

curtain. She listens to the conversation between Honour and Tom, and Honour

warns Tom of Lady Bellaston’s morals. Tom also professes his deep love for

Sophia, this enrages and arouses the malevolent nature of Lady Bellaston. She

feels that she has been insulted by Tom who has forsaken her for Sophia, “You see,

said she, what I have sacrificed to you, my Reputation, my Honour, - gone for

ever! And what Return have I found? Neglected, slighted for a Country Girl, for an

Idiot.” 56 She decides to avenge herself on Tom. She knew of Lord Fellamar’s

infatuation with Sophia, so she instigates him to rape Sophia. She decides to kindle

his passion. When she learns of the scruples of Lord Fellamar, she exhorts and

incites him to commit the rape. Lady Bellaston remarks to Lord Fellamar, “Fie

upon it! Have more Resolution. Are you frightened by the word Rape? Or are you

apprehensive-? Well! If the Story of Helen Was modem, I should think it unnatural.

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I mean the Behaviour of Paris, not the Fondness of the Lady; for all Women love a

Man of Spirit. There is another Story of the Sabine Ladies, and that too, I thank

Heaven, is very ancient. Your Lordship, perhaps, will admire my Reading; but I

think Mr. Hopk tells us, they made tolerable good Wives afterwards. I fancy few of

my married Acquaintance were ravished by their Husbands...You force me to use

a strange Kind of Language, and to betray my Sex most abominably; But I am

contented with knowing my Intentions are good, and that I am endeavouring to

serve my Cousin; for I think you will make her a Husband notwithstanding this;”57

Sophia is saved by the timely arrival of her father Squire Western. Tom learns of

the fortunate escape of Sophia from the malevolent clutches of Lord Fellamar, and

decides to break off his liaison with Lady Bellaston with as much decency as

possible. Tom is warned by Nightingale about the pernicious character of Lady

Bellastpn and her morals, “I fancy, my Friend, by your extreme Nicety in this

Matter, you are not well acquainted with the Character of Lady as with the Person.

Don’t be angry Tom, but upon my Honour, you are not the first young Fellow she

hath debauched. Her Reputation is in no Danger believe me.” 58 It is again

Nightingale who instructs Tom how to extricate himself from his predicament by

advising him to propose marriage to Lady Bellaston. Nightingale knew it for sure

that such a proposal would make Lady Bellaston break off her illicit relationship

with Tom.

Tom had not bargained for the deviousness of Lady Bellaston, Fielding in his

opening chapter of Book XIV advises on the scruples of such women like Lady

Bellaston, “Some there are however of this Rank upon whom Passion exercises its

Tyranny, and hurries them far beyond the Bounds which Decorum prescribes; of

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these, the Indies are as much distinguished by their noble Intrepidity, and a certain

superior Contempt of Reputation, from the frail ones of meaner Degree, as a

virtuous Woman of Quality is by the Elegance and Delicacy of her Sentiments

from the honest Wife of a Yeoman or Shopkeeper. Lady Bellaston was of this

intrepid Character;”59 Lady Bellaston schemes for the downfall of Tom and finds a

kindred soul in Lord Fellamar. Lord Fellamar after his attempt to rape Sophia has

been negated, unburdens his passion for her before Lady Bellaston, who assures

him of all possible help which she can provide. Lady Bellaston takes this

opportunity to remove Tom from the scene. She advises Lord Fellamar that if the

Other contender for Sophia’s hand is removed, then his path would be clear and he

can easily win Sophia. Lady Bellaston suggests to Lord Fellamar that he should

have his confederates abduct the lowly fellow and have him press-ganged aboard a

ship. She remarks, “I am thinking, my Lord, added she (for this Fellow is too mean

for your personal Resentment) whether it would not be possible for your Lordship

to contrive some Method of having him pressed and sent on board a Ship. Neither

Law nor Conscience forbid this Project: for the Fellow, I promise you, however

well drest, is but a Vagabond, and as proper as any Fellow in the Streets to be

pressed into the Service; and as for the conscientious Part, surely the Preservation

of a young Lady from such Ruin is a most meritorious Act;”60 To further her plans

in bringing the ruin of Tom she gives his letter to Sophia’s aunt Mrs. Western. In

the letter Tom had proposed marriage to Lady Bellaston. Lady Bellaston tells about

the audacity of Tom to Mrs. Western, “Will you believe that the Fellow hath had

the Assurance to make Love to me? But if you should be inclined to disbelieve it,

here is Evidence enough his own Handwriting I assure you,”61 Lady Bellaston

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knew that such incriminating evidence would tip the scales against Tom. Her plans

were nearly fulfilled when the press gang sent to abduct Tom witnesses his duel

with Fitzpatrick. Tom injures Fitzpatrick and is sent to prison as a consequence.

Lady Bellaston’s plan was to cause a rift in the relationship between Tom and

Sophia, but in the end the misunderstandings are cleared up, and Tom is released

from prison, and the lovers are united. In representing a character like Lady

Bellaston, Fielding has illustrated that the lady has passion and is averse to be ruled

by it. When most of the women of her social standing were content to lead sedate

and monotonous lives, who curbed their natural passions for fear of losing their

reputation Lady Bellaston is not afraid to restrain her passion. Fielding also

employs Lady Bellaston as a feminist spokesperson to voice her ideas about

independence and individuality. She is quite firm in her ideas about marriage and it

can be construed as a protest against the unjust treatment meted out to women. She

is quite happy with her present state and remarks to Sophia’s aunt Mrs. Western,

“You know Bell, I have try’d the Comforts once already; and once I think is

enough for any reasonable Woman.”62 Lady Bellaston represents a very small

class, and her anti-thetical pair can be found in Mrs. Western who belongs to the

same social category, and who has a formidable literary and political erudition, but

she personifies the prim feminism of the blue stocking brigade.

Fielding is rather sympathetic when he represents his erring women

characters. Mrs. Waters is one such character who is not malevolent, but on the

contrary quite generous minded. Mrs. Waters or alias Jenny Jones was penniless

but intelligent girl and we become acquainted with her in Book I Chapter 6.

Fielding describes her, “This Jenny Jones was no very comely Girl, either in her

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Face or Perspn; but Nature had somewhat compensated the Want of Beauty with

what is generally esteemed by those Ladies, whose Judgement is arrived at Years

of perfect Maturity; for she had given her a very uncommon Share of

Understanding. This Gift Jenny had good deal improved by Erudition.”63 She

leamt Latin under the tutelage of Partridge, when he was a schoolmaster in the

village. It was this passion for Latin, which caused a lot of misunderstandings in

the marital life of Partridge, and resulted in the termination of the job of Jenny and

her ouster from the household. She found employment in the household of Squire

Allworthy but there too misfortune followed her. Her generosity, liberal

mindedness, loyalty and a hunger for earning a little bit of extra money made her

confess about being the mother of the illegitimate child i.e. Tom. She discloses the

facts about Tom’s parentage before Squire Allworthy, “So far what I confest, said

she, was true, that these Hands conveyed the Infant to your Bed; conveyed it

thither at the Command of its Mother; at her Commands I afterwards owned it, and

thought myself, by her Generosity, nobly rewarded, both for my Secrecy and my

Shame.”64 She left the district and was heard of no more. She resurfaces as Mrs.

Waters when Tom saves her from the murderous assault of Ensign Northerton,

with whom she had an assignment. She has matured and is worldly-wise and she is

not loath to display her physical charms. She does not have any qualms in having a

physical relationship with Tom. Her wisdom is revealed when she realises that

Tom’s heart belongs to someone else, i.e. Sophia, “but after the departure of that

good Woman, she could not forbear giving our Heroe certain Hints of her

suspecting some very dangerous Rival in his Affections, the aukward Behaviour

of Mr. Jones on this Occasion convinced her of the Truth, without his giving her a

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direct Answer to any of her Questions;”65 She is a woman who lives for the

present. Fielding praises the spirit and mettle of Mrs. Waters and of women like

her. The fortuitous arrival of Tom in the woods saves her from death, so she finds

herself indebted to Tom and she is also physically attracted to him. Fielding

describes her reaction, “Mrs. Waters had, in Truth, not only a good Opinion of our

Heroe, but a very great Affection for him. To speak out boldly at once, she was in

Love according to. the present universally received Sense of that Phrase, by which

Love is applied indiscriminately the desirable objects of all our Passions Appetites

and Senses, and is understood to be that Preference which we give to one Kind of

Food rather than to another.”66 Fielding did not consider promiscuity as an

insignificant matter, nor does he accept sin and sex as equivalent things. He

considered that there were sins like malice, injustice or slander, which were worse

than carnal sins. Jenny’s seduction was of a financial nature, as she had been

enticed by a woman to forego her reputation and be branded as an unwed mother,

who had begot an illegitimate child. She had not been seduced by any man for

gratification of his sexual pleasure.

Fielding’s representation of Mrs. Waters as an independent woman is evident

from the adventurous life that she leads. William Empson has remarked that,

“Fielding always admires women who can walk, instead of being tight laced and

townee, and though he tends to grumble at learned women he had evidently met a

variety of them; he can forgive Mrs. Waters her Latin.”67 Her independence is

depicted through her being enamoured of Tom and taking the first steps to seduce

him, such behaviour on her part does not reflect any malice or on her morality. She

is quite capable of handling obnoxious males and such a trait is evident from her

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handling of Fitzpatrick. She is a conscientious woman who likes to see that justice

is done. She visits Tom in prison and assures him that her supposed husband is

recovering and that there is no question of her husband being murdered. She also

declares to Tom that she was a bit offended at him for not responding to her sexual

Overtures, but further adds that she does not hold it against him. Her letter to him

clears up the matter between Tom and Fitzpatrick’s duel, “P.S. I would have you

comfort yourself as much as possible; for Fitzpatrick is in no Manner of Danger; so

that whatever other grievous Crimes you may have to repent of, the Guilt of Blood

is not among the Number.”68 She gives further proof of her generous nature by

disclosing all the facts regarding Tom’s birth so that justice may be done.

Fielding makes Tom stumble thrice in order to propagate the view that

Spphia exemplified wisdom, and womanhood. His three sexual partners, Molly

Seagrim, Mrs. Waters, and Lady Bellaston all help to define the ultimate woman

namely Sophia. Sophia when compared to these three women appears wise and

dutiful, whereas the other three have negative qualities. The most important aspect

about these three sexual partners of Tom is that they contribute towards the

definition of Sophia, and that each woman assists Tom to understand the real worth

of Sophia. Sophia represents the perfect union, and when Fielding named his

heroine Sophia he meant to symbolise her as an incarnation of Wisdom. Fielding

represented Tom struggling as Everyman in this hostile world to achieve Wisdom.

Molly Seagrim is Tom’s first paramour, she is the second daughter of Black

George the gamekeeper of Squire Allworthy’s estate. Fielding describes the beauty

of Molly Seagrim as, “The second of these children was Daughter whose Name

was Molly, and who was esteemed one of the handsomest Girl in the Whole

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CQuntry.”69 Molly’s beauty masked her deviousness and her shrewd and

calculating mind. She was a promiscuous girl, who utilised her charms of youth

and physical beauty to ensnare Tom. Fielding describes her deviousness, “And as

most probably she liked Tom as well as he liked her; so when she perceived his

Backwardness, she herself grew proportionably forward; and when she saw he had

entirely deserted the House, she found Means of throwing herself in his Way, and

behaved in such a Manner, that the Youth must have had very much, or very little

of the Heroe, if her Endeavours had proved unsuccessful. In a Word she soon

triumphed over all the virtuous Resolutions of Jones: For though she behaved at

last with all decent Reluctance, yet I rather chuse to attribute the Triumph to her;

since, in Fact, it was her Design which succeeded.”70 She exploits the situation and

extorts money from Tom on the pretext fo being pregnant. Her scheming character

is revealed by her elder sister Betty who divulges the fact that Molly has other

paramours, and that Will Barnes the notorious profligate and ‘country gallant’ was

responsible for the pregnancy. (Book V Chapter 6) The deviousness of Molly

Seagrim can be compared with that of Lady Bellaston except that Molly is a

country girl, whereas Lady Bellaston is a sophisticated city woman. Fielding in

propagating the view of an ideal woman, who has wisdom and virtuousness,

sought to contrast the goodness of Sophia with these three women. Molly has been

presented as a trollop as employs her physical beauty to trap and exploit Tom. Mrs.

Waters is presented as a straight forward and mature woman. She seduces Tom but

declines to indulge in a permanent relationship. She gives in to her passion and

enjoys life. Paul Hunter has remarked about her, “Mrs. Waters, at once brazen and

fawningly feminine, is as wily and rootless as Sophia, is guileless and firmly self-

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aware, and her recurrence in different identities and roles is a repeated reminder of

the seductiveness, good intentions and shifting shapes of temptations strewn along

life’s joumey.”7l It is Lady Bellaston among the three, who presents the greatest

danger to Tom. He is least attracted to her, but her malice is beyond the

comprehension of Tom, as she has the motive and the means to destroy Tom’s

happiness.

It has been observed that Fielding represents his women characters from

different perspectives, and his. views shift according to the context. The ideal

woman according to Fielding is beautiful, submissive, gentle and well versed in

domestic arts, but it should not be misunderstood or construed that Fielding was

chauvinistic in his ideals. The fiction of Fielding reveals that he vigorously upheld

women’s property rights, lamented upon the lack of their legal status and

inadequate education. He exposed the double standards of the men in regard to

marriage and sex.

(V)

Amelia was Henry Fielding’s last and most debated novel. It was published in

the December 1751. The book became a subject of discussion between Richardson

and his friends. It was also critiqued in the correspondence of Catherine Talbot and

Elizabeth Carter. Samuel Richardson reserved his denunciation of Fielding’s novel

for his meeting with Sarah Fielding. Richardson intimated his displeasure to her,

“Had your brother, said I, been bom in a stable, or been a runner at a sponging
f

house, we should have thought him a genius, and wished he had the advantage of a

liberal education, and of being admitted into good company; but it is beyond

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conception, that a man of family, and who had some learning, and who really is a

writer, should descend so excessively low, in all his pieces. Who can care for any

of his people? A person of honour asked me, the other day, what he could mean, by

saying in his Convent Garden Journal, that he had followed Homer and Virgil in

his Amelia. I answered, that he was justified in saying so, because he must mean

Cotton’s Virgil Travestied; where the women are drabs and men scoundrels.” 72

The period during which it was published was a most exacting period for

Fielding. When he wrote Amelia Fielding’s view of life had undergone a change,

because the experiences of a magistrate ‘s work in London had its exhaustive effect

on him. In 1748 Fielding took up his duties as a presiding magistrate for

Westminster, and for the next five years the best part of his mental and physical

energy were devoted to the establishment of order and security in the city which

was infested with vice and profligacy. The judicial system was corrupt and there

was practically no semblance of law and order. Fielding strictly enforced the law

and his support to the officers of justice paved the way for drastic reforms. Such

exacting work took its toll and he became a sadder and wiser person. The system in

which he had faith gave him shock, but it did not embitter his heart oh the contrary

it made him tender and transformed his outlook. The Fielding of the distant past

who had laughed at mankind’s frailties and foibles metamorphosed into a sedate

and thoughtful person. As Martin Battestin has remarked, “Amelia is very much

the product of the same social concerns and arduous personal circumstances that

served to darken Fielding’s last years. If the opening chapter of Tom Jones presents

the novelist as the keeper of a public ordinary who celebrates the feast of life,

Amelia begins with the author’s ironic observations on ‘the English Constitution’

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and carries us at once to into the courtroom and the prison, institutions meant to

preserve the health of the body politic which instead perpetuate injustice and

corruption.”73

Amelia is the product of Fielding’s mature reflections about the meaning of life

and the grounds of order in the society. Amelia is the most realistic character that

Fielding has ever produced. It is exceptional among his novels, as it conveys a

sense of being very private yet a very public documentation of the lives of the

characters of the novel. J. Paul Hunter writes about it, “Moving from the world of

Tom Jones - with its sunshine, vitality, spaciousness, and health - to that of Amelia

is rather like entering an overheated, small, and quarantined room, and most

readers feel grudging about it, vaguely misled, even betrayed by a writer who has

without warning led them to anatomize some of the more dingy and sordid comers

of the human mind.”74 Recent critics like Robert Alter and Claude Rawson have

commented upon the ‘innovative experimentation’ utilised by Fielding in this

novel. Others have described it as a sociological novel, while Martin Battestin in

his introduction of the novel has commented that the book, “may be called the first

novel of social protest and reform in English, a kind of book scarcely attempted

again on such scale before Dickens. In keeping with this polemical intent, his tone

has become darker and more monitory.”75

Fielding dedicated the novel Amelia to his friend Ralph Allen, the

philanthropic figure who was praised by Alexander Pope in The First Satire of the

Second Book of Horace Imitated and who was an influential patron of the arts.

Through his dedication Fielding declared his intentions, “The following Book is

designed to promote the cause of Virtue, and to expose some of the most glaring

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Evils as well public as private which at present infest the Country;”76 Fielding

chose to exemplify his moral themes through this novel, and many readers were

appalled by it for it was rather bleak and disturbing in its context. At the level of

public life Fielding illustrates that injustice and refusal tp reward merit were the

principles of the government. The judiciary and the military patron were corrupt,

or ignorant, the public offices were full of unscrupulous people who were also

cheats, and the bailiffs and the gaolers were brutal in the behaviour. Fielding

portrays a society, which is dark unenlightened, which was redeemed by the

guiding lights of religion and virtue. J. Paul Hunter comments about it, “Set against

the insistent time of the later books, the walled-in prison books define a modem

relationship of holiday to reality, and their context impressively argues the grim

insistence of endurance, obligation, consequence, and implication. A second

accomplishment resides in the frequent narrative stasis that reflects the inability of

the characters to cope with forces of oppression. Taken singly, some of the

incidents are simply tedious and slow, but cumulatively they achieve a certain

pathos because passivity comes to seem not a chosen course but a condition thrust

upon characters by difficult situations and unsympathetic forces.”77

The novel also has an autobiographical dimension, but it is not an

autobiography. It depicts a lot of Fielding’s family experiences but it is not an

exact account. The book is regarded as a tribute to the lasting love for his first wife

Charlotte Craddock, who had readily accepted to elope with him in 1734 and she

died in his arms ten years later. Booth the hero of the novel in certain respects

resembles Fielding’s father Edmund Fielding, who was a military officer. Edmund

Fielding had acquitted himself gallantly in the Battle of Blenheim under the

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leadership of the Duke of Marlborough. Fielding fictionalised Booth’s campaign in

Gibraltar. In comparison to Booth, Fielding’s father had held a much more exalted

rank in the army. Edmund Fielding’s courtship of Sarah Gould and the articles of

their marriage settlement are also similar to that of the novel’s couple. Sir Henry

Gould and his wife were opposed to the match and resisted the marriage. They

were finally reconciled to the situation, but they made sure through the condition

that Sarah’s dowry would be exclusively utilised to maintain her and her children.

Amelia’s case is also similar and Booth narrates the circumstances of his marriage

to Miss Mattews, “From this instant the doctor told me, he had become my friend

and zealous advocate with Mrs. Harris, on whom he had at last prevailed, though

not without greatest difficulty to consent to my marrying Amelia, upon condition

that I settled every penny which the mother should lay down; and that she would

retain a certain sum in her hands, which she would at any time deposite for my

advancement in the army.”78

Amelia is basically about a suffering woman and her irresponsible husband. It

reflects upon the world, which is dominated by evil forces, which are subtle and

relentless. The evil represented in the novel is simple and ordinary in its character,

but it is this simplicity, which makes it horrifying. The novel grimly reflects the

characters endurance, their compulsions and its consequences in the circumstances,

which they have to face. Fielding in his last novel shows that he is equal to

Richardson in his representation of a submissive heroine. Fielding has proved

through his novel Amelia that treading on the path of virtue suggests a trial of

endurance. Through remaining steadfast in her beliefs Amelia remains resolute on

her path of virtue. She is quite aware of the human weaknesses, and she is careful

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enough not to be lured into the trap of temptations. She does not possess any

supernatural control, but is aware of her own frailties and takes care to avoid them.

Fielding portrays a virtuous woman, who has her impulses, which frighten her, as

these impulses if followed can ruin her virtuousness. In his former works like

Shamela, Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones Fielding has represented his women

characters from different perspectives, both good and bad. He had represented

them in contrasting pairs but Amelia is different as it posed a kind of challenge

because he tried to conceptualise the individual experience bearing in mind the

didactic nature of the story. Fielding tried to propagate the view that fortune or fate

should not be blamed always because sometimes people tend to follow their

passions instead of wisdom. Fielding opines that passions stimulate our actions and

that passion can be divided into two types, one good and the other bad. The good

passion is governed by benevolence or by the love for other fellow human beings,

whereas the bad passion is governed by pride and selfishness. By laying stress and

analysing the marital and financial problems of the Booth couple, and by

centralising the problems and issues in their broader and socio-political

perspectives he highlights the contemporary social referents and contexts of the

eighteenth century.

In the novel the hero and the heroine are contrasted sharply as each of them

adheres to a different attitude towards temptation. The hero Booth creates a

situation, which leaves him open to temptation, but the heroine Amelia finding

herself in the similar situation tries her level best to extricate herself with her

honour and virtue intact from the predicament, and to avoid unnecessary

tribulations. Fielding tries to depict the fallibility of both men and women. He tries

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to expound the view that human beings are capable <?f averting unnecessary

temptations if they are religious and virtuous, as Qod provides grace when the

temptations comes of its own accord without seeking it. Booth is responsible for

his own predicament, but Amelia avoids sinking into the quagmire of temptations

through her own good counsel though the evasion of the temptations is a challenge

tp her. Amelia is not only beautiful but her virtue itself is a kind of challenge to

them who are enamoured of her, and they wanted to corrupt her by making a

sexual conquest of her. Amelia is delivered from these tormenting and torturous

situations through the timely intervention of some benevolent people. J. Paul

Hunter has commented upon her trials, .“Fielding shapes most of the narrative

from her trials and tribulations, following the orthodox reading of the ‘three

temptations. The various assaults upon her virtue follow the traditional pattern of

virtue successfully defended because the temptations were imposed and not

sought.’’79 Through the comparison with the three temptations of Jesus Christ,

Fielding has tried to expound the virtuousness of the heroine. She is cautioned,

when she leams of the story of Mrs. Bennett, and it makes her wary about the evil

designs of the Noble Lord. The dream about the conspiracy of colonel James by

Joseph also forewarns her about the impending danger. The greatest threat that she

faces is the sexual attraction towards Joseph Atkinson, which is negated by her

accumulated brotherly feeling tov/ards him. Fielding has employed theology and

exegetical tradition to mould and justify Amelia’s story.

The noble Lord is a syphilitic rake and Fielding employs the noble lord to

exemplify the temptation of covetousness and ambition. The vice that the Noble

Lord symbolically represents i.e. ambition and avarice had been the cause of ruin

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of Mrs. Bennett. The noble peer took the advantage of her ambition to improve her

position and the consequences of such dalliance were everlasting shame, disease

and ruin. Amelia and Booth arrive at London and take up lodgings at Mrs.

Ellison’s house. They encounter the noble peer at an oratorio and he is besotted

with the charms of Amelia. The peer puts his evil designs into operation and visits

them at their lodgings, where he impresses the couple by promising to procure a

regiment in the West Indies for Captain Booth to command. He showers gift on

their two children to demonstrate his affection. He also sends two tickets for the

masquerade for Amelia through Mrs. Ellison. The real intention of the peer was to

seduce Amelia. Fielding had launched a vitriolic tirade against these masked balls

and had tried to illustrate that at these masquerades the mask was in fact a prime

symbol of deceit, and betrayal. Fielding has described masquerades as, “of the

pernicious Designs of that detestable Fiend Hypocrisy.”80 Fielding had always

been critical about these masquerades. As a magistrate he had to actively suppress

many masquerades in the city. In his judicial writings Charge Delivered to the

Grand Jury (1749) and An Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers

(1751) Fielding’s intense opposition to this form of entertainment is evident. As

Terry Castle has remarked, “Judging by Fielding’s other references on

masquerading, in programmatic pieces as well as in the famous interlude in Tom

Jones, one would expect little conscious ambiguity on the subject. If anything,

Fielding’s official position on the masquerade remains remarkably, even

garrulously, consistent.”81 Booth allows his wife to accept the tickets because Mrs.

Ellison insinuates that the peer may be offended if they refused to accept the

tickets, and it would spoil the chances of Booth to obtain command of a regiment.

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The peer’s evil machinations are negated through the timely intervention of Mrs.

Bennett, who writes an anonymous letter to Amelia. Mrs. Bennett in her letter

wrote a cryptic message to Amelia, “Beware, beware, beware,

For I apprehend a dreadful snare

Is laid for virtuous innocence,

Under a friend’s false pretence.” 82

Amelia recognises the handwriting of Mrs. Bennett and goes to her to

inquire about the cause for despatching such an anonymous letter. Mrs. Bennett

recounts her unhappy tale of woe, and discloses how the noble peer had seduced

her through the use of his chicanery. She recounts how the noble peer had used the

same excuse of masquerade to seduce her, “At length my lord joined us, and

continued with me all the evening; and we danced several dances together.

...About two o’clock we returned home, and found a very handsome collation

provided for us. I was asked to partake of it; and I did, I could not refuse. I was not,

however, entirely void of all suspicion, and I made many resolutions; one of which

was, not to drink, a drop more than my usual stint. ...I adhered strictly to my

quantity; but in the quality, I am convinced, I was deceived; for, before I left the

ropm, I found my head giddy. What the villain gave me, I know not; but besides
: 1

being intoxicated, I perceived effects from it which are not to be described.”83 He

had also passed on a venereal disease, which caused the death of her husband. She

disclosed that the noble peer behind the facade of his benevolent nature is nothing

but a profligate. The noble peer then settled an allowance of hundred and fifty

pounds a year on Mrs. Bennett and thought by doing so he would procure her

silence. She also discloses that Mrs. Ellison is a procuress and is an accomplice of

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the npble peer. Amelia thus is able to extricate herself from the clutches of the

noble peer by not being lured by the snares of greed and ambition. J. Paul Hunter

has remarked, “The Noble Lord’s is the weakest, though the longest, of the

temptations, but still Amelia is shrewd enough to avoid the masquerade where the

loss of public identity might easily offer additional incentive to fall.”84

Amelia encounters her next temptation when Colonel James comes to visit

her. Colonel James symbolically represents the vice of vain gloriousness or

presumption. Colonel James visits her in the absence of Booth who is in prison for

non-payment of debts. Amelia falls prey to his flattery, and the colonel does not

stir from his chair till the clock had struck one. Amelia unguardedly had fallen prey

to flattery, and it is Mrs. Atkinson who makes Amelia aware of the truth. Amelia

thought that the colonel was concerned for Booth but Mrs. Atkinson reminds

Amelia that she had listened rather attentively to the praises of Colonel James,

“Did he not then, said Mrs. Atkinson, repeat the words, the finest woman in the

world, more than once? Did he not make use of an expression, which might have

become the mouth of Oroodantes himself? - If I remember, the words were these -

That, had he been Alexander the Great, he should have thought it more glory to

have wiped off a tear from the bright eyes of Statira than to have conquered fifty

worlds.” “Did he say so? Cries Amelia - I think he did say something like it;

but my thoughts were so full of my husband that I took little notice. But what

would you infer from what he said? I hope you don’t think he is in love with me?”

“I hope he doth not think so himself, answered Mrs. Atkinson; though when he

mentioned the bright eyes of Statira, he fixed his own eyes on yours with the most

languishing air I ever beheld.”85 The real intention of the colonel is to seduce

249
Amelia. He is enamoured of Amelia and tries various methods to seduce her. He

offers to bail Booth but reneges on his promise. Colonel James also artfully drops

the hint that he might be able to secure for Booth a commission in the West Indian

regiment. The plans of the colonel are partly foiled by Mrs. Atkinson’s sharp

powers of observation and by seijeant Atkinson’s strange dream, “This thought

gave the poor seijeant great uneasiness, and after having kept him long awake,

tormented him in his sleep with a most horrid dream, in which he saw the colonel

standing by the bed-side of Amelia, with a naked sword in his hand, and

threatening to stab her instantly, unless she complied with his desires.”86 Amelia

also is able to see through the evil intentions of the colonel and informs Dr.

Harrison about it.

The third and final temptation of Amelia comes in the form of carnal desire

and she is able to control it. Joseph Atkinson for a long time had harboured a secret

love for Amelia in his heart. Mrs. Bennett or Mrs. Atkinson as she was in truth

discloses this fact to Amelia, “In short, I have discovered, that he hath always

loved you, with such a faithful, honest, noble generous passion, that I was

consequently convinced his mind must possess all the ingredients of such a

passion;”87 Amelia dismisses the whole thing as joke, but her virtuousness is

finally tested when Atkinson in a state of drunkenness returns her portrait and

confesses to stealing it long ago. He remarks, “I stole it when I was eighteen years

of age, and have kept it ever since. It is set in gold, with three little diamonds; and

yet I can truly say, it was not the gold nor the diamonds which I stole - it was that

face which, if I had been the emperor of the world.”88

250
 Faced with such a situation Amelia is confused. She had always harboured a

kind of brotherly feeling towards Atkinson but his confession kindles a small

amount of passion in Amelia, which she ia able to overcome. Fielding describes

that twinge of passion as Amelia’s weakness as it remin4s Amelia <?f her frailties,

“To say the truth, without any injury to her chastity, that heart, which hacj stood

firm as a rock to all the attacks of title and equipage, of finery and flattery, and

which all the treasures of the universe could not have purchased, was yet a little

softened by the plain, honest, modest, involuntary, delicate, heroic passion of this

poor humble swain; for whom, inspite of herself, she felt a momentary tenderness

and complacence, at which Booth if he had known it, would perhaps have been

displeased. ...and then left the house with a confusion on her mind that she had

never felt before, and which any chastity that is not hewn out of marble must feel

on so tender and delicate an occasion.”89 In the representation of Amelia Fielding

has illustrated that Amelia can understand that she is human and thus is fallible.

She must remain resolute in the face of temptations, and they would pass, as they

are not of her making. Fielding chose lust as the last temptation as he wanted to

prove that Amelia being a representative of the enlightened age should be able to

repulse this vice. J. Paul Hunter has remarked, “Given Fielding’s aims ( and his

protective view of women), lust is the climactic temptation for Amelia; the others,

while sexual, never even forced Amelia to admit fleshly appetite. The portrait of

Amelia as a new Eve, a model of human perfection, makes the temptation of carnal

appetite the logical dramatic climax for Fielding, whose chivalric vision of women

elevated them to such a height that lust was the ultimate test of their morality.” 90

251
 Fielding always excels in creating his female evil characters. In Amelia too

we come across Miss Matthews, who personifies evil. We are introduced to her in

Book I Chapter 4, as she is brought for imprisonment at Newgate. Her name is

Frances Matthews but she is always known as Miss Matthews. The charge pressed

against her is that of murder. The enormity of the crime illustrates that she has a

violent passion and that she would do anything to achieve her desired objective.

She exhibits no remorse for committing the murder, “Murder! Oh! *tls music in my

ears. - You have heard then the cause of my commitment, my glory, my delight,

my reparation! - Yes, my old friend, this is the hand, this is the arm that drove the
i

penknife to his heart. Unkind fortune, that not one drop of his blood reached my

hand. - Indeed, sir, I would never have washed it from it. - But tho’ I have not the

happiness to see it on my hand, I have the glorious satisfaction of remembering I

saw it run rivers on the floor; I saw it forsake his cheeks. I saw him fall a martyr to

my revenge. And is the killing of a villain to be called murder? Perhaps the law

calls it so. - Let it call it what it will, or punish me as it pleases.”9l

As the story unfolds it seems that Captain Booth and Miss Matthews were

acquainted with each other. She invites Captain Booth to her cell and both of them

recount their respective tales of woe. Miss Matthews recapitulates how Captain

Booth had gallantly returned her glove, which she had knowingly thrown below,

and from that moment she had been in love with him. The consequent incident

involving Miss Johnson and Captain Booth at the ball further demonstrates the

passionate nature of hers. She remarks, “What made this the more pleasing to me

was, that I secretly hated Miss Johnson. Will you have the reason? Why then, I will

tell you honestly, she was my rival; ... I mean then that she was my rival for

252
praise, for beauty, for dress, for fortune, and consequently for admiration. My

triumph on this conquest is not to be expressed,”92 Miss Matthews then narrates

her tale of woe and how she was seduced by Hebbers. Miss Matthews then talks

about the value of virtue and how men make women their pawns in the game of

seduction. Fielding has used Miss. Matthews as a mouth piece to propound his

ideals upon female chastity, “0 may my fate be a warning to every woman to keep

her innocence, to resist every temptation, since she is certain to repent of the

foolish bargain. May it be a warning to her to deal with mankind with care and

caution; to shun the least approaches of dishonour, and never to confide too much

in honesty of a man, nor in her own strength, where she has so much at stake; let

her remember she walks on a precipice, and the bottomless pit is to receive her, if

she slips; nay, if she makes her one false step.”93 The didactic tone used by

Fielding here demonstrates that he was aware of the constraints laid upon women

and their chastity. The phrases like ‘walks on a precipice’ and ‘bottomless pit’ used

by Miss Matthews reflects directly upon the attitude of the patriarchal society. It

follows that one false step by a woman will render her homeless and bring shame

and ignominy.

Miss Matthews is represented as a vain and jealous woman and Hebbers

cleverly exploits that situation. He praises her beauty and encourages her to play

the harpischord. He opines that she possesses the talent and is a much better player

of the instrument than her sister. Miss Matthews did not like music, but falling

prey to flattery and vanity she thinks that she can play the harpischord.

Perseverance and practice pays off and she becomes a tolerable player. This

satisfies her vanity and thereby Hebbers is able to win her heart. An occasion for

253
feasting in the family leads to disastrous consequences for her. The younger sister

of Miss Matthews got married and there was rejoicing and drinking in the house.

Miss Matthews had drunk a bit more than she usually did and Hebbers took

advantage of her intoxicated state and violated her modesty. Miss Matthews

realises the enormity of the situation later. She passed the next two months trying

to please Hebbers in the hope that he would consent tp marry her, all the while

succumbing to his lustful nature. Hebbers on the other hand procrastinated and

gave various excuses to escape from the situation and even went to the extent to

say that he was transferred. Hebbers meanwhile carried on an affair with widow

Mrs. Cary. Hebbers ran away to London being apprehensive of the consequences,

as he was afraid of Miss Matthews’s brother who might demand that honour be

satisfied in the form of a duel. Miss Matthews’s father proposes a marriage and

Hebbers reluctantly agrees to it. On the day of the nuptials Miss Mathews received

an anonymous letter, which revealed that Hebbers was a married man. This

information shatters Miss Matthews, but Hebbers again uses his manipulative

tongue to persuade her. He assures her that whatever misfortunes that had befallen

her was but an accident and he had all along been very much in love with her. His

actions were the outcome of intense love for her. Miss Matthews heart melts and

she forgives him.

Hebbers perpetrates further ignominy upon Miss Matthews when he proposes

that she elope with him and become his mistress. Miss Matthews foolishly

acquiesces to elope with Hebbers thereby jeopardising her reputation. She lived as

his mistress for a year and bore him a child. The libertinism of Hebbers did not

cease and he indulged in it freely thereby deceiving Miss Matthews. He pretended

254
to go to his quarters at Yorkshire but continued his dalliance with Mrs. Cary. Miss

Matthews while on a visit to the theatre is horrified to find Hebbers paying

attention to the widow. The next morning she was insulted by the landlady, who

insinuated that Miss Matthews was a prostitute who had fraudulently taken the

lodgings by representing herself as Hebbers wife. Hebbers then sent a letter to

Miss Matthews, that she should return to her family, and he would provide for her

by giving her an annual allowance of twenty pounds for maintenance. Miss

Matthews’s passion was roused and she went to his house and stabbed him. Miss

Matthews describes the incident and her emotions, “In the highest agony of rage, I

went in a chair to the detested house, where I easily got acess to the wretch I had

devoted to destruction, whom I no sooner found within my reach, than I plunged a

drawn penknife, which I had prepared in my pocket for the purpose, into his

accursed heart. For this fact I was immediately seized, and soon committed hither;

and for this fact I am ready to die, and shall with pleasure receive the sentence of

the law.” 94 The further revelation of the passionate and promiscuous nature of

Miss Matthews comes from the incident when she and Captain Booth decide to

share the cell at Newgate. The cutting remark by the gaoler when he went to lock

them up caused Miss Matthews some embarrassment but she recovered and

preferred to spend the night with Captain Booth. Fielding describes the scene,

“Tho’ we decline painting the scene, it is not our intention to conceal from the

world the frailty of Mr. Booth, or of his fair partner, who certainly past that

evening, in a manner inconsistent with the strict rules of virtue and chastity.”95

The devious nature of Miss Matthews is revealed when she demands the

undivided attention of Captain Booth. She besieged him with letters asking him to

255
continue with their liaisons. She knows fully well that Booth is married, and she

had met Amelia also, but despite this knowledge she demands his attention and

time. She writes to Booth, “To convince you I am the most reasonable of women, I

have given you up three whole days to the unmolested possession of my fortunate

rival; I can refrain no longer from letting you know that I lodge in Dean Street, not

far from the church, at the sign of the Pelican and Trumpet; where I expect tins

evening to see you - Believe me, I am with more affection than any other woman

in the world can be,”96 She besieges him with another letter, to which Booth does

not reply.

She is also instrumental in causing a rift between Colonel James and Booth.

Booth’s revelation to the colonel about his extramarital affair with Miss Matthews

introduces aloofness in the behaviour of the colonel towards Booth. It comes to

light later that the colonel was the unidentified lover who had sent the hundred

pounds and secured the release of Miss Matthews. He had also provided the

carriage to Miss Matthews after her release. Booth is challenged to a duel by

colonel Bath. After being wounded in the duel Bath reveals that he was trying to

avenge the honour of colonel James from the alleged slanders of Booth. Booth

meets colonel James at Bath’s place and both of them go for a walk. Bath jumps to

the conclusion that they must have gone to the dueling field, and when they fail to

return after a long period he thinks that they must have killed each other. Colonel

James informs Booth that it was Miss Matthews who had instigated him against

Booth. Miss Matthews’s love for Booth is roused once again when she receives the

false news that Booth has been killed in the duel. Her passion is revealed in letter

to colonel James whom she curses for murdering Booth and for listening to the

256
rantings of a jealous woman. She writes, “I hope this will find you in the hands of

justice, for the murder of one of the best friends that ever man was blest with. In

one sense indeed, he may seem to have deserved his fate, by chusing a fool for a

friend; for who but a fool would have believed what the anger and rage of an

injured woman suggested; a story so improbable, that I could scarce be thought in

earnest I mentioned it. Know then, cruel wretch, that poor Booth loved you of all

men breathing, and was, I believe, in your commendation, guilty of as much

falsehood, as I was in what I told you concerning him. 97

Booth again encounters Miss Matthews when he agrees to accompany the

Jameses to the masquerade. Miss Matthews disguised as shepherdess upbraids

Booth for not paying proper attention to her. She then blackmails him with the

threat that she would expose herself and him at the masquerade if he did not agree

to visit her soon. Miss Matthews again upon encountering Booth in the streets

demands that he fulfill the promise made to her of dining with her. She further

threatens him that she had written to his wife Amelia about his infidelity. Booth

upon returning home makes an excuse that he would be away for a dinner. Booth is

again arrested for debts, and he is visited by Amelia in the prison. Booth confesses

that he had been unfaithful and he had an affair with Miss Matthews but it was all

over now. Amelia too discloses that Miss Matthews had sent her a letter through

post in a feigned hand in which she accused Booth of many things, “In this letter,

which was sign’d by a feigned name, she had acquainted Amelia with the infidelity

of her husband, and had besides very greatly abused him; taxing him with many

faslehoods; and, among the rest, with having spoken very slightingly and

disrespecfully of his wife.”98 Amelia forgave Booth for his philandering ways and

257
thus Miss Matthews contrivance to cause a rift in the relation between Amelia and

Booth is negated. Fielding’s representation of Miss Matthews as a woman who is

driven by her passion is exemplary. Miss Matthews like Lady Bellaston in Tom

Jones is a character who does not easily give up her claim upon Booth. Miss

Matthews like Lady Bellaston has been used as a mouthpiece to espouse Fielding’s

views upon the position of a woman in a male dominated society. Though she has

been construed as the ‘other’ woman in a man’s life, but still it was a man who was

responsible for her misfortunes. Miss Matthews too espouses Fielding’s

didacticism about how it is always the woman who is the loser in the patriarchal

society. Her views upon the value of chastity upholds the religious beliefs and

customs of the eighteenth century society. Just as in Tom Jones so too in Amelia

we find that the hero has been reformed by the patience and perseverance of the

heroine.

Fielding has also shown that there are women who do not hesitate to

endanger other women. Mrs, Ellison is one such character, who being a relative of

the noble peer is also a procuress. The noble peer was besotted with the charms of

Amelia, and it is she who is instrumental in introducing the noble peer to the

Booths. It is she who takes them to the oratario where they meet the peer. It is she

presses them to accept the tickets of the masquerade. When Booth objects to going

to the masquerade, she insinuates that Amelia’s liberty is being stifled by Booth.

She tries to foment a marital discord among the Booths. Her behaviour towards

Amelia was full of congeniality, but behind that fa?ade of amiability lurked an evil

mind with an evil design. Mrs. Ellison’s mentality can be gauged from the song

that her late husband used to sing, because she too believes holds the same opinion,

258
“Love’s but a frailty of the mind,

When it is not with ambition join’d.” 99

The other woman characters in Amelia also demonstrate how human nature

functions. The representation of Mrs. James demonstrates the fact she was

hypocritical. Mrs. James knew Amelia very well, but her later behaviour towards

Amelia is rather surprising. She loved the city life as it afforded ample scope for

entertainment for her. She used to spend most of her time playing cards. She was

married to Colonel James, but she hated him heartily. The feeling was reciprocated

by the Colonel who confided to Miss Matthews at the masquerade that Mrs. James

was a tall and awkward woman. The Jameses reach a compromise, by virtue of

which the Colonel would be free to pursue Amelia and that he would be helped by

his wife in his endeavours. She on the other hand would live in London and would

not be sent to the country estate of the colonel. She later berates the colonel that

like a dutiful wife she had done everything to give him an opportunity to seduce

Amelia. His inability to seduce Amelia was his responsibility and not hers, she

remarks, “And nevertheless, did not I, like an obedient wife, comply with your

desires? Did I make any objection to the party you proposed for the masquerade,

tho’ I knew very well your motive? What can the best of wives do more? To

procure you success is not in my power; and if I may give you my opinion, I

believe you never will succeed with her.” 100

Fielding through his various representations of the women characters in

Amelia has substantiated the view that Amelia is an embodiment of goodness and

virtue. Fielding espoused the Christian values and tenets through Amelia.

Fielding’s gradual change in his views is evident in Amelia. The affair of Booth

259
with Miss Matthews portrays the betrayal of the marital trust, and the callousness

of Booth. Booth is fallible as he indulges in the extra-marital affair but Amelia

remains resoulte despite her temptations and adversity of situations. As George

Sherbum has remarked, “Amelia is not merely the idealisation of of the Ewig-

Weibliche; she is an embodiment of moral courage - precisely what her husbands

lacks.”101

When the sexual escapade of Booth is compared with those of Tom Jones we

find that Fielding was lenient in portraying the morals in his earlier works, but it

should not be construed that he propagated profligacy or wantonness. Like his

cpntemporary Richardson Fielding believed that a woman should be chaste. He

knew how difficult it was for a woman to survive in the male dominated society if

she was tainted. Amelia the story of a marriage reveals Fielding’s view of the

minutiae of the domestic life and the evils of the prevalent society. As J. Paul

Hunter has remarked, “Amelia clarifies some of Fielding’s other interests and

patterns that, while present are not so prominent or clear in the earlier books. For

example, the concentration on marriage rather courtship clarifies Fielding’s sexual

ethic. And his shift from a male to a female main character raises info prominence

his conception of the feminine role.” 102

260
 Notes and References

1) Thomas Donald. : Henry Fielding. Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd. London.

1990. Page 45. The quote has been taken from Henry Fielding’s play Love

in Several Masques. Act II, Scene v.

2) Ibid. Page 46. The quote has been taken from Henry Fielding’s play Love

in Several Masques. Act II Scene v.

3) Campbell Jill.: Natural Masques : Gender and Identity in Fielding’s Plays

and Novels. Stanford University Press. Stanford. 1995. Page 23-24. The

quote has been taken from Henry Fielding’s play Love in Several Masques.

Act IV Scene xi.

4) Wilputte Earla A. : Wife Pandering in Three Eighteenth Century Plays.

Studies in English Literature 1500-1900. Restoration and Eighteenth

Century, ed. Robert L Patten. John Hopkins University Press. Journal

Publishing Division. Volume 38. 1998. Page 458. The quote has been

attributed to Charles B Wood : Notes on Three Fielding’s Plays PMLA 52,

2 (June 1937)359-373,366.

5) Wilputte Earla A. : Wife Pandering in Three Eighteenth Century Plays.

Studies in English Litera:ure 1500-1900. Restoration and Eighteenth

Century, ed. Robert L Patten. John Hopkins Unversity Press. Journal

Publishing Division. Volume 38. 1998. Page 459. The quote has been taken

from Henry Fielding’s play The Modern Husband, Act I Scene iv.

6) Thomas Donald. : Henry Fielding. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. 1990.

Page 46. The quote has been taken from the poem The Masquerade to be

261
 found in Henry Fielding’s The Female Husband and Other Writings, ed.

Calude E. Jones. Liverpool University Press. 1960. Page 7.

7) Henry Fielding. : Joseph Andrews with Shamela and Related Writings, ed.

Homer Goldberg. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. 1987. Page. 272

B) Ibid. Page 282.

9) Ibid. Page.283.

10) Ibid. Page. 297.

ID Ibid. Page 293.

12) Bell. Dr. Ian A. : Henry Fielding : Authorship and Authority. Longman.

London. 1994. Page 68.

13) Henry Fielding. : Joseph Andrews with Shamela and related Writings, ed.

Homer Goldberg. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. 1987. Page 279.

14) Ibid. Page 288.

15) Ibid. Page 6.

16) Ibid. Page 16.

17) Ibid. Page 32-33.

18) Ibid. Page 217-218.

19) Ibid. Page 234-235.

20) Ibid. Page 33.

21) Campbell Jill: Natural Masques : Gender and Identity in Fielding's Plays

and Novels. Stanford University Press. Stanford, California. 1995. Page 68-

69.

262
22) Henry Fielding : Joseph Andrews with Shamela and Related Writings, ed.

Homer Goldberg. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. 1987. Book I Chapter 7

Page 26.

23) Ibid. Page 27.

24) Campbell Jill: Natural Masques : Gender and Identity in Fielding's Plays

and Novels. Stanford University Press. Stanford, California. 1995. Page 94-

95. The quote has been attributed to Robert Alter: Fielding and the Nature

of the Novel. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachussets. 1968.

Page 117.

25) Henry Fielding : Joseph Andrews with Shamela and Related Writings, ed.

Homer Goldberg. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. 1987. Book I Chapter 18

Page 67.

26) Ibid. Page 68.

27) Ibid. Page 33.

28) Campbell Jill: Natural Masques : Gender and Identity in Fielding‘s Plays

and Novels. Stanford University Press. Stanford, California. 1995. Page 67-

68.

29) Thomas Donald : Henry Fielding. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. 1990.

Page 281.

30) Bell. Dr.Ian A : Henry Fielding : Authorship and Authority. Longman.

London. 1994. Page 194. The quote has been attributed to Sir John

Hawkins : The Life of Samuel Johnson ££.£5.(1787), ed. Bertram H Davis.

London 1962 Page 95.

263
31) Richetti John, ed. : The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth Century

Novel. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 1996. Page 123. The quote

has been taken from the article by Claude Rawson : Henry Fielding.

32) Henry Fielding : Joseph Andrews with Shamela and Related Writings, ed.

Homer Goldberg. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. 1987. Book III Chapter 1

Page 148.

33) Battestin Martin, ed. : Twentieth Century Interpretations of Tom Jones : A

Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs. New

Jersey. 1968. Page 4. The quote has been taken from Martin Battestin’s

Introduction.

34) Henry Fielding.: Tom Jones, ed. Sheridan Baker. W.W. Norton & Co. New

York. 1995. Book IV Chapter 2 Page 102.

35) Ibid. Page 102.

36) Battestin Martin C.: The Providence of Wit: Aspects of Form in Augustan

Literature and the Arts. University Press of Virginia. Charlottesville. 1989.

Page 182

37) Butler. Gerald J.: Henry Fielding and Lawrence’s Old Adam. The Edwin

Mellen Press. Lewiston. 1992. Page 85-86. The quote has been taken from

Aurelien Digeon : The Novels ofHenry Fielding. London. 1925. Page 146-

150.

38) Henry Fielding : Tom Jones, ed. Sheridan Baker. W.W. Norton & Co. New

York. 1995. Book V Chapter 4 Page 146.

39) Ibid. Page 125.

264
40) Campbell Jill: Natural Masques : Gender and Identity in Fielding's Plays

and Novels. Stanford University Press. Stanford, California. 1993. Page

170.

41) Campbell Jill: Natural Masques : Gender and Identity in Fielding's Plays

and Novels. Stanford University Press. Stanford, California. 1993. Page

170.

42) Stone Lawrence : The Family Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800.

Harper Torchbooks. New York, 1979. Page 188.

43) Battestin C. Martin : The Providence of Wit: Aspects of Form in Augustan

Literature and the Arts. University Press of Virginia. Charlottesville. 1989.

Page 185.

44) Henry Fielding : Tom Jones, ed Sheridan Baker. W.W. Norton & Cq. New

York. 1995. Book I Chapter 2 Page 27.

45) Henry Fielding : Tom Jones, ed. Sheridan Baker. W.W. Norton & Co. New

York. 1995. Book III Chapter 6 Page 91.

46) Ibid. Page 91.

47) Ibid. Page 32.

48) Ibid. Page 33.

49) Ibid. Page 33.

50) Ibid. Page 62.

51) Ibid. Page 91-92.

52) Hassall Anthony : Henry Fielding's Tom Jones. Sydney University Press.

Sydney. 1979. Page 83.

265
53) Henry Fielding : Tom Jones, ed. Sheridan Baker. W.W, Norton & Co- New

York. 1995. Book XVI Chapter 8 Page 563.

54) Ibid. Page 463.

55) Ibid. Page 481.

56) Ibid. Page 483.

57) Ibid. Page 514.

58) Ibid. Page 530.

59) Ibid. Page 480.

60) Ibid. Page 561.

61) Ibid. Page 562.

62) Ibid. . Page 563.

63) Ibid. Page 35.

64) Ibid. Page 612.

65) Ibid. Page 334.

66) Ibid. Page 329.

67) Paulson Ronald, ed. : Fielding : A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice

Hall. New Delhi. 1979. Page 141.

68) Henry Fielding : Tom Jones, ed. Sheridan Baker. W.W. Norton & Co. New

York. 1995. Book XVIII Chapter2 Page 597-598.

69) Ibid. Page 114.

70) Ibid. Page 114.

71) Hunter J Paul : Occasional Form : Henry Fielding and the Chains of

Circumstance. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1975. Page 169.

266
72) Thomas Donald : Henry Fielding. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London. 1990.

Page 343-344. The quoted letter has been taken from Selected Letters of

Samuel Richardson, ed. John Carroll. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

1964. Page 195-197.

73) Henry Fielding ‘. Amelia, ed. Martin Battestin. Wesleyan University Press.

Middletown, Connecticut. 1983. Introduction. Page xxii.

74) Hunter J Paul : Occasional Form : Henry Fielding and the Chains of

Circumstance. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1975. Page 193.

75) Henry Fielding : Amelia, ed. Martin Battestin. Wesleyan University Press.

Middletown, Connecticut. 1983. Introduction. Page xv.

76) Henry Fielding : Amelia, ed. David Blewett. Penguin. London. 1987. Page

3.

77) Hunter J Paul: Occasional Form : Henry Fielding and the Chains of

Circumstance. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1975. Page 194.

78) Henry Fielding : Amelia, ed. David Blewett. Penguin. London. 1987. Book

II Chapter 4 Page 70.

79) Hunter J Paul: Occasional Form : Henry Fielding and the Chains of

Circumstance. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1975. Page 197.

J Paul Hunter attributes his discussion to take its terms from Barbara K

Lewalski’s account of the ‘triple equation’ from Theme and and Action in

Paradise Regained in Milton's Epic Poetry, ed. C.A.Patrides. Penguin.

Baltimore. 1967. Page 322-347.

80) Castle Terry: Masquerade and Civilization : The Carnivalesque in

Eighteenth- Century English Culture and Fiction. Stanford University

267
 Press. Stanford, California. 1986. Page 184. The quote has been taken from

Fielding’s “An Essay on the Knowledge of the Characters of Men”

Miscellanies. Volume I. ed. Heny Knight Miller. Oxford University Press.

Oxford. 1972. Page 156.

81) Castle Terry : Masquerade and Civilization : The Carnivalesque in

Eighteenth-Century English Culture and Fiction. Stanford University Press.

Stanford, California. 1986. Page 188.

82) Henry Fielding : Amelia, ed. David Blewett. Penguin. London. 1987. Book

VI Chapter 9. Page 262.

83) Ibid.. Page 299.

84) Hunter. J Paul : Occasional Form : Henry Fielding and the Chains of

Circumstance. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1975. Page 197.

85) Henry Fielding : Amelia, ed. David Blewett. Penguin. London. 1987. Book

VIII. Chapter 7. Page 341 -342.

86) Ibid. Page 384.

87) Ibid. Page 311-312.

88) Ibid. Page 489-490.

89) Ibid. Page 490.

90) Hunter J.Paul: Occasional Form : Henry Fielding and the Chains of

Circumstance. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1975. Page 198.

91) Henry Fielding : Amelia, ed. David Blewett. Penguin. London. 1987. Book

I Chapter 6. Page 34.

92) Ibid. Page 38.

93) Ibid. Page 44.

268
94) Il?id. Page 50-51.

95) Ibid. Page 148.

96) Ibid. Page 159.

97) Ibid. Page 223.

98) Ibid. Page 508.

99) Henry Fielding : Amelia, ed. David Blewett. Penguin. London. 1987. Book

VI Chapter 3 Page 239. The lines have attributed to William Congreve :

The Way ofthe World. Act III Scene xii.

100) Ibid. Page 462.

101) Paulson Ronald, ed. : Fielding : A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice

Hall of India. New Delhi. 1979. The quote is taken from the article of

George Sherbum : Fielding's Amelia: An Interpretation. Page 149.

102) Hunter J. Paul : Occasional Form : Henry Fielding and the Chains of

Circumstance. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 1975. Page 210.

269