Henry Fielding

HENRY FIELDING (1707-1754) HENRY FIELDING (1707-1754) The comic epic novel Fielding created the “comic epic novel”, while Richardson and Defoe tried to hide the fictional nature of their work under the mask of “letters” and “memoirs” respectively. Fielding was the first English novelist to come up to the novel form methodically. He thought up “laws” for what he thought a “comic epic poem in prose” was: he said that a comic romance is a comic epic poem in prose. The last one is different from comedy, as the tragedy from the serious epic. It contains more incidents and characters. In its fable and action it's different from the serious romance. It introduces persons of inferior rank. With him the novel becomes epic,even if amusing. The characters belong to different social classes and their psychology are like to the ones of epic heroes,but they are travelling to London and not to a mysterious place. Their actions are ridiculous. The plot of Henry's novels has a series of stories with an organic unity. This is an advance compared to the rudimentary sequences that we can find in Defoe's or in Richardson's. Characters They must behave coherently from beginning to end. He says in Tom Jones: “ I describe men not manners;not an individual but a species...”. We can see a greater variety of characters than in Richardon: they belong to all social classes and this social panorama constitutes a real picture of the society of the 18th century. Moral aim, Themes condemns the hypocrisy,the snobberies; the rebels against the puritan code (of the upper classes that considered synonymous with virtue). He's indulgent with regard to the sins of sex; He believes that there are neither wholly good nor wholly bad characters and that man is naturally inclined to goodness. Narrative technique uses the third-person narrative technique; narrator? obtrusive and omniscient : he intervenes with warnings,ironic comments and moral reflections about what happens. Tone?conversational and ironic; the humour and the sharp irony save his works from excessive sentimentality. TOM JONES (1749) Fielding Plot Fielding gives a picture of the society of his age. The protagonist is generous,full of vital energy and impulses. He is a foundling and has been adopted by Mr. Allworthy (a virtuous gentleman). Tom grows up with Allworthy's nephew,Blifil. Blifil is to become the antagonist of Tom. Tom is in love with Sophia, the daughter of Squire Westerns. She is in love with Tom, but her father wants to secure the marriage of Sophia with Blifil. Blifil ruins the reputation of Tom,because he's jealous. Tom has to go away and he leaves for London. He passes adventures and temptations. Sophia,at the same time,runs away. All the characters end up in London. Tom discovers the secret of his birth and of Blifil's villainy. He obtains the favour of Mr Allworthy and marries Sophia. The plot is ingenuous. The story is told in a lively