Unit Orientation — Background to the 18th-Century English Novel
When Fielding published Tom Jones in 1749, the English novel was barely 30 years old as a recognisable literary form. By the 1740s, however, it had already split into two major competing traditions — associated with two rival authors whose approaches to fiction were fundamentally different.
- The Tradition of Defoe (realism and autobiography): Robinson Crusoe (1719) — first-person narration; plain prose; concrete realistic detail; the individual consciousness confronting the world. No visible narrator; the reader is meant to believe the narrative is a real autobiography.
- The Tradition of Richardson (epistolary and psychological): Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1748) — told through letters; intensely psychological; focused on interior states; moralistic; sentimental. The reader has direct access to the heroine's thoughts and feelings, letter by letter.
- The Tradition of Fielding (comic and panoramic): Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749) — third-person omniscient narration; wide social canvas; the narrator as a witty, learned presence; comic and satirical; moral but anti-moralistic. A completely different kind of novel from either Defoe or Richardson.
Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) was a sensational success — the story of a servant girl who resists her master's attempts to seduce her and is eventually rewarded by him with marriage. It was read as a moral triumph: virtue preserved against all odds, rewarded in the end.
Fielding found this nauseating. He wrote a parody called Shamela (1741) — arguing that Pamela was not genuinely virtuous but was cunningly using apparent virtue as a social strategy to catch a wealthy husband. Then he wrote Joseph Andrews (1742) — a novel that began as a parody of Pamela but became something original. By the time he wrote Tom Jones (1749), he had developed a completely different theory of the novel.
- First-person/epistolary narration
- Psychological interiority
- Moralistic — virtue rewarded
- Sentimental — designed to move the reader to tears
- Social conformism — virtue = following rules
- The printer who taught himself to write well
- Third-person omniscient narration
- Social panorama
- Moral but anti-moralistic — good nature > prudence
- Comic — designed to make the reader laugh
- Sympathetic to genuine goodness even in imperfect behaviour
- The magistrate and classical scholar
Tom Jones — The Good-Natured Student vs. The Clever Schemer
In any Indian college or workplace, students will recognise two types of people — and Fielding's central argument becomes immediately clear.
Tom Jones is the student who is genuinely helpful — shares his notes freely, lends money when a friend is in trouble, speaks his mind even when it gets him into trouble. He does not always follow the rules perfectly. He might attend a friend's concert instead of a lecture. He might defend a weaker student even if it means confronting a powerful senior. He is not always "prudent" — but his heart is genuinely good.
Blifil is the student who is always perfectly behaved in front of teachers — never absent, never late, always politely smiling. But behind the scenes, he gives false information to the professor about Tom's absence, subtly poisons the teacher's mind against his competitors, and takes credit for others' work. He is "prudent" — but has no genuine goodness.
Fielding's argument — which any Indian student can verify from experience — is that a room full of Toms would be a warm, productive, human environment; a room full of Blifils would be a cold, competitive, and ultimately dishonest one. Achcha insaan hona — yahi sabse badi duniyavi kabiliyat hai. (Being a genuinely good person is the greatest worldly skill.)
Henry Fielding had one of the most varied careers in English literary history. He was born into a well-connected but financially precarious family; educated at Eton and briefly at Leiden University (law). He worked first as a playwright (his political satires against Walpole's government were so effective that they contributed to the Licensing Act of 1737, which imposed government censorship on the theatre). When the theatre was closed to him, he turned to law (became a barrister) and then to the novel. He later became a magistrate (Justice of the Peace for Westminster) and co-founded the Bow Street Runners — the forerunner of the Metropolitan Police. He died in 1754 in Lisbon, where he had gone for his health.
- Shamela (1741): Anonymous parody of Richardson's Pamela
- Joseph Andrews (1742): His first novel — began as a Pamela parody, became an original work; introduced the theory of the "comic epic in prose"
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749): His masterpiece — considered one of the greatest English novels
- Amelia (1751): His final novel — darker, more serious in tone
- The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1755, posthumous): A travel diary written in his last months
- Full title: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- Published: 1749 (in six volumes)
- Length: 18 books — one of the longest English novels, though Fielding divides it into very manageable sections
- Setting: Rural England (Somersetshire) → The Road to London → London; 1745 (the time of the Jacobite Rebellion)
- Genre: The "comic epic in prose" — Fielding's own term, defined in the Preface to Joseph Andrews
- Reception: Enormously successful immediately; praised by Samuel Johnson, praised by Coleridge ("one of the three most perfect plots ever planned"), translated throughout Europe
- Coleridge's praise: "The plot of Tom Jones is one of the three most perfect plots ever planned" — a tribute to the architectural precision of its construction
The word "foundling" is crucial — Tom Jones is a foundling, a child found abandoned (or left in suspicious circumstances) and raised by the benevolent squire Allworthy. His unknown parentage is the novel's central mystery and the source of many of its complications. In 18th-century England, being a foundling meant social illegitimacy — no family name, no clear legal status, no inheritance rights. Tom's lack of a known identity becomes both his problem (society judges him) and his freedom (he has to earn his own place through character rather than birth).
Three-Part Structure — The Perfect Plot
Fielding divides Tom Jones into 18 books, which fall naturally into three sections of six books each. This three-part structure has been called one of the most perfectly balanced in English fiction.
Every element of the plot that is introduced in Part I is resolved in Part III, with Part II serving as the bridge. Characters introduced in Somerset reappear in London in different contexts. Coincidences that seem accidental in Part I are explained in Part III. The novel's many subplots (Partridge, Mrs. Waters, Lady Bellaston, Lord Fellamar, the Man of the Hill) are all woven into the main plot. Coleridge was not exaggerating when he praised the plot's perfection — Fielding is a master architect of narrative.
Plot Summary
The benevolent, wealthy Squire Allworthy finds a baby boy in his bed one morning — a foundling — and names him Tom Jones, raising him alongside his own ward Blifil. As Tom and Blifil grow up, their characters are starkly contrasted: Tom is generous, warm-hearted, and impulsive — but lacks prudence and gets into trouble. Blifil is cold, calculating, and outwardly virtuous — but is secretly malicious. Tom falls in love with Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighbouring Squire Western. Their love is mutual and genuine. However, Blifil — who wants Sophia's fortune — schemes to expose Tom's various indiscretions (an affair with Molly Seagrim; a brawl with Blifil) to Allworthy. Tom is expelled from the estate.
Tom travels toward London, having no clear destination. Sophia flees her father's plan to force her to marry Blifil. Their paths cross occasionally on the road — sometimes missing each other by hours. Tom has a series of adventures: he meets Partridge (a barber who believes himself to be Tom's father and becomes his companion); he encounters Mrs. Waters (rescued from near-death, she and Tom have an affair at an inn); he meets the melancholy Man of the Hill (a recluse who provides a long philosophical discourse on human nature); he encounters various soldiers and rogues in the context of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. Throughout, his warm heart and impulsiveness lead him into trouble; his genuine goodness leads him out of it.
In London, Tom falls into a relationship with Lady Bellaston — a wealthy, amoral noblewoman who keeps him as her lover. He is simultaneously trying to find and win Sophia, who has come to London. Lord Fellamar (another of Sophia's unwanted suitors) plans to assault her. Tom discovers that Mrs. Waters (from Part II) was actually Jenny Jones — the woman who was thought to be his mother. A terrible possibility emerges: did Tom commit incest? Just as Tom is about to be destroyed (imprisoned, abandoned), the truth is finally revealed: Tom is actually Allworthy's nephew, the legitimate son of Allworthy's sister Bridget and a travelling gentleman. He is not a baseborn foundling but a gentleman of birth. Blifil's scheming is exposed. Tom is reconciled with Allworthy, wins Sophia, and all ends well.
Characters — Analysis
The "Comic Epic in Prose" — Fielding's Theory of the Novel
In the Preface to Joseph Andrews (1742) and throughout the prefatory chapters of Tom Jones, Fielding defines his conception of the novel as a "comic epic poem in prose." This term is crucial for understanding what Tom Jones is trying to do.
- "Comic": Like comedy (not tragedy), it deals with ordinary people rather than kings and heroes; it ends happily; it uses humour, irony, and wit. Unlike tragedy, which looks upward to the heroic, comedy looks sideways at the ordinary and ridiculous.
- "Epic": Like the classical epic (Iliad, Aeneid), it is on a large scale — wide social panorama, many characters, a long journey, the fate of its hero as a representative figure. It uses epic conventions: the opening invocation to the Muse (the prefatory chapters to each book), the long journey (the road from Somerset to London), the hero's trials and eventual triumph.
- "In Prose": Unlike classical epic (which is in verse), Fielding writes in prose — the medium appropriate to his subject matter (ordinary life, not heroic action) and his audience (the reading middle class).
- The Invocation: Each of the 18 books opens with a prefatory chapter in which Fielding addresses the reader, discusses the novel's method, makes literary arguments, or offers comic observations. These chapters replace the epic invocation to the Muse — they are Fielding (as narrator-author) directly addressing his audience.
- The Hero's Journey: Tom's journey from Somerset to London is a mock-epic journey — like Odysseus's voyage, it involves adventures, temptations, and encounters with diverse humanity. Unlike Odysseus, Tom is not a hero but an ordinary (if exceptional) young man.
- The Catalogue: Like Homer's catalogue of ships, Fielding introduces his characters with elaborate description and genealogy. The opening books of Tom Jones carefully introduce Allworthy, Western, Tom, Blifil, and others with an almost epic thoroughness.
- Divine machinery: The role of Providence in the plot — things that seem random or coincidental are actually arranged by a providential design that only the omniscient narrator can see. This is Fielding's secular equivalent of the epic gods directing human action.
The Omniscient Narrator — Fielding's Greatest Innovation
Fielding's most important and enduring contribution to the English novel is his development of the omniscient intrusive narrator — a narrative voice that knows everything about all the characters, comments on events as they unfold, addresses the reader directly, and guides the reader's moral and aesthetic responses at every point.
- Omniscience: The narrator knows every character's thoughts, history, and motives — including things the characters themselves do not know (Tom's real identity; Blifil's schemes). This omniscience gives the reader a God-like perspective on events.
- Direct address to the reader: Fielding constantly addresses his reader — "Reader," "my good reader," "the sagacious reader will have already perceived..." This creates an intimate, conversational relationship between narrator and audience.
- Self-reflexive commentary: The narrator comments on his own narrative choices — why he has included a chapter, what he is about to omit, how he judges his characters. This self-awareness about the act of narration was new to the novel in 1749.
- The prefatory chapters: Each of the 18 books begins with a prefatory chapter in which Fielding (as narrator-author) discusses the art of the novel, attacks bad critics, defends his characters, or offers general reflections on human nature. These chapters are sometimes the most brilliant writing in the novel.
- Irony and wit: The narrator's tone is consistently ironic and witty — he never simply states what he means but often says one thing while meaning another. The reader is invited to share the narrator's superior understanding of events.
Fielding's omniscient narrator is completely different from the narrative techniques of Defoe and Richardson:
- Defoe's narrators: First-person, limited to one consciousness, claims to be a real person (autobiography). No narrator mediates between the events and the reader — the reader is meant to experience the fiction as fact.
- Richardson's narrators: First-person, through letters — deeply psychological, limited to the letter-writer's perspective. The reader knows only what the letter-writer knows and feels.
- Fielding's narrator: Third-person, omniscient, self-conscious as a literary construct. The narrator is always visible, always commenting, always guiding. He does NOT want the reader to forget this is a novel — he wants the reader to engage critically with both the story and with the act of storytelling.
Fielding's omniscient, intrusive narrator became the dominant narrative mode of the 19th-century novel. Jane Austen's narrator, George Eliot's narrator, Thackeray's narrator — all are descendants of Fielding's. The 19th-century realist novel's characteristic voice of knowing, ironic omniscience comes directly from Fielding's experiment in Tom Jones.
Themes
Fielding's central moral argument in Tom Jones is that good nature (genuine benevolence, warmth, and generosity of spirit) is more morally valuable than prudence (the careful observance of social rules and appearances). Tom has good nature but lacks prudence; Blifil has apparent prudence but completely lacks good nature. The novel argues that a world full of people like Tom (warm-hearted, impulsive, imprudent but genuinely kind) would be a much better world than one full of people like Blifil (outwardly virtuous, calculating, and cold). This is Fielding's counter-argument to Richardson's moralistic fiction.
Throughout the novel, Fielding satirises the gap between conventional morality (what people claim to value) and actual human behaviour. Characters who preach virtue — the philosopher Square, the clergyman Thwackum — are repeatedly shown to be privately vicious or hypocritical. Blifil's apparent piety is constantly contrasted with his malicious scheming. Fielding's satire is directed not at vice itself (which he treats with amused tolerance) but at the hypocrisy of those who condemn vice in others while practising it themselves.
The plot of Tom Jones is shaped by what Fielding calls "good Fortune" or Providence — a principle that good people are ultimately rewarded and bad people exposed and punished. This providential pattern is not naive — Tom suffers greatly before his reward, and Blifil's exposure is delayed until the very end. But the novel's comic structure requires that everything eventually come right. The omniscient narrator's God-like knowledge of the plot corresponds to a theological point: from within the story, events seem random; from outside (the narrator's perspective), a providential design is visible throughout.
Tom's foundling status — his unknown parentage and consequent social illegitimacy — is the source of the novel's central tension. 18th-century English society placed enormous value on hereditary status: who your parents were determined who you were and what you were entitled to. Tom's natural goodness of character is constantly undermined by his social illegitimacy. The revelation of his true birth at the end resolves this tension — he turns out to be a gentleman by birth as well as by nature. This ending is simultaneously satisfying (justice done) and conservative (the social order is confirmed).
Fielding constructs Tom and Blifil as a deliberate moral contrast — each embodies one half of an argument about what constitutes genuine virtue:
- Genuinely kind and generous
- Helps strangers, protects the weak, forgives enemies
- Sexually impulsive — this is his main fault
- Gets into trouble through rashness and passion
- Never deliberately harms anyone
- His goodness is real, not performed
- Outwardly religious and well-behaved
- Follows all social rules meticulously
- Secretly jealous, malicious, scheming
- Deliberately destroys Tom's reputation
- His virtue is entirely performance
- He is worse than Tom because he is dishonest
Fielding's verdict is clear: Tom's imprudent warmth is preferable to Blifil's cold prudence. In a famous passage, Fielding argues that a man who acts wrongly through passion but repents is far better than a man who acts wrongly through deliberate calculation. Good nature can be educated; cold-heartedness cannot.
- Classical learning: Fielding's prose is richly allusive — he quotes and imitates Latin and Greek authors, refers to classical mythology, and frames contemporary events in classical terms. This learning is worn lightly — it adds wit and perspective without becoming pedantic.
- Irony and wit: Fielding's primary rhetorical weapon. He rarely says exactly what he means — he says the opposite or implies it. His ironic mode is more gentle and humane than Swift's savage irony, but equally precise.
- The mock-heroic register: Many passages treat trivial events with epic grandeur (echoing his theory of the "comic epic") — a fight in an inn becomes a great battle; a seduction becomes a military campaign. The gap between the elevated language and the low subject is Fielding's constant source of comedy.
- Authorial intrusion: The narrator's voice is always present, always commenting, always judging. This authorial presence is simultaneously the novel's greatest strength (the narrator is brilliant) and a feature that some later readers find intrusive.
- Dialogue that reveals character: Each character speaks distinctively — Western's bluster, Partridge's cowardice, Allworthy's measured benevolence, Tom's impulsive warmth. The dialogue is used to reveal character directly, not just to advance plot.
Expected Exam Questions
- Discuss Tom Jones as a "comic epic in prose." How does Fielding use epic conventions in a comic novel? What is the significance of this term for understanding his theory of fiction?
- Discuss the role of the narrator in Tom Jones. How does Fielding's omniscient, intrusive narrator differ from the narrative techniques of Defoe and Richardson?
- Discuss the contrast between Tom Jones and Blifil. What is Fielding's moral argument about good nature vs. prudence?
- Discuss Tom Jones in the context of the 18th-century English novel. How does Fielding respond to Richardson's fictional method and moral assumptions?
- Write a critical note on the structure of Tom Jones. Why has Coleridge called it "one of the three most perfect plots ever planned"?
- What does Fielding mean by the "comic epic in prose"? Explain the term.
- What is the role of the narrator in Tom Jones? What are the key features of Fielding's narrative voice?
- Discuss the character of Tom Jones. What does Fielding mean by "good nature"?
- Who is Blifil and why is he important? What does his character represent in Fielding's moral scheme?
- Describe the three-part structure of Tom Jones. How does the structure contribute to the novel's moral and artistic effect?
⚡ Quick Revision — Tom Jones
- Fielding (1707–54) — playwright, lawyer, magistrate; co-founded Bow Street Runners; began novel-writing after Licensing Act closed his theatres
- Published 1749; full title: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling; 18 books
- Fielding vs. Richardson: omniscient narrator vs. first-person/epistolary; good nature vs. prudence; comic panorama vs. psychological interiority
- Genre: "Comic Epic in Prose" — epic conventions (invocation, journey, catalogue) applied to comic, ordinary life, in prose
- Three-part structure: Somerset (birth/expulsion) → Road (journey/adventures) → London (near-disaster/resolution)
- Tom: good nature without prudence — generous, warm, impulsive, never deliberately harms anyone
- Blifil: prudence without good nature — outwardly virtuous, secretly malicious; the true villain
- Omniscient narrator: knows everything; addresses reader directly; comments on his own narrative; guides moral response; source of wit and irony
- Coleridge: "one of the three most perfect plots ever planned" — everything introduced in Part I is resolved in Part III
- Themes: good nature vs. prudence; hypocrisy of conventional morality; Providence; identity and social legitimacy