Raschio Stefano
Pomelli Diana
Tom Jones
1. Introduction
2. Biography (life and works) (chronology)
3. Plot
4. Character analysis (personality and relationship)
5. Commentary (critical analysis)
6. Conclusions
INTRODUCTION
Henry Fielding's Tom Jones is both one of the great comic masterpieces of English literature and a major force in the development of the novel form. By 1749, when Tom Jones appeared, the novel was only beginning to be recognized as a potentially literary form. Fielding was the first major novelist to write fiction without shame. It is a comedy in both senses of the formal definition: it is amusing and all ends well. What Fielding did establish with Tom Jones, was the role of the novel as the modern epic form.
Originally entitledThe History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, the book tells the story of the title character from infancy through his marriage to the beautiful and virtuous Sophia Western, the pursuit of whom takes up much of the tale. Along the way, Fielding relentlessly satirizes the hypocrisy and vanity of most of his supporting cast. He shows that the lusty rascal Tom is, in fact, an infinitely better human being than the vicious pretenders who surround him and scheme against him while camouflaged in a thin veneer of artificial virtue. The hero overcomes not only all external plots and obstacles but, most importantly, his own weaknesses of character, to win both love and fortune.
BIOGRAPHY
22 april 1707 – Fielding was born at Sharpam
1728- He travelled to Leiden to study classic and law at the university
1731 – He wrote “The Roast Beef of Old England”
1734 – He married Charlotte C
1737 – Theatrical Licensing Act
1730-1740 – Satirical articles and newspapers
1741 – He writes novels and his first major success Shamela (parody of Pamela)
1743 – He published a novel in the Miscellanies Volume III. This novel is thought of as his first
1746 – He wrote “The Female Husband”
1749 – He wrote Tom Jones
1754 – He went abroad to Portugal and he died in Lisbon
Works
1728 – Love in several masques
1730 – The Temple beau
1730 – The author’s farce
1730/31 – Tom Thumb the great
1734 – Don Quixote in England
1736 – Pasquin
1737 – Historical register for the year 1736
1740 – Shamela
1742 – The history of the adventure of Joseph Andrews
1743 – Journey from this world to the next ; The history of Mr.Jonathan Wild the Great
1749 – Tom Jones
1751 – Amelia
PLOT
The gentleman Allworthy, who lives in Somersetshire with his unmarried sister Bridget Allworthy, arrives home from a trip to London to discover a baby boy in his bed. Allworthy undertakes to discover the mother and father of this foundling and finds local woman Jenny Jones and her tutor, Mr. Partridge, guilty. Allworthy sends Jenny away from the county, and the poor Partridge leaves of his own accord. Allworthy decides to bring up the boy. Soon after, Bridget marries Captain Blifil, a visitor at Allworthy's estate, and gives birth to a son of her own, named Blifil. Captain Blifil regards Tom Jones with jealousy, since he wishes his son to inherit all of Allworthy possessions. But soon Captain Blifil dies .
The narrator skips forward twelve years. Blifil and Tom Jones have been brought up together, but receive vastly different treatment from the other members of the house. Allworthy is the only person who shows consistent affection for Tom.
Tom spends much time with Squire Western, Allworthy's neighbor. Sophia Western, Squire Western's daughter, falls deeply in love with Tom. Tom has already conferred his affection on Molly Seagrim, the poor daughter of Black George. When Molly becomes pregnant, Tom prevents Allworthy from sending Molly to prison by admitting that he has fathered her child. Tom falls deeply in love with her. Tom's commitment to Molly ends when he discovers that she has been having affairs, which means Tom is not the father of her child and frees him to confess his feelings to Sophia.
Allworthy falls gravely ill. A lawyer named Dowling arrives and announces the death of Bridget Allworthy. When the doctor announces that Allworthy will not die, Tom rejoices.
Mrs. Western, the aunt, comes to stay at her brother's house. She and the Squire fight constantly, but they unite over Mrs. Western's plan to marry Sophia to Blifil. Mrs. Western promises not to reveal Sophia's love for Tom. Sophia strongly opposes the proposal, and Squire Western grows violent with her. Blifil tells Allworthy that Tom is a rascal and Allworthy banishes Tom from the county. Tom does not want to leave Sophia, but decides that he must follow the path.
In Bristol, he happens to meet up with Partridge, who becomes his loyal servant. Sophia, who has run away from Squire Western's estate to avoid marrying Blifil, discovers that Tom is having an affair with Mrs. Waters.
Tom and Partridge arrive in London soon after, and they stay in the house of Mrs. Miller and her daughters, Nancy. Nancy falls pregnant and Tom convinces Nightingale to marry her. Lady Bellaston and Tom begin an affair, while he continues to pursue Sophia. When he and Sophia are reconciled, Tom breaks off the relationship with Lady Bellaston. Yet Lady Bellaston is still determined not to allow Sophia and Tom's love to flourish. She encourages anoter young man, Lord Fellamar, to rape Sophia.
Soon after, Squire Western, Mrs. Western, Blifil, and Allworthy arrive in London, and Squire Western locks Sophia in her bedroom. Mr. Fitzpatrick thinks Tom is his wife's lover and begins a duel with Tom. Tom stabs Fitzpatrick with his sword. Partridge visits Tom in jail with the ghastly news that Mrs. Waters is Jenny Jones, Tom's mother. Mrs. Waters meets with Allworthy and explains that Fitzpatrick is still alive. She also tells Allworthy that a lawyer acting on behalf of an unnamed gentleman tried to persuade her to conspire against Tom. Allworthy realizes that Blifil is this gentleman, and he decides never to speak to him again.
Mrs. Waters also reveals that Tom's mother was Bridget Allworthy. Tom is released from prison. Mrs. Miller explains to Sophia the reasons for Tom's marriage proposal to Lady Bellaston. Squire Western eagerly encourages the marriage between Tom and Sophia. Sophia agrees to marry him. They live happily on Western's estate with two children.
CHARACTERS
IMPORTANT CHARACTERS:
SQUIRE ALLWORTHY, a benevolent gentleman of Somersetshire.
BRIDGET ALLWORTHY, his sister; later wife of Capt. Blifil.
TOM JONES, foundling.
DR. BLIFIL, an unsuccessful physician.
CAPTAIN BLIFIL, his brother.
BLIFIL, son of Captain and Mrs. Bridget Blifil.
MOLLY SEAGRIM, daughter of Black George.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
PARTRIDGE, schoolmaster; later called “Little Benjamin.”
MRS. PARTRIDGE, his wife.
GEORGE SEAGRIM, gamekeeper, commonly called “Black George.”
ROGER THWACKUM, tutor to Master Jones and Master Blifil.
THOMAS SQUARE, a parson.
MRS. DEBORAH WILKINS, servant in Allworthy’s house.
JENNY JONES, maid servant; later known as Mrs. Waters.
MISS SOPHIA WESTERN, his daughter.
SQUIRE WESTERN.
MRS. WESTERN, his sister.
MRS. SEAGRIM, her mother.
EXTRAS:
MR. SUPPLE, a curate. MRS. HONOUR, maid to Sophia Western. ENSIGN NORTHERTON. ENSIGN ADDERLY. WHITFIELD and MRS. WHITFIELD, host and hostess of the Bell at Gloucester.
DOWLING, an attorney of Salisbury. The Man of the Hill. The Landlord and Landlady at Upton.
SUSAN, their maid. MR. FITZPATRICK MR. MACLACHLAN Irish Gentlemen. MRS. FITZPATRICK, niece of Squire Western. An Irish Peer. LADY BELLASTON. A Puppet Showman. A Merry Andrew.
GRACE, a chambermaid. The King of the Gypsies. MR. ANDERSON, an amateur highwayman. MRS. ETOFF, maid to Lady Bellaston. MRS. MILLER, a clergyman’s widow. NANCY and BETTY, her daughters. MR. J. NIGHTINGALE, her lodger. MR. NIGHTINGALE, his father. MR. NIGHTINGALE, his uncle.
Tom Jones: Jones’s character is presented in the novel as a youngster up until he marries Sophia. The reader is able to follow Jones’s maturation throughout the story. Tom’s character is constantly showing the philosophy of carpe diem. Tom shows as if he is only capable of thinking what he is doing at the moment and not what the consequences might be in the future. His actions are backed up by his impulses at the time rather than by analysis. A perfect example of these impulses is when he without hesitation goes to bed with Molly Seagrim, Mrs. Waters, and Lady Bellaston while being deeply in love with Sophie. Jones’s line of thought is very unpredictable because he can go from deciding to join the army or go to sea as the solution to his problems and suddenly change his plans from one moment to the next. Jones’s direct line of thought and concern for the welfare of others brings out the exemplary characteristic that the reader should mostly admire about Tom. He never gives much thought on why he should help the person, he just impulsively helps everyone, this being at the cost of his own welfare. It is Tom’s own carelessness and naïve attitude that brings him all of the problems he faces through the novel. His constant concern for the present does not let him see the consequences of his immediate actions. Though he brings on himself his own misery, he eventually recognizes that his actions, especially his affairs with two middle-aged women and one that might even be his mother, lead him to realize that what he was doing was wrong and from there on he decides to stop this behavior. From this point on, the reader sees how Tom is able to acknowledge the importance of analyzing his actions before doing them out of impulse and by the end of the novel he is able to practice prudence and reflection.
Blifil: Bifil is the complete opposite of Jones’s character. Blifil does not think of someone else’s welfare. He is always thinking what can he gain from a situation. He is obsessed with the future; all of his actions are based on eventually getting the most amount of Allworthy’s estate. By the end of the novel, Blifil unlike Jones has not learnt anything; on the contrary, all he did was to corrupt his values to an even futher extent.
Squire Allworthy: Allworthy is supposed to be correct all the time, hence his last name, but his actions as the novel progresses question his decision-making process and his better judgment of what is right and what is wrong. He makes his conclusions on Jones’s actions not by reasoning and analyzing the situation at hand but instead he makes his decisions following what he understands to be right or wrong. Allworthy at the end of the novel admits that his decisions to reason the way he did and judge Jones the way he did, were wrong.
Sophia: Sophia is the essence of womanhood in the novel. She is very honest and obedient but she also has a sense of independence towards her father’s wishes. After she and Tom are lovers, she is willing to go against her father’s order to stay and marry Blifil and she leaves home to go and find Jones. Although Sophia is very honest and loving, she does not think like Jones. She is not dedicated like Jones. She puts her personal interest before the welfare of others.
Squire Western: Western like Tom is a very energetic and lively character. He is also a very closed and obstinate man, once he believes in one idea, there is no one who can change his mind.
Thwankum and Square: Both these characters teach and live in Allworthy’s estate for the economic advantages. Their intentions are clear because they favor Blifil over Tom. Even though they are both religious men, money comes before their beliefs.
COMMENTARY
A Comic Epic Poem in Prose
The plot of Tom Jones is not only famous for its intricacy, it is also highly symmetrical in design. The novel has eighteen books, six for the beginning, six for the middle, and six for the end. The first six books give the cause of the action: Tom's open, sensual nature; the conflict with Blifil; the misunderstanding with Squire Allworthy; Tom's love for Sophia and their separation. The next six contain both the consequences of the first six and the incidents and details which will bring about a resolution. The last six books plunge Tom into disastrous circumstances through his actions and get him out of them again. When he is in prison about to be hanged, he hears that Sophia has refused to speak to or see him again as a result of his affair with Lady Bellaston. As if this were not enough, he even has to face the possibility that he might have committed incest. But it is this last misfortune which also brings about his change of fortune: it is through Jenny Jones, Tom's purported mother who is now known as Mrs. Waters, that the truth of Tom's birth emerges.
Tom Jones contains many conventional narrative elements as well which Fielding had already made use of in Joseph Andrews, including an ostensibly picaresque form, inserted narrative and the discovery of true identity. But while the character Joseph, with his origins in parody, suffers from an element of the ridiculous, Tom emerges as a deeper character who even goes through a certain amount of superficial moral development. Tom Jones exemplifies serious aspects of Fielding's concept of benevolence and good nature, his generous personality reflecting Fielding's moral philosophy. At the same time, it is from his impulsive and affectionate nature that many of his troubles spring. He is contrasted to the hypocrite Blifil, his opposite and, as it turns out, his half-brother. Fielding frequently uses this method of contrasting pairs to manage his huge cast of characters: Tom is opposed to Blifil, Sophia to Molly and later Lady Bellaston, and Allworthy to Squire Western. The same technique is used with the minor characters: the tutors of Tom and Blifil are Thwackum, representing blind respect for authority, and Square, representing abstract ethics.