英国文学史期末论文

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Henry Fielding is a famous novelist and dramatist in the 18th century. His master piece The History of Tom Jones, a foundling set a good example to later writers in the thematic presentation, character portrayal, plot construction and writing style and is considered by many critics to be the model of modern realistic novels, and Henry Fielding has been therefore called the father of realistic novels.
The novel has eighteen books. 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. This brings about a reconciliation with Squire Allworthy and Sophia, and the downfall of Blifil.
The neatly constructed plot reflects a basic eighteenth century faith in the order of the world, which Fielding, despite skeptical overtones, displayed in this huge but far from sprawling novel. As one of the pioneers of English realistic literature, Fielding portrayed without disguising anything the real lives of men at that time. This novel differs from almost all other novels both in the range and the precision of its scale and scheme. Its personages are extremely numerous; its scenes are extremely varied, and each has its local colour adjusted with perfect propriety. It is not an exaggeration to say that this novel is the very panorama of the true reflection of the eighteenth century England social life. He exposed the hypocrisy and depravity of the upper class, and pictured he poverty and innocence of the lower people.
As the founder of English realistic literature, Henry Fielding not only gives us a panoramic view of English life in the 18th century, but also pictures a series of characters in his masterpiece “Tom Jones”. He mainly portrays many characters such as Mr.Allworthy,Tom, Miss Sophia with the employment of the realistic theory and the art of imperfection. And he especially succeeds in revealing the humanity of the protagonist. Meanwhile, Fielding further strengthens the human writing principle through sharp contrast. Undoubtedly, such a writing principle has a certain significance in the history of British novels.
Henry Fielding set up a multi-level and multi-angle contrast structure, by using which he not only created a series of vivid characters, but also clarified the theme of this great work powerfully. He not only uses the contras to of one character with another each representing a different type of human nature, but also the contrast of the same character in his different aspects such as his words and his actions, usually in contradiction with each other, in order to depict the true human nature through a kind of ironic effect. In depicting Tom and Blifil, Fielding’s purpose was obviously to emphasize the contrast between a
good-hearted young man and a false-hearted blackguard. Although the former has also made some mistakes, he is sound at the core. Whereas the latter, though always with pious talk and outward exemplary manners, his inner nature is wholly corrupt.
Feilding showed us his thorough and systematic male chauvinism in terms of this novel, namely, male was the main stay in that society. The history of“Tom Jones”was the one that male played a leading role. Fielding’s male Chauvinism embodied in this novel will be explored by analyzing male’s expanding of self-consciousness, and other women characters.
For example, Sophia is aremarkable character representing the young women of the day who had sufficient courage and independence to defy the corrupted values of that time. She is a rare creation of a young woman of a good family, with sufficient courage and independence to struggle for her heart’s desire. Sophia is a real courageous and anti-traditional woman character. But she is not a very successful woman character since she fails to be an autonomous individual and has to make compromises with the patriarchal world created by Fielding. She has to make compromises with such a society since she has no power to counter against it. It is impossible for her, a dependent to the male authority, to be an autonomous individual and assert her own rights. So the ideal image of Sophia is only a sham, she is just one of the many“ideal” products of the patriarchal ideology.
Underlying Sophia’s compromises were Fielding’s male Chauvinism. In Tom Jones, Fielding created a totally patriarchal and hierarchical world. Although Fielding successfully exposed the hypocrisy andextolled“good nature”in this novel, his treatment of the gender role and male Chauvinism need to be challenged especially in the modern society.
From the digression in“Tom Jones”,in the form of jocular conversation with the reader, we can know Fielding’s philosophy of art.“Nature herself”, that is, the exact observation and study of real life, was the
basis of Fielding’s work. He would not, like the romance-writers’,re ly simply on his imagination for the creation of his characters. Nor would he content himself merely with imitating the figures depicted in the works of earlier authors. “Imitation here”,he once wrote,“will not do the business. The picture must be after “N ature herself”.By“Nature”he meant the close and constant study of men and women in life. The centre of Fielding’s writing philosophy was Man,common earthly Man with his earthly interests, needs and passions, which would be studied and portrayed in action,in clashes, and in development.
According to Fielding, the appropriate subject of the novel is human nature .Human nature is what Fielding claims to reproduce in the characters of his novels. It is his endeavor to picture this human nature faithfully and accurately as he sees it He will not embellish or idealize. But in the delineation of his characters Fielding does not simply produce a series of literally exact portraits of the people he observes around him. Fielding holds the view that a truthful art ist’s duty was to reproduce human nature faithfully and accurately as he saw it.Thus,he drew his characters,not from his imagination,nor from models in literature,but from the living human nature which he observed in the people around him.The result was an assemblage of living characters in his novels. Based on a deep understanding of human psychology and sound criticism of social evils,“Tom Jones”gives us a truthful and comprehensive description of human nature. In the struggle between kindness and evil, honesty and hypocrisy, the former always triumphs over the latter, which has proved the educational function of Fielding’s novel
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. Tom Jones gives a comprehensive ,all-embracing picture of the life of 18th century England, combined with understanding of human psychology and criticism of social evils, together with full-blooded characters, realistically depicted in brilliant, witty and highly artistic language. Let’s remember the words engraved on his tombstone.“No one is better than him at revealing the human secret; he lives for others, not for himself.” This is the best appraisal of Fielding’s writing and life.。