A Study of Moral Scheme in Henry Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

Khuman Bhagirath Jetubhai Research Scholar Aligarh Muslim University India

Abstract The article discusses the moral scheme of Henry Fielding’s novel Tome Jones that has been labeled as corrupt and immoral by most of its contemporary critics. It analyses the reasons for being treated as such. The eponymous character of Tom whose adventures play a prominent role in tarnishing book’s image is investigated threadbare. Seemingly immoral character Tom’s admirable qualities are highlighted and what forces him to behave vilely is also studied. Instead finding him unrighteous, the author argues that he is normal human with its equal share of goodness and weakness that makes Tom’s character a lifelike, a welcome change from divinely pure, pious and one-dimensional characters as portrayed by Fielding’s contemporary novelists.

The defense put forward by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) and Edward Bulwer Lytton (1803-1873) to support Henry Fielding’s (1707-1754) moral scheme in Tom Jones (1749)that is shocking to contemporary neo classicists, reminds of , a Bollywood film director answering the attack on his production house’s film, the first installment of (2004), that made and instant hit among the Indian youth. His defense was like, ‘who says my film is immoral? It does edify that extramarital affair always leads to destruction.’ In the movie one of the characters involved in the love triangle dies. Despite its successful run at the box-office, where , the director of the movie fails is, once audience leaves the theatre, their minds are occupied with the pleasure, Mallika and Hashmi gets out of their illicit relationship instead of its fatal result. Is it because the director’s fault that the vice win over virtue? www.ijellh.com 350

It is not the case with Fielding’s Tom Jones, though it faced the same severe criticism from contemporary English society as received by the Bollywood film Murder from Indian moral police. Fielding must have been brave-hearted to write such a book, with courage to endure social rebuke as a response to book’s supposedly immoral theme. How does Tom Jones succeed in achieving its goal whereas Murder fails? Fielding tests his protagonist Tom until he engages in serious discretion and self-restrain. What he gets from a series of affairs is nothing but suffering and pain. His hatred for the foul breath of Lady Bellaston is evident but he has to sleep with her in order to reach to Sophia. The lovers do not unite until Tom is mature enough to refuse the amorous advance of Mrs. Fitzpatrick and an attractive marriage proposal by wealthy Arabella Hunt. The readers finish the book with the feeling of how true love wins over fling. They do not remember the intimate scenes of Tom with Molly or Mrs. Waters, but the happy life that lies ahead in the store for Sophia and Tom who has to pass through difficult trials to prove that they are made for each other and for them cheating is non-existent. Dr. Johnson’s (1709-1784) comment to Hannah More (1745-1833) deserves to be discussed in detail. In one of his conversations with her, he censures her in the following words: “I am sorry to hear you have read it: a confession which no modest lady should ever make. I scarcely know a more corrupt book” (qtd. in Maugham).How Fielding deals with harsh criticism is evident in the following quote: Reader, I think proper, before we proceed any further together, to acquaint thee that I intend to digress, through this whole history, as often as I see occasion, of which I am myself a better judge than any pitiful critic whatever; and here I must desire all those critics to mind their own business, and not to intermeddle with affairs or works which no ways concern them; for till they produce the authority by which they are constituted judges, I shall not plead to their jurisdiction (Tom Jones 10). Fielding’s another scathing attack on critics appears in Book V, Ch. 1 of Tom Jones: “In reality, the world have payed too great a compliment to critics, and have imagined them men of much greater profundity than they really are” (135). To comment on “corrupt book” remark by Jonson, I wonder what Jonson would have thought on today’s ever flourishing publishing industry of erotic literature, in which the writer’s www.ijellh.com 351

sole aim is to make two characters, irrespective of their sex, age and relationship; come closer at any cost and what follows, is sensuous and detailed account of lovemaking scenes. Everything else is in the foreground except lust. It is believed to be the climax of indecency to keep such books in your personal library. One may not find any difference between finding phone directory or adult book in one’s cupboard. But the police see the latter as an important clue that can lead to the solution of crime and invite unnecessary hue and cry. I fail to understand why we treat erotica as sort of illegitimate, bastard son of literature. Why is it not being studied in university as a part of syllabus? Why is it so frightening to break the bedroom walls open for public viewing? Or we prefer to wear imaginary chastity belts? It makes wonder that the reason behind ever-growing population is super human power not sex. When I see people look down upon , they are ignoring her talent. There are countless adult stars whose films are available at free of cost, but public pay for Sunny’s films! She has the talent and skill at something, which we term as filthy or coarse. We like if an actor is master at doing emotional scene then what is wrong with the same performing an intimate scene, which is part and parcel of life and the only reason for population explosion. Therefore, at no cost one can belittle erotica simply because it does not fit into the moral codes of society. Completely contrary argument is made by Fielding himself the writer of the “corrupt book” Tom Jones, in which I find no grain of truth: “We are as liable to be corrupted by books as we are by companions” (Tom Jones 143). Look at the character portrayals of Fielding’s contemporary Samuel Richardson (1689- 1761). They are not life-like, but one-dimensional and too good to be true. There is not vitality in them. They lack certain dosage of animality, which makes human a human not sculpture which feels nothing whether you kiss or slap it. In addition, Richardson is found propagating his erroneous philosophy, ‘be moral and you will get material success,’ through his works. Fielding has something else to say. He posits: There is a set of religious, or rather moral, writings which teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery in this world. A very wholesome and comfortable doctrine, and to which we have but one objection, namely, that it is not true. (Tom Jones 112) www.ijellh.com 352

Goodness has inherent connection with the innocence and feeling for others. Then what about the material gain that Richardson talks about? There is no material gain but some subtle inner satisfaction in our mind, that money or vices cannot provide. In his ‘dedication’ to the book Tom Jones, Fielding proposes threefold path of being virtuous. First, as it is noted earlier, virtue provides inner satisfaction. Second is, our aim in life should be pursuance of virtues and avoidance of vices. Fielding portrays characters like Sophia and Squire Allworthy who succeed in doing it. Fielding also makes sure that his characters do not become one-dimensional. He pours weakness in them, which colour them with humanness. Squire Allworthy is stubborn in his judgment and fails to look beyond the balloon of hypocrisy that envelops Blifil. Sophia again is very obstinate. On the contrary, we find wicked characters, such as Blifil, Thwackum and Lady Bellaston. Blifil may have enjoyed life much better than Tom but at the end, he has to confess his evil deeds. He realizes how his pursuance of vices brings disrespect to his family members. Virtue demands circumspection, is the third path. The world is such a bewitching place that if one does not employ self-control; s/he is bound to be doomed. There is no dearth of characters like Molly Seagrim, Lady Bellaston, and Mrs. Waters. Through the example of Tom, the writer advises us to keep safe distance from such characters. Sophia does not unite with him until he grows mature and understands the result of short-term affairs that Tom always loves to have. There are people who religiously follow the motto that life is too short to let it pass without uninhibited enjoyment. It takes great effort to exercise restraint, particularly in the era of internet when one nightstand is available at single click. We need to probe the concept of vice and virtue as propounded by Fielding. His character sketch of Blifil and Tom represents two contradictory traits. Blifil is very sophisticated and saintly in his conversation. He does not involve himself in any immoral affair. He charms us by his shallow goodness. In spite of all his apparent positive qualities, if we delve deep, we discover his evil side. He sets free the bird loved by Sophia not to symbolically affirm that confinement is sin but to torture Sophia and Tom. He blurts out catching Tom red handed with Molly in the bush not to teach him lesson but to degrade him in the eyes of Squire Allworthy. He wants to marry Sophia not because he loves her but he wants her father, Squire Western’s property, as well as to render Tom love torn out of jealousy. www.ijellh.com 353

Let us analyze Tom’s internal goodness against his outer licentious. He takes great care in keeping secret Black George’s name, in matter of poaching Squire Western’s property or, he fears, George will be fired. He sells horse to financially help the caretaker. In the course of his journey to London, Tom is confronted by a highwayman who tries to rob him. The plan is foiled by Tom but when he gets to know that the highwayman is in dire need of money, he donates him half of his money. Later he meets the same highwayman and is ready to help him again by giving him a part of the financial aid that he has received from Lady Bellaston. He makes sure that Nancy, the daughter of his landlady who is pregnant by Nightingale marries the same. He cannot see others in pain and do his best to help them come out of bad circumstances. These instances prove that he is indeed virtuous. The greatest vice in Blifil, according to Fielding, is hypocrisy. Hypocrites are good at pretending. They possess superb outer self-restraint and sugary sweet tongue. Hence, it becomes difficult to identify the vice. Hypocrisy was commonly found among the clergymen of his days and Fielding’s hatred for them is evident when he scathingly remarks: “There is not in the universe a more ridiculous, nor a more contemptible animal, than a proud clergyman” (Amelia 492). For Tom, happiness of people around him matters a lot. He feels others’ pain and helps them to the best of his ability to alleviate it. These character traits heighten readers’ respect for Tom. The moral scheme that Fielding employs in Tom Jones is state of the art that most of puritan minded writers of his time denounce. They feel Fielding is not strict enough in punishing Tom for his bad behaviour. Though it is true in case of his drinking spree, the same cannot be stated about his sexual affairs. Fielding at no point seems to be favouring them. In the case of Molly Seagrim, she is senior and experienced in matter of affairs. He is seduced rather than a seducer. Mrs. Waters utilizes all her artillery to trap Tom and the latter is helpless. Lady Bellaston offers financial help, which Tom is in dire need, so he cannot deny her advances. Here, we are not trying to defend Tom. It is his immaturity or circumstances that force him to take such steps. Furthermore, what catches our attention is the timing of the affair. Tom is not in love with Sophia when he is found in the bush with Molly. Love happens later on. When Molly is found pregnant, he acts as a responsible lover and is ready to marry her by deserting Sophia. www.ijellh.com 354

At Upton inn, the situation that arises foresees that Tom and Sophia will never unite. Squire Allworthy deserts him and he is labeled as bastard with no money to run a family. Tom harbours no hope that in this condition Sophia will accept him. This is the reason for Tom’s failing to defend Mrs. Waters’ advance. Lady Ballaston is the sole link, which can lead Tom to Sophia and helps him financially, so Tom does not snap the shameful bond with her. Later Tom shows enough maturity to deny Mrs. Fitzpatrick any intimacy and rejects the attractive marriage proposal put forward by the rich lady Arabella Hunt. It shows that Tom has grown mature and can exercise restraint. He is not the same Tom we have seen beforehand. Thus, Tom passes the test and unites with his love Sophia. Samuel Richardson writes, “Adversity is the trial of principle: without it, a man hardly knows whether he is an honest man” (642). Tom passes through a series of trials and tribulation and ultimately, he proves himself worthy of Sophia’s hand. It should be noted that Fielding does not sketch a character with rigid virtues but a human being with shades of animalism. His protagonist commits mistakes, learns from them and wins at the end. He is not a born winner; neither is he a born celibate who can easily avoid sexual advance of beautiful ladies like some super human and divine creature that never exists on the face of earth. Edward Bulwer Lytton rightly calls him “deep, accurate and scientific moralist” (p. 177). The readers need to investigate to get hold of moral elements out of seemingly dirty pond that is his work Tom Jones has been considered.

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Works Cited: Fielding, Henry. Amelia. New York: White & Stokes, 1882. Print. Fielding, Henry, and Doreen Roberts. The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1999. Print. Lytton, Edward B. L. The Critical and Miscellaneous Writings of Sir Edward Lytton. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1841. Print. Maugham, William S. Ten Novels and Their Authors. London: Vintage, 2001. Print. Murder. Dir. Anurag Basu. Perf. Emraan Hashmi, Mallika Sherawat and . , 2004. DVD. Richardson, Samuel. The History of Sir Charles Grandison: In a Series of Letters. London: Printed for Harrison and Co, 1783. Print.

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