Introduction to Henry Fielding

and His Work ‘Joseph Andrews’

Dr. Sarwet Rasul
 Summary of the Previous Session
• General Introduction to Novel
• Novel as a Genre
• English Novel
• Tracing the History of English Novel

2
 This Session
• Introduction to Henry Fielding
• His birth, life, education, career etc.
• Fielding’s Response to Pamela
• Tragic part of Fielding’s life
• Influence of Richardson
• Characters in Joseph Andrews
• Major Themes
• Introduction and analysis of PREFACE
3
 Henry Fielding - Biography
• Henry Fielding was born in 1707 into a family that was
essentially aristocratic.
• As far as his place of birth is concerned, he was born near
Glastonbury in Southern England, and grew up on his
parents’ farm in Dorset.
• His father was a colonel (and later a general) in the army.
• His mother's father was a justice of the Queen's Bench,
while his paternal grandfather was an archdeacon of
Salisbury.
• These two men played a vital role in influencing Fielding to
be interested in law, to have great love of learning, and
above all to have a firm sense of Christian morality.

4
 Cont… Henry Fielding - Biography
• Fielding's father, Sir Edmund Fielding, a colonel of
aristocratic descent, married Sarah Gould in 1706.
As it was a "runaway" marriage, and the father of the
girl excluded Sir Edmund from the estate which he
left his daughter. When Sarah died in 1718, Fielding's
father entered into a long battle with the maternal
side of the family over the estate.
• Tom Jones, reflects a lot of influence of this episode
in Fielding’s life. It also reflects the early death of
Fielding's mother and the ensuing divisions in the
family. Both his works (Joseph Andrews and Tom
Jones) depict a young man on the move until he is
brought to a secure standstill by the revelation of his
true identity.

5
 Fielding’s Education and Career
• After attending Eton College, where he was exposed to the
classical authors he developed interest in literature and
writing.
• He joined his father in London and, in 1728, wrote his first
play
• Almost thirty more plays were written by him in the next
nine years.
• This was the period when the rake was to the fore in his
character; the dismal account of Mr. Wilson's dissipations
in London (Joseph Andrews, Book III, Chapter 3)
represents a stern warning from an experienced Fielding
about the dangers of city life. Before the city completely
enveloped him, however, Fielding spent a short spell
abroad at the University of Leiden in Holland.

6
 Fielding’s Education and Career
• He returned to London in the fall of 1729.
• It was not a time of great theatre, but there was much
material for parody and satire. In this context Fielding
used his potential for writing with such a vigour
particularly in the political field, that in 1737 the
harassed Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole,
introduced a Theatrical Licensing Act.
• Fielding wrote no more for the stage, but his
experience as a playwright has affected his novels in
a very positive way.
• It is due to his theatrical background that perfection of
dialogue and authentic patterns of conversations are
found in his novels. Again the incidents of burlesque
humour in Joseph Andrews, are a reflection of his
experience as a playwright. 7
 Fielding’s Education and Career
• Since Fielding had married Charlotte Craddock in 1734 ;
and they were passing through a financial crisis.
• It was his need for job that made Fielding change his
profession.
• He took up the study of law at the Middle Temple five
months after the passage of Walpole's Licensing Act.
• As far as the influence of Charlotte on him is
concerned, critics believe that she was almost certainly
the model for Fielding's portraits of the ideal woman:
Amelia, Sophia, and, from Joseph Andrews, possibly
Fanny Goodwill and Mrs. Wilson are examples of it.

8
 Fielding as a Journalist
• From playwriting Fielding turned to
journalism.
• As a journalist he worked with some
newspapers. For example from 1739 to
1741 he edited a satirically political
newspaper, The Champion.
• His job as an editor is quite admirable.
• This experience matured Fielding and we
can see a more serious Fielding
emerging as a writer as the issues of the
day come under his scrutiny.
9
 The Course of Fielding’s Life Changes
• In 1740, Fielding was called to the Bar, but success as a
magistrate was still something in far off future.

• Fate played an important role at this stage of his life.

Chance joined hands with Fielding's rich experience as a
dramatist and a journalist to change the course both of
his own life and that of the novel. It was in 1740, Samuel
Richardson published Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. The
novel was an immediate success; however, Fielding
criticized it.

10
 Fielding’s Response to Pamela
• Fielding objected to the discrepancy between the
expressed morality of "virtue rewarded" and the sexual
content in the novel.
• Perhaps because he was poor and was in a financial
crisis, in order to provide bread for his two young
children, he decided to try and make some money with a
parody of Pamela.
• However, whatsoever the reason, in 1741, he published
his riotous and bawdy An Apology for the Life of Mrs.
Shamela Andrews. In it, Shamela is a fortune hunter who
uses her virtue in a thoroughly lecherous and mercenary
way.
• As far as the theme of Shamela is concerned, it is of
disguise and pretence.
• Just the same theme is continued in his next work
Joseph Andrews, published in 1742.
11
• The times when Joseph Andrews was
published were hard times for Fielding. The
death of his father in June 1741, left him
sorrowful.
• His financial crisis increased and in March of
1742 his favourite daughter died.
• In June 1741, Fielding also severed his
connection with The Champion; his
disaffection with the Patriots, as they were
called, is perhaps reflected in his comments
on "patriotism" in Joseph Andrews (Book II,
Chapter 9).

12
 Tragic part of Fielding’s life
• The kind of literary and political reputation he carried, it was
difficult for Fielding to continue in the legal profession.
• His last two novels, Tom Jones and Amelia also mirror this. The
natural result of financial problems created by this affected his
family, and these novels show the suffering of a man who
knows that he has brought problems and poverty to the woman
he loves.
• Yet if Fielding could not get money by practicing law, he did use
the subject of law in his writing his works.
• His Jonathan Wild, which was published in 1743, is filled with
biting accounts of the grotesque malpractices in the system of
criminal law.
• In 1744, Fielding's wife died and, for a time, Fielding's friends
thought that he would lose his mind. But he took up his political
pen again and wrote for the anti-Jacobite journal, The True
Patriot.

13
• In 1747, he married Mary Daniel, who had
been a maid to his wife and had shared his
grief when Charlotte died. From this time, his
fortunes began to brighten.
• In 1748, he was appointed Justice of the
Peace for Westminster and, subsequently, he
was made magistrate of all Middlesex, and in
1749 Tom Jones appeared. The concept of
good nature which played such an important
part in Joseph Andrews is also central to this
novel.
14
• This optimism is hardly the case with Captain
and Mrs. Booth in Amelia (1751).
• Fielding's health was not good; he was
terribly overworked and, in the summer of
1754, he went by sea to Lisbon with his wife
and daughter. Though the voyage resulted in
a diary published posthumously as A Journal
of a Voyage to Lisbon, the quest for good
health was in vain; he died on October 8,
1754, at the age of forty-seven.

15
 Influence of Richardson
• Richardson’s controversial Pamela (1740) was one of the great
popular phenomena of British literary history.
• It is the story of a teenage servant-girl, Pamela Andrews.
• She withstands the unwanted attentions of her Master, squire Mr.
B., and maintains her purity against all the odds.
• Near the midpoint of the novel Mr. B. recognizes her moral worth,
reforms himself, and marries her.
• The second half of the story presents Pamela’s triumphant
acclimation to her new exalted condition, her conquering of the
snobbish upper class by the sheer force of her goodness.
• Form and Structure of Pamela and its influence on Fielding’s
Joseph Andrews: The entire novel comprises a series of letters
and journal entries, a few of which (near the beginning) are written
by other characters but the vast majority of which are the work of
Pamela herself; this epistolary format is part of the Richardson’s
revolutionary contribution to the development of the novel in
English, for the first-person narration of events, in nearly real-time,
allows the novelist to explore, quite naturalistically, the depths and
nuances of Pamela’s psyche. 16
 Characters in Joseph Andrews: Major Characters
• Joseph Andrews A handsome young fellow who tries to safeguard his
honour throughout the novel.
• Gaffar and Gammar Andrews Parents of Pamela and, it is believed, of
Joseph.
• Mr. Booby The nephew of Sir Thomas Booby.
• Sir Thomas Booby The deceased husband of Lady Booby.
• Lady Booby A hot-blooded young widow who tries every way possible
to seduce Joseph.
• Mrs. Slipslop A repulsive servant woman who also pursues Joseph.
• Peter Pounce The steward to Lady Booby.
• Mr. Abraham Adams A charitable curate.
• Frances (Fanny) Goodwill A beautiful young country girl; Joseph's
beloved.
• The Wilsons The real parents of Joseph Andrews.
• Lady Tittle and Lady Tattle Two gossips.
• Plain Tim A good-hearted host.

17
 Minor Characters
• Postillion A generous person who offers Joseph an overcoat to
cover his nakedness.
• Mr. Tow-wouse A bumbling, good-natured innkeeper.
• Mrs. Tow-wouse The greedy wife of the innkeeper.
• Betty A warm-hearted chambermaid who helps Joseph in the
inn.
• Barnabas A punch-drinking clergyman.
• Tom Suckbribe The constable.
• Leonora A silly young girl.
• Horatio A suitor who has no money but much love for Leonora.
• Bellarmine A suitor who has little love for Leonora but who
hopes to inherit her father's fortune.
• Lindamira A gossip.
• Mrs. Grave-airs A prude.
• Parson Trulliber A hypocritical country parson.
• The Pedlar (peddler) The man who reveals the secret of
Joseph's parentage.
• Lawyer Scout An unscrupulous lawyer.
• Mrs. Adams Parson Adams' disagreeable wife. 18
 Major Themes
Duality of Goodness
• Goodness as a theme has always been prevalent in
literature.
• Fielding presents the Vulnerability and Power of
goodness at the same time.
• In the context of eighteenth century literature we can
say that age in which worldly authority was largely
unaccountable and tended to be corrupt, Fielding
seems to have judged that temporal power was not
compatible with goodness.
• In his novels, most of the squires, magistrates,
fashionable persons, and petty capitalists are either
morally ambiguous or corrupt. Joseph Andrews as a
novel is an example of it.
• On the other hand he presents characters from low
class as symbols of good. For example his paragon of
benevolence, Parson Adams, is quite poor and utterly
dependent for his income on the patronage of squires. 19
• Interestingly Fielding shows that Adams's extreme
goodness, one ingredient of which is ingenuous
expectation of goodness in others, makes him
vulnerable and weak in the face of odds, and he is
exploited by unscrupulous worldly and money minded
characters .
• Fielding seems to enjoy humiliating his clergyman,
however, Adams remains a transcendently vital
presence whose temporal weakness does not
invalidate his moral power.
• It is important to notice that if his naïve good nature is
no antidote to the evils of hypocrisy and unprincipled
self-interest, that is precisely because those evils are
so pervasive.
• The impracticality of Adam’s laudable principles is not
a criticism or judgment on Adams or on (his) goodness
rather it mirrors the corruption of the world.
20
 Major Themes
Charity and Religion
• Fielding’s novels are full of clergymen, and we find them in
Joseph Andrews as well.
• Many of them are less than exemplary; in the contrast between
the benevolent Adams and his more self-interested brethren,
Fielding draws the distinction between the mere formal
profession of Christian doctrines and that active charity which
he considers true Christianity.
• Fielding projects the idea of religious duty in everyday life, and
emphasises its importance in daily human interaction.
• Fielding’s concept of religion is different. For him religion
focuses on morality and ethics rather than on theology or forms
of worship.
• For example Adams as a mouth piece of Fielding says to the
greedy and uncharitable Parson Trulliber, “Whoever therefore is
void of Charity, I make no scruple of pronouncing that he is no
Christian.”

21
 Major Themes
Role of Providence
• If Fielding is skeptical about the efficacy of human goodness in the
corrupt world, he is nevertheless determined that it should always be
recompensed;
• When the "good" characters of Adams, Joseph, and Fanny are
helpless to engineer their own happiness, Fielding takes care to
engineer it for them.
• He as an omniscient and omnipresent writer acts as a god to make
things work out.
• Fielding's overtly stylized plots and characterizations work to call
attention to his designing hand.
• Fielding's authorly concern for his characters, then, is not meant to
encourage his readers in their everyday lives to wait on the favor of a
divine author; it should rather encourage them to make an art out of
the business of living by advancing and perfecting the work of
providence, that is, by living according to the true Christian principles
of active benevolence.

22
 Major Themes
Town and Country
• Fielding did not choose the direction and destination of his
hero’s travels at random
• Joseph moves from the country to the town and then from the
town to the country in order to illustrate, in the words of Martin
C. Battestin, “a moral pilgrimage from the vanity and corruption
of the Great City to the relative naturalness and simplicity of the
country.”
• Joseph develops morally by leaving the city, site of vanity and
superficial pleasures, for the country, site of virtuous retirement
and contented domesticity.
• Fielding did not have any utopian illusions about the
countryside as we can see through the presentation of bad
characters in countryside setting.
• His claim for rural life derives from the pragmatic judgment that,
away from the bustle, crime, and financial pressures of the city,
there are more chances of the development of goodness.
23
 Major Themes
Affectation, Vanity, and Hypocrisy
• Fielding’s Preface declares that the target of his satire is the
ridiculous, that “the only Source of the true Ridiculous” is
affectation, and that “Affectation proceeds from one of these
two Causes, Vanity, or Hypocrisy.”
• Hypocrisy, being the dissimulation of true motives, is the
more dangerous of these causes: whereas the vain man
merely considers himself better than he is, the hypocrite
pretends to be other than he is.
• Thus, Mr. Adams is vain about his learning, his sermons,
and his pedagogy, but while this vanity may occasionally
make him ridiculous, it remains entirely or virtually
harmless. By contrast, Lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop
counterfeit virtue in order to prey on Joseph.

24
 Major Themes

Chastity
• Fielding has a fundamentally positive attitude
towards chastity.
• To him people’s sexual conduct be in accordance
with what they owe to God, each other, and
themselves. In the mutual attraction of Joseph
and Fanny there is nothing licentious or
exploitative, and they demonstrate the
virtuousness of their love in their eagerness to
undertake a lifetime commitment.

25
 Major Themes
Social Class Differences
• Joseph Andrews is full of class distinctions and concerns about high and low
birth, but Fielding is probably less interested in class difference per se than
in the vices it can lead towards.
• In this regard he aims at pointing out various vices such as corruption and
affectation. Naturally, he disapproves of those who pride themselves on
their class status to the point of degrading or exploiting those of lower birth.

• Mrs. Grave-airs, who turns her nose up at Joseph is an example of this .

• Fielding does not consider class privileges to be evil in themselves; rather,

he seems to advocate that some people deserve social ascendancy while
others do not. This view of class difference is evident in his use of the
romance convention whereby the plot turns on the revelation of the hero’s
true birth and ancestry, which is more prestigious than everyone had
thought.

26
 Introduction to Fielding’s Preface
Fielding has written a preface for various
reasons:
• To introduce the work
• To explain what it is about
• To define the type and genre
• To justify his work

27
 Text from Preface
First Paragraph:
TEXT:
“AS IT IS POSSIBLE the mere English reader
may have a different idea of romance from
the author of these little volumes, and may
consequently expect a kind of entertainment
not to be found, nor which was even
intended, in the following pages, it may not
be improper to premise a few words
concerning this kind of writing, which I do not
remember to have seen hitherto attempted in
our language.”
28
 Cont… Preface
• Fielding sets out to define his terms and to
differentiate Joseph Andrews from the
"productions of romance writers on the one
hand, and burlesque writers on the other."
• He admits that he has included some
elements of burlesque in his "comic epic-
poem in prose," but excludes them from the
sentiments and the characters because
burlesque in writing, like "Caricatura" in
painting, exhibits "monsters, not men.
29
 Text from Preface
• “Now, a comic romance is a comic epic poem in prose;
differing from comedy, as the serious epic from tragedy: its
action being more extended and comprehensive; containing
a much larger circle of incidents, and introducing a greater
variety of characters. It differs from the serious romance in
its fable and action, in this; that as in the one these are
grave and solemn, so in the other they are light and
ridiculous: it differs in its characters by introducing persons
of inferior rank, and consequently, of inferior manners,
whereas the grave romance sets the highest before us:
lastly, in its sentiments and diction; by preserving the
ludicrous instead of the sublime. In the diction, I think,
burlesque itself may be sometimes admitted; of which many
instances will occur in this work, as in the description of the
battles, and some other places, not necessary to be pointed
out to the classical reader, for whose entertainment those
parodies or burlesque imitations are chiefly calculated.”

30
 Cont… Preface
• While defining and defending his chosen
genre, the comic epic, or “comic Epic-Poem
in Prose” he claims the lost work of Homer
as precedence.
• He explains that the comic epic differs from
comedy in having more “comprehensive”
action and a greater variety of incidents and
characters; it differs from the “serious
Romance” in having lower-class characters
and favouring, in “Sentiments and Diction,”
the ridiculous over the sublime.

31
 Cont… Preface
• Fielding is particularly concerned to differentiate
the comic epic, and comedy generally, from
burlesque: “no two Species of Writing can differ
more widely than the Comic and the Burlesque,”
for while the writer of burlesque depicts “the
monstrous,” the writer of comedy depicts “the
ridiculous.”
• He further claims that “The Ridiculous only . . .
falls within my Province in the present Work,”
and accordingly goes on to define the
framework of his novel.

32
 Cont… Preface
Sources of Ridicule:
• “The only Source of the true Ridiculous (as it appears to me) is
Affectation,” to which Fielding assigns two possible causes,
“Vanity, or Hypocrisy.”
• He further defines them that vanity is affecting to be better
than one is: the vain man either lacks the virtue or quality he
claims to have, or else he claims to possess it in a greater
degree than he actually does.
• On the other hand, hypocrisy is affecting to be other than one
is: the hypocritical man “is the very Reverse of what he would
seem to be,” .
• To explain his idea Fielding gives the example of a greedy man
pretending to be generous. The ridiculous arises from the
discovery of affectation, and as hypocrisy is a more severe
form of affectation than is vanity, so, according to Fielding, the
sense of the ridiculous arising from its discovery will be
33
stronger than in the case of vanity.
 Comments on Preface
• In Fielding's analysis, the outstanding moral fault of his times which
is consequently the outstanding preoccupation of Fielding's writing
is "Affectation,“ that, to him, the "only source of the true
Ridiculous."
• In this novel Fielding seeks to oppose the forces of affectation by
making vain and hypocritical people seem ridiculous, and for doing
so in the novel he uses a kind humour that encourages solidarity
among readers, who are implicitly assumed to be on Fielding's side.
• In inspiring readers to laugh at affected people, Fielding insinuates
that society breaks down into two camps, the affected and the
genuine, and his moralizing humour supplies readers with
incentives, mainly a string of jokes and a sense of moral superiority,
to join (or remain on) the side of the genuine.

34
• Finally, Fielding addresses the characters of the
novel, claiming that all are drawn from life and that
he has made certain alterations in order to hide their
true identities.
• Fielding also conciliates his clerical readers by
emphasizing that the curate Adams, though he
participates in a number of low incidents, is a credit
to the cloth due to his great simplicity and
benevolence.
• TEXT “They will therefore excuse me,
notwithstanding the low adventures in which he is
engaged, that I have made him a clergyman; since no
other office could have given him so many
opportunities of displaying his worthy inclinations.”
35
 Critical comment on Preface
• The existence of the preface, the careful definition of terms,
the reference to painting and to the "circle of incidents," and
the promise of a happy outcome all indicate the extent to
which Fielding is in control of his novel.
• The characters may can have their own lives but it is the
essence of humanity, viewed through the lenses of Fielding's
own vision, which is presented to the reader.
• He asserts: "I describe not men, but manners; not an
individual, but a species" (Book III, Chapter 1).
• Already we are aware of his acute discernments, his breadth
of vision, his firm sense of organization, and his belief in the
essential goodness of human nature. The vices for which he
apologizes in the preface are more than balanced by the
character of Adams and by the fact that they are "accidental
consequences of some human frailty or foible."
36
 Summary of the Lesson
• Introduction to Henry Fielding
• His birth, life, education, career etc.
• Fielding’s Response to Pamela
• Tragic part of Fielding’s life
• Influence of Richardson
• Characters in Joseph Andrews
• Major Themes
• Introduction and analysis of PREFACE
37
 Reference list of sources
• http://www.cliffsnotes.com
• www.gradesaver.com
• www.enotes.com
• www.bartleby.com
• www.gutenberg.org
• http://www.helium.com
• http://www.studymode.com

38
Thank you very much!

39