MAIN POINTS 10/16/08

 Summary: Fielding draws largely from his education and multiple professions in his works. This is evident through his wide field of reference, political consciousness and the theatrical techniques that help shape the novels plot. Plot is another key aspect of Fielding's literary style. He strove to create complex and intricate plots in an effort to elevate the novel. Fielding's background in theater is visible through the way he uses dialouge, characterization, physical comedy and plot construction. A scene to remember is the one where Tom and Sophia just miss each other by passing through the doors just after one another. The key idea to take from this is action drives the plot and bodies drive the action. 

Extended Notes:

Fielding was an aristocrat and our only author that can be counted as such despite lacking a title. He attended Eton then the University of Leiden in Holland. He had an aristocratic background but was perpetually broke. His father was a compulsive gambler which eventually resulted in the loss of his estate. This meant Fielding must make his own living. His education is evident in his work as he has a much wider field of reference (such as Latin) in his works. An example of this is when adopts the tone of the epic.

   Ppg 154:  Molly’s encounter in this scene uses epic metaphors and similes. This tool/style had previously been in poetry but was new to the novel. (see close reading #2 below)

<!-        Using Latin and other more intellectual references is a way Fielding attempts to elevate the novel

Fielding’s plays weren't always succesful so he started writing sketch comedy and satires of the government, writing and contemporary culture. The government soon took notice of his comedies (one of which included people literally kissing the Prime Minister’s ass to get jobs) and in reaction the Stage Licensing Act was passed. The act, which demanded writers submit their material to the government for approval, stayed on the books until 1968. This act forced Fielding out of his first career and drove him to become a lawyer. All of these things fed into the writing of Tom Jones.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ë         Example of his legal profession in his works: Shamela’s can be read like a legal document with each letter being like a piece of evidence. In Tom Jones there are many legal references such as the laws concerning inheritance and who has the right to property. His works also frequently contain appearances of judges, lawyers etc as seen by the brushes Tom Jones has with the law. <!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ë         Fielding had a deep respect for the law as an idea, but no respect for the inadequate structure of criminal law.<!--[endif]-->

Fielding raises the complexity of the plot high above the novels of the time. His intense plotting was a way he critiqued the less satisfyingly complicated plots of novelists such as Richardson. He viewed the use of plotting as what 18^th Century fiction needed. Fielding refused to identify himself as a novelist and neither did he call his works novels. Instead they are the “historic, poetic etc.”

            The basic construction of Tom Jones focuses on the journey. It starts in Glastonbury then follows in a half circle of London with everyone following one another and eventually ending back at Paradise Hall. The journey maps on to the shape of the text almost perfectly.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ë         If a novel is to achieve as much as it can it needs to complete the circle<!--[endif]-->

Another factor in Fielding’s elevation of the novel is his background in the theatre. Fielding draws four essential techniques from his time in the theater for Tom Jones:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ë         Dialogue: Fielding’s deftness at producing good, readable dialogue come from his experience writing plays and comedy sketches. He wants his characters to reveal themselves through their own speech rather than the narrator hence the humble, non-omnipotent narrator in the text. Fielding’s narrator does not have the power to reveal motives instead he increases the characters agency by allowing them to speak for themselves. <!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ë         Characterization: Theater uses many different and frequently outrageous characters in order to maintain the attention of the audience. Plays rely on these dynamic characters and relationships. Fielding uses oddball characters as well in order to draw a vivid collection of characters and further complicate the plot.<!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ë         Physical Comedy: Obviously physical comedy is essential on the stage and Fielding attempts to bring it to the text by having characters fall in mud etc. It is his way constructing theatrical set pieces in our minds.<!--[endif]-->

<!--[if !supportLists]-->ë         Plot Construction: Plays work when they have an elaborate complicated plot. Once again the scene where Tom and Sophia miss each other is straight out of the theater. Action drives the plot and bodies drive the action.

There is also a political plot within the text. The Jacobite uprising occurred during the writing of Tom Jones and finished it just after it had ended. Thus references to the uprising occur in the book. Politics are at the horizon. Political discourse serves as a marker that politics will continue to be involved in the story. Such as when Tom Jones leaves Paradise Hall he goes to Bristol with the intent to go to sea (not with the Navy) and falls in with soldiers going north under the command of Cumberland. This is a reference to the dynastic struggles. Squire Western and Mrs. Western arguing over the Hanovers is another example of this.

Close Readings:

#1:

“Jones had been there, as Mrs. Honour had told her; he had indeed spent two hours there that morning in melancholy contemplation on his Sophia, and had gone out from the garden at one door the moment she entered it at another. So that those unlucky minutes which had been spent in changing the ribbons had prevented the lovers from meeting at this time. A most unfortunate accident, from which my fair readers will not fail to draw a very wholesome lesson.” (P. 254)

This passage is very important when we think about the construction of the novel. Sophia and Tom Jones almost meet in this little scene because Sophia has spent too much time fixing ribbons on her clothes. Here, Fielding calls upon us to exercise a concrete imagination while reading his novel. We've talked a lot about Fielding's theatricality in class, and this passage seems to demonstrate just that with its concrete sense of place, movement, and timing. When Tom goes out of one door and Sophia goes in another, it is very similar to something we can imagine set on stage- literally seeing the actors just miss one another. Details like this help create a very physical sense of presence for these characters, as well as one of constant movement and plot development (a theme we can see throughout Tom Jones since he is constantly traveling to a new place on his way to London). This small moment also prepares us for some more complicated scenarios (something Tom Jones happens to be full of). But he seems to be using these smaller moments as ones that will later add up to a bigger significance. Quick additional note: Look at the opening chapter of Book 7 for another example of Fielding's sense of theater in the novel. He engages in theoretical discourse on the relationship btwn theater and the world. Also take notice how many times he says “we’ll now change the scene," or something along those lines. Fielding seems to really like the idea that "All the world's a stage."

#2:

"Ye muses, then, whoever ye are, who love to sing battles, and principally though who whilom didst recount the slaughter in those fields where Hudibras and Trulla fought, if thou were not started with they friend Butler, assist me on this great occasion… As a vast heard of cows in a rich farmer’s yard, if, while they are milked, they hear their calves at a distance, lamenting the robbery which is then committing, roar and bellow, so roared forth the Somersetshire mob an hallaloo, made up almost of as many squalls, screams, and other different sounds as there were persons, or indeed passions, among them." (P. 154) 

In this passage, we can see Fielding describing this as a kind of mini-epic/mock-epic like Alexander Pope's Rape of the Locke or a mock epic of Samuel Butler (He makes this very clear by calling attention to Butler, as well as an almost over-the-top reproduction of 'Homeric' style). Anyone who grew up in Fielding's age/class would have recognized this as the epic simile: the famous moment where Homer compares an army on the plain to a field of locusts. 'The Homeric simile' very commonly uses analogies of masses of people to animals. Here, Fielding gives us an example of an extraordinarily humble one: the cows mooing is like the crowd of people. Writing is this style may be what Fielding feels he’s earned by virtue of the education he’s had. This is the kind of stuff that shows up in poetry- all over Swift and Pope, but new to the novel. Fielding bringing this into the novel is him challenging the novel form to be literature- elevating the novel into something serious- but also something fun. The mock epic is designed to be fun, and in this case, innovative.

Quickies: 

In class we briefly made a few other close readings:

#1 -“Blifil having conveyed the utmost satisfaction into his countenance…” (P. 300)

What's interesting here, is that we can see that Blifil has no spontaneous emotions, he has to lift his face into an expression of happiness when he discovers his intended marriage to Sophia. The tone is pretty characteristic of Fielding here as well.

#2&3 - "And is a wench having a bastard all your news Doctor?… something about the nation.” P.162

            -"There now ensued between the squire and the parson a most excellent political discourse… rode home.” P. 164.

Both of these quotations serve as a marker for the reader to notice that politics will keep coming in to the story as we go forward with Tom Jones. When Tom gets kicked out of Paradise hall, he’s going to Bristol to think about private merchant ship and then falls in with soldiers headed North under the command of the Duke of Cumberland. This brings us back to what is mentioned in the Main Points section about politics. Fielding refers to the dynastic problem throughout the 18^th Century and is very careful to incorporate the Jacobites coming down from Scotland to meet these soldiers at various points in the novel. Fielding really gives us the sense of an all-encompassed contemporary England this way, by keeping the politics of the Jacobites alive in the midst of Tom Jones's journey.

Text Reference:

Page 444: the text references "a Dutch defence" which the note on pg. 901 explains by saying "the English claimed that France owed certain military victories during the War of the Austrian Succession to the corruption of Dutch commanders who were bribed to keep their forces from offering resistance." In order more completely explain this reference (which also ties back to the Jacobite uprising which is so frequently referenced in the text), an understanding of the basic points of the War of the Austrian Succession is necessary. Charles VI, who ruled the Hapsburg monarchy as well as the Holy Roman Empire, died without a male heir. His daughter, Maria Theresa, was to rule over Austria, Hungary, and other provinces but could not be names Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (because she was a woman). However, Frederick the Great of Prussia  was looking to expand his territory and challenged Maria Theresa militarily by invading in December 1740. A European alliance grew around Prussia (including the Bavarians and the French). Great Britain eventually comes to support Austria and Maria Theresa against the Prussians (and their allies). In March of 1744, Britain and France, formerly simply fighting for their allies, now begin to confront each other directly when France declares war. The British began to claim that the French were winning certain battles by bribing the Dutch forces to not resist as strongly as they might otherwise have. However, in 1745, Britain was distracted by the Jacobite uprising (led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, the "Young Pretender"). The War of the Austrian Succession is finally brought to a close by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (offically signed in 1748), which is indecisive for the most part. Maria Theresa of Austria retains and recovers her Hapsburg territories for the most part, Prussia is acknowledged as a significant power in Germany, and the Jacobite claim to succession in Britain is thwarted by the failure of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. In the text, this reference is to the quickness with which Tom Jones begins to fall for Mrs. Waters after saving her from Northerton in the woods without thinking of Sophia and the love he should have for her.

For more details on the specifics of the War of the Austrian Succession see:

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac75

http://www.answers.com/topic/war-of-the-austrian-succession

Related Link:

    In class, we discussed the political plot behind Fielding's Tom Jones regarding the Jacobite uprising, Jacobites versus Hanoverians etc.   Tom Jones was not Fielding's only work on the subject; he also put together a work called The Jacobite's Journal, and this link: http://www.jstor.org/pss/3725971 takes you to an interesting essay about the two works.

    Also, we discussed the line of British monarchs.  The following is a link to a short blurb on King George II, the king at the time of Tom Jones's publication, to give you a better feel for the historical atmosphere the work first appeared in: http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon54.html