Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones

Much of the energy in Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones is said to stem from the main character's imprudence, but the moral impact of the novel is often said to depend on the hero's attainment of prudence. The development of a sense of prudence in Tom Jones is effective precisely because he is so imprudent, and his imprudence is accepted because it derives from his innocence rather than from not caring about being prudent. Tom's position as hero is indeed justified because he is an innocent and because he learns from his experiences.

William Empson makes this point when he writes, "Tom Jones is hero because he is born with good impulses. . ." He may be imprudent, but it is a question of his motivation as much as behavior. Fielding is a comic novelist and is happy to show the hero's foibles as well as the good side of his nature, but in the case of Tom Jones even his foibles derive largely from innocence rather than any defect in his character. This is important in the way Fielding depicts human failings. Fielding does not believe that actions have an absolute value which can be determined objectively, and instead he sees that every deed must be judged not only by its consequences but by the motives which brought it to life:

We have here one of the central ideas of the book, to wit, that the moral value of an action is essentially dependent upon the state of mind of the man who has committed it. In the moral teaching of Fielding, feeling holds the first place; on th

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om Kettle sees as rebels challenging the respectably accepted standards of eighteenth century society. This is seen as Tom and Sophia battle against Blifil and all that he represents. If Tom learns to be more prudent, it is precisely because that is what is required to counter Blifil. Ian Watt feels that the novel is driven more by plot considerations than by character and that for this reason the two-dimensional nature of the characters is important and is a device that is effective. Characters are not examined too closely because there are reasons for them not to be fully understood. Indeed, personal relationships are also relatively unimportant because the characters should be seen as having innate characteristics which are unchanging. Indeed, Watt says that the structure of the novel as a whole is dependent on the lack of any effective communication between the characters because the characters have to misunderstand and misperceive one another. Blifil must misunderstand Sophia; Allworthy must fail to see the true nature of Blifil; and Tom must fail to understand Blifil's true nature and also must fail to explain himself properly either to Allworthy or Sophia until the end of the novel: For, since Fielding's view of h

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