Fielding’s Controversial Moralism versus Tom Jones’s Catharsis

Abstract

Exhausted and fed up with hypocrisy along with material jealousy-which seems to be the root cause of the conflict between individuals, sects, races, colours and religions- humanity requires some blazing instances of integrity and magnanimity of heart for consolation.  Tom Jones is such a novel where the hero’s self-sacrifice for the sake of the emancipation of the anguished and aggrieved mankind has been focused evidently. This article has attempted a psycho-analysis of Tom Jones’s personality with a view to imparting a motivating sway upon readers as well as critics making a careful study of Tom Jones to reduce and alleviate affliction of the concerned human beings to a large extent for a serene society of reciprocal understanding and deference. It also attempts to present Tom Jones, the hero of Henry Fielding’s novel, Tom Jones, as a man having the greatness of heart in spite of tremendous criticism regarding the novelist’s incessant reluctance of his hero’s frequent moral progresses downhill. It observes and explores a hero's physical and psychological evolution and mellowness to a quite altered man from what he was during his parentless, immature and childhood lapses against conventional Christian ethical codes. In this article, Tom stands out from a natural human being to a schooled and learned one through different ordeals. This article also counts Tom's goodness of heart which is considered as the supreme human virtue and which- while existing in a man's heart- gradually and unquestionably undertakes the purification process. An attempt has also been made to highlight the opposite trait, hypocrisy that mars a human character. By comparison and contrast of Tom's portrayal with others, Fielding's philosophy of 'goodness of heart' is brought to light.

Key Words: Goodness of heart, ethical laxity, catharsis, hypocrisy, awareness and penitence.