In His Preface to ‘Joseph Andrews’, Fielding Claims That Human Vices in His Novel Are ‘Never Set Forth as the Objects of Ridicule but Detestation’. to What Extent Are ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ Concerned
5. In his Preface to ‘Joseph Andrews’, Fielding claims that human vices in his novel are ‘never set forth as the objects of ridicule but detestation’. To what extent are ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ concerned with issues of morality?
Despite the fact that ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ approach their concern with issues of morality differently, they both interrogate the subject to the extent whereby, throughout the majority of both novels, they reveal and question existing ideals of society’s principles: “Robinson Crusoe initiates that aspect of the novel’s treatment of experience which rivals the confessional autobiography and outdoes other literary forms in bringing us close to the inward moral being of the individual” (Watt, 75). This quote summarises the argument ahead and captures Defoe’s intentions. It is also one of the many critical debates that surround this concern, that accentuate how Fielding and Defoe’s involvement in this matter is significant and almost revolutionary. Whereas Watt’s comment below encapsulates what Fielding aims to achieve: “Fielding… attempts to broaden our moral sense rather than to intensify its punitive operations against licentiousness.” (Watt, 283). Both of the above quotations provide an insight into both writers’ new and innovative approaches that can be considered to be quite rebellious, compared to other works from the eighteenth century.
Throughout Andrew Wright’s essay titled ‘Joseph Andrews: Art as Art’, it is argued that “Fielding believes that the function of the novel is to provide a paradigm of civilisation which is above the level of ordinary moral imperatives” (Wright, 24). Thus, one may assume that Fielding’s intention is to set a raised barrier of morality in order to demonstrate how low civilisation measures up to it.
He also contends that there is much evidence within and outside Fielding’s novel’s to suggest that Fielding did not have high hopes for human beings to become perfect or
Despite the fact that ‘Joseph Andrews’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe’ approach their concern with issues of morality differently, they both interrogate the subject to the extent whereby, throughout the majority of both novels, they reveal and question existing ideals of society’s principles: “Robinson Crusoe initiates that aspect of the novel’s treatment of experience which rivals the confessional autobiography and outdoes other literary forms in bringing us close to the inward moral being of the individual” (Watt, 75). This quote summarises the argument ahead and captures Defoe’s intentions. It is also one of the many critical debates that surround this concern, that accentuate how Fielding and Defoe’s involvement in this matter is significant and almost revolutionary. Whereas Watt’s comment below encapsulates what Fielding aims to achieve: “Fielding… attempts to broaden our moral sense rather than to intensify its punitive operations against licentiousness.” (Watt, 283). Both of the above quotations provide an insight into both writers’ new and innovative approaches that can be considered to be quite rebellious, compared to other works from the eighteenth century.
Throughout Andrew Wright’s essay titled ‘Joseph Andrews: Art as Art’, it is argued that “Fielding believes that the function of the novel is to provide a paradigm of civilisation which is above the level of ordinary moral imperatives” (Wright, 24). Thus, one may assume that Fielding’s intention is to set a raised barrier of morality in order to demonstrate how low civilisation measures up to it.
He also contends that there is much evidence within and outside Fielding’s novel’s to suggest that Fielding did not have high hopes for human beings to become perfect or
Bibliography: Bell, A. Ian. ‘Defoe’s Fiction’. Kent: Biddles Ltd, 1985. Butt, John. ‘Fielding’. London: Longmans, Green & Co Ltd, 1959. Defoe, Daniel. ‘Robinson Crusoe‘. Berkshire: Penguin Books Ltd, 1994. Fielding, Henry. ‘Joseph Andrews‘, ‘Shamela‘. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999. Novak, E. Maximillian. ‘Defoe and the Nature of Man’. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1963. Macalister, Hamilton. ‘Literature in Perspective- Fielding’. London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1967. Paulson, Ronald. ‘Fielding- A Collection of Critical Essays’. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc, 1962. Rogers, Pat. ‘The Context of English Literature- The Eighteenth Century’. London: Methuen & Co Ltd, 1978. Watt, Ian. ‘The Rise of the Novel’. London: Chatto & Windus, 1963. Wright, Andrew. ‘Henry Fielding: Mask and Feast’. London: Chatto & Windus, 1968.