Analyse Fielding’s art of
characterization in Tom Jones.
Characterization is the process by which a writer reveals the
personality of the characters. It is an important element in almost every work
of fiction or novel. In Tom Jones, Fielding has a very
vast canvas on which he paints, with appreciable authority, a representative
cross-section of the society of his age. According to Hudson, “Tom Jones is the greatest novel of the eighteenth century. In
structure and in richness of characterization, Tom Jones stands unrivalled in
the history of English fiction”.
In
this novel, most of the characters represent the complete picture of the art of
the English society of Fielding’s time. That is why Fielding is called the
master of art of characterization.
In Tom Jones, Sophia Western and Squire Allworthy’s characters are
rebels revolting against the respectably accepted domestic standards of the
society
