Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones as a Picaresque Novel

   Founded upon the Spanish word ‘picaroon’ meaning a rogue the picaresque novel usually consists of a series of loosely connected episodes in the manner of journeys, which are the picaroon’s many adventures. In a picaresque novel, therefore,  the author generally uses a first- person narrative, relating the adventures of a rogue or low- born adventures the drifts from place to place and from one social milieu to another in his effort to service. In its episodic structure the picaresque novel resembles the long, rambling romances of medieval chivalry. The best known Spanish picaresque novel is Don Quixote by Cervantes. Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Thackeray’s Barry Lyndon are some important picaresque novels.

  The object of the picaresque novel is to take a central figure through a succession of scenes, introduce a great number of characters, and thus build up a picture of society. This is exactly the pattern which the story of Tom Jones follows. The hero is taken through a succession of scenes and situations, and has a number of adventures on the roads and inside inns. He meets persons of different types and tempers.

  Tom had adventures in the countryside, on the road to London, and in London itself. He meets thieves and rogues rescues damsels in distress, falls in love, fight duels, gets arrested and imprisoned, gets cheated by seemingly innocent people and helped by apparent scoundrels. He encounters members of the lowest rungs of society as well as highest echelons. The picaresque mode, furthermore, offers a writer the chance to present the life and culture of his age.

  The story of Tom Jones follows the pattern of the “Picaresque” novel. Tom Jones, the hero of the novel, is a foundling, mysteriously discovered one night in the bed of the wealthy, virtuous and benevolent Mr. Allworthy. The kind Squire brings him up and educates him. But Tom incurs the wrath of his benefactor with the result that he is turned out of his house. Now begin the travels of Tom Jones.

  Accompanied by a schoolmaster, Partridge, the sets out for London. It is easy to see in Partridge a parallel to Sancho Panza, the travelling companion to Don Quixote, in Cervantes’s picaresque novel of the same title. Fielding also sends his heroine, with a suitable lady companion, on adventures along the highway. On the way, Tom meets with a number of adventures, some of which are amorous in nature. He goes from place to place stopping at numerous inns on the way. He joins the army as a volunteer but, being seriously wounded in a fray, cannot accompany the soldiers with whom he wants to go. He meets several strange persons, one of whom is the Man of the Hill, who willfully leads a lonely life. He rescues the old man from being attack by two ruffians. The next morning he saves Mrs. Waters from being killed by Ensign Northerton. After the boisterous scenes at Upton Inn, Tom and Partridge are again on the road. They now meet beggar, highwaymen, and finally fall among gypsies in whose camp they spend a night. Finally, they reach London. But Tom’s adventures do not come to an end there. He meets Lady Bellaston, a lustful woman who for some time supports him in London. Misfortune, however, persistently dogs his heels, and he is imprisoned in London. In this way the story of Tom Jones is a long string of adventures in different scenes and situations.

  A novel in which the hero is sent on travels for the sake of adventures, and in which he passes through different scenes and meets different sorts of persons is called a “picaresque” novel. Therefore, we may say that Tom Jones has several traits of the picaresque novel.

  The “picaresque” novel offers criticism of the age whose picture it presents. Cervantes in his great picaresque novel, Don Quixote, gives a smashing blow to the tradition of chivalry. A similar satirical picture of a corrupt society is presented in Tom Jones. Tom Jones ridicules folly, vice and weakness of mankind in general.

  Thus, Tom Jones has several traits of the picaresque novel. Yet in one essential point it differs greatly from the picaresque tradition. Unlike the picaresque novel    , Tom Jones has a coherent and well – knit and well – planned plot. It further shows a harmony between characters and incidents.