Fielding's women

Abstract

Last year, when I was studying Toa Jones, I found that if traditional approaches were used, Fielding did not seem to have achieved the aims outlined in the Dedication. Either his acknowledged masterpiece was flawed at its moral centre, or the book had been misinterpreted. I tried various methods of analysis, and found that neither Tom, nor Allworthy, nor the usual combination of Allworthy and Sophia in an allegorical sense, nor the meaning of the plot, was satisfactory, but if Sophia was central, then his intentions had been successfully achieved. This discovery led to the present study, the aim of which is to determine to what extent Woman is central to Fielding's art, as a whole.