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. ...