3 Henry Fielding: Tom Jones 菲尔丁：《汤姆·琼斯》

亨利·菲尔丁（Henry Fielding）在英国文学史上的主要贡献在小说方面。他是英国现实主义小说的奠基者。其小说创作摈弃了以前散文作品中常见的寓言、传奇、道德说教和宗教神秘色彩，把直接的生活现实作为描写对象，将错综复杂的社会矛盾反映到作品中，并通过日常生活细节的描写来塑造人物形象，表现生活本质。

《汤姆·琼斯》全名为《弃儿汤姆·琼斯的历史》（The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling），一直被视作菲尔丁的代表作。小说由18部（books）组成，每6部构成一部分：开头6部设置在奥尔维西（Allworthy）的乡下庄园；7—12部发生在去伦敦的路上；最后6部为高潮，场景设置在首都伦敦。故事情节大致如下：富绅奥尔维西一天早晨在床上发现一个弃儿（亦即Tom Jones），遂将其收为养子。奥尔维西的外甥比利菲尔（Blifil）是个十足的伪君子，他十分嫉恨汤姆（Tom），经常在舅舅面前说汤姆的坏话，直至汤姆被最终逐出家门。邻近乡绅韦斯顿（Western）之女索菲娅（Sophia）深爱汤姆，在被迫嫁给比利菲尔之前也（几乎与汤姆同时）离家出走。二人在去伦敦的路上历经凶险和磨难。在首都伦敦，围绕着男女主人公又发生了许多事情。最终发现汤姆其实是奥尔维西妹妹的一个私生子，亦即比利菲尔的同母异父兄弟。汤姆与索菲娅两个有情人终成眷属，而比利菲尔的虚伪和恶行也得以昭示和严惩。

菲尔丁的小说滑稽幽默、蕴含丰富，往往让读者回味无穷。事实上，菲尔丁一直把自己的小说作品称作是“a comic epic in prose”（喜剧性散文史诗）。《汤姆·琼斯》（Tom Jones）采用夹叙夹议的形式展开故事。在每一卷的第一章，作者都就与本卷内容相关的题目发表一篇议论，除文学见解外，还涉及社会、人生、道德、善恶等。同时，各章的题目都很长，概括了其后这一章的主要内容。所有的这些，都对以后英国小说的进一步发展产生了一定的影响。

选文1取自小说第三部的第8章，从中可看出汤姆的善良品行：从小就对贫困者怀有同情、怜悯之心。选文2取自小说中间隔着一章的第10章，正直诚实的汤姆与虚伪阴险的比利菲尔在这里得到鲜明的对比。最后一段是小说的结尾。

Excerpt 1 Book III Chapter VIII

A Childish Incident, in Which, However, is Seen a Good-natured Disposition in Tom Jones.

The reader may remember that Mr.Allworthy gave Tom Jones a little horse, as a kind of smart-money for the punishment which he imagined he had suffered innocently.

This horse Tom kept above half a year, and then rode him to a neighbouring fair, and sold him.

At his return, being questioned by Thwackum what he had done with the money for which the horse was sold, he frankly declared he would not tell him.

“Oho! ” says Thwackum, “you will not! Then I will have it out of your br-h, ”that being the place to which he always applied for information on every doubtful occasion.

Tom was now mounted on the back of a footman, and everything prepared for execution, when Mr.Allworthy, entering the room, gave the criminal a reprieve, and took him with him into another apartment; where, being alone with Tom, he put the same question to him which Thwackum had before asked him.

Tom answered, he could in duty refuse him nothing; but as for that tyrannical rascal, he would never make him any other answer than with a cudgel, with which he hoped soon to be able to pay him for all his barbarities.

Mr.Allworthy very severely reprimanded the lad for his indecent and disrespectful expressions concerning his master; but much more for his avowing an intention of revenge. He threatened him with the entire loss of his favour, if he ever heard such another word from his mouth; for, he said, he would never support or befriend a reprobate.By these and the like declarations, he extorted some compunction from Tom, in which that youth was not oversincere; for he really meditated some return for all the smarting favours he had received at the hands of the pedagogue. He was, however, brought by Mr.Allworthy to express a concern for his resentment against Thwakum; and then the good man, after some wholesome admonition, permitted him to proceed, which he did as follows：

“Indeed, my dear sir, I love and honour you more than all the world: I know the great obligations I have to you, and should detest yourself if I thought my heart was capable of ingratitude.Could the little horse you gave me speak, I am sure he could tell you how fond I was of your present; For I had more pleasure in feeding him than in riding him.Indeed sir, it went to my heart to part with him; nor would I have sold him upon any other account in the world than what I did.You yourself, sir, I am convinced, in my case, would have done the same: for none ever so sensibly felt the misfortune of others.What would you feel, dear sir, if you thought yourself the occasion of them? Indeed, sir, there never was any misery like theirs.”

“Like whose, child? ”says Allworthy, “What do you mean? ”

“Oh, sir! ” answered Tom, “your poor gamekeeper, with all his large family, ever since your discarding him, have been perishing with all the miseries of cold and hunger: I could not bear to see these poor wretches naked and starving, and at the same time know myself to have been the occasion of all their sufferings. I could not bear it, sir; upon my soul, I could not, ”（Here the tears ran down his cheeks, and he thus proceeded.）“It was to save them from absolute destruction I parted with your dear present, notwithstanding all the value I had for it: I sold the horse for them, and they have every farthing of the money.”

Mr.Allworthy now stood silent for some moments, and before he spoke the tears started from his eyes.He at length dismissed Tom with a gentle rebuke, advising him for the future to apply to him in cases of distress, rather than to use extraordinary means of relieving them himself.

The affair was afterwards the subject of much debate between Thwackum and Square. Thwackum held that this was flying in Mr.Allworthy's face, who had intended to punish the fellow for his disobedience.He said, in some instances, what the world called charity appeared to him to be opposing the will of the Almighty, which had marked some particular persons for destruction; and that this was in like manner acting in opposition to Mr. Allworthy; concluding, as usual, with a hearty recommendation of birch.

Square argued strongly, on the other side, in opposition perhaps to Thwackum, or in compliance with Mr.Allworthy, who seemed very much to approve what Jones had done.As to what he urged on this occasion, as I am convinced most of my readers will be much abler advocates for poor Jones, it would be impertinent to relate it.Indeed it was not difficult to reconcile to the rule ofright, an action which it would have been impossible to deduce from the rule ofwrong.

Excerpt 2 Book III Chapter X

In Which Master And Jones Appear in Different Lights.

MASTER BLIFIL fell very short of his companion in the amiable quality of mercy; but he as greatly exceeded him in one of a much higher kind, namely, in justice: in which he followed both the precepts and example of Thwackum and Square; for tho' they would both make frequent use of the word mercy, yet it was plain, that in reality Square held it to be inconsistent with the rule of right; and Thwackumwaas for doing justice, and leaving mercy to Heaven.The two gentlemen did indeed somewhat differ in opinion concerning the objects of this sublime virtue; by which Thwackum would probably have destroyed one half of mankind, and Square the other half.

Master Blifil then, though he had kept silence in the presence of Jones, yet, when he had better considered the matter, could by no means endure the thought of suffering his uncle to confer favours on the undeserving.He therefore resolved immediately to acquaint him with the fact which we have above slightly hinted to the readers.The truth of which was as follows：

The gamekeeper, about a year after he was dismissed from Mr.Allworthy's service, and before Tom's selling the horse, being in want of bread, either to fill his own mouth or those of his family, as he passed through a field belonging to Mr.Western espied a hare sitting in her form. This hare he had basely and barbarously knocked on the head, against the laws of the land, and no less against the laws of sportsmen.

The haggler, to whom the hare was sold, being unfortunately taken many months after with a quantity of game upon him, was obliged to make his peace with the squire, by becoming evidence against some poacher.And now Black George was pitched upon by him, as being a person already obnoxious to Mr.Western, and one of no good fame in the country.He was, besides, the best sacrifice the haggler could make, as he had supplied him with no game since; and by this means the witness had an opportunity of screening his better customers: for the acquire, being charmed with the power of punishing Black George, whom a single transgression was sufficient to ruin, made no further enquiry.

Had this fact been truly laid before Mr.Allworthy, it might probably have done the gamekeeper very little mischief.But there is no zeal blinder than that which is inspired with the love of justice against offenders.Master Blifil had forgot the distance of the time.He varied likewise in the manner of the fact: and by the hasty addition of the single letter S he considerably altered the story; for he said that George had wired hares.These alterations might probably have been set right, had not Master Blifil unluckily insisted on a promise of secrecy from Mr.Allworthy before he revealed the matter to him; but by that means the poor gamekeeper was condemned without having an opportunity to defend himself: for as the fact of killing the hare, and of the action brought, were certainly true, Mr.Allworthy had no doubt concerning the rest.

Short-lived then was the joy of these poor people; for Mr.Allworthy the next morning declared he had fresh reason, without assigning it, for his anger, and strictly forbad Tom to mention George any more: though as for the family, ha said he would endeavor to keep them from starving; but as to the fellow himself, he would leave him to the laws, which nothing could keep him from breaking.

Tom could by no means divine what had incensed Mr.Allworthy, for of Master Blifil he had not the least suspicion.However, as his friendship was to be tired out by no disappointments, he now determined to try another method of preserving the poor gamekeeper from ruin.

Jones was lately grown very intimate with Mr.Western.He had so greatly recommended himself to that gentleman, by leaping over five-barred gates, and by other acts of sportsmanship, that the squire had declared Tom would certainly make a great man if he had but sufficient encouragement.He often wished he had himself a son with such parts; and one day very solemnly asserted at a drinking bout, that Tom should hunt a pack of hounds for a thousand of his money, with any huntsman in the whole country.

By such kind of talents he had so ingratiated himself with the squire that he was a most welcome guest at his table and a favourite companion in his sport: everything which the squire held most dear, to wit, his guns, dogs, and horses, were now as much at the command of Jones, as if they had been his own.He resolved therefore to make use of this favour on behalf of his friend Black George, whom he hoped to introduce into Mr.Western's family, in the same capacity in which he had before served Mr.Allworthy.

The reader, if he considers that this fellow was already obnoxious to Mr.Western, and if he considers farther the weighty business by which that gentleman's displeasure had been incurred, will perhaps condemn this as a foolish and desperate undertaking; but if he should totally condemn young Jones on that account, he will greatly applaud him for strengthening himself with all imaginable interest on so arduous an occasion.

For this purpose, then, Tom applied to Mr.Western's daughter, a young lady of about seventeen years of age, whom her father, next after those necessary implements of sport just before mentioned, loved and esteemed above all the world.Now as she had some influence on the squire, so Tom had some little influence on her.But this being the intended heroine of this work, a lady with whom we ourselves are greatly in love, and with whom many of our readers will probably be in love too, before we part, it is by no means proper she should make her appearance at the end of a book.

……

To conclude, as there are not to be found a worthier man and woman, than this fond couple, so neither can any be imagined more happy.They preserve the purest and tenderest affection for each other, an affection daily encreased and confirmed by mutual endearments, and mutual esteem.Nor is their conduct towards their relations and friends less amiable, than towards one another.And such is their condescension, their indulgence, and their beneficence to those below them, that there is not a neighbour, a tenant or a servant, who doth not most gratefully bless the day when Mr.Jones was married to his Sophia.

Topics for discussion

1．Why do expectations for prose fiction seem to have shifted so clearly during the middle of the 18th century? And why by the end of the century did something called the novel had very clearly come into existence in the minds of readers and writers？

2．Can you make some comparison between Henry Fielding's Tom Jones and Qian Zhongshu's Fortress（《围城》）？

提示：①二人皆为天才的讽刺幽默作家，擅长于“揭发虚伪，嘲笑愚昧”; ②两部作品皆为picaresque novel（流浪汉小说），忽略故事、结构，旨在用天生一副驴马像、永不安分的主人公作线索来贯穿全书，通过其四处漂泊，来刻画社会生活的形形色色；③Tom Jones“奉献给读者的佳肴只有一道——人性”；《围城》奉献给读者的是“彻底的人性大观”，“当世为粪窖——只留得诸多臭人丑事”专为窖中之人画脸谱：“愚者”（同情之）、“诬者”（贬斥之）、“愚且诬者”（无可救药）; ④二人的写作风格近似：幽默讽刺的语调渗透全书。菲尔丁幽默风趣而积极乐观；钱先生在讽刺中则不无伤感。

3．Make a comparison between the characters of Tom Jones and Blifil, according to what is written in the two excerpts above.

4．How do you interpret the end of Tom Jones, which is as follows？