Transcript Fielding's “Preface to Joseph Andrews”

Fielding's “Preface to
Joseph Andrews”
“It may not be improper to premise
a few words concerning this kind of
writing [the novel], which I do not
remember to have seen hitherto
attempted in our language. ”
Begins in the safety of antiquity.
• The EPIC, as well as the DRAMA, is divided into
tragedy and comedy.
• Homer wrote both but his example of the latter is lost.
• As this poetry may be tragic or comic, I will not scruple
to say it may be likewise either in verse or prose:
• For though it wants one particular, which the critic
enumerates in the constituent parts of an epic poem,
namely metre; yet, when any kind of writing contains all
its other parts, such as fable, action, characters,
sentiments, and diction, and is deficient in metre only, it
seems, I think, reasonable to refer it to the epic; at least,
as no critic hath thought proper to range it under any
other head, or to assign it a particular name to itself.
A comic-romance is a comic epicpoem in prose; differing from comedy,
as the serious epic from tragedy.
• Its action being more extended and comprehensive;
containing a much larger circle of incidents, and
introducing a greater variety of characters.
• It differs from the serious romance in its fable and
action, in this; that as in the one these are grave and
solemn, so in the other they are light and ridiculous:
• It differs in its characters by introducing persons of
inferior rank, and consequently, of inferior manners,
whereas the grave romance sets the highest before us:
• lastly, in its sentiments and diction, by preserving the
ludicrous instead of the sublime. In the diction, I
think, burlesque itself may be sometimes admitted; of
which many instances will occur in this work [Joseph
Andrews], as in the description of the battles, and
some other places, not necessary to be pointed out to
the classical reader, for whose entertainment those
parodies or burlesque imitations are chiefly
calculated.
• But though we have sometimes admitted this in our
diction, we have carefully excluded it from our
sentiments and characters; for there it is never
properly introduced, unless in writings of the
burlesque kind, which this is not intended to be.
• Indeed, no two species of writing can differ more
widely than the comic and the burlesque;
The Comic and the Burlesque
• As the latter (Burlesque) is ever the exhibition of what is
monstrous and unnatural, and where our delight, if we
examine it, arises from the surprising absurdity, as in
appropriating the manners of the highest to the lowest, or e
converso; (On the other side or hand; on the contrary).
• So in the former, we should ever confine ourselves strictly to
nature, from the just imitation of which will flow all the
pleasure we can this way convey to a sensible reader.
• And perhaps there is one reason why a comic writer should of
all others be the least excused for deviating from nature, since
it may not be always so easy for a serious poet to meet with
the great and admirable; but life everywhere furnishes an
accurate observer with the ridiculous.
The Value of Burlesque
• Lord Shaftesbury: "There is no such thing to be found in the
writings of the ancients."
• But perhaps I [Fielding] have less abhorrence than he
professes for it; and that, not because I have had some little
success on the stage this way, but rather as it contributes more
to exquisite mirth and laughter than any other; and these are
probably more wholesome physic for the mind, and conduce
better to purge away spleen, melancholy, and ill affections,
than is generally imagined.
• Nay, I will appeal to common observation, whether the same
companies are not found more full of good-humour and
benevolence, after they have been sweetened for two or three
hours with entertainments of this kind, than when soured by a
tragedy or a grave lecture
Caricature
Against Nature
• Whereas in the Caricatura we allow all license. Its
aim is to exhibit monsters, not men; and all
distortions and exaggerations whatever are within its
proper province.
• Now, what Caricatura is in painting, Burlesque is in
writing; and in the same manner the comic writer and
painter correlate to each other.
• And here I shall observe, that as in the former the
painter seems to have the advantage, so it is in the
later infinitely on the side of the writer; for the
Monstrous is much easier to paint than describe, and
the Ridiculous to describe than paint.
• He who should call the ingenious Hogarth a
burlesque painter, would in my opinion do him very
little honour;
• for sure it is much easier, much less the subject of
admiration, to paint a man with a nose, or any other
feature, of a preposterous size, or to expose him in
some absurd or monstrous attitude, than to express
the affections of men on canvas.
• It hath been thought a vast commendation of a
painter, to say his figures seem to breathe; but surely
it is a much greater and nobler applause, that they
appear to think.
Caricature
MONSTROUS CRAWS, at a New Coalition Feast
(The King, Queen, and Prince of Wales sit around a bowl of guineas and
ladle coins into their mouths. -- Etching with aquatint by James Gillray;
published May 29, 1787)
The Laughing
Audience, 1733
Hogarth’s Comedy
The etching portrays a theatre
audience. In the foreground we see
the heads of three orchestra
performers, all earnestly playing their
instruments. Behind them is the pit
where commoners are genuinely
enjoying the comic drama. Only one
sour faced gentleman appears not to
be enjoying the performance. He is
probably a critic. Above them is a
private box for the upper classes. Two
foppish gentlemen occupy this area
and are in pursuit of love's pleasures.
One makes advances to an orange girl
while the other is becoming most
amorous to a lady. Neither is paying
any attention to the drama.
Marriage à-la-mode
William Hogarth (1743–1745) painted the six
pictures of Marriage à-la-mode now located in
the National Gallery, London)
They are a pointed skewering of upper class 18th
century society.
This moralistic warning shows the disastrous
results of an ill-considered marriage for
money.
This is regarded by many as his finest project,
certainly the best example of his seriallyplanned story cycles.
The Marriage Settlement
• Major Characters:
– Earl/Lord Squanderfield
– The man facing out the window, with his back to the scene.
– The man standing at the table—a lawyer
– The Alderman — Seated, facing the Earl
– Counselor Silvertongue — Standing, next to the bride
– The bride — Seated, next to the Viscount
– Viscount Squanderfield, the son of the Earl — Seated, on the far
left
• The plot of the painting is the unmitigated greed of the two fathers,
the Alderman and Earl. The Alderman is wealthy to excess and the
Earl bankrupt or nearly so, however he still retains his ancient title.
The Alderman is desirous of becoming the grandfather to a noble
son, and the Earl wants to ensure his line is carried on, and is willing
to put up with the common Alderman for the sake of his money.[1]
• Meanwhile, the soon to be married two are completely ignoring
each other, and the bride is being courted by the lawyer present for
some reason. Meanwhile, myriad details show the true natures of
characters present, especially the Earl and his son.
The Tête à Tête
• Major Characters:
–
–
–
–
The Viscount — Seated, on the right
The Countess — Seated, across from her husband
The Methodist servant — Walking out
The other servant — In the other room
• The two are totally disinterested in each other and the
marriage, not to mention the household, is rapidly becoming
untenable.
• Details: The clock on the right shows the time as 1:20.
Commentators are undecided whether this is late at night or
the afternoon but in either case, the implications are equally
damning:
– If it's 1:20 in the morning, the house has clearly been the scene of a
wild and debauched party, while the Viscount has been out till all hours
and neither are interested in each other.
– If 1:20 in the afternoon, whatever occurred the night before hasn't been
cleaned up, the servants are just barely waking up, the candles were left
burning all night and into the day (Including the one that is about to set
the chair next to the waiter on fire), and the couple has only recently
risen.
The Inspection
• The Viscount, suffering from syphilis, makes a visit to a French
doctor.
– A black patch on the Viscount’s neck is Hogarth's device for
signifying the Viscount is suffering from syphilis.
– The taller woman is opening a clasp knife and is turning away
from the Viscount who she clearly dislikes. Commentators
variously identify her as the child's mother, the doctor's assistant or
another prostitute. If she were the child's mother, Hogarth would
have almost certainly placed mother and child together.
– The cabinet on the left has shelves crammed with apothecary's pots
and a wolf's head on the top. On the left wall are two paintings of
monsters: one is a man with his head below his shoulders
underneath two mummies, and the other of a two headed
hermaphrodite.
– The cabinet against the rear wall has a door ajar revealing a
skeleton suggestively leaning against an embalmed body. There is
also a long wig on a plaster head.
– Fixed to the wall and on top of the cabinet, from left to
right, there are: a narwal tusk (a classic phallic symbol), a
pile of pill boxes, a bleeding basin (identified because of its
scalloped side), a glass urinal, a giant plaster head with a
huge femur behind, an alchemist's tripod for holding flasks
over burners (or a gallows tree), a broken mediaevial comb,
a tall red Jacobean hat, two mismatched mediaeval shoes, a
spur buckler and a sword and shield.
– On the ceiling is a stuffed crocodile with a large ostrich egg
hanging from it.
– The extremely complicated mechanical contraptions on the
right are identified by the inscription on the open book, as
being for setting a dislocated shoulder and drawing corks
out of wine bottles. An additional inscription on the book
reads, "Inspected and approved by the Royal Academy at
Paris," Hogarth emphasizing the ignorance of the French
and their scant knowledge of medicine.
The Toilette
• The old Earl has died and the son is now the new Earl and his wife,
the Countess. As was the very height of fashion at the time, the
Countess is holding a "Toilette", or reception, in her bedroom
– The coronet over the bed and over the dressing table mirror indicate that the old
Earl has died and the son is now Earl Squanderfield. The wife is now Countess
Squanderfield.
– The lawyer Silvertongue is lounging on the sofa, with his shoes off and his feet
up. He clearly feels at home and in familiar surroundings.
– Although there are other guests in the room, the Countess has her back to them,
totally absorbed by Silvertongue.
– Silvertongue is making an assignation with the Countess, showing her a ticket to
a masquerade and pointing to a painting of a masquerade on a screen behind the
sofa. The intention being that, as the guests will be wearing masks and therefore
unidentifiable, the Countess and Silvertongue can safely attend together.
– The Countess is now a mother as, hanging on the back of her chair, is a rope of
coral, used by teething children. However, the child is not in the picture,
suggesting a lack of maternal instinct.
– The book on the sofa by Silvertongue's feet is "Sopha", the licentious and
popular novel by Crébillon
– A Swiss valet-de-chambre is attending to the Countess's hair.
– On the left there is an opera singer, based upon either
Giovanni Carestini or possibly Farrinelli, both
celebrated Italian castrato opera singers.
– The flutist is based upon Weideman, a well known
flutist of the time and music-teacher to George III.
– The gentleman in Blue has curl papers in his hair. He
is based upon Herr Michel, the Prussian Envoy.
– The lady in white is overcome by music and singing.
She is based upon Mrs Lane-Fox, later Lady Bingley,
who was known to have a passion for Italian music.
– The two Old Master paintings on the right wall show
'Lot and his Daughters', a Biblical reference to incest,
and 'Jupiter and Io' (after Correggio), a mythological
reference to seduction.
– The lower picture on the left wall is another Old
Master, 'Rape of Ganymede' (after Michelangelo), a
mythological reference to homosexual seduction.
– The upper left painting is the lawyer himself,
Silvertongue. Clearly, the new Earl has not visited his
wife's bedroom for a long time.
– The upper left painting is the lawyer himself,
Silvertongue. Clearly, the new Earl has not visited his
wife's bedroom for a long time.
– The black page boy in the bottom right corner is
examining a collection of hideous ornaments (similar
to those on the mantelpiece in the second painting),
purchased at the sale of Timothy Babyhouse,
Esquire. He points to the horns on a statue of
Actaeon, with an impish grin: he know what the lady
of the house has been up to (horns are a symbol of
cuckoldry).
– Scattered on the floor on the left are a number of
invitations: "Lady Squader's company is desired at
Lady Townly's drum next Monday;" "Lady Squander's
company is desired at Lady Heatham's drum-major
next Sunday" and "Lady Squander's company is
desired at Miss Hairbrain's rout," (Hogarth making a
joke with the sequence "drum," "drum-major" and
"rout"). There is also a note, "Count Basset begs to no
how Lade Squander sleapt last nit.
The Bagnio
• The new Earl catches his wife with her lover,
Silvertongue, and is fatally wounded by the scoundrel
who makes his escape through the window.
• This episode takes place in the Turk's Head Bagnio in
Bow Street, Covent Garden, identified by a bill on the
floor by the upturned table on the left. The Turk's
Head actually existed and was kept by a Mrs Earl.
"Bagnio" was originally a word used to describe a
coffee house which offered Turkish baths, but by
Hogarth's time it signified a place where rooms could
be taken for the night with no questions asked.
Fielding’s Assertions About Comedy
• Aristotle, the great classic source, maintains “that
villainy is not its object.”
– In other words the comic should not attempt to do harm.
(which satire does)
• The only source of the true Ridiculous (as it appears
to me) is affectation—this springs from two major
sources: vanity or hypocrisy.
– for as vanity puts us on affecting false characters, in order
to purchase applause; so hypocrisy sets us on an endeavor
to avoid censure, by concealing our vices under an
appearance of their opposite virtues.
Vanity
• the affectation which arises from vanity is nearer to truth than
the other, as it hath not that violent repugnancy of nature to
struggle with. . .it [vanity] partakes of the nature of
ostentation:
• In short a person who is guilty of this affectation is less
repugnant since he or she would actually be what they pretend
they are.
Hypocrisy
• Hypocrisy is a more stressful act since it struggles against the
very nature of the individual.
• Now, from affectation only, the misfortunes and calamities of life,
or the imperfections of nature, may become the objects of ridicule.
– Surely he hath a very illframed mind who can look on ugliness, infirmity, or
poverty, as ridiculous in themselves: nor do I believe any man living, who
meets a dirty fellow riding through the streets in a cart, is struck with an
idea of the Ridiculous from it;
– but if he should see the same figure descend from his coach and six, or bolt
from his chair with his hat under his arm, he would then begin to laugh, and
with justice.
– In the same manner, were we to enter a poor house and behold a wretched
family shivering with cold and languishing with hunger, it would not incline
us to laughter ( at least we must have very diabolical natures if it would);
but should we discover there a grate, instead of coals, adorned with flowers,
empty plate or china dishes on the sideboard, or any other affectation of
riches and finery either on their persons or in their furniture, we might then
indeed be excused for ridiculing so fantastical an appearance.
– Much less are natural imperfections the object of derision; but when
ugliness aims at the applause of beauty, or lameness endeavours to display
agility, it is then that these unfortunate circumstances, which at first moved
our compassion, tend only to raise our mirth.
• The poet carries this very far: None are for being what they are
in fault, But for not being what they would be thought.