English Literature

O ne of the most prominent figures in Hardy�s The  Return of the Native is not a human character, but the physical landmark- Egdon Heath. The heath's central role is obvious from the beginning. The novel opens with an extensive description of the heath at dusk. Hardy begins by saying: �A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment� . Even though the main story focuses on the relationships between Eustacia Vye, Clym Yeobright, Wildeve and Thomasin, the Heath is the central figure. Many of the events occur on or around Egdon Heath, and equally as important- all of the characters have their own special relationship with the heath.It is  �A Face on which Time makes but little Impression� . The nature of human beings is fleeting and insignificance as compared to the permanence of the heath. Avrom Fleishman in "The Buried Giant of Egdon Heath" regards Egdo...

Humour is defined as that quality of action, speech or writing which excites amusement, the faculty of perceiving what is ludicrous or amusing. Humour arises from the perception of the incongruities of life, from the writer�s awareness of the discrepancy between what is and what ought to be. Henry Fielding, the father of English novel, is one of the greatest humourists in English Literature. Fielding�s humour is wide in range. It arises from the coarsest farce to the astonishing heights of the subtlest irony. Joseph Andrews which started as a parody of Richardson�s Pamela, ended as an excellent work of art in its own right. There is plenty of humour in the novel. A number of characters are definitely humorous in their conception. Parson Adams and Mrs. Slipslop�s characters are the true sources of pure comedy.  In fact, Parson Adams� character is fully exploited by Fielding. His very appearance is ridiculous. No body can believe that he is a parson. �He possesses a comical face, wi...

Henry Fielding undoubtedly holds moral views far-ahead of his times. Morality is an approval or adherence to principles that govern ethical and virtuous conduct. Fielding was accused of being immoral in his novels. Dr. Johnson called his novels �vicious and corrupting� . Richardson echoed the �charge of immorality� against him. Modern critics, however, has justified Fielding and gave him a credit of �an estimable ethical code� . Strachey declared him a �deep, accurate, scientific moralist� . Indeed neither �Joseph Andrews� nor �Tom Jones� strikes the modern sensibility as �low� or �immoral� either in purpose or in narration. Behind the truthful portrait of life, lies his broad moral vision. His aim was to correct mankind by pointing out their blunders. �I have endeavored to laugh at mankind, out to their follies and vices.� Fielding reacted sharply against the code of ethics as incited by Richardson in �Pamela� . He feels that Pamela�s virtue is an affectation and a commodity, exch...

Realism means  conceiving and representing the things as they are . Henry Fielding is widely regarded as the first great realist in English novel. He is among  the few writers who, despite the wideness of their scope are capable of observing the demands of reality with perpetual ease. His novels hold up to view a representative picture of his age. He is as authentic a chronicler of his day as Chaucer was of the later 14th century.  It is true that Richardson and Defoe have some claim to have brought realism to English fiction, it is Fielding who can be called the real pioneer in realistic mode of novel writing. Fielding  reacted against Richardson�s sentimentalism as a falsifying influence on the study of reality, although he does not reject sentimentalism altogether. �His desire� , says Cazamian, �is to give sentiment its right place; but also to integrate it in an organic series of tendencies where each contributes to maintain a mutual balance.� Fielding�s realis...