Humour in Joseph Andrews
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...