Fielding's TOM JONES -study guide


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HENRY FIELDING:  THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES 

  The outspoken eighteenth-century man of letters, Samuel
Johnson, wrote to a woman who had read the novel Tom Jones: 

  I am shocked to hear you quote from so vicious a book.  I am
sorry to hear you have read it:  a confession which no modest
lady should ever make.  I scarcely know a more corrupt work. 

  That's an unusual judgment about a landmark book in the
history of world literature, but it's a sample of the kind of
passionate response--both favorable and unfavorable--Tom Jones
has inspired since it was published.  Its author, Henry
Fielding, was born on April 22, 1707, in Somerset, in southwest
England, the area where his hero is born and raised.  Unlike
Tom, Fielding had no doubts about his aristocratic lineage.  His
father was a lieutenant general who had fought against the
forces of the great French king, Louis XIV.  His mother was the
granddaughter of Sir Henry Gold, a baron of the exchequer. 

  But if the Fieldings' social position was secure, their
financial situation was shaky.  Like most aristocrats, the young
Fielding grew to have expensive tastes.  Unlike many, he had no
way of affording them.  For much of his life, he would be like
Tom Jones, frequently standing in some lavish drawing room
talking to nobility, while wondering how he would pay his own
rent.  First educated by tutors, he was then sent to Eton, the
finest English boarding school.  But where other young men of
his background and intelligence would have continued on to
Cambridge or Oxford University, he didn't, probably because his
family could not afford the tuition.  Later, he broke off his
legal studies at the University of Leyden, in Holland, for the
same reason.  He made the most of the education he did receive,
though, picking up the dazzling familiarity with classical
authors that he displays so artfully in his writing. 
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Jonson's VOLPONE & THE ALCHEMIST study guide

Volpone, a Venetian nobleman, has no relative to make his heir; he must name someone his beneficiary. Several rivals try to attain his favor by bringing the sick Volpone gifts that they hope will be returned tenfold. Mosca, a clever parasite to Volpone, encourages the three major gulls to give until it hurts. These birds of prey are Voltore, a lawyer; Corbaccio, an old miser about to die himself; and Corvino, a rich merchant and husband to Celia, a beautiful lady of Venice. Also naively competing for Volpone's wealth is Lady Would-be, the affected wife of an English knight, Sir Politic Would-be. After each gull is fleeced before our eyes, Mosca encourages Volpone to think of seeking a greater treasure than gold: the wife of Corvino. After a sensuous description by Mosca, Volpone resolves to see this paragon of beauty.

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The Duchess of Malfi takes place in Italy, mostly at the Duchess’s palace in Malfi, in the sixteenth century. The Duchess is a young widow whose two brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, are visiting her from Rome at the play’s start. Antonio, the manager of her household, has just returned from France. Before leaving the Duchess, Ferdinand engages Bosola, previously used by the Cardinal as a hit man, to ostensibly manage the Duchess’s horses, but in reality to spy on her for the brothers so they can be sure she remains chaste and does not remarry.

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