--18th-Century and 19th-Century Literature
Dualism, or the polar quality of nature as viewed by man, is characterized by tension and strain which finds a ready outlet in the realm of Art--for the organizing principle behind Art, be it painting, music, or literature, is a kind of duality which operates through opposing channels, i.e., Form and Expression, at the same time. The challenge of the artist, however, is to utilize his material fully in order to create and explore the widest range of human experience which the particular form demands. As a creator of his fictional world, the artist also has in his power the license to distort it--and he almost always does this by filtering and condensing "real life." Two elements, i.e., omniscient narration and stereotyping, then, are the tools (Form) used by both Fielding and Thackeray in this "manipulative" process in order to make clearer the consequent heightened didactic points (Expression) they wish to make. Fielding, for example, exemplifies this particular method himself when he states in the first chapter of *Amelia* that "histories of this kind...may properly be called models of HUMAN LIFE." And these models, of course, serve the required didactic purpose, being no other than "to promote the cause of virtue, and to expose some of the most daring evils, as well public as private, which at present infest the country." Thackeray, the omniscient "Manager of the Performance" (*Vanity Fair*), similarly speaks of his modeled Puppets in "Before the Curtain" whose lively antics will hopefully, as he states, bring the audience to "a sober, contemplative, not uncharitable frame of mind."
It is important to note that, as omniscient narrators, Fielding and Thackeray clearly direct the audience to focus on the minute incidents of human affairs which are necessary for a thorough understanding of Life in a general sense. Such a structural device, i.e., the element of "Realism," is used, as Fielding writes, to help us direct our attention on "the several incidents which tend to the catastrophe or completion of the whole, and the minute causes whence those incidents are produced." Only then shall we "best be instructed in this most useful of all arts, which I call the ART of LIFE." What is implied, of course, is a shift of emphasis from the lofty and heroic to the more "common" and general in order to reach "the country" (England) which, as Fielding fears, has been infested with "the most glaring evils." Thackeray actually defends his rather exacting rendition of detail in *Vanity Fair* for similar purposes, i.e., to reach as large an audience as possible: "He...who admires the great and heroic in Life and novels...had better take warning and go elsewhere."
This concern for Realism may at first seem to contradict the use of stereotypes which undoubtedly implies a filtering and "manipulation" of Reality to some degree. However, these two processes actually complement each other when it is understood that Fielding's and Thackeray's use of stereotypes, on one level, provides a ready, easy way of introducing their fictional reality quickly, yet concisely. The public magistrate, or judge, is typified by Fielding, for example, as a corrupt government official when he simply replies to a defendant's plea: "Sirrah, your tongue betrays your guilt. You are an Irishman, and that is always sufficient evidence with me." Consequently, the reader is better able to comprehend the somewhat unpleasant reality of human corruption in general, as Fielding expounds when he writes earlier: "[The magistrate,] if he was ignorant of the laws of England, was yet well versed in the laws of nature."
Now Thackeray expands on this particular technique concerning stereotyping, i.e., selection of precise detail for further generalization, which is already apparent on the first page of *Vanity Fair*. Immediately, for example, we find Miss Pinkerton, that "majestic lady" of the Chiswick Hall academy, as rather typical of foolish yet aspiring middle-class society, simply from her reply to Miss Jemima's "common speech." Miss Jemima tells her sister concerning Miss Sedley's departure from the academy: "The girls were up at four this morning, packing her trunks, sister;...we have made her a bow-pot." And Miss Pinkerton's reply: "Say a bouquet, sister Jemima, 'tis more genteel."
Of course, this rather "genteel," aspiring middle-class attitude is made even more explicit by Jemima's choice of detail in reference to Mrs. Sedley's coach: "It is Mrs. Sedley's coach, sister. Sambo, the black servant, has just rung the bell; and the coachman has a new red waistcoat." In a sense, then, it is Fielding's and Thackeray's precise, yet penetrating selection of detail which is used for rendering the general characteristics of their personae--be if the ridiculous apparel of Captain Bath when "warming his sister's posset," and the "learned" somewhat obtuse rhetoric of the kind Dr. Harrison to his "dear children," Amelia and Booth; or, as in *Vanity Fair*, the lisping of a would-be hero as Colonel Bobbin, the gaudy dress of Miss Swartz ("Her tags and ear-rings twinkled, and her eyes rolled about"), and the simple act of Becky's flinging the prized "Dixonary" at Jemima.
Closely related to this precise introduction into the fictional reality of *Amelia* and *Vanity Fair* as directed by the "manipulative," omniscient authors, is the tagging of their characters with precise names suitable to their peculiar personalities. Of course, this idea is merely suggested in Fielding's world: the rather tyrannical cruel judge, Mr. Thrasher; the robust, blinded rather pathetic woman, Blear-eyed Moll; the diligent, faithful wife and "hero," Amelia (of Greek origin meaning 'diligent'); or the protective husband of his Amelia, Mr. William Booth (Will + helm, helm meaning 'protection'). Thackeray, on the other hand, makes this technique a vital, indeed, a crucial method which permits his readers to focus on the inherent moralism abounding in *Vanity Fair*. The pattern is clear: Miss Sharp, the sharp-witted orphan; Sir Crawley, with gross, common traits quite in opposition to our "noble" expectations of the aristocracy; Lord Steyne, the experienced, "stained" nobleman; Mr. Dobbin, appropriate for a rather honest, non-descript gentleman; and general satirical names attached to lords and dukes which are easily overlooked by a society which only hears the ring of the words, "sir" and "lord"--Lord Claud Lollipop, Lady Grizzel MacBeth, and such-like.
As is implied, then, a second level inherent in Fielding's and Thackeray's stereotypes stems from this concise rendering of detail, namely, generalization becomes possible which permits a universalizing of human ideas, life, and society for moral purposes. We also need such "undiluted" characters in order that the perverted aims of society, because heightened, be made undeniably clear. Now Fielding's 'moralism" is man's dubious, rather hypocritical nature which as he writes, finds its source in "the blind guidance of a predominant passion." We find this to be the case with the typified Judge Thrasher in which money decides the balance between right and wrong, or with Blear-eyed Moll, representative of lower-class life, who later rages violently against Booth when he does not have money to buy her the gin she craves. Such hypocrisy and dubiousness is further explored in the apparent generosity of Colonel James, for example, who in actuality schemes for Amelia's "virtue." Even Booth is subjected to the passions of gaming and lust for Miss Matthews which bring about difficulties in his marriage as he tries to hide his guilt from his wife.
Thackeray, of course, expands on this theme when he uses the race for Miss Crawley's money as an example of man's general hypocrisy--and which finds no exception even with those members who belong to an apparently "respectable" class. The moral thrust is also strengthened by Thackeray's use of representative types which serve to heighten its impact on the reader and universalize its precepts. Hence, the race for Miss Crawley's vast fortune is undertaken by seemingly reputable personages, i.e., the nobility and clergy: The Reverend Bute Crawley (who actually games and hunts while his wife writes the sermons), Rawdon, Becky, and the "good" Sir Pitt (who reads tracts on the evil of money).
Now the irony inherent in, for example, Booth's desire for gambling who is otherwise idolized by Amelia, or in Thackeray's "respectable" personages who race for fortune, and, finally, in his Amelia's dotage on the worthless George Osborne, suggests a third and, perhaps, most pointed if not cynical level inherent in Fielding's and Thackeray's use of stereotypes. Indeed, as hinted at in *Amelia* and further exploited in *Vanity Fair*, there exist attempts in them to make human stereotypes, specifically the character of Amelia, undergo a process of ironic reversal. Thus, Fielding's Amelia, the heroine who is "superior in every perfection," soon becomes accused of vanity and "prudery," with some justification, by Dr. Harrison and Mrs. Atkinson. Mrs. Atkinson, for example, reacts to Amelia's fright concerning her conversation with the "noble lord" in which she fears her reputation has consequently been forfeited, with: "Indeed, my dear friend, you are terrified at nothing--indeed, indeed, you are too great a prude." However, Amelia risks her close friendship with Mrs. Atkinson and, indeed, causes Sergeant Atkinson to despair (he drinks too much alcohol which then results in a dangerously high fever), when she replies: "I shall never be ashamed of the strictest regard to decency, to reputation, and to that honour in which the dearest of all human creatures hath his share."
Such sentiments, however, seriously imply a rather selfish, quite egotistic obsession that resides in our "Heroine" which borders on pride and vanity. Amelia later expresses these same thoughts to Dr. Harrison when she describes the importance of her husband's honor in dueling: "But consider, my dear sir, this is a tender matter. My husband's honour is to be preserved as well as his life." And later: "But yet you know, doctor, the opinion of the world." Dr. Harrison, however, chides such ideas as vain and ignorant. He cries:
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"You talk simply child. What is the opinion of the world opposed to religion and virtue? but you are in the wrong. It is not the opinion of the world; it is the opinion of the idle, ignorant, and profligate. It is impossible it should be the opinion of one man of sense, who is in earnest in his belief of our religion. Chiefly, indeed, it hath been upheld by the nonsense of women, who, either from their extreme cowardice and desire of protection, or, as Mr. Bayle thinks, from their excessive vanity, have been always forward to countenance a set of hectors and bravoes, and to despise all men of modesty and sobriety; though these are often, at the bottom, not only better but the braver man."
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Such a "feeding the passion of female vanity with the heroism of her man," as Dr. Harrison states, proves to be the very source of ridicule in Thackeray's own Amelia. Of course, the process of ironic reversal is much more poignant in *Vanity Fair*. First, in defiance of ideal heroic types, Thackeray depicts Miss Sharp as pale and sandy-haired; the meek Amelia ironically becomes the dark-haired figure. Secondly, Amelia becomes so utterly selfish in her fond dotage of her late husband, George Osborne, that Dobbin himself must tell her: "No you are not worthy of the love which I have devoted to you. I knew all along that the prize I had set my life on was not worth the winning." Finally, to further this sense of irony, Amelia is depicted as so utterly mild, weak and simple in the role of the typical heroine as to become absurdly foolish (her obstinate obsession with her late husband) and, moreover, a parasite: "Grow green again, tender little parasite, round the rugged old oak to which you cling."
Similarly, the worldly, experienced Becky now becomes the wise, charitable creature--in fact, a sense of nobility is seen in her which is not found in Amelia at the end of the story. Becky tells her friend in reference to Dobbin: "You must have a husband, you fool; and one of the best gentlemen I ever saw has offered you a hundred times, and you have rejected him, you silly, heartless, ungrateful little creature!"
The consequence of such pointed ironies (as begun by Fielding and further explored by Thackeray) is, perhaps, to suggest that "ideal" types are, in actuality, not quite so ideal; that pointed moral deficiencies abound equally in the two Amelias as in the worldly Miss Matthews or Miss Becky Sharp; that generalizing further, as nobleman, servant, protagonist or antagonist, one is subject to the human qualities (positive and negative) pervading man in general. Thus, Fielding is the sincere moralist in this case when he writes: "The following book is sincerely designed to promote the cause of virtue, and to expose some of the most glaring evils, as well public as private, which at present infest the country." However, it is important to note that his world view is ultimately optimistic--Amelia becomes the "happiest of women" while her and Mr. Booth live together in a marriage where "nothing can equal the serenity of their lives." On the other hand, it is a cynical view that Thackeray presents us with at the end; the idea of the equality of moral deficiency in Thackeray's world remains paramount: "Ah! Vanitas Vanitatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?"
As is apparent, then, the use of stereotypes is the narrator's tool in his manipulated, i.e., filtered and condensed, world. As part of this created world, these stereotypes of Fielding and Thackeray become an important means by which the particular is generalized only for the main purpose of heightening their moral themes (vanity, greed,...) which might otherwise be overlooked. Finally, as suggested by Fielding, Thackeray manipulates and adorns his figures with such irony that the basic didactic point can be clearly made, namely, human nature is immutable and its intrinsic qualities common in all.
copyright F R Hall
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Fielding's Amelia, Title Page, First Edition
public domain, courtesy of Wikipedia.com
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Portrait of Henry Fielding
public domain, courtesy of Library at Adelaide, Australia
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Illustration by Thackeray described as: In Which Amelia Invades the Low Countries
public domain, courtesy of Library at Adelaide, Australia
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Portrait of William Makepeace Thackeray
public domain, courtesy of Library at Adelaide, Australia
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