Characterization in Tom Jones and Don Juan
In discussions of Henry Fielding’s influence upon
Byron, literary critics have generally agreed that the
raost obvious similarity between the two writers is found
in the characters of Tom Jones and Don Juan. Subjects of
scholarly comment have ranged from the sensuality of the
two young men to the inadequacies of their forraal education
and their subsequent intellectual growth. The most
coramon areas of agreement have been that both characters
share sensuality, passivity, and innate goodness.
Contemporaries/modern critics notice influences by other authors in Don Juan
Many literary critics have noticed similarities
between various works of Henry Fielding and of Lord Byron.
Most critical comments have focused upon parallels between
Fielding’s novels Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones and Byron’s
long poem Don Juan. Typically, Fielding’s influence upon
Byron has been seen in the theory and practice of the comic
epic, the use of digressions as a narrative technique, the
satire of society and politics, and the characterizations
of Tom Jones and Don Juan. As yet, little has been done
with Fielding’s influence upon other works of Byron or
with the development of Byron’s interest in Fielding.
The purpose of this introduction is to define the
limits of the study, first, by summarizing what is already
known and, then, by suggesting several areas in which
additional investigation might be fruitful. The following
survey of previous critical observations has been divided
into three categories: characterization, style, and therae.
The concluding section briefly enumerates the areas of
study which will be developed in subsequent chapters.
Characterization in «Tom Jones» and «Don Juan»
In discussions of Henry Fielding’s influence upon
Byron, literary critics have generally agreed that the
raost obvious similarity between the two writers is found
in the characters of Tom Jones and Don Juan. Subjects of
scholarly comment have ranged from the sensuality of the
two young men to the inadequacies of their forraal education
and their subsequent intellectual growth. The most
coramon areas of agreement have been that both characters
share sensuality, passivity, and innate goodness.
Although Don Juan’s sexual escapades were condemned
by Byron’s contemporaries, om Jones was recognized
as a precedent for such episodes. Paul G. Trueblood quotes
The British Critic of August, 1823« «With the character
of Juan, . . . we have no more quarrel than with that of
Tom Jones, or any other child of passion and impulse.»
According to V/illis W. Pratt, the reviewer «Odoherty»
reached a similar conclusion in Blackwood’s Magazine of
September, 1823« «Defending its morality, he [«Odoherty»]
says, ‘ln point of fact, it is not within fifty miles’ of
Tom Jones or Voltaire, and is less obscene than ‘pious
Richardson’s pious Pamela.•» In later scholarly studies.
As quoted by Paul G. Trueblood, The Flowering of
Bvron’s Geniust Studies in Bvron’s «Don Juan» (Stanford.
Cal.: Stanford University Press, 19^5; rpt. New York«
Russell & Russell, I962), p. 53«
As summarized in Truman G. Steffan and Willis W.
Pratt, eds., Byron’s «Don Juan». Vol. I: The r.laking of a
Masterpiece. by Truman G. Steffan? Vols. II-III: A Variorum
Edition; Vol. IV: Notes on the Variorum Sdition. by
Willis W. Pratt {k vols.; Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1957)» IV, 3O8 (hereafter referred to as Steffan and
Pratt).
The comparison to Tom Jones has remained a popular one; and
passion and impulse have continued to be seen as the key
points of similarity. For example, Ronald Bottrall sees
in both Tom Jones and Don Juan «the natural man who acts
according to impulse»; any evil to be found in either
character «is mainly sexual.»-^ Elizabeth F, Boyd states
that both characters act «instinctively» and from «hotblooded
impulses.» Andrâs Horn observes: «This frailty
of a Jones or a Juan springs, besides their amorousness,
from a weakness of will, from an inability to control their
desires.»^
In addition to his sensuality, Don Juan’s passivity
has also interested the critics. Since Byron
obviously strayed from the traditional sources of the Don
Juan story, other precedents have been sought. Some
scholars have selected Voltaire*s Candide as the model, but
others have preferred Tom Jones. Trueblood writesi
Byron deliberately altered the traditional Don’s
character and made him the innocent victim of
-^Ronald Bottrall, «Byron and the Colloquial Tradition
in English Literature,» Criterion. XVIII (1939)t rpt.
in M. H. Abrams, ed. , English RoTnantic Poets: Modern Sssavs
in Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, I96O),
p. 220.
Slizabeth F. Boyd, Bvron’s «Don Juan»: A Critical
Studv (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press,
19^5î rpt. New York: Humanities Press, 1958), p. 38.
^András Hom, Bvron’s «Don Juan» and the Eighteenth
Centurv English Novel. Swiss Studies in English (Berni
Francke, 1962),p. 10.
womankind, «more sinned against than sinning,»
a handsome, winsome, beloved rogue, like Fieiding’s
Tora Jones.o
Hom also corapares Juan’s passivity with that of Tom Jones,
suggesting that it is a natural result of both characters*
weakness of will. He continuesi
This passivity is a circumstance which does much
to mitigate their frailty: they cannot at least
be accused of having premeditatedly embarked upon
masculine adventures of conquest. They are, in
short, none of them Don Juans.
In the views of most modem critics, the passion
and impulsiveness of Juan and Jones are balanced by their
generosity and humajinity. Boyd says that Tom Jones acts
«instinctively according to his innate goodness» and that
Don Juan’s «innate good disposition carries him through
every trial.» Hom makes a similar assertion: «And they
are good. Not only in the sense that they never mean harm
to anyone, but positively, too: they are benevolent, ever
ready to help those in distress.» As examples, Hom
suggest Juan’s saving the orphan Leila and Jones’s assistance
to the would-be highwayman, Anderson.
The gaps in Don Juan’s education and their effect
upon hira have also been suggested as parallels to the
Paul G. Trueblood, Lord Bvron. Twayne’s English
Authors Series (New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, I969) t
situation and character of Tora Jones. After discussing
Donna Inez’ systera of educating her son, George M. Ridenour
concludesi
The altemate severity and laxity tended to cancel
each other out (like Fielding’s Thv/ackura and
Square), so that when Don Juan goes out into the
world he has to deal with it (like Tora Jones)
with his own natural resources.^O
Boyd also feels that both young men are the victiras of
fallacious educational theoriesi
As far as truth to nature goes, this characterization
of the late-adolescent boy, especially
of one who had been brought up in the cloistered
manner Juan had, seems highly credible. The
formal education of Tom Jones was neutralized
by the intellectual quarrels of his tutors, and
he was cast into life to act instinctively according
to his innate goodness. Juan, likewise, released
from the rigid and meaningiess govemance
of his mother, may be expected to show a combination
of numb bewilderment and instinctive animal
courage.^^
The question of Don Juan’s maturation has been
disputed by Boyd and Hom. In a continuation of the
passage cited above, Boyd implies that Juan and Jones
develop in similar ways. Juan, like Jones, «learns discretion
and worldly wisdom,» and he «shows at the end of
the poem that he is ready to consider more seriously his
Hom believes that Juan raay deraonstrate some developraent,
but not in the sarae way that Tora Jones doesi
In contrast to Tom Jones and Amelia. Don Juan
is obviously . . . no picturing of a developraent
in the course of which the individual, by taking
wrong paths and being met by attending evils,
is eventually led towards the ideal.
Hom feels that Tom Jones grows towards the ideal, while
Don Juan grows away frora it.
A final similarity between the two characters is
one which does not lend itself readily to an argument for
literary influences. As Boyd observes: «Juan, in fact,
is as much the young Byron as Tom Jones is the young
Fielding.» Though Byron followed Fielding’s practice m
this respect, we can hardly suppose that he was indebted
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