We'll be discussing the BBC 1998 version of Tom Jones for Friday's class, as well as talking about eighteenth-century satire in preparation for reading the blockbuster late eighteenth-century comedy, The School for Scandal next week. Even if you only watched one of the two days of the film, answer the questions below for Friday (everyone--not just one specific group).
Answer TWO of
the following for Friday’s class:
Q1: Why does
the Narrator have such a large role in the book/film? What purpose does he
serve in weaving the story together, and why might eighteenth-century novelists
have considered this necessary (or ideal) rather than making the narrator
simply a talking voice (and not an actual person)?
Q2: Briefly
discuss Tom Jones’ morality: is he as “good” as Allworthy and his sister
believe? Or is he truly as “wicked” as Square and Thwackum proclaim? What makes
him an interesting protagonist in a book full of caricatures and broad comedy?
Q3: The
eighteenth-century novel wasn’t the vehicle of psychological realism that we
expect from novels today. What was Fielding’s
purpose in writing it, based on Part I of the film? What experience or ideas
might he have been trying to convey through the characters, the plot, and the
narration?
Q4: How might
Tom Jones relate to Cavendish’s The Contract or The Blazing World? Obviously they are very different works, but
each one loosely satirizes the vices of his or her age, and helps the reader
see England (and its values) in a new light. Why might they have more in common
than might first appear?
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