Page 71 - DENG404_FICTION

Gowher Ahmad Naik, LPU Unit 6: Joseph Andrews: Picaresque Novel, Its Application and Characterization

Unit 6: Joseph Andrews: Picaresque Novel, Its Notes

Application and Characterization

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
6.1 Joseph Andrews: Picaresque Novel and its Application
6.2 Joseph Andrews: Characterization
6.3 Summary

6.4 Keywords
6.5 Review Questions
6.6 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Know about picaresque novel
• Know about the character in this novel.

Introduction

“Joseph Andrews”, can’t be called a regular picaresque novel for Fielding employs elements
of this tradition in an exposition of his own theory of the ridiculous. He was writing a “comic
epic-poem in pose”. He adapts the picaresque tradition to his own theory of the novel, which
shows the influence of various other literary forms besides the picaresque.
However, the picaresque motif helps Fielding to fulfill his aim of ridiculing the affectations
of human beings. The different strata of society can be represented through the picaresque
mode. The travelers meet squires, innkeepers, landladies, persons, philosophers, lawyers and
surgeons, beggars, pedlars and robbers and rogues. Particular social evils prevalent in the day,
and follies and foibles of human nature in general are effectively exposed. Fielding’s satire is
pungent as he presents the worldly and crafty priests and the callous, vicious and inhuman
country squires. Malice, selfishness, vanities, hypocrisies, lack of charity, all are ridiculed as
human follies.
The picaresque tradition belongs to Spain and derived from the word “picaro”, meaning a
rogue or a villain. The picaresque originally involved the misadventure of the rogue-hero,
mainly on the highway. Soon, however, the rogue was replaced by a conventional hero –
gallant and chivalric. The comic element lay in the nature of the hero’s adventures, through
which, generally, society was satirized.
The Picaresque novel is the loosest in plot – the hero is literally let loose on the high road for
his advantures. The writer got the opportunity to introduce a large variety of characters and
events. The hero wanders from place to place encountering thieves an drogues, rescuing
damsels in distress, fighting duels, falling in love, being thrown in prison, and meeting a vast

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 65