HENRY FIELDING
Omniscient narrator.--Omniscient narration is Henry Fielding`s style.
Omniscient = knowing everything.
We should never confuse narrator and author. Narrator is the one talking in the text and author is a historical person.
Henry Fielding`s Tom Jones written in 1749 is the example of omniscient narrator. He seems to know everything. He knows what is going to happen. He also knows what is going on in the minds of characters. He calls the reader my reader. It is a form an omniscient narrator uses, addresses.
Signs of omniscient narrator---My dear reader, sagacious reader….
Omniscient narrator wants to draw his reader into the story. He flatters his reader.
Omniscient narrator is a great manipulator. He manipulates his reader. Whole book is his show and he is like a little God.
William Makepeace Thackeray also prefers omniscient narrator. In the 18th and 19th centuries omniscient narrator is popular. It becomes out of fashion in the 20th century. In the 20th century Henry James, Virginia Woolf prefers 3rd person narration.
In Tom Jones:
Mr. Allworthy is a rich squire. He is an aristocrat. A baby of his sister was put into his bed.
Direct caharacterization : Narrator tells the reader sth about the character of a character.
Indirect characterization: You draw conclusion from the behaviour of the character.
Direct and indirect characterizations may occur both in drama and in fiction.
In drama:
Direct characterization occurs via stage directions. Somebody tells about character`s personality.
Indirect characterization: Characters act on the stage. Audience comes to a conclusion.
Mr. Allworthy has a heart which is easily caught by beauty. Morals are important for him.
Morals: [ plural ] standards for good or bad character and behaviour
Morals are more important for him than his good manners.
Deborah Wilkins is his servant. She is holding a candle and staring at the baby. She believes that Mr. Allworthy has improper intentions for her. She sees him in his nightshirts although she gave him a lot of time to get dressed, but he is not still dressed. That is why she thinks that Mr. Allworthy has intentions for her. Mr. Allworthy forgets his good manners, because he has a good heart. In Tom Jones, characters are constructed with regard to good manners and bad manners. Good nature versus bad nature. For Henry Fielding good heart is more important than good manners. Mrs. Wilkins has a bad heart.
Those characters showing good manners have bad hearts. Omniscient narrator is being ironic.
Charity is another important term for Fielding. Charity means love for your neighbour.
Cupidity is sexual lust. Mrs. Wilkins feels cupidity for Mr. Allworthy.
Fielding began his career as a dramatist. People revealing themselves by what they say is Fielding`s method.
Mr. Allworthy is an allegorical name. It is a way of characterization. This was done in medieval morality plays.
In Morality plays, character names were, humanity, fleshly feelings, experience. They were all allegorical names.
1st person narration -àMarlow I as witness narrator. He is witnessing to what happens to Kurtz. Marlow is questing for Kurtz. He is also searching for himself. He is forced to talk about things he has not completely understood himself. Marlow discovers that there is a Kurtz in him too. Search for Kurtz means search for his own inner self for evil.
I have told my reader………I refers to the omniscient narrator. He is not part of the story. He is outside of narration. Extradiegetic. He is like the God. In the 1st person narration, I is part oft he narration.
Animad : reflections, thoughts.
It is Fielding`s method. He gives, withholds information and uses irony. In the text, he says for Mr. Allworthy: Mr. Allworthy had been absent a full quarter of a year in London, on some very particular business, though I know not what it was; but judge of its importance by its having detained him so long from home. Omniscient narrator says that he does not know what Mr. Allworthy`s business was. He is lying here. He is an allknowning narrator. He certainly knows what it was, but he is withholding information.
He stood some time lost in astonishment at this sight; but as good nature had always the ascendant in his mind, he soon began to be touched with sentiments of compassion fort he little wretch before him.------- >Direct characterization of the 3rd person omniscient narrator.
Tom Jones is a 3rd person characterization, narration, perspective. It is authorial narration. Focus is on the character in the text.
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Omniscient narration is characteristic of the narrative style of Henry Fielding.
The term omniscient means “all-knowing.” An omniscient narrator knows everything about the events of the story and the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
We should never confuse the narrator with the author. The narrator is the voice that tells the story in the text, whereas the author is the historical person who wrote the work.
Henry Fielding uses an omniscient narrator in his novel Tom Jones (1749). The narrator appears to know everything. He knows what will happen in the future and what is going on in the minds of the characters.
The narrator often addresses the reader directly, using expressions such as “my reader” or “sagacious reader.” These forms of address are typical signs of an omniscient narrator.
The omniscient narrator tries to involve the reader in the story. By flattering the reader, he draws the reader into the narrative. At the same time, the narrator acts as a manipulator because he controls the information the reader receives. In this sense, the whole novel becomes his performance, and he functions almost like a god who controls the story.
Omniscient narration was very popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For example, William Makepeace Thackeray also frequently uses an omniscient narrator in his works.
However, in the twentieth century, this narrative technique became less popular. Modernist writers such as Henry James and Virginia Woolf use limited third-person narration that focuses on the consciousness of individual characters.
In Tom Jones, Mr. Allworthy is a wealthy squire and a member of the aristocracy. One day, a baby—the child of his sister—is secretly placed in his bed.
Direct characterization occurs when the narrator explicitly tells the reader something about a character’s personality.
Indirect characterization occurs when the reader must draw conclusions about a character based on the character’s behavior, actions, or speech.
Both direct and indirect characterization can appear in fiction and in drama.
In drama, direct characterization often occurs through stage directions or when one character describes another character.
Indirect characterization occurs through the actions and dialogue of the characters. The audience observes the characters’ behavior and forms conclusions about their personalities.
Mr. Allworthy is described as a man whose heart is easily moved by beauty. Moral values are extremely important to him.
Morals are standards that determine what is considered good or bad behavior.
For Mr. Allworthy, moral principles are more important than social manners.
Deborah Wilkins is Mr. Allworthy’s servant. When she discovers the baby, she is holding a candle and staring at it. At first, she suspects that Mr. Allworthy might have improper intentions toward her.
She sees him wearing only his nightshirt. Although she has given him enough time to get dressed, he has not done so. Because of this, she mistakenly assumes that he may have immoral intentions.
However, Mr. Allworthy forgets his good manners because he has a genuinely kind heart. In the novel, characters are often evaluated according to the contrast between good manners and bad manners and good nature and bad nature.
For Fielding, a good heart is more important than good manners.
Deborah Wilkins, in contrast, is portrayed as a character with a bad heart.
Interestingly, some characters who display polite manners actually have immoral intentions. The narrator presents this contrast with a strong sense of irony.
Another important concept in Fielding’s work is charity.
Charity means love and kindness toward other people, especially toward one’s neighbors.
Another concept is cupidity, which refers to strong desire or lust. Deborah Wilkins is described as feeling a form of sexual desire toward Mr. Allworthy.
Before becoming a novelist, Fielding began his career as a dramatist. Because of this background, his characters often reveal themselves through their speech.
The name Mr. Allworthy is an allegorical name. Allegorical names were commonly used in medieval morality plays.
In morality plays, characters often represented abstract ideas and had symbolic names such as Humanity, Experience, or Fleshly Feelings.
In first-person narration, the narrator is a character within the story.
For example, Marlow functions as a witness narrator who tells the story of Kurtz. He observes Kurtz’s actions and attempts to understand him.
Marlow’s journey is also a personal quest. While searching for Kurtz, he is actually searching for his own inner self. Eventually, he realizes that the darkness he sees in Kurtz also exists within himself.
Thus, the search for Kurtz becomes a symbolic search for the potential for evil within human nature.
When the narrator in Tom Jones says something like “I have told my reader…”, this “I” does not refer to a character inside the story.
Instead, it refers to the narrator who exists outside the narrative world. Such a narrator is called an extradiegetic narrator.
This narrator resembles a god-like figure who controls and comments on the narrative.
Fielding frequently interrupts the story to provide animadversions, which are reflections or critical comments made by the narrator.
Another important technique is the control of information. The narrator sometimes gives information and sometimes deliberately withholds it.
For example, the narrator says about Mr. Allworthy that he had been absent from home for three months while he was in London on an important matter. The narrator then claims that he does not know what this business was.
This statement is clearly ironic. Since the narrator is omniscient, he certainly knows the reason for Mr. Allworthy’s visit to London. However, he pretends not to know in order to delay the revelation and control the reader’s expectations.
The narrator describes Mr. Allworthy in the following way:
“He stood some time lost in astonishment at this sight; but as good nature had always the ascendant in his mind, he soon began to be touched with sentiments of compassion for the little wretch before him.”
This passage is an example of direct characterization, because the narrator explicitly describes Mr. Allworthy as a person whose good nature dominates his character.
Overall, Henry Fielding uses third-person omniscient narration in Tom Jones, often referred to as authorial narration, in which the narrator openly comments on the story and guides the reader’s interpretation.
He is a good guy. I am introducing bla bla bla….He is good, he is bad --> Direct characterization.
If a character kills another one, you can conclude from the actions. This is then indirect characterization.
Indirect charaterization is via the actions, words, etc. of a character.
Direct charaterization: By a narrator who explicitly charaterize.
If it is combination of both. Say it is combination.
Authorial charaterization: One oft he colleagues in the class characterizes one of us or all of us. Characterization happens through her. Authorial characterization is usually 3rd person.
If one of the fictional characters characterizes another one or himself then this is figural characterization.
Explicit: explicitly characterized.
Implicit: you conclude from the behaviour of one character. You infer from the words or behaviour of a character how his or her character is.
Explicit implicit
Authorial X ?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figural X X
Figural implicit: one character characterizes himself by means of words, actions.
Henry Fielding uses authorial, explicit characterization. Very ironic at the same time.
Page 16 Murial Spark ´´You should have seen the Mess``
1st person narration and unlimited. 1st person, because character i spart of the narration. Unlimited because oft he temporal distance. The story takes place in 1961. She is not too old, because it is only 5 years ago. She is also characterizing other people. She is talking about educated people. How reliable is she? She is not too bright, she is neurotic. She is unreliable. It is 1st person unlimited implicit characterization. She is implicitly characterizing herself. You should have seen the mess. She doesn`t talk about education, but she talks about hygene. She doesn`t come to the point. She characterizes herself implicitly. Every ferst person narrator is also a figure.
Heart of Darkness
In Heart of Darkness there is a change in the narrative situation. It is not too often in literature.
The seamen are on the board of Nellie waiting fort he tide at the mouth of the Thames River.
Nellie is a cruising yacht. There are five seamen on the board of Nellie. These people are Marlow, lawyer, narrator whose name we do not know, director of companies and accountent. 5 people on the cruising yacht on the Thames River in England. One oft hem, first person narrator describing the situation.
Frame story: narrated by frame story: narrated
The first person narrator by the first person
--------------------------------- ------------------------------
Marlow 1st person narratoràembedded story
--------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an anonymous narrator. There anonymous narrator is first person narrator and the other first person narrator is Marlow.
Anonymous first person narrator or common we: There is a very strong attitude in his words. He is wise and experienced. He knows a lot of things. He is thinking deeply. Imperialism, collonialism is bringing civilization into the dark world. He is also speaking about the great concurers of England like Sir Francis Drake and hiss hip the Golden Hind.
Internet:
Section I
Literally speaking, the action of Heart of Darkness is simply the act of storytelling aboard a ship on the river Thames around the turn of the twentieth century. An unnamed narrator,
along with four other men, is aboard the anchored Nellie waiting for the tide to turn. They trade sea stories to pass the time.
One of these men is Charlie Marlow, whose story will itself be the primary narrative of Heart of Darkness. Before Marlow begins his tale, however, the unnamed narrator muses to himself
on a history of exploration and conquest which also originated on the Thames, the waterway connecting London to the sea. The narrator mentions Sir Francis Drake and his ship the Golden Hind, which traveled around the globe at the end of the sixteenth century, as well as Sir John Franklin, whose expedition to North
America disappeared in the Arctic Ocean in the middle of the nineteenth century.
http://www.enotes.com/heart-of-darkness
Attitude of first person narrator reflects what people thought at that time.
We have 2 perspectives on one point, which is emperialism.
Englishmen going out into the world AND Englishmen bringing civilization into the heart of darkness.
And this also has been one oft he darkest places oft he earth. Marlow speaks fort he first time.
We have a starting point. We are in England. Marlow`s story is in Africa. This creates opposotion.
Cruising boat versus steamboat creates another opposition.
Narrator lets Marlow talk. There are only very little interruptions in Marlow`s story. His story is embedded into the frame narrative.
Voice: We were on this boat and we talked. Common we. A spirit of that time. Professor Mengel interprets the first person anonymous narrator as teh common we. Common we means the spirit of that time, or the spirit of the seamen. Thos who sailed off to the other lands are bound to one another,because they all experienced the sea voyage. Sea voyage is the common point that binds them to one another. So that anonymous first person narrator could be the spirit of the seamen. We know only little about the other characters. We only know their professions. First person but commonsense, common we. It is also ambigious. It is the voice of that time and it is ambigious. He gives over to Marlow and Marlow needs to tell. Marlow likes telling. There are very little interruptions in the embedded story but not siginificant. Marlow need to tell his story because he did not understand what he lived in Kongo and he could not digest the things he saw there. He needs to tell to relax.
Development of Marlow while looking for Kurtz. I as witness: first person, not the main character.
Heart of Darkness is unconscious in the Freudean sense. It is not Africa. Civilization is just a mask. We are all monsters in ourselves.
If you read it in a psyhoanalytic way, Marlow ist he I as protagonist narrator.
If you read it as an imperial novel, Marlow appears as an I as witness narrator. Journey towards the unconscious of humanity. Common we is also affected by the story of Marlow.
Question might appear like this: Discuss the narrative situation of heart of darkness. Change of narrative perspective.
Marlow is homodiegetic because he tells his story.
Version edited by ChatGPT on 05.03.2026
Direct Characterization occurs when the narrator explicitly describes a character:
He is a good guy. I am introducing… He is good, he is bad.
If a character kills another character, the reader can infer qualities from this action. This is indirect characterization.
Indirect characterization is revealed through the actions, words, and behavior of a character.
Direct characterization occurs when the narrator explicitly describes a character.
If both methods are used, it is a combination of direct and indirect characterization.
Authorial characterization occurs when the narrator (usually in third person) describes one or more characters. For example, in a classroom scenario, one colleague may describe another, reflecting the authorial perspective.
Figural characterization occurs when one fictional character characterizes another character or themselves.
Explicit characterization: clearly and directly described.
Implicit characterization: the reader infers the character traits from words, actions, or behavior.
| Explicit | Implicit | |
|---|---|---|
| Authorial | X | ? |
| Figural | X | X |
Figural implicit: a character characterizes themselves through their actions or speech.
Henry Fielding uses authorial, explicit characterization, often with a strong sense of irony.
This story uses first-person narration with an unlimited perspective.
First-person because the narrator is a character in the story.
Unlimited because the temporal distance is minimal: the story occurs in 1961, only five years before the narrator speaks.
The narrator also characterizes other people—educated individuals, for example. How reliable is she? She is neurotic and not very insightful, making her an unreliable narrator.
This story exemplifies first-person, unlimited, implicit characterization. The narrator implicitly characterizes herself through her observations and digressions: she mentions hygiene rather than education and does not get directly to the point.
Every first-person narrator is also a figural narrator.
In Heart of Darkness, the narrative situation is complex and unusual.
The story begins with five men aboard the cruising yacht Nellie at the mouth of the Thames River, waiting for the tide. These men are:
Marlow
A lawyer
An unnamed narrator
A director of companies
An accountant
The narrative involves a frame story:
Frame narrator: the anonymous first-person narrator aboard Nellie.
Embedded story: Marlow’s first-person narrative.
The anonymous narrator is experienced, wise, and reflective, commenting on imperialism and colonialism. He references historical figures like Sir Francis Drake and his ship, the Golden Hind, as well as Sir John Franklin. His perspective reflects contemporary attitudes toward empire.
There are two perspectives on imperialism in the story:
Englishmen exploring the world
Englishmen bringing “civilization” into the heart of darkness
This contrast creates oppositions: England vs. Africa, cruising yacht vs. steamboat.
The anonymous narrator lets Marlow tell his story with minimal interruption, creating an embedded narrative. Marlow’s storytelling is necessary because he cannot fully process the experiences he had in the Congo without narrating them.
Voice of the “common we”: Professor Mengel interprets the anonymous narrator as representing the collective spirit of seamen of the time—bound together by their shared experience of the sea.
Marlow is homodiegetic: he is a character in his own story.
When read psychoanalytically, Marlow’s journey represents a confrontation with the unconscious (in a Freudian sense).
Civilization is a façade; humans carry darkness within themselves.
From an imperial lens, Marlow acts as a witness narrator. The “common we” is also shaped by Marlow’s story.
Key takeaway: Heart of Darkness uses a frame narrative with multiple first-person narrators and a shift in narrative perspective, highlighting both the imperialist mindset and the psychological depth of human nature.
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