The dramatist Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
Henry Fielding was an English novelist, satirist and dramatist who was probably best known for his novel Tom Jones. His work was particularly noted for its richly irreverent humour and biting satirical dexterity.
Henry Fielding was born on April 22nd, 1707 at Sharpham, which is near Glastonbury in Somerset, England, and received his education from Eton College. The literary talent appears to have been running through the Fielding family as his sister Sarah (who was younger than Henry), would later also have some success as a writer.
Fielding would not stay in Somerset for very long, as a romantic interlude with a young female acquaintance would lead to him having trouble with the law. Because of this, Fielding was forced to relocate to London and that is where his literary career began.
The year 1728 saw Fielding travelling to Leiden in order to pursue his further studies. Upon his return to London, he set about writing many plays and dramas for the theatre and many of his work from this period was harshly critical of the current government as headed by Sir Robert Walpole. In fact, so savage was his attack on the government through the use of thinly veiled plots in his plays that it is thought by many that passage of the Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 was largely the result of his theatrical activities.
The Vision of the Golden Rump in particular may have been instrumental in the passage of the act although it must be said that all of Fielding's satirical work leading up to this moment was also suspect.
After the enactment of this law, political satire as a means of expression on stage was virtually banned and even relatively moderate plays were regarded with a great deal of suspicion. In the face of this growing restriction in the theatre, Fielding opted to retire his theatrical career and instead focused his attention on pursuing a career in law. Henry Fielding had some degree of success in the law field, which culminated in his being appointed Justice of the Peace in 1748 for Middlesex and Westminster.
Although firmly entrenched in the pursuit of his law activities, Henry Fielding continued to write political satires about the current topics of the day. While these plays were not staged due to the restrictions of the Theatrical Licensing Act, they achieved a moderate degree of success being circulated in printed forms, particularly the Tragedy of Tragedies of Tom Thumb.
Fielding's work was also quite visible in the many journals that were being published at that time. It was with the publication of his novel Shamela that Fielding achieved his first major literary success. Shamela was a parody of the famous melodramatic novel; Pamela, written by Samuel Richardson and the work was published anonymously. He followed this literary accomplishment with another work, entitled Joseph Andrews, which was supposedly about the brother of Pamela.
He continued to achieve success both with his writing and public service, later becoming the Chief Magistrate of London where he was instrumental in the formation of London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners.
Henry Fielding died on October 8th, 1754.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 22/07/2008
