Parson Adams�The centre of interest �- Joseph Andrews�

MRS. RITU BAJAJ

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

HANS RAJ MAHILA MAHA VIDYALAYA, JALANDHAR

• Although the novel is titled Joseph Andrews, it is Parson Adams, who is the centre of interest, Fielding himself was quite aware of this, that is why he added prominently to his title page the name of Adams. If he is not the real hero of the book, says Austin Dobson, “he is undoubtedly the character whose fortunes the reader follows with the closest interest. Dudden too agrees on this point; “That agreeable youngman, Joseph may be the centre of the plot ; but it is the old foolish parson that is the centre of interest. Digeon describes him as a comic hero and then goes on to qualify, indeed a hero pure and simple, if occasion demands.

• Adams is one of the most original creations. Fielding himself claims that he is not to be found in any book now extant. It is true that while inventing him, Fielding had his eye on two models – the Don Quixite if Cervantes, and his own living friend, the Reverend William Young. Adams does have the Quixotic naivette and he shares with William Young the love of Aeschylus, the habit of snapping fingers and the most amusing absent-mindedness. But he is not a literal copy of either of them. Working with the materials which these models furnished.

• Fielding’s imagination evolved the strikingly new conception of the absent minded scholar parson a character of perfect simplicity and at the same time of singular goodness, distinction and charm. Adams captured the imagination of the readers and writers alike. Sterne’s my uncle Toby, Gold Smith’s Dr. Primorse and Thackeray’s Colonel Newcome are considerably influenced by him. He has been described as the grandest delineation of a pattern-priest which the world has yet seen. In the opinion ot Scott, the creation of Parson Adams ‘alone is sufficient to stamp the superiority of Fielding over all writers of his class.

Physical Appearance�

• Adams physical appearance is really interesting. He has a comical face, with bearded chin and deeply wrinkled cheeks ; a fist rather less than the knuckle of an ox, with a wrist which Hercules would not have been ashamed of. His legs are so long that they almost touch the ground when he rides on horseback. He usually wears a tattered old cassock, partially covered by a short great coat which reaches but half-way down his thighs. On his head he wears a periwig, which at night he turns inside out and binds to his scalp with a red spotted handkerschief and an old tattered hat.

• In his hand he carries a stout crabstic. His appearance is so shabby and unparson-like that it is difficult to blame Turlliber for having mistaken him for a pig dealer. In addition he has various uncouth mannerisms. He is in the habit of snapping his fingers, striding or capering about the room when excited fetching deep groans when grieved or shocked and shouting Heureka, heureka when a happy idea strikes him.

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Physical prowess�

• Though fifty yeards of age, Adams is magnificently strong and healthy. He has an unfailing appetite, drinks immence quantities of ale and is a constant smoker. He is extremely found of walking and pursues this exercise with surprising vogour. With his great strides he can out distance a heavy stage-coach or a rider on horseback with a woman on the pillion. He is constitutionally tough and cares nothing for a tumble from his horse, or for a wetting or a drubbing. He knows how to use his huge fists effectively either to defend himself or in aid of the weak.

• He can easily lay a churlish innkeeper sprawling on the floor or knock out the fellow who tries to molest Fanny. When a practical joker ventures to take liberties with him, he gives him a good ducking and when he is attacked by the Squire’s men at “The New Inn, he fights like a mad man. The novel is full of such rough encounters of his. But it must be said in his defence that he never strikes a blow unless an assault is first made on himself or on his friends.

As a Curate�

• Parson Adams is only a curate. He lives in the parsonage in Sir Thomas Booby’s parish but has charge of three more chapelries. He preaches every Sunday in all the four churches. He is a very conscientious priest. He looks on his parishioners like his own children and they too regard him with affection as an indulgent parent. But he insists that the villagers consult him on all matters of importance and act in conformity with his counsel. In doctrine he is a latitudinarian, and a disciple of Bishop Hoadly.

• In practice however, he is something of a high churchman. He conducts services on saints days, insists on strict observance of the forms of the church and takes an exalted view of his sacred office. It was his maxim, that he was a servant of the Highest and could not without departing from his duty give up the least article of His honour or of his cause to the greatest earthly potentate.

• Indeed he always asserted that Mr. Adams at church with his surpliceon and Mr. Adams without that ornament in any other place, were two very different persons. In remuneration of his service he receives a meager stipend of doller 23 a year. Since he has a large family of a wife and six children to support it is difficult for him to afford a bare living.

A man of great learning. �

• It would be difficult for anyone to imagine that a man of Adams shabby appearance can also be a man of exceptional learning. Educated at the University of Cambridge, he has made himself familiar with many languages, and in particular, has acquired a masterly knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics. He can lecture on Homer like a university professor, and be can profusely quote from Theoritus, Virgil on Horace to illustrate his sentiments. He has also read the Stoic moralists.

• When in Book III chapter 11, Josephquotes to himself a feq lines from Macbeth, Adams remarks that there is nothing but heathenism to be got from plays. The only English tragedy with which he is acquainted is Addison’s Cato; and the only English comedy which he thinks fit for a Christian is Steele’s Cansclous Lovers. The newspapers he entirely neglects. He has not even heard of the most popular periodical of his age, The Daily Gazetteer.

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Virtually unequal to the world of reality

• Just as Don Quixote imagined himself living in the vanished world of chivalry, so Adams imagines himself living in the vanished world of Greece and Rome. He is as ignorant of the real world of his own day as an infant just entered into it could possibly be. The devious ways of contemporary mankind are quite beyond his comprehension. He cannot believe that anyone can be so wicked as to belie that character of a neighbour out of spite.

• He cannot suspect that a mad and a woman might live together without being married. He cannot detect hypocrites. He cannot suspect that a mad and a woman might live together without being married. He cannot detect hypocrites. He cannot see farther into people that they desire to let him. Being so naïve and guleless he is constantly imposed upon. He is as easily taken in by the sentimental bragging of a pseudopatriot (Book II chapter 12) as by the pious platitudes of a hypocritical parson (Book II chapter 14).

• In Book II chapter 16, he falls an easy victim to the Squire of False Promises and in Book III chapter 7, he is take n in by an absurd tale about a favorite diversion of Socrates. In the course of his wanderings on the road he does experience some rude awakenings. He is amazed and horrified to mannered and seemingly right living men and women. Good Lord ! he exclaims on one occasion, “What wickedness is there in the Christian world ! I profess almost equal to what I have read of the heathens. How remarkable that in spite of all the shocks he receives, he retains to the end his optimistic faith in the essential goodness of human nature.

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Highly absent minded�

• Adams gets so taken up with his own thoughts and with ruminating on what he has read, that he becomes completely unaware of the practical realities of the everyday world. He is the most absent-minded of men and Fielding puts it very mildly when he says that he was a little inclined to forgetfulness. He leaves for London to sell his sermons but leaves the precious manuscripts behind and does not discover the fact till he has accomplished half the journey. At one inn, he forgets to settle the account for his horse’s keep and from another he marches away completely forgetting the horse itself.

• Later on when his horse is restored to him at first he does not even recognize it. He quarrels with Parson Trulliber and quits his house in anger, forgetting both his hat and great coat. He feels insulted by a remark made by Peter Pounce and impetuously leaps out of his chariot, forgetting his hat. His capacity for missing his way and losing himself is wonderful. If ever it is barely possible for a human creature to mistake the road, Parson Adams is dead certain to do so.

• Only when he reaches the other side does he observe a footpath behind the hedge on which he might have passed without wetting himself. In book IV he takes a wrong turning and lands into Fanny’s room instead of his own. Not only that he actually slops into Fanny’s bed and quietly goes to sleep without being aware of what he is doing. Once he comes to a flooded stretch of road and wades through the water up to his middle.

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Other Peculiarities �

• In addition to being absent-minded, Parson Adams has some other peculiarities well. His style of speech is old fashioned and oddly stilled a and when he gets going on any topic, he is likely to be prolix and circumstantial. He is meticulously exact in his own statements and immediately corrects others whether they mispronounce a name or misquote a line from Ovid. His curiosity is insatiable; his ears are the most hungry part about him.

• Sometimes his questions look extremely funny. Madam when the story of Leonara is being told, he asks, if it be not impertinent, I should be glad to know how this gentleman was dressed. On another occasion Pray, Sir what is a coquette?” Nothing pleases him better than to listen to a story and he always insists on being given the fullest and minutest details.

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• Adams has three vanities. First, though he is ignorant of the ways of the world, he flatters himself that because he has read many books he has a profounder knowledge of human nature and human life than any of the experienced but unlettered people whom he encounters. He insists that knowledge of men is only to be learnt from books, Plato and Seneca for that. Secondly, he is proud of his sermons. He indulges in a very fond hope that he can sell them for an immense sum of money. Ironically, he is particularly vain of his sermon against vanity which he thinks to be master piece.

• At that he might read it out to him. Thirdly, and most of all, he is vain of his competence as a school master. Fielding tells us that Adams thought a school master the greatest character in the world, and himself the greatest of all school masters; neither of which points he would have given up to Alexander the Great at the head of his army. He believes that even if Sir Thomas Booby had the advantage of his education, even he would have been a much finer man. Maynard Mack point out that if at one level, Adams is duped by everyone he comes across, at another he is self-deceived by a theoretical ideal of conduct that his own nature will not support.

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His self-deception �

• Thus his theory is pacific, but he is always in the thick of fights, though as it has been pointed out earlier, he is not the one to initiate a fight. He preaches Stoic restraing to Josphy when the latter gives himself up to some immoderate grief on Fanny’s abduction. But later when his own son is drowned at least the report says so), he refuses to be consoled by what he had preached. Tears trickle down into his bosom as he dismisses Joseph’s comfort. And a moment later when the report proves false, he dances about the room like mad.

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His mobility�

• With all his weaknesses, Parson Adams is endowed with a singularly noble personality. In fact, he has the spirit of an old Roman joined to the innocence of a primitive Christian. Goodness is in his elements and he displays it spontaneously. He does not need a second to think before he jumps to help someone in distress. He rejoices in the happiness of others and feels for their woes. Fanny’s becoming unconscious in Book II Chapter 12 makes him feel so nervous that he flings into fire his dear Aeschylus –the book he has so painstakingly transcribed in his hand. In Book III chapter 8, he is ready to divide his last shilling with a stranger and feels genuinely disappointed when he discovers that he has not money on him.