ISSN: 2265-6294

Satire as a Social Critique: Exploring Class and Gender Politics in Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews

Main Article Content

Tulika Devi

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to study the “Class and Gender Politics” in Henry Fielding’s novel Joseph Andrews (1742). Both these aspects are prime issues of social life. As literature is viewed as a reflection of social life, it is important to analyse and examine these issues through literary perspectives. Class and gender are intertwined in this novel. There are certain characters and instances that highlights the interconnectedness of gender and class. It launches the attack on human affectation which primarily arises from vanity and hypocrisy. With the use of different techniques such as humour, wit, sarcasm Fielding mocked and satirizes the morals and manners during eighteenth century England. He presents a very realistic picture of life which is still relevant at present time. The novel depicts the wide gulf that seems to separate upper class people from lower class people. Certain class and gender stereotype are socially constructed by patriarchy. However, one should erase the ideology that patriarchy is always male dominated society. Both men and women are victim of it. The theory to be deployed is Marxism and Feminism. Basically, we can admit that class is mapped along the line of gender to certain extent. Here the term “politics” refers to the fact of power structures in any relationship.

Article Details