How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I remember when puppet-shows were made of good scripture stories, as Jephthah's Rash Vow, and such good things, and when wicked people were carried away by the devil. There was some sense in those matters; but as the parson told us last Sunday, nobody believes in the devil now-a-days; and here you bring about a parcel of puppets drest up like lords and ladies, only to turn the heads of poor country wenches; and when their heads are once turned topsy-turvy, no wonder everything else is so. (12.6.3)
When Tom and Partridge happen on a puppet-show, Tom is disappointed: the puppet-man has censored everything that he finds too violent or sexual out of his chosen play, so the whole performance just seems flat and humorless. But even though Tom isn't happy with this censored product, it's not censored enough for some people. In this passage, the landlady complains that this immoral puppet show (what were these puppets up to?) has encouraged her maid to run off and have sex with a clown (shudder).
We find this passage interesting for a bunch of reasons: first, the narrator seems to be saying that, as an artist, you can never win. If you try to use your work to teach a moral lesson, there will always be people out there who think you don't go far enough to be decent. So moral instruction shouldn't be the only purpose of a work of art—you should work to be entertaining as well.
Quote #8
In reality, I know but of one solid objection to absolute monarchy. The only defect in which excellent constitution seems to be, the difficulty of finding any man adequate to the office of an absolute monarch. (12.12.38)
Fielding is thinking through a serious issue here: centralized power can be a good thing, but only if the person who holds it is competent and fair. He clearly does believe in the importance of authority: Squire Allworthy may sometimes get a little too bossy, as when he misjudges Partridge and Jenny Jones, or when he throws Tom out of the house. But in general, he does a lot of good in the neighborhood. His wealth and his power are good things. But then you look at a guy like Squire Western—he also has a lot of local power. Still, we know that he's a bad judge—he almost tries to prosecute Mrs. Honour for the dire crime of being rude to his sister. So Fielding doesn't have a problem with authority per se, but he does recognize the problem that a lot of the people who have power probably shouldn't. There doesn't really seem to be a remedy to this issue, though. If you are going to support the idea of a king and a landed aristocracy, then you have to accept the fact that some of them are going to be good at their jobs and some of them aren't.
Quote #9
"Alas! my lord," answered [Lady Bellaston], "consider the country—the bane of all young women is the country. There they learn a set of romantic notions of love, and I know not what folly, which this town and good company can scarce eradicate in a whole winter." (15.2.9)
Yeah, this line of dialogue comes across as clumsy and incredibly obvious to us. Even the most passionate hater of romance and love is not going to come out and say that it is the job of "this town and good company" to destroy the "romantic notions of love" of young women from the countryside. Still, this passage contains the novel's clearest statement of the moral difference between the countryside and London. In the country, people are still virtuous enough (or naive enough, depending on your point of view) to believe in love, while in the city, all of these romantic notions have been "eradicated." Do you think there is a difference between city love and country love? Could this distinction have been more of a thing back in the eighteenth century, or does it continue on today?