On the Technique of Irony in Fielding’s Tom Jones
On the Technique of Irony in Fielding’s Tom Jones

Summary/Abstract: The paper focuses on examining Henry Fielding classic, Tom Jones, with a view of answering a major question: To what extent did Fielding use the ironic technique in stimulating the reader’s mental imagination to understand opposite meanings and in consequence adopt a proper evaluation of the characters’ behaviour? The basic premise, here, is that irony meanings are not explicitly conveyed but are rather inherent in a single word or a whole sentence. The study, however, uses the qualitative content analysis method. The study shows that irony is largely exploited and Fielding through it discussed some important concepts such as chastity, charity, reason, and gentility. Irony is also exploited to distinguish between ‘love’ and ‘lust’ and between ‘justice’ and ‘mercy’. Two conclusions are basically emphasized; first, language does not serve as an index to truth, but it is in itself a reflection of fallible perception. Accordingly, the mind has to be more discriminating and more flexible. Second, ‘Tom’ Jones is a parody of the nature of the world and in the meantime, the narrative voice confirms that it is a comedy despite the fact that the conditions of the world that are presented are not comic.

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