La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII

La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII
“They therefore began to batter the cart with stones, brick bats, dirt, and
all manner of mischievous weapons, some of which, erroneously playing on the robes
of the ecclesiastic, made him so expeditious in his repetition, that with wonderful
alacrity he had entered almost in an instant, and conveyed himself into a place of
safety in a hackney-coach …
We must not, however, omit one circumstance, as it serves to shew the
most admirable conservation of character in our hero to his last moment, which
was, that, whilst the ordinary was busy in his ejaculations, Wild, in the midst of
the shower stones, etc., which played upon him, applied his hands top the parson’s
pocket, and emptied it of his bottle-screw which he carried out of the world in his
hand” (IV, 14)
El contraste entre la afirmación de grandeza heroica que hace el
narrador y la representación anti-heroica e incluso cómica del fracaso
constante de Wild, además de la postura irónica de Fielding son la clave para
que la novela se aleje de la biografía convencional dedicada a relatar la vida de
los delincuentes. El narrador de Jonathan Wild contrapone el comentario
heroico a la acción anti-heroica e incluso cómica a veces.
El narrador se refiere a Wild usando metáforas legales en muchas
ocasiones. Cuando describe su niñez y los abusos que ya entonces era capaz de
cometer, dice que si cualquiera de sus compañeros de colegio:
“offered to plunder on his own head, without acquainting master Wild,
and making a deposit of the booty, he was sure to have an information against him
lodged with the schoolmaster, and to be severely punished for his pains” (I, 3)
Cuando se dispone a gestionar el aval de LaRuse, Jonathan se embolsa
una cantidad considerable del dinero destinado a este fin, y el narrador dice
que:
“he made lawful prize of six more, making Bagshot debtor for the whole
ten” (II, 2)
Cuando su matrimonio con Laetitia queda finalmente resuelto, el
comentario del narrador es:
“not guilty never sounded sweeter in the ears of a prisoner at the bar, nor
the sound of a reprieve to one at the gallows, than did every word of the old
gentleman in the ears of our hero.” (III, 7)
Jonathan emplea muchas metáforas y términos relacionados con la ley,
puesto que es un manipulador del sistema legal y es plenamente consciente de
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