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

La Narrativa de Henry Fielding y la Sociedad Inglesa del Siglo XVIII
caso es Dr. Harrison quien pone voz a Fielding en su condena del “gran
pecado del adulterio” 207 :
“In the great sin of adultery, for instance, hath the government provided
any law to punish it? Or doth the priest take any care to correct it? On the
contrary, is the most notorious practice of it any detriment to a man's fortune or to
his reputation in the world? Doth it exclude him from any preference in the State, I
had almost said the church? Is it any blot in his escutcheon? Any bar in his
honour? Is he not to be found everyday in the assemblies of women of the highest
quality? In the closets of the greatest men, and even at the tables of bishops? What
wonder then if the community in general treat his monstrous crime as a matter of
jest, and that men give way to the temptations of a violent appetite, when the
indulgence of it is protected by law and countenanced by custom?” (IX, 5)
La frase “proteceted by law and countenanced by custom” refleja la visión que
Fielding tenía con respecto del adulterio. Dr. Harrison, enemigo de este tipo
de practicas, diseña una estratagema para leer en la mascarada una carta escrita
en un tono muy duro:
“If it had not been so expressly forbidden in Scripture, still the Law of
Nature would have yielded light enough for us to have discovered the great horror
and atrociousness of this crime.
And accordingly we find, that nations where the sun of righteousness hath
yet never shined, have punished the adulterer with the most exemplary pains and
penalties, not only the polite heathens, but the most barbarous nations have
concurred in these; in many places the most severe and shameful corporeal
punishments, and in some, and those not a few, death itself hath been inflicted on
this crime.” (IX, 8)
La carta no termina ahí. En el mismo tono moralista sigue censurando
al adúltero y habla de la ruina que su conducta traerá a su vida y a la vida de su
víctima.
Baker contemplaba la ironía de la desconfianza marital más que la
infidelidad en sí como la causa de que el matrimonio esté al borde de la
ruptura. 208 De la misma manera que Booth, en parte por odio, en parte por
miedo no se atreve a confesar su error, de la misma manera Amelia oculta el
verdadero motivo de las intenciones de James, por miedo a la reacción de
Booth. De manera inconsciente actúan el uno en contra del otro.
207 Al año siguiente de la publicación de Amelia, Fielding escribió acerca de este asunto en The Covent
Garden Journal, nº 25, 50, 67,68.
208 E. BAKER, History, IV, p. 163.
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