The Art of Plot in Tom Jones and Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey shows a number of similarities to Fielding's Tom Jones, which suggests that in some respects she has followed his lead. To start, the premise of both novels is similar. Two young characters are after marriage. The objects of their desires appear unobtainable because the protagonists are not worthy of them due to their social position. In the end, true love wins out, but not at the expense of existing expectations about marriage and class.

Besides what appear to be similar ideas about love, marriage and society, Austen, like Fielding, crafts her novel with a careful manipulation of events and revelations. The end goal of marriage is the same in both books, and it is clear from early on who the probable couples will be, but the suspense in both novels comes from not knowing how those couples will come together. Both books follow a young protagonist striving for marriage, which is never certain until the very end. Just when things seem the most dire, a happy ending arrives and good is achieved. Austen is Fielding's spiritual descendant because one of the most satisfying elements of both books for the reader is the ending. Both plots build to a climactic moment that satisfies every uncertainty created.

Though Tom and Catherine are not themselves the elite, they rub elbows with such. Class is important, and marriage is one of the most important tools for maintaining the existing social structure. As such, to achieve marriage one must obtain the consent of the parents of both parties, and both the man and the woman must be worthy social and economic peers of their potential other half. Reconciling love and the restrictions of society towards marriage is the chief barrier that must be overcome for both Tom and Catherine to achieve happiness. Tom appears not to be worthy of Sophia because he is a foundling with no worth, and the mere thought of him marrying her sends Squire Western into fits of rage. Catherine entertains only dim hopes for Henry, which seem to be the fantasies of a young girl, because of Henry Tilney's superior economic status. In both novels, the characters are striving to achieve what they want within the societal structures around them, and both plots fit Watt's description of static plots, that they end in much the same place where they begin. No rules have been broken or morals shaken by the end, so the rules and structures in place remain in place. Also, in both novels the object of desire is most worthy and has to do no changing to be ready for marriage

Marriage is the supreme goal for both protagonists. There is no other, and both books end with marriage. Unless they marry, and marry for love, both novels seem to make clear that there can be no real happiness for either Tom or Catherine. When Tom does finally win Sophia, the narrator says that "neither can be imagined more happy" (Fielding 761). For Catherine and Henry, "to begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen, is to do pretty well" (Austen 205). In both cases, their marriages are the beginning of real, lasting, life-long happiness they could not achieve any other way.

In both novels there is also a sense of pastoral perfection tied to the love. Catherine visits Henry at his country home, where they see the barn and play with puppies, and she imagines a life there with him in the cozy cottage. Similarly, Tom and Sophia's love blossoms in the space between their two adjacent estates in the country, far from the temptations and sin of the big city. When both couples marry they retire to the country to start their lives.

Besides having similar positions within and premises about society, both Fielding and Austen arrange their plots with the utmost elegance to build suspense and save grand revelations until the end. Both plots employ characters who deceive and lie to achieve their own ends, and in the end each respective character is foiled and good triumphs.

Tom will marry Sophia. The reader can be reasonably certain of this early on, even before Tom is. In Chapter 3 of Book 5, though Tom "extremely liked her Person, . . . . he had never once entertained any Thought of possessing her" (Fielding 166). Fielding leaves the reader with no other option, though, by constantly bringing them together as they grow so the reader can watch them slowly fall in love. Once their love is established, it seems Tom will not be able to marry her because he is sent away. Adventure ensues, but Fielding always makes sure to remember Sophia and her struggles as well until the two meet again in London. From early on, Blifil has been striving to undermine Tom. He saves his revelation of Tom's drunken episode until it will do Tom the most harm. He tries to marry Sophia, the object of Tom's love. He comes to London to marry her and sends Lawyer Dowling out to find evidence to implicate Tom in a murder. Perhaps worst of all, he never reveals that he knows Tom's true parentage. Near the end, with Tom in prison seeming to await execution, the pall of incest hanging over his head, and Sophia perhaps lost forever, Blifil's lies are brought to light and from there the air clears with a hurry. The story turns with the arrival of Mrs. Waters, who knows the truth and tells Allworthy, "your Sister was the Mother of that Child you found between your Sheets" (Fielding 727). From there things fall into place and within a dozen pages Tom is married and living happily ever after. That revelation is the culmination of the whole book. From early on Fielding pitted Tom against Blifil in love and fortune. Suddenly, Tom is the older brother and heir and worthy of Sophia, and with the same revelation Blifil's schemes have evaporated.

Similarly, in Northanger Abbey, Catherine will most likely marry Henry. He is the first person she meets in Bath, and Austen says that he "had a pleasing countenance, a very intelligent and lively eye, and, if not quite handsome, was very near it. . . . Catherine felt herself in high luck" (Austen 11). This introduction pales a bit in comparison to the pages of lavish praise reserved for Sophia, to the effect that she never had nor ever will have an equal in mind or body, but with Austen, this is enough for the reader to know that Henry will probably be a fixture from here on. Austen does not quite establish Henry's affection for Catherine, but Catherine clearly desires Henry. After she meets him, "With more than usual eagerness did Catherine hasten to the Pump-room the next day, secure within herself of seeing Mr. Tilney there before the morning were over, and ready to meet him with a smile" (Austen 16). She spends much of her energy while in Bath looking for and thinking about Henry. The equivalent of Blifil has to be John Thorpe. His are the lies and scheming that threaten to undo Catherine. Just like Squire Western wants only the best for Sophia in terms of wealth, so too does Henry's father want only a worthy woman to marry into his family. John pursues Catherine, which is not a direct parallel to the triangle between Tom, Sophia and Blifil, but it is similar in that the woman clearly prefers one man over the other, and it is the other, the deceiver, whose has inserted himself between them and tries to undo them. John wants Catherine to coming riding after she makes plans to go walking with the Tilneys, then he lies to her to get her to come by saying he already talked to them. Later he tells General Tilney that Catherine is wealthy, which satisfies him and prompts him to nurture his son's interest in her. Then Thorpe tells the General the opposite, an exaggeration to the other extreme, that the Morlands "were, in fact, a necessitous family; numerous too almost beyond example; by no means respected in their own neighborhood, . . . aiming at a style of life which their fortune could not warrant" (Austen 201). Tilney will have nothing to do with such people and dismisses Catherine.

Just like in Tom Jones, the revelation of these lies and the liar comes after the lowest point for the main character. Catherine is in the midst of her visit to Northanger Abbey when she is sent home without warning, without escort or servant, and without any explanation. She is devastated at the loss of her friends and spends her days moping around the house. After this low point, Henry comes for her, revealing the truth, and within four pages, though a year passes, they too are married. Like Fielding, Austen carefully arranges her events so that this surprise revelation simultaneously exposes the liar and results in happiness and marriage. Mrs. Waters' conversation with Allworthy happens in a scene, while Henry summarizes to Catherine events that already took place, but that has to happen because the action takes place away from Catherine, to whose perspective the narrator is closely tied. Also, it has to come to light after Catherine is sent home. Austen waits until Catherine's lowest moment to bring Henry in with the good news, which is just as powerful though related second-hand because of her timing, and she achieves the same effect as Fielding.

Both Austen and Fielding manipulate the events in their respective plots so that all comes to light at just the right time, at the moment of highest tension. Austen is indeed Fielding's heir in her ability to achieve for the reader an immensely satisfying ending. Just when all hope is lost, when the main characters are separated as far from their loves as is possible, through the dreadful workings of fortune and no fault of their own, they move suddenly from their lowest to their highest. Because of the books' like positions about society and toward marriage as an ideal to strive for, marriage to their true loves is the best of all possible outcomes, and in both novels this comes mere pages after all seems lost. At the same time, the bad person, who has been obviously bad the whole way through but allowed to run free and spread deceit, is exposed and shamed and seemingly put out of business. The reader is brought low, then flung as high as possible. All that was wrong is made right, and everyone gets what they deserve. Also, neither book seems to suggest that anything but perfect happiness will be in store for these characters for ever after.