Amelia by Henry Fielding
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Sydnie HellmanProfessor HagueShorter Paper30 October, 2016Marriage is Not What You’d Expect        Amelia is a classic novel written by Henry Fielding that focuses on marriage and the life of both Amelia Harris and Captain William Booth. As Fielding stated in his introduction, the purpose of this novel was not to satirize anyone, but to create a sentimental piece. Much speculation has observed that the main character, Amelia, may be a depiction of Fielding’s first wife. Though the novel itself does not offer any political themes, it is a wonderful piece showing a rather humorous, but truthful side of marriage, with scandals, financial issues, and feminine intelligence.         Marriage is not easy at all, as anyone who has tied the knot can agree. The first scandal of the novel is when Mrs. Harris, Amelia’s, mother disapproves of the union between her daughter and the penniless soldier. Without much thought, the two run away to elope. In this era, the story would have just stopped there, however Fielding decided to continue, showing the real side of marriage. To continue, eventually Amelia’s mom forgives them with the help of their friend Dr. Harrison, but the scandals didn’t stop there. When Booth went to London to get his financial situation under control, he ended up in prison where he met Miss Matthews. Their interactions were far from innocent as it was suggested Booth was unfaithful to his wife. Miss Matthews sticks around for the better part of the story after they are both released from prison, and creates a bit of an issue with her admiration for Booth. She sends scandalous letters to the captain that could be intercepted by the wife at any time.         Not all of the scandals are solely within the Booth family, some can be seen with their close friends. For instance, Mrs. Ellison, their landlady who arranged for a nobleman to pay off some of the captain’s debt, had a little scheme up her sleeve. Without notifying Amelia of the true arrangement, Mrs. Ellison planned to drug her at a masquerade and allow the nobleman to have his way with her as repayment for his money. This plan was thwarted by Mrs. Bennet, later called Mrs. Atkinson, thankfully. One of the last scandals within this piece is revealed when the Booths are called to the house of a man they do not know. It turns out he was a clerk for the man who wrote Mrs. Harris’s will, and he reveals that the will was forged by Amelia’s sister, Elizabeth. She had never approved of the union of the Booths and in turn, she made the will to leave the two penniless.
Of course, marriage is not made up of scandals and drama that seems better suited for a housewife’s soap opera, but financial issues are definitely a big part of it, especially newlyweds. Booth is no stranger to poverty, and it only seems to get worse when Amelia’s mother dies. On several occasions, he has to ask for money from friends, and just as many times he’s imprisoned for debt. In fact, being a penniless soldier is one of the reasons he meets Miss Matthews in prison. Over and over again, the captain tries to provide for his family, but the hypocrisy of the English justice system is revealed. Being in debt puts the man in jail, but being in jail he can’t repay his debt- stupid, right? Anyway, in one of his last visits to the Newgate prison, it is because of Dr. Harrison who was misled into thinking William was spending all of his money instead of repaying his friends. Amelia had to come to the rescue of her husband, in this instance.         After he is bailed out of jail, for the second time, Booth falls in with an old, not-so-gentlemanly friend, who allows him to gamble away a large sum of money and worries he will be put away again. Colonel James, an old friend, is in love with Miss Matthews, though she wants nothing to do with him, and will only give her attention to the captain. James challenges Booth to a duel, but before it can commence, he [Booth] is put in jail yet again for debt. Dr. Harrison is forced to clear Booth’s name with Colonel James. With all these years of poverty and hardships, itwas a welcome surprise when they find out the will was forged. It turns out Amelia’s mother had left the money and estate to her, instead of Elizabeth. The Booths were able to pay off all of their debts and even give Elizabeth an annual allowance, despite what she did.         Feminine intelligence (a term coined from the internet) is in regards to the women pretty much “running the show.” These women are not stupid, in fact they are well educated. Mrs. Atkinson is the best example to demonstrate this theme. Occasionally she will quote Aenid, “with so strong an emphasis, that she almost frightened Amelia out of her wits.” Atkinson calls upon the absurdity that women are excluded from learning, though they are just as qualified as men. Of course, this causes quite the controversy between her and the other characters, but her husband does come to accept their intellectual capabilities. I personally agree with Mrs. Atkinson, that women are just as qualified as men. In fact, if it weren’t for women, many of the major plots within this story would not have even happened or would not have been fixed.