Amelia

Author: Henry Fielding
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The beautiful young girl Amelia falls in love with Lieutenant Boz and agrees to marry him. Her mother, however, dislikes poverty and wealth, and tries to force her into an arranged marriage with a rich man. Amelia chooses to run away rather than submit. With the help of a pastor, the two finally get married. Boz is injured and returns home, but struggles financially and falls into debt due to gambling. At this time, a group of rich men and hypocritical nobles, coveting Amelia's beauty, use all kinds of threats and inducements to try to take her away; even Boz's friend becomes an accomplice in this, leading to a series of conflicts. Finally, the couple faces hardships and eventually enjoys a happy family life! Boz is a poor officer, initially only a; after falling in love with Amelia, her mother had reluctantly agreed to their marriage, but soon a wealthy young squire came to propose, and Amelia's mother wanted to break the engagement; however, Amelia opposed her mother's opinion, preferring poverty over changing her love for Boz; despite her mother's strict surveillance, she ran away from home and, later, with the mediation of the kind Harrison pastor, the young couple finally got married. Soon after, war broke out between Britain and Spain over the control of Gibraltar, and Boz was sent to fight. He was wounded twice and promoted from lieutenant to captain; but after the war ended, his regiment was disbanded, and he lost his position, being given only half-pay as a lieutenant upon discharge. While Boz was recovering from his injuries, Amelia went to visit him, but she also fell seriously ill; at that time, Amelia's sister Betty wrote her a letter saying that their mother had passed away and left all her property to Betty in her will, leaving only ten pounds for Amelia. As a result, when they returned to Britain from abroad, they lived in great poverty; fortunately, the Harrison pastor helped them settle in the countryside, but due to Boz's poor management skills and being pushed around by others, they ended up in debt and found their situation even harder. Fearing that the creditors would send him to jail, Boz secretly fled to London and hid in the jurisdiction around the royal courts; Amelia came later with the children, and the couple lived an extremely poor and unstable life, as Boz risked being arrested at any moment if he stepped outside that jurisdiction. In this situation, Boz wanted to find a job, especially to return to the army to get out of his, so that his wife and children could live a better life. Amelia was as beautiful as a flower, and some bad men wanted to take advantage of Boz's difficulties, setting traps to try to deflower her. One person with toward Amelia was a noble. He was a lecher who delighted in exploiting women; he had a set of cunning methods and steps to seduce women. At first, he pretended to be upright, making women trust his kindness, then gradually lured them into his traps. Just as this noble invited Amelia to a masquerade ball, she was on the verge of being deceived when she suddenly received an anonymous letter warning her to be vigilant; through this clue, she learned about the noble's past record of mistreating women, which allowed her to take preventive measures and avoid falling into his trap; however, the lustful noble did not give up and concocted other schemes to try to take Amelia's virtue. Boz's landlady, Mrs. Allison, and Boz's former brother officer, Trent, had both served this noble shamelessly, acting as tools to seduce Amelia. The second person with bad intentions toward Amelia was Boz's friend, Colonel James. Colonel James had once done Boz many favors, and Boz was deeply grateful and trusted his kindness; but this James was a lecher who was obsessed with Amelia's beauty and wanted to take her away. He pretended to help Boz secure a military position, trying to separate Boz and Amelia, so he could achieve his vile purpose of taking Amelia. In the process, he used many underhanded means, even sending his own wife to help him seduce Amelia. Boz's own weaknesses were also exploited by the bad men. He loved gambling, and the bad men lured him to gamble, making him heavily in debt, and then forced him to pay. Boz was in prison for the first time when he was weak-willed and had an improper relationship with an old flame in prison. He regretted it afterward but did not have the courage to confess to Amelia, and the woman threatened him. Countless disasters pushed Boz and Amelia to the brink of despair. In the midst of extreme hardship, Amelia did not yield to money or power but maintained her virtue, showing her firm and composed character. To pay off Boz's debts, she sold her clothes and even pawned her portrait. She forgave Boz's past mistakes and tried her best to prevent a duel between Boz and Colonel James, fulfilling the duties of a good wife and mother. As for Boz, if he had been like his former brother officer, Trent, and turned a blind eye to his wife's infidelity, he could have gotten the position he sought from the noble; but like Amelia, he refused to do immoral things for personal gain. Despite the evil people's relentless efforts to set traps and plunge this unfortunate couple into deep suffering, the kind Harrison pastor and Amelia's brother-in-law, Atkinson, helped and saved them with sincere and honest hearts. In the end, good triumphed over evil. When Boz's family's fate seemed to have reached its darkest moment, a ray of light suddenly shone on their path. It turned out that the current will of Amelia's mother was forged, and most of her inheritance should have belonged to Amelia. Due to this major turn of fate, Boz was finally free and enjoyed a happy family life with Amelia. The novel, while describing the of Boz and Amelia, reveals the various ugly aspects of British upper society at the time. From the beginning, we see the corruption in the British judiciary and prisons. Boz's first arrest was completely unjust. On his way back to his residence, he saw two people violently attacking another, and he went to protect the innocent victim; at that moment, a night watchman happened to walk by and, without asking for the facts, arrested all four; the attackers paid money and were released on the spot, while Boz, penniless, though he made a truthful appeal, was unjustly imprisoned on a charge of assaulting the night watchman. Boz's unjust case was not an isolated incident; in the same court, the magistrate several other wrong cases. A maidservant went out at midnight to call a midwife for her mistress and was falsely accused by the night watchman of being a streetwalker, and the magistrate sentenced her to a month in a reformatory based on this accusation. The prison was poorly managed, with many outdated customs; the guards had no sympathy for the prisoners and only wanted to make as much money as possible from them; they treated those who bought more alcohol or paid more bail with respect, while others were cursed or even beaten. Corruption and bribery were rampant in the military and political circles. The sons of wealthy families, even if ignorant and incompetent, could become officers, while men like Boz, who had served the country with distinction, found it difficult to secure a position. Once, the Harrison pastor asked a noble for help, but the noble demanded that the pastor help in the election in return; the pastor did not want to elect a mayor who lacked both, and the noble then declared that he would not help Boz either. Fielding strongly condemned those who accepted bribes, calling them "a bunch of vampires" who "suck the blood of the brave and the poor, the widows and orphans."