On The Benevolent Sensibility In Sarah Fielding’s The Adventures Of David Simple And The Sequel

Sarah Fielding (1710-1768) was an important female British writer in themid-eighteenth century. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu appreciated Sarah’s writing style andSamuel Richardson also highly praised her deep and subtle description of psychology. TheAdventures of David Simple was Sarah’s first novel as well as her popular work. Many criticsabroad have discussed the theme of sensibility or benevolence respectively, with littleattention to the combination of the two elements—benevolent sensibility. This thesisdiscusses the “good human of feeling” in the novel and Sarah Fielding’s view on benevolentsensibility in the light of the combination of “good human” proposed by Shaftesbury, theEnglish empirical philosopher of eighteenth century. The benevolent sensibility supported bySarah Fielding was shown through the descriptions of rich but exquisite compassion and theemphasis of the disinterested motivation of benevolent behavior, that is the good human offeeling should possess the double virtues of the restrained sensibility and disinterestedbenevolence.Shaftesbury supposed natural affection was disinterested affection and the disinterestedmotivation of behavior was the genuine benevolence that represented the image of “goodman”. Therefore, benevolent sensibility was the combination of natural affection anddisinterested motivation of action. The benevolent sensibility in The Adventures of DavidSimple was mainly embodied through the descriptions of two types of characters that werethe “good man of feeling” and the “good woman of feeling”. The good men with DavidSimple as the typical example who held the natural affection and disinterested motivation ofbenevolent action. And the above two elements should become the restrained combination.Camilla and Cynthia represented the good women of feeling in the novel who possessed thenatural and restrained sensibility as well as the sense of disinterestedness and they embodiedthe wit and sense of independence when facing the challenge.This thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter analyzes the good man offeeling’s tenderness and exquisite sensibility and the good woman of feeling’s strong will andoptimism. A series of male characters in the novel held rich and exquisite sensibility who were in contrast with the traditional men of rationality. And the women of feeling were alsodistinguished from the traditional women of feeling who had nothing but compassion:Camilla showed the characteristic of strong will when facing the difficult. The second chapteranalyses the obvious character of good human of feeling—disinterested motivation of action.As a benefactor, David helped people with heart and soul and without return and Camillashowed the disinterested sacrifice to her brother Valentine’s happiness, which wasdistinguished from the selfish motivation of benevolent action and attitude of self-approval.The third chapter discusses the importance of the restrained sensibility and benevolence. Thesensible community suffered the attack from the outside violent emotion and went throughthe vicissitudes of life. And then the man of feeling and woman of feeling all embodied thecharacteristic of the combination of restrained sensibility and disinterested benevolence. Thegood man of feeling in the novel expressed Sarah Fielding’s emphasis on the necessity ofmen’s natural and genuine sensibility in the eighteenth century filled with materials andmachines. And the good woman of feeling revealed the female was not only sensible but alsoshould possess wit and sense of independence. Therefore, both men and women shouldpursue the balance between sense and sensibility, the balance between feeling and morality.