Tom Jones: Character Mind Map & Summary
Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones: the key characters, the three-part journey, the big revelation, a quick summary and the exam facts.
The Character Mind Map
Tap any name to open the details.
Tom Jones
A foundling discovered in the bed of the kind Squire Allworthy and raised as his ward. Good-hearted, generous and impulsive, Tom is often led astray by his appetites. Framed by the scheming Blifil and expelled from home, he takes to the road, has many adventures and misadventures, and finally wins his true love, Sophia.
Ending: revealed as Allworthy’s nephew; marries Sophia🏡 Paradise Hall
Allworthy’s householdSquire AllworthyTom’s guardian
Role: Wise, kind and generous, but easily deceived by Blifil.
Master BlifilAllworthy’s nephew · the villain
Role: Outwardly proper, secretly hypocritical and scheming; he ruins Tom’s name to secure the inheritance.
Exposed and disinheritedThwackum & SquareThe boys’ tutors
Role: A harsh clergyman and a pompous philosopher, who stand for empty religion and empty theory.
Bridget AllworthyAllworthy’s sister · Blifil’s mother
Role: Holds the novel’s great secret: she is also Tom’s real mother.
🦊 The Westerns
Love & oppositionSophia WesternTom’s true love
Role: Beautiful, virtuous and independent-minded; she runs away to London rather than marry Blifil.
Marries TomSquire WesternSophia’s father
Role: A loud, fox-hunting, hard-drinking country squire who wants her to marry Blifil.
🛣️ On the Road
Companions & temptationsPartridgeThe schoolmaster turned barber
Role: Wrongly believed to be Tom’s father; he becomes Tom’s cowardly, comic travelling companion.
Lady BellastonA London society lady
Role: Keeps Tom as her lover in London, a low point in his fortunes.
Memory Hook: 6 + 6 + 6 Books
The 18 books fall into three equal parts.
The Big Revelations
How the plot is untangled at the end.
Quick Summary
The plot in five lines.
Stage 1The Foundling
- Allworthy finds baby Tom and raises him with Blifil. Tom and Sophia fall in love.
Stage 2Expelled
- Framed by Blifil, Tom is sent away; Sophia flees her father’s plan to marry her to Blifil.
Stage 3The Road
- Tom travels with Partridge; comic adventures at the inn at Upton, where he and Sophia just miss each other.
Stage 4London
- Tom falls in with Lady Bellaston, fights a duel, and is thrown into prison.
Stage 5Revealed
- The truth of his birth comes out; Blifil is disgraced, and Tom marries Sophia.
Must-Know Exam Facts
Quick points for UGC NET, SET and PGT.
Title & Date
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, published in 1749, in 18 books.
Structure
Each book opens with an introductory essay in which the narrator talks directly to the reader.
Fielding’s Theory
Fielding called this kind of novel a “comic epic poem in prose” (preface to Joseph Andrews, 1742).
Coleridge’s Praise
Coleridge named it one of the three most perfect plots, with Oedipus Tyrannus and Jonson’s The Alchemist.
Key Themes
Good nature vs hypocrisy, prudence, class and birth, and love.
100+ Key Works of English Literature
All the character mind maps in one printed book.
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