“A Right Judgment”: Rape Trial Conventions Revisited in Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones

Abstract

This article argues that in both Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749), Henry Fielding, who practiced law and wrote novels when both were undergoing significant transformations, takes what could have been archetypal scenes of rape and rescue and makes them illuminating explorations of how juries determine the truth. In presenting these attempted rape scenes within the implicit format of a contemporary rape trial, Fielding directs the reader to observe the missteps in the process of judicial decision-making, as well as the steps and missteps in his or her own determination of the trustworthiness of characters and their testimony.