Henry Fielding

Jonathan Wild (Illustrated) Henry Fielding

Jonathan Wild, is a novel loosely based on factual adventures of a career criminal called Jonathan Wild. However, Fielding improved the plot by adding lively characters like Heartfree, Tishy, and the Count. Given the prolific use of the word "greatness," in the novel, a brief explanation is needed: By "greatness," Fielding meant the seizing of power and riches at the expense of virtue, and often with cruelty. Fielding populates London with bandits, cut¬throats, pimps. whores, perjurers, and false witnesses. A briefer book than Tom Jones, Jonathan Wild is light-hearted, which makes for agile reading, and difficult to put down.