Virtue and Progressive Ideology: Destabilizing Social Class in Richardson’s Pamela and Fielding’s Joseph Andrews

This essay investigates Richardson and Fielding’s projection of social mobility the intrinsic conditionality virtue honor that is essential for transformation. Maintaining a virtuous status among morally corrupt people destabilizes established stereotypical view hierarchy incites some aristocratic people’s passion their servants, violating consolidation class boundaries. Pursuant to principles progressive ideology, members upper authoritatively thwart endeavors upward mobility, except progression coupled with moral standing good reputation propitiously received communal acceptance approbation. Therefore, novels entail values ethics, chastity, piety become fundamental requirements maintaining enhancing regardless any prospective deterioration in material situation. Both resist ideology as an inherited value vested certain by ancestry heredity. Contrary this supposition, both contexts associate corruption degradation document it historically reform sinful practices immodesty. Finally, authors aspire ideal societies where holders should be rewarded resisting corruption, allure materialism, greed capitalism.