In the following excerpt, originally published in 1968 and reprinted in 1995, Battestin, one of Fielding's most important modern biographers and critics, examines Fielding's treatment of the virtues of prudence and wisdom in Tom Jones. Battestin focuses on the character of Sophia, arguing that the novel's heroine and protagonit's love interest both embodies and portrays an idealized representation of Fielding's complex moral vision.

In the following chapter from her book Character and Consciousness in Eighteenth-Century Comic Fiction, Kraft examines the way in which authorial narrative interrupts and replaces the representation of the characters' consciousness in Tom Jones.