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4. Contrast. Fielding celebrates the contrast evident in English pantomime, and employs this effectively through the novel. This is manifest both through the opposing settings of the country and the city, and through characters and action. The first characters we see in opposition to one another are Thwackum and Square. Their outlooks and philosophies are at best complementary, at worst, diametrically opposed: “Square held human nature to be the perfection of all virtue, and that vice was a deviation from our nature in the same manner as deformity of body is. Thwackum, on the contrary, maintained that the human mind, since the Fall, was nothing but a sink of iniquity, till purified and redeemed by grace” (128). Squire Western and Mrs. Western are direct contrasts in their approach towards convincing Sophia to marry as they wish. He insists on confining his daughter whereas Mrs. Western favors more civilized means. Molly and Sophia are both objects of Tom’s affection (though not, of course, simultaneously), and yet have very different qualities. Molly is passionate, forthright and appeals to Tom’s physical yearnings, but Sophia rules both his heart and head. Even within the tone of the text, it is possible to distinguish contrast. Tom is at his most wretched as he languishes in prison, condemned for murder and guilty of incest. His fortunes are rapidly reversed as he is revealed to be not guilty on all counts, and he is ultimately respected by those he was earlier charged with offending. Fielding himself was a Protestant Latitudinarian. This largely means that he believed humanity was able to demonstrate both good and evil, and was free to choose their own direction. His use of contrast in the novel reflects this philosophy as Tom discovers, through his successes and mistakes, the path to happiness.