Tom Jones Book 17, Chapter 4

An Extraordinary Scene Between Sophia and Her Aunt

• The narrator uses the (kind of creepy) image of a doe escaping from the forest into the world of man and getting hunted down and eaten, no matter how she tries to escape, to describe Sophia's current marital situation.
• (Again, we're just going to take a second to draw attention to the extreme ickiness of that comparison. Sophia on the marriage market = doe getting hunted to death. Marriage in the eighteenth century must really have been a treat.)
• So, as soon as Sophia thinks that she has escaped Mr. Blifil, this new guy (Lord Fellamar) becomes a serious threat.
• Mrs. Western informs Sophia that Lord Fellamar is coming by that afternoon.
• Mrs. Western thinks it's dishonoring her family name not to accept such a great match.
• Mrs. Western threatens that, if Sophia won't see Lord Fellamar this afternoon, than Mrs. Western will throw her back to Squire Western the next day.
• Sophia tells her aunt straight out that Lord Fellamar grabbed her and put his hand on her breast.
• It was only Squire Western's arrival that prevented him from assaulting her further.
• Mrs. Western can't believe that Lord Fellamar had any bad intentions.
• So Sophia tries another method to get Mrs. Western to leave her alone about this.
• She reminds Mrs. Western that she has always boasted that she had tons of suitors as a young woman, and she broke all their hearts.
• One of them even had a title.
• How can Mrs. Western ask Sophia to marry a man for his title when she herself refused to?
• Mrs. Western immediately starts talking about her own (probably made-up) charms when she was young.
• Sophia flatters her so much that Mrs. Western agrees that Sophia has the right to be distant to Lord Fellamar.
• Mrs. Western even stays in the room with Sophia and Lord Fellamar when he visits that afternoon.
• So things are looking up for Sophia.