Moments by chance can sometimes act as the best forms of judgment in determining one's legitimate sense of character. It is in the most controversial and unpredictable occurrences that both the true nature, and the true faith of an individual are tested. In the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, both Mr. Allworthy and Mrs. Deborah Wilkins are faced with an extremely unpredicted surprise: finding an abandoned infant in the bed of Squire Allworthy. However, the two opposite responses to the unplanned circumstance vividly depict the differing personalities of each character, as Fielding represents Allworthy as a man of true principle, valuing human life, whereas Wilkins is disgustingly illustrated as a narcissistic nag. .
Mr. Allworthy's initial impression is definitely one of a good natured and religious man, in contrast to the dehumanizing and offensive attitude of Mrs. Wilkins. Having just had supper with his sister and "having spen[t] some minutes on his knees-a custom which he never broke through on any account," Mr. Allworthy suddenly and randomly discovers a baby in his bed. This initial description gives the reader a very positive first impression of Allworthy, as he is seen to be a man who possesses both familial and religious priorities in his life. Allworthy's personal character is implored once he instantly becomes infatuated and fascinated with the child's "beauty of innocence, appearing in those lively colours with which infancy and sleep always display it." Described as a man with sentiments of compassion, Allworthy's "good-natured" principles and values are instantly warranted by the his beginning impressions. Mrs. Wilkin's, however, is described as a very naive woman, who "though in the fifty-second year of her age, vowed she had never beheld a man without a coat." Her sheltered life causes her personality to react negatively towards the child, seeing "it" as an abandoned mistake left by a "hussy.
