Tom Jones is the protagonist of the book and the proclaimed hero of the novel. He is both a foundling (an abandoned orphan), and, in the legal terms of the time period, a “bastard,” meaning a person born to unmarried parents. Tom is good-natured and good-hearted but occasionally lacks foresight, and his impulsiveness often gets him into trouble. He is loyal, even when a person may not merit his loyalty. He has a lively sense of humor, but he rarely lies.

As a young man Tom is characterized as a “rascal” who is “no-body’s Enemy but his own” (124). He is physically strong and wins most of the fights he is in, whether it be a fistfight or a duel. His looks are attractive and he tends to draw female attention. Tom often steps in for those he thinks are being unfairly attacked. In 18th-century terms, he has a “sanguine” temperament, meaning hopeful and optimistic. Whereas others are ruled by moral virtue or the law, Tom is ruled by compassion for others. However, he often tends to give in to his sexual desires without considering the consequences.

Mrs. Miller sums up Tom’s character when she says:

I do not pretend to say the young Man is without Faults; but they are all the Faults of wildness and of Youth; Faults which he may, nay which I am certain he will relinquish, and if he should not, they are vastly over-balanced by one of the most humane tender honest Hearts that ever Man was blest with (678).