Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Joseph Andrews, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hypocrisy
Lust vs. Chastity
Social Class
Religion and Charity
Summary
Analysis
The bird-batters bring Abraham Adams and Fanny before the justice at his house. The justice has just gotten back from a fox-chase and is in a good mood. The justice has company at his house, and one of them notices Adams’s cassock and accuses him of robbing a clergyman. The company tests Adams’s knowledge of Latin. When they search him, they find his book of Aeschylus and believe that he is a professional thief with a book of ciphers.
The bird-batters and the justice’s company represent an example of mob justice. Even the justice himself seems to be influenced more by his mood than by loftier ideas about fairness. The whole crowd misunderstands Adams to a humorous degree, believing that he is a thief who has robbed from a clergyman rather than a real clergyman, in order to try to prove what they already believe.
Themes
Finally, someone asks if Abraham Adams knows Lady Booby. At first, the justice gets confused and believes Adams is telling her that Lady Booby is the guilty one, but ultimately, they get things sorted out, and the justice lets Adams go free. There’s noise outside, as the bird-batters drink beer and have a contest for the reward money for Adams, unaware that he’s innocent. Fanny hears about a young man heading to the inn where Joseph Andrews is staying.
The justice is clearly eager to wrap things up as quickly as possible, willing to blame a totally unrelated person like Lady Booby if that means finishing up the case. The bird-batters just want reward money and don’t care whether or not Adams is really guilty.
Themes
