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 lady in the coach tells Leonora’s story. Leonora is the 18-year-old daughter of a wealthy gentleman. She loves balls, where she is often the most popular woman. She particularly likes a man named Horatio. Everyone thinks Leonora and Horatio will eventually marry.
The lady in the coach continues the story about Leonora and Horatio. One day, while walking together, Horatio says he wants to tell Leonora something in private. Leonora and Horatio go off somewhere isolated. Horatio then confesses to Leonora that, while he likes almost everything about her, he’d like her even better if she married him. This surprises and scares Leonora, who leaves at once.
The characters in the story all seem to be members of the upper class, given how much time they spend at formal events like balls and how they use flowery language when talking to each other. Paradoxically, even though Leonora likes Horatio, she is scared off by his proposal.
Themes
Literary Devices
Several weeks later, Horatio and Leonora are back on good terms. They exchange letters. In Horatio’s letter to Leonora, he talks about his passion for her, claiming that his happiness rests on his hope that Leonora will one day be his lifelong companion. Leonora replies that Horatio writes even better than she expected. They decide to marry within two weeks.
What Leonora likes about Horatio is that he represents an ideal. The other people at the balls notice Horatio and he can speak and write like a gentleman. The problem, however, is that Horatio himself is less important than the ideal he represents.
Themes
One night, there’s a grand ball. Leonora doesn’t dance because Horatio is absent. But then a handsome stranger in a velvet coat shows up. His name is Bellarmine, he has just come back from Paris, and all the ladies want to dance with him. Bellarmine, however, is only interested in Leonora. Leonora is so happy about everyone in the room envying her that she changes her mind about not dancing without Horatio and decides to dance with Bellarmine all night.
Because Leonora only loved the superficial aspects of Horatio, she drops him the second she meets someone who seems to embody these qualities even more. While Leonora herself is impressed with the world-traveling Bellarmine, it isn’t clear if he is actually as wealthy or as cultured as he appears to be during his introduction.
Themes
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Bellarmine comes to visit Leonora the next afternoon and is happy to see that she comes from a wealthy family, since despite his own fine clothes, he is not extremely rich. Leonora hasn’t thought of Horatio for a while, but slowly, he begins to intrude in her thoughts.
In fact, Bellarmine doesn’t seem to be rich at all and just has expensive taste. His interest in Leonora seems to be based more on her family’s wealth than on anything about her specifically.
Themes
The next morning, Bellarmine has breakfast with Leonora while her aunt is around. Afterward, Leonora’s aunt advises her that engagements aren’t really all that serious, and she’d be luckier to have Bellarmine than Horatio. Bellarmine comes back that evening, and they decide he will ask Leonora’s father about proposing to Leonora the next morning. Just then, however, Horatio shows up, surprising everyone—and getting a surprise for himself.
Leonora’s aunt approves of her daughter’s social climbing. While there is no evidence that Bellarmine is actually any wealthier than Horatio, Bellarmine carries himself more like a wealthy person, and this superficial appearance is the most important detail to these upper-class characters.
Themes
After some initial confusion, Bellarmine and Horatio exchange harsh words, and then Horatio leaves. After more preparations for the engagement, Bellarmine leaves too. The next morning, however, Leonora finds that Horatio has mortally wounded Bellarmine. Her aunt advises her that, while Bellarmine isn’t quite dead, it’s probably best to focus on winning back Horatio’s affections.
The characters in this story-within-a-story are all passionate but also fickle. While these passions can turn into love, they can also lead to violence. Once again, Leonora’s aunt has no shame about advising her niece to treat marriage as a business transaction and do whatever seems best for her wealth.
Themes
Soon after, Leonora gets a letter from Bellarmine suggesting that his wound might not be fatal after all. She makes plans to visit him. The woman in the coach pauses Leonora’s story as the coach arrives at an inn.
Leonora’s story is full of twists and reversals, and this sudden pause in the action helps to build even more suspense.
Themes
