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
While tied to the bed posts, Joseph Andrews and Abraham Adams have a discussion. Joseph laments that he may never see Fanny again, but Adams hopes that Fanny will teach the squire about patience. Adams continues to list reasons why it’s good to be hopeful, but Joseph continues to despair. Joseph recites part of a play to comfort himself, but Adams says he’s never heard of any plays worth reading for a Christian.
Although Joseph often seems to be the naïve one in the story, his viewpoint here seems to be more realistic than Adams’s. Adams has a much easier time being hopeful when it’s someone else who is in danger. Adams’s comment about plays being useless to Christians is hypocritical, given how long he carried around a copy of the works of the playwright Aeschylus.
Themes
