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
Joseph Andrews, Fanny, and Abraham Adams leave the inn relatively late; soon, night falls. The sky is so cloudy that they can’t see any stars. Adams sits away from Fanny and Joseph so as not to disturb them, and he meditates about ghosts. All of a sudden, he overhears a voice saying that someone has killed a dozen in the past two weeks. Adams, Fanny, and Joseph all cower.
The beginning of this chapter sets a potentially sinister scene. Despite Adams’s faith, in some ways he seems to be the most superstitious member of the group when it comes to ghosts. He seems to spread his fears to Fanny and Joseph by the power of suggestion.
Themes
One of the voices hears Joseph Andrews, Fanny, and Abraham Adams stirring and asks if anyone’s there. They don’t answer. It sounds like the voices are having a fight, so Joseph, Fanny, and Adams take the opportunity to flee. They pass through some meadows and an orchard and arrive at a house. Adams knocks on the door, and a plain man (Wilson) greets them. Adams says Fanny needs to rest, and the plain man sees that she looks innocent, so he and his wife take them in. It turns out the “ghosts” Joseph, Fanny, and Adams heard were simply people out trying to steal sheep.
Like the weather on previous occasions, the “ghosts” here are a convenient way to drive the characters to stop at the next spot on their journey. At first, nothing about the character of Wilson suggests that he is an important character. Like the “ghosts” however, not all is as it seems. Unlike other characters who seem impressive on the surface but have no depth, the plain-looking Wilson will reveal himself to be a character of surprising depth.
Themes
They all sit around a fire, and Wilson notices that Abraham Andrews has a cassock and Joseph Andrews has his well-worn footman’s livery. The man gets suspicious that maybe Adams isn’t a real clergyman, so he asks him if he’s read anything Alexander Pope has published recently. Adams hasn’t, but says he’s heard good things. The man thinks he’s exposed Adams, but then Adams goes off on a tangent about Aeschylus.
Despite Adams’s professed love for books, his true love seems to be for the works of Aeschylus, to the exclusion of other writers, like Pope. While this could be used as evidence that Adams is narrow-minded, a more charitable interpretation would be that Adams is a poor preacher doing his best with what he can afford.
Themes
Fanny and Joseph Andrews go off to bed, but their host (Wilson) makes Abraham Adams stay up to talk more, offering him a refill on his pipe and some beer. Adams asks Wilson about his life story.
There have already been some stories within stories in the novel (most notably the story of Leonora), and this end of Book III, Chapter II sets up another one for the following chapter.
Themes
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