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
When it’s nearly morning, Joseph Andrews wakes up at the inn and finds that the squire’s servants have come to try to take away Fanny. Abraham Adams wakes up and tries to intervene. The servants’ captain hits Adams, who strikes back. Then Joseph empties a chamber pot on the captain. Despite Joseph Andrews’s and Abraham Adams’s early good luck, the servants outnumber them and overpower them. They take Fanny and tie Adams and Joseph to the bed posts.
The squire is very persistent about trying to kidnap Fanny, showing how lust can be a strong motivator. Despite Joseph and Adams being able to fend off earlier threats, there are too many servants for them to fight back this time, showing how lower-class women like Fanny sometimes weren’t safe even in their own beds.
Themes
