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 and Fanny have a long conversation, and they decide that if they’re actually siblings, they’ll be celibate and remain friends. Later that day, Joseph’s parents Gaffar and Gammar Andrews show up. Squire Booby excitedly tells Gaffar and Gammar that they have more children at the table than they realize: Fanny is their stolen daughter.
Despite both being disappointed, Joseph and Fanny decide to do the right thing if it turns out that they’re actually siblings, proving that their love is reasonable and not so motivated by lust that they would throw out traditional morality just to consummate it.
Themes
Literary Devices
Gaffar Andrews is shocked to hear about his newly found daughter, since he never lost a daughter in the first place. His only children are Joseph Andrews and Pamela. This news pleases Joseph and Fanny but vexes Lady Booby. She calls for the pedlar, who retells his story. At the end, Gammar cries out that Fanny is indeed her child. It turns out that Gaffar left her pregnant when he went as a sergeant to Gibraltar, and in the three years he was gone, Gammar gave birth to a daughter, who was then stolen.
Gaffar Andrews gives the shocking revelation that Fanny is not in fact his daughter, but Gammar turns things around to reveal that Fanny is in fact their child. The twists come so quickly that they become a parody of melodramatic twists in more serious stories. Perhaps the twists also show how fragile the English class system was, if a single revelation can change a person’s status, only for a new revelation to put them right back.
Themes
One day, when her child was about a year old, a fortune-teller came by her door. When the fortune-teller left, Gammar heard a cry from the crib but realized that her girl had been replaced with a stout infant boy—Joseph Andrews. The pedlar is amazed. Lady Booby asks Gammar if the child had a mark on its chest, and she responds that Joseph has a strawberry mark. Joseph takes off his shirt to prove that the mark is still there.
The strawberry mark reveals that Joseph Andrews must actually be the lost child of Mr. Wilson (although it takes the characters a little longer to piece this together). All of the swapping of children highlights how much of an English person’s life was determined simply by who their parents were—and how easily one swap could change everything.
Themes
Literary Devices
The only part of the story that the pedlar doesn’t know is who Joseph Andrews’s father is. But Mr. Wilson comes by just then, since he was traveling west and promised to visit parson Abraham Adams. He was the one who lost a son with a strawberry mark on his chest, and when he sees Joseph, he is delighted. Everyone is happy except Lady Booby, who leaves the room in agony.
The revelation that Mr. Wilson is Joseph Andrews’s father provides a convenient way for him to get married to Fanny after all. Despite all of the setbacks along the way, Joseph will be rewarded for his persistence and for his loyalty.
Themes
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