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Reading Assignment/Study Guide: Joseph Andrews
Read for
Thursday, April 7:
Book 1, chapters 1-7
Tuesday, 4/12, Book 1, Chapters 8-18
Thursday, 4/14. Book 2
Tuesday, 4/19, Book 3
Thursday, 4/21, Book 4
A good set of links for historical backgrounds to Fielding's novels
A helpful
Joseph Andrews study guide by Prof. Lilia Melani of CUNY Brooklyn
Following are some notes relating to the development of the main characters and the main plot. I have left out references to the various vain and hypocritical people Joseph and Adams encounter in their travels, but these characters, of course, are the whole point of Fielding’s comic strategy. (page numbers refer to the Norton Critical edition)
Read carefully Fielding’s Preface in which he explains his theory of The Comic Note that he distinguishes it from The Burlesque, which is merely “the Exhibition of what is monstrous and unnatural” (4). True comedy, he argues, concerns itself with the Ridiculous, which has as “its only Source . . . Affectation”, which in turn springs from either Vanity or Hypocrisy (6). Note Fielding’s definition of each of these two qualities, and think as you read of how the characters and plot of Joseph Andrews carry out this theory.
BOOK I
Ch. 1 — The novel opens with the intrusion of the author, who explains that his purpose in writing is to answer the bestselling novel by Samuel Richardson, Pamela, which presented itself as a celebration of female virtue, but which was disdained by Fielding because he considered Pamela a manipulator and a prude.
Ch. 2 — contains a detailed description of our hero, Joseph Andrews. What are his qualities? Are they realistic given his age and background?
Ch. 3 — We are introduced to Mrs. Slopslop, a character similar to one invented by the comic dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In “The Rivals,” he creates “Mrs. Malaprop” — a pretentious woman who mangles words, often comically substituting a similar-sounding word that means the exact opposite of what she intends, i.e. “Sure if I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!” (3.3). Find instances when Mrs. Slipslop similarly mangles language.
Ch. 8 — In a chapter that opens with “some very fine writing” — mock-epic descriptions similar to those supplied by Alexander Pope in “The Rape of the Lock” — we receive a detailed physical description of Joseph (as opposed to his temperament and talents) and are discussion of the question of whether there can be such a thing as “male virtue” (33).
Ch. 10 — Further development (from Joseph’s point of view) of the central question: is male chastity as important as female chastity? Is there, in fact, such as thing as male virginity?
Ch. 18 — Notice that, again, Fielding intrudes as narrator to observe, after Joseph has successfully fended off Betty the chambermaid’s attempted seduction: “How ought man to rejoice that his chastity is always in his own power that if he hath sufficient strength of mind, he hath always a competent strength of body to defend himself, and cannot, like a poor weak woman, be ravished against his will” (68).
This raises the crucial question in the novel of whether, in fact, any man (including Joseph) has “sufficient strength of mind” to overcome his passions. Note that, after the reunion of Fanny and Joseph, it is usually Fanny who reminds Joseph to be patient and chaste.
BOOK II
Ch. 12 — Look carefully at the physical description of Fanny (119-20). Note the ways in which Fielding observes that she is not “fashionably” beautiful (i.e., slender and pale), but that her beauty is touched by nature — her white skin is sunburned where it is exposed, her teeth are “not exactly even,” her face has one smallpox scar. Fielding seems to imply that small imperfections heighten one’s appreciation of beauty more than a uniformly “perfect” aspect such as Lady Booby’s. Or to put it another way, an imperfect package implies a pure interior, while Lady Booby’s physical perfection is an ironic mask for her inner selfishness and deceit.
Ch. 13 — Joseph’s marriage proposal illustrates his minor flaw — he is impetuous and impatient. Both Adams and Fanny have to convince him to follow the custom of announcing the date of a wedding (the “banns”) three weeks ahead of time. This practice developed to allow a chance for anyone with knowledge of reasons to call off the marriage (previous marriage contracts, blood relationship, etc.) to come forward.
BOOK III
Ch. 3 — Mr. Wilson’s history is an example of the traditional 18th century genre known as the “Rake’s Progress.” This is usually a cautionary tale of an essentially good young man who allows himself to fall into a wasted life devoted to money and pleasure. Mr. Wilson’s description of his day’s “schedule” (159) is typical of the time. The rake’s selfishness and addictions escalate until he accidentally or through negligence causes death or harm to an innocent person. The traditional tale either condemns the rake to death by venereal disease or rescues him through the offices of a virtuous woman — usually the girl-next-door back home.
Notice that ironically, Mr. Wilson tends to blame the women he becomes involved with (the debauched country girl who becomes a whore, p. 161, or the “coquette” who makes his life miserable, p. 163) for his suffering. His redemption is a combination of luck and new resolve; notice that he must remove himself from London to save himself. His new life is a model of Augustan rural modesty and comfort. Only the loss of his son to the Gypsies (192) mars his new happiness; this fact will be significant later on.
Ch. 11 — We see an example of Abraham Adam’s Christian stoicism on p. 207-8, when he counsels Joseph to bear the loss of Fanny calmly. He takes some time to describe his philosophy, which should remind us of Johnson and Pope’s poetic suggestions. Note that Fielding does not force Joseph to attempt this philosophy himself; Fanny is quickly and safely returned to him.
BOOK IV
Ch. 1 — Although the journey from London to Booby Hall is complete, there are still internal journeys to be made for each character. Fielding comically achieves this by having Joseph, Adams, Lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop undergo frequent extremes in emotional state.
Ch. 5-7 — The appearance of the famous Pamela allows Fielding to make some satirical observations about what is true and what is superficial nobility. Note that Pamela’s husband (and Lady Booby’s nephew-by-marriage), Thomas Booby, is a truly magnanimous person, offering his friendship and esteem to both Joseph and Fanny, considering them his equals (229). Pamela, on the other hand, takes her new-found social status for granted and is offended by Joseph and Fanny’s rural simplicity because it reminds her of where she came from (237).
Ch. 8 — After Fanny’s attempted rape by Beau Didapper, Joseph naturally hopes to push the marriage ahead, believing that he can better protect Fanny’s virtue as her husband. Adams again takes the opportunity to counsel Stoic acceptance of whatever misfortune may come (242). In one of the most satiric comic moments of the novel, Fielding exposes Adam’s failure to adhere to his own philosophy when he reacts hysterically to the news that his youngest son has drowned. Joseph’s attempts to counsel Stoic acceptance of the tragedy are angrily rejected by Adams, until the discovery that the boy is safe provokes another passionate outburst (this time of happiness) from Adams. Finally, Joseph loses his temper with Adams and seriously questions the value of the man’s advice. It becomes Mrs. Adams’s job to cool them both down, siding with Joseph in the opinion that a man’s love for his wife should be as intense as his love for his children. This scene raises two important questions:
1. Does this incident reveal Adams to be hypocritical or merely vain?
2. Are we meant to agree with Fielding’s implied endorsement of married love as the highest form of love?
Ch. 12-13 — The increasing tension between Lady Booby and Joseph leads to a bombshell in which a traveling peddler leads the community to believe that Fanny is actually Joseph’s long-lost sister, stolen by Gypsies in infancy and left with the Booby household. This is obviously good news for Lady Booby, who busily begins to rationalize that Joseph is an appropriate marriage partner. Fielding may be satirizing the tendency of romantic comedy in his time to rely on wild coincidences; this event also gives us an opportunity to contemplate the varieties of love. If Joseph is so generous and pure, as Pamela meanly points out, why is he so reluctant to love Fanny only as a sister, instead of as a wife?
Ch. 14 — This is the comic climax of the novel, in which darkness and vanity lead several characters to embarrass themselves. Beau Didapper attempts to crawl into Fanny’s bed to rape her, but ends up in the amorous Mrs. Slipslop’s bed instead. Adams, hearing Beau’s high-pitched cries for help as the disappointed Slipslop attacks him, attempts once again to play the hero but fails, beating up Mrs. Slipslop instead of Didapper (although, comically, Didapper has by now changed from rapist to victim, and is in greater need of Adams’s protection). Adams himself becomes a victim of Mrs. Slipslop’s indiscriminate lust, and escapes into the wrong room, ending up in the originally-intended target bed, Fanny’s.
Angela Smallwood (Fielding and the Woman Question) has suggested that this scene distills various gender-related issues in the novel. She notes that the true heroes of the novel (Adams and Joseph) possess masculine and feminine qualities in balance, and that characters who come to grief (Lady Booby, Mrs. Slipslop, Beau Didapper) do so because they consistently behave in ways inconsistent with their sex. In the “night scene,” Mrs. Slipslop’s sexual aggression and Didapper’s effeminate behavior cause Adam’s confusion and embarrassment, heightened by his nakedness, which symbolizes his vulnerability to judging people by appearances.
Ch. 15 — Following this scene of comic chaos, Fielding imposes a rather arbitrary order on the events by having Pamela’s parents and Wilson show up at exactly the right time to clear up the confusion. Fanny and Joseph are not siblings because Joseph is the baby who was substituted for the stolen Fanny — further emphasizing the blurring of the line between masculinity and femininity. Essentially, Joseph and Fanny are male and female versions of the same person, interchangeable with one another. This is a kind of psychological incest that ironically is considered preferable by the characters in the novel to the physical kind.
The news that Joseph’s real parents are the Wilsons is also an ironic jab at Pamela, whose brother turns out to be of superior birth to her!
Note that the happy ending provides financial stability for all the characters we care about. Both Thomas Booby and Mr. Wilson demonstrate the generosity and friendliness to their inferiors that Fielding associates with true (not class-based) nobility.
