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Book 1, Chapter 4
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 Lady Booby stop going on walks after the tragic death of Sir Thomas Booby. Lady Booby mourns for six days; she quarantines herself as if she’s ill and only allows some female friends to visit. On the seventh day, she invites Joseph to bring her tea. She begins asking him if there are any girls she likes, but Joseph says he doesn’t think about them.
Although Lady Booby’s self-quarantine for her mourning seems extreme, six days is also a short amount of time to mourn the death of a husband. Her invitation for Joseph to come into her room combined with her question about the girls he likes both suggest that Lady Booby is already looking for a replacement for her late husband.
Themes
Literary Devices
Lady Booby asks Joseph Andrews if he can keep a secret, but he doesn’t want to. She then tells him she is naked in bed and would be unable to defend herself if anyone did anything. She begins speculating what would happen if Joseph made an advance on her and how she wouldn’t prosecute him because she’d be too afraid to go to court. Joseph doesn’t understand her, so she gets angry and tells him to leave.
Lady Booby is flirting with Joseph and inviting him to have sex, but she uses language that will allow her to plausibly deny it. She wants Joseph to be the one who takes the initiative (so that she can avoid blame for her actions), but Joseph stubbornly refuses to read any subtext in her actions and takes everything she says at face value.
Themes
