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Book 4, Chapter 12
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
Meanwhile, Lady Booby sits down with her guests at dinner but doesn’t eat anything. She says she’s ill and goes to her room. Mrs. Slipslop goes to ask Lady Booby how she’s feeling, but Lady Booby just talks at length about how wonderful Joseph Andrews is. Mrs. Slipslop encourages her. But just as Lady Booby is going on about how she hates her passion for Joseph but can’t get rid of it, she hears the news that Joseph and Fanny are siblings.
Lady Booby’s physical health reflects her mental state, showing how lust can take a toll not just on someone’s spirit but even on their physical body. Lady Booby realizes that her passion for Joseph is the cause of her problems, but she can’t give it up, especially not after receiving the encouraging news about Joseph’s canceled wedding.
Themes
Literary Devices
Lady Booby snaps out of her despair and goes to tell Pamela the news. Pamela can’t believe it, since she doesn’t know of any child her parents lost. The group and Abraham Adams’s household all head up to Booby Hall. Lady Booby isn’t used to having such mixed company, but she mostly tries to be a good host. Pamela scolds Joseph Andrews for being disappointed, saying that if he truly loves Fanny chastely, he should be happy to have a new sister. Pamela and Squire Booby suggest that everyone goes to bed for the night.
Pamela’s ignorance about her parents’ lost child suggests that perhaps the pedlar’s story is not the whole story. This is one of the few scenes of the story where people from different social classes all meet on the same level, which is likely why Lady Booby seems uncomfortable to be there. Pamela is a figure who connects these various worlds, since she started out lower class but earned a higher status through marriage.
Themes
