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Book 4, Chapter 2
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
Lady Booby calls for a lawyer named Mr. Scout, who is involved with marriages in the area. She tries to get him to declare that it’s illegal for Joseph Andrews and Fanny to marry. Scout confirms that they can get married in law, but he says that what’s settled in law isn’t always settled in fact and vice versa.
Scout is a stereotypical crooked lawyer, willing to change his position to suit whichever side can pay him more. After confirming that Joseph and Fanny can legally marry, he takes it back as soon as he finds out Lady Booby wants the opposite.
Themes
As a lawyer, Scout can’t change the law, but he suggests that he might be able to stop it from happening. He says the law is not “so vulgar” as to affect a woman with as much money as Lady Booby. Also, the local justice, Justice Frolick, is good at stretching the law to do away with the poor. Other lawyers often view country lawyers like Scout as annoying or scandalous. As it turns out, Scout has also been speaking about the matter with Mrs. Slipslop.
Scout says aloud something that previous parts of the novel have only hinted at: that rich people in Britain are essentially above the law. “Justice” isn’t the result of impartial judgment but instead seems to come from a legal system where wealth and connections are the most important factors.
Themes
