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Book 4, Chapter 3
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 goes about her daily routine. The next Tuesday is a holiday, and she attends church. There, she is surprised to hear Abraham Adams once again announce the marriage banns of Joseph Andrews and Fanny. Mrs. Slipslop says that Scout has brought Joseph and Fanny before Justice Frolick, who has said that the two of them could be hanged. Although Lady Booby doesn’t care about Fanny, she’s worried about Joseph.
Lady Booby isn’t used to things not going her way, so it’s particularly surprising for her to hear about Adams going ahead with the wedding. As with earlier, when Mrs. Slipslop schemed to get Joseph fired, here Mrs. Slipslop schemes again. Although Mrs. Slipslop is attracted to Joseph, all of her schemes seem to only push him away.
Themes
Lady Booby returns to her home and is surprised to find that her nephew, Squire Booby, now has a wife. As it turns out, that woman is Pamela.
Squire Booby is actually a character from Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela, but in that novel, he was called Mr. B— or just the squire. It was Henry Fielding who made the decision that B— stands for Booby.
Themes
