Strawberry Mark Symbol Analysis

The strawberry mark on Joseph Andrews’s chest symbolizes the importance of heredity in 18th-century Britain and how it defined a person’s social class, but it also perhaps provides some humorous commentary on it. The mark plays an important role in the plot, as it confirms that Joseph is the gentleman Wilson’s son. This is extremely important, because it gives Joseph the status to marry his true love Fanny and to live comfortably with her. But there is also something funny about his birthmark looking like a strawberry, rather than something more noble or majestic. A strawberry is a small fruit, and the mark on Joseph is small, suggesting how, from an outside perspective, heredity and social status might not be so significant, despite their massive significance to the events of the story.