51 pages • 1 hour read
Henry FieldingThe History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1742A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 4, Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 4, Chapter 1 Summary: “The arrival of Lady Booby and the rest at Booby-Hall”
The entire party of travelers returns home. Lady Booby agonizes over her feelings for Joseph. She is still attracted to him, but Fanny stands in her way, as does Joseph’s low social position as a footman. When she hears that Joseph and Fanny plan to get married, she is angry and summons Adams to her house.
Book 4, Chapter 2 Summary: “A dialogue between Mr. Abraham Adams and the Lady Booby”
Lady Booby scolds Adams for supporting Joseph’s engagement to Fanny. She orders him to prevent the marriage from taking place. Adams defends Joseph and Fanny’s good character and refuses to comply despite Lady Booby’s threat to take away his livelihood as a parson.
Book 4, Chapter 3 Summary: “What passed between the lady and Lawyer Scout”
Lady Booby hires a lawyer, Mr. Scout, to legally prevent Joseph from acquiring a settlement in the parish, which due to him after his years of service to Lady Booby. Lady Booby is also determined that Fanny should not be allowed to live in her parish, reasoning that Fanny will produce several children by Joseph, which will financially burden the town. The lawyer believes he has a fair chance at preventing Joseph from acquiring a settlement. He agrees to devise a plan to get Fanny kicked out of the parish.
Book 4, Chapter 4 Summary: “A short chapter, but very full of matter; particularly the arrival of Mr. Booby and his lady”
Lady Booby is in emotional distress over Joseph, whom she loves and hates simultaneously. Mrs. Slipslop tells Lady Booby that Scout has taken Fanny and Joseph before the judge, and they may be put to death by hanging. Lady Booby never intended for Joseph to be hung or banished, only Fanny. Amid this turmoil, her nephew Mr. Booby arrives with his wife Pamela, who is none other than Joseph’s sister.
Book 4, Chapter 5 Summary: “Containing justice business; curious precedents of depositions, and other matters necessary to be perused by all justices of the peace and their clerks”
Mr. Booby hears about Joseph’s position before the judge and immediately goes to the court to see what he can do for his brother-in-law. He finds out that Joseph and Fanny are accused of cutting a branch off a tree in a field and are sentenced to prison. Mr. Booby asks that the pair be placed in his custody instead of prison, and the judge readily agrees. Mr. Booby provides a gentleman’s clothing for Joseph, stating that he plans to help Joseph raise his societal status. He then takes Joseph to see his sister while Fanny, who is not welcome at Lady Booby’s house, goes to stay with Adams.
Book 4, Chapter 6 Summary: “Of which you are desired to read no more than you like”
Lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop discuss Joseph’s new gentlemanly apparel, and Lady Booby laments that her social position means she can only marry someone whose title and fortune are equal to, or greater than, her own. Mrs. Slipslop praises Joseph’s character and attractiveness, and says if she were in Lady Booby’s position, she would marry Joseph and send Fanny away.
Book 4, Chapter 7 Summary: “Philosophical reflections, the like not to be found in any light French romance. Mr. Booby’s grave advice to Joseph, and Fanny’s encounter with a beau”
Lady Booby tells her nephew that Joseph’s engagement with Fanny must be broken for the sake of their family name. Mr. Booby agrees with his aunt and tries to dissuade Joseph from marrying Fanny. Even Pamela joins her husband in trying to convince Joseph that Fanny’s social position is beneath him. Joseph resists their persuasions and remains loyal to Fanny. Meanwhile, Fanny is out walking and catches the eye of a young gentleman who happens to be an acquaintance of Lady Booby. The man makes sexual advances toward Fanny, which she resists, and Joseph arrives at exactly the right moment to rescue her. He wins a fight against the young man, who continues on his way toward Lady Booby’s house.
Book 4, Chapter 8 Summary: “A discourse which happened between Mr. Adams, Mrs. Adams, Joseph, and Fanny; with some behaviour of Mr. Adams which will be called by some few readers very low, absurd, and unnatural”
Joseph and Fanny go to Adams’s house, where they relay the events of the attack on Fanny. Joseph asks the parson to marry them as soon as possible. Adams replies that Joseph’s request can only be motivated by one of two emotions: impatience or fear. He tells Joseph that if his desire to marry sooner stems from fear, he is demonstrating a lack of faith in God and his providence. Just as Adams is advising Joseph to submit to providence, a messenger arrives to tell Adams his youngest son has drowned. Adams is beside himself with grief at his son’s death. A moment later the same peddler who paid Adams’s bill at an inn enters with the happy news that he saved Adams’s son, who is very much alive. Joseph points out that it’s much easier to give advice than to follow it, as Adams failed to follow his own advice to submit to God’s will.
Book 4, Chapters 1-8 Analysis
Lady Booby copes with unrequited love by picturing Joseph as poor and dressed in rags. Remembering her superiority over Joseph helps her deal with wanting something she cannot have. She uses her social position to try and convince Adams to prevent the marriage, but Adams is not swayed by her power over him. Adams is loyal, recognizes God is his true master, and remains faithful to his friends. While Lady Booby is controlled by her social position and fear of what others will think, Adams is not.
Lady Booby exemplifies her hypocrisy when she conceals her plan against Joseph and Fanny under a guise of concern for the greater good. She tells the lawyer she wants to prevent the marriage to keep Joseph and Fanny from reproducing and adding poor children to the parish who need to be provided for. In a conversation with Mrs. Slipslop she pretends that she is not the one who sent Mr. Scout after Fanny. Her two-faced nature shows that she is so deep into her deceit of others that she has even deceived herself. In another digression, the narrator asserts that the more a woman loves a man, the more she tends to pretend disinterest. Eventually, women will “really believe they hate what they love” (206), which is the case for Lady Booby.
As the story develops, so does the theme of status and its power over others. Mr. Scout and Lady Booby expect the judge to rule in their favor based purely on Lady Booby’s name and high position rather than on any facts or evidence. When Mr. Booby goes to the court, Joseph and Fanny are released to him based on nothing but his good name. These situations show that status, not truth, determines one’s fate. Status also comes into play when Lady Booby and her nephew try to convince Joseph that marrying Fanny is beneath him, given his new gentlemanly clothing and relation to the Booby family, but Joseph remains loyal to Fanny. He is willing to give up the chance to climb the social ladder out of love for Fanny. In contrast, Lady Booby’s love for Joseph is not enough for her to sacrifice her social status and reputation. Instead, she laments that she is bound by her rank: “for we people of fashion are the slaves of custom” (203).
Tied closely to the theme of status is the idea that one’s external appearance influences public perceptions one’s inner self. For example, Mr. Booby wants Joseph to be a gentleman since they are brothers-in-law, and so he gives Joseph fancy clothing. Once he looks like a gentleman on the outside, Joseph’s behavior appears genteel to those around him, though nothing about his character has changed. Furthermore, Fanny has great beauty, and the judge is so taken with her that he is willing to welcome her into his family purely based on her looks. Fielding reveals the hypocrisy in this notion, since neither status nor beauty makes someone a good person.
Coincidence and providence continue to play roles in these chapters. Lady Booby’s nephew is married Joseph’s sister, which makes Joseph part of the Booby family by marriage. Mr. Booby’s love for Pamela motivates him to rescue Joseph and Fanny and keeps the plot moving. Also, when Fanny is attacked, Joseph appears at just the right moment to rescue her. Although few of these many coincidences are realistic, they do allow Fielding to control the fate of his characters.
The themes of providence and hypocrisy intersect when Adams lectures Joseph about succumbing to providence rather than getting married quickly out of fear for Fanny’s safety. Just as Adams finishes his speech, he receives word his son has drowned. Adams is unable to submit to providence when his own life is being affected, showing that his high standards are often impossible to live up to, even for him.
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