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Book 4, Chapter 13
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
That night, around three in the morning, Beau Didapper goes to Fanny’s room. The room is dark. Didapper imitates Joseph Andrews’s voice and says that they aren’t related, which means they can be lovers again. He is surprised when the woman in bed eagerly embraces him—but the woman turns out to be Mrs. Slipslop, who actually believes Didapper is Joseph. When they realize the mistake, Didapper tries to get away, but Mrs. Slipslop stops him, saying she’ll shout if he runs.
This nighttime chapter provides a comic interlude before the main plot resumes in the morning. Beau Didapper and Mrs. Slipslop both believe that they’re very clever, but in their eagerness to trick other people, they end up getting tricked themselves. Beau Didapper is horrified at his mistake, but Mrs. Slipslop is less picky and seems willing to make the best of the situation.
Themes
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Abraham Adams hears the commotion and comes running. Because it’s dark, Adams only feels the soft skin on Beau Didapper’s back and the rough beard on Mrs. Slipslop’s face, so he assumes Didapper is the female victim. Adams starts to fight with Slipslop. Lady Booby is also awake and comes over, a candle in hand, to investigate.
When Adams appears in the room, he only adds to the confusion. In addition to all the cases of mistaken identity, there is also a swapping of gender roles for Beau Didapper and Mrs. Slipslop.
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Lady Booby finds Abraham Adams on Mrs. Slipslop and assumes he’s trying to have sex with her. Adams apologizes to her and backs away. He stumbles out of the room in the dark into another room and goes to sleep in the place on the bed where Mrs. Adams usually makes him sleep. He doesn’t realize that he’s in the wrong room, sleeping next to Fanny. When Joseph Andrews comes to visit Fanny and knocks on the door, Adams invites him in. Fanny screams. Adams says he has no idea how he got there. He says that as a Christian, he believes in witchcraft, which must be how he got there.
The confusion grows exponentially with each new character to enter the scene. Adams retains his poor sense of navigation, even when it comes to finding the right room in a hallway. While Beau Didapper tried to find Fanny’s room while motivated by lust, the innocent Abraham Adams finds her bed through sheer chance. Because Adams can’t imagine himself doing anything improper, he reaches for implausible explanations for his actions, like witchcraft, then justifies why it’s okay for a Christian to believe in witchcraft in the first place.
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Joseph Andrews is surprised to find Abraham Adams there, and his opinion of the man sours. But Fanny reassures Joseph that she was safe the whole time. Adams apologizes again, and Fanny accepts his apology.
While Joseph is understandably upset to find Adams in Fanny’s bed, Joseph trusts Fanny and he also knows about Adams’s absent-minded tendencies.
Themes
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