Characterization of Joseph Andrews

Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding

Characterization of Joseph Andrews:

One of the main attractions of Joseph Andrews is its characterization. As one critic declares, the novel "lives by virtue of the extraordinary vitality of its characters and the picture it gives of the manners of early eighteenth-century England." The comic approach precluded a profound psychological probing into an individual character's mind.

In Joseph Andrews, Fielding has given attention to delineating a large number of persons chosen from different sectors of society. He has not only depicted human nature artistically but also portrayed some individuals and thus made them different from each other. The novel essentially revolves around five characters: Parson Adams; Joseph Andrews; Fanny Goodwill; Mrs. Slipslop; Lady Booby.

Parson Adams: Although the title of the novel comes with the name of Joseph, Abraham Adams is the center of interest in the novel. The readers are more involved in the old foolish Parson and his encounters with the inhuman, callous, hypocritical, and vain people around him. He is a comic, but hugely appealing figure. He is also an outstanding good man, a notoriously difficult thing to portray. An ideal Christian Parson Adams is a Quixotic figure. He is absent-minded. He leaves for London to sell his sermons but leaves the precious manuscripts behind and does not discover the fact till he has accomplished half the journey. He has three sources of vanity: his self-conceit, his pride in his sermons and his being a schoolteacher.

Joseph Andrews: Joseph Andrews is a titular hero. He is the hero of the novel because the title of the novel bears his name; otherwise, the heart of the novel is Parson Adams. His origin as a male counterpart to Pamela is not favorable: as a symbol of male chastity, he is not quite credible. Fielding perhaps implies that chastity is not the only virtue, nor is it the most important one. However, the novel goes far beyond the scope of the author's original intention, so Joseph does display some heroic qualities, although he lacks the humor and dynamism of Fielding's great hero Tom Jones.

Fanny Goodwill: Fanny is the heroine of the novel. Yet she performs only a minor role in the novel. She is so beautiful that she engages the eyes of everyone present. She is nineteen and is tall and delicately shaped. She is the typical country girl. She is a girl of innocent sensuousness, modesty, and sweet nature. She is a good-natured girl and a contrast to women like Lady Booby and Mrs. Slipslop. She is far away from hypocrisy and artificiality. She is intelligent either. However, Fanny has not been painted elaborately.

Mrs. Slipslop: Mrs. Slipslop, Lady Booby's waiting gentlewoman, is the most original character. Her appearance is alarmingly repulsive. She is as imperious and lecherous as her mistress Lady Booby. She imagines that she can succeed where her mistress had failed. That is why she begins to seduce Joseph in vain. Her passion for Joseph is a parody of Lady Booby's fascination for him. Mrs. Slipslop is a harsh speaker. But in spite of the harshness of her tone, Mrs. Slipslop is milder and more humane than Lady Booby. However, like her mistress, she is egoistic, conniving, lustful, status-conscious, and hypocritical.

Lady Booby: Lady Booby is a dissolute and lecherous woman. Like Bellaston in Tom Jones, she is meant to be a repulsive character. She is highly attracted to the handsomeness and youthful appearance of Joseph and takes him as her footman. She is a sex-perturbed lady. After her husband's death, she wants to seduce Joseph Andrews and wants to have bliss in bed. Though she may be called the villain of the novel, she is not as evil as the real villains are.