Question: How far do you agree with the view that the subject of Joseph Andrews is male chastity asserted in the face of female incontinence?
Or,
Comment on Fielding's treatment of Joseph's chastity in Joseph Andrews.
Answer: Male chastity in the face of female incontinence appears as the dominating aspect of Joseph Andrews. Though Fielding's attempt here is to burlesque Richardson's Pamela where Pamela the maidservant firmly resists the sexual advances of her employer, we see the opposite situation in Joseph Andrews. In it, we certainly get the impression that Lady Booby is unable to exercise any control over her sexual impulses but Joseph, her footman, is strict to withstand the temptation. Therefore, Joseph's determination in the face of Lady Booby's sexual appeal is evident and demands wide discussion that I would like to evaluate now.
The theme of male chastity versus female continence receives emphasis when Mrs. Slipslop Lady Booby's woman-in-waiting behaves in a crazy manner as her master. Mrs. Slipslop seems to have been sexually starved for a long time and she becomes almost aggressive in her effort to get Joseph in her bed. While Lady Booby at least shows some modesty in expressing her passion for the young man and had offered her hungry body to Joseph in a veiled manner, Mrs. Slipslop seems very liberal in her attitude. She shows neither any modesty nor any hesitation to grab him for her sexual gratification. As we notice Fielding comparing her with a hungry tigress "who, when she has traversed the wood in fruitless search, sees within the reach of her claws a lamb and prepares to leap on her prey". However, Joseph luckily escapes this time as Lady Booby rings the bell to summon her to an urgent meeting.
Before this incident takes place, we get another example of female incontinence in the case of which male chastity once again asserts it. Betty, the maidservant at Mr. and Mrs. Tow-wouse's inn, falls over her head and ears in love with Joseph, and she efforts to get him to make love to her. She becomes so passionate that once she swears to him that he is the most handsome man she had ever seen and tries to embrace him in chance. However, Joseph completely takes aback by her attempted seduction and firmly resists her. He tells her that he is sorry to see a young woman discarding all her sense of shame. In fact, Joseph has to use some violence in order to get rid of Betty at this time.
Fielding again returns to the theme of male chastity pitted against female incontinence towards the end of the novel. Here, we notice that Lady Booby's passion for Joseph revives when she returns from London to her country residence. In this connection, Fielding writes that Cupid's arrow had pierced Lady Booby's breast deeper than she at first had imagined. This time the flame of love burns in her breast more intensively. Therefore, she begins to make every possible effort to win Joseph into her bed. She tries to prevent Parson Adams from publishing the ban on Joseph's marriage with Fanny. She attempts to drive away both Joseph and Fanny out from the bounds of her parish. She also engages Didapper to have Fanny ravished so that Joseph may abandon his plan to marry her. Thus, Lady Booby proves her utterly unscrupulous in the methods that she applies for the fulfillment of her unbound passion.
Finally, we may terminate that Lady Booby or Mrs. Slipslop is the embodiment of the passionate, immoral, and dishonest landladies of the 18th century, who represent the female incontinence and to their hands, the chastity of their footmen are greatly threatened. In Joseph Andrews, Joseph is a typical presentation of the common feature of the society in which fielding belonged and got his aspect of writing.
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