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Unit 2: Joseph Andrews-I: Detailed Study of the Text

They then stript him entirely naked, threw him into a Ditch, and departed with their Booty.” Notes
By leaving subjective experience entirely out of his account, Fielding heightens the absurdity
of the incident until the violence feels gratuitous: these violent acts are not motivated, they
have no emotional context or significance, and they simply are. As Simon Varey comments,
the scene depicts “mindless, antisocial hostility”: the thieves’ “primary and ostensible purpose
is to take money and property,” but in their assault on Joseph they “display a level of violence
that their situation does not require or justify.” As Varey goes on to argue, Fielding sees
violence as pervading every level of society and existence, manifesting itself with varying
degrees of explicitness: an erratic Lady, a lecherous old maid, a pair of armed robbers. The
Two Ruffians represent only one of the most egregious outbreaks of a prevalent dynamic: “a
violent Storm of Hail forced Joseph to take Shelter in an Inn” in Chapter XI, and this same
meteorological situation will recur throughout the novel because in Fielding’s world, even the
weather is violent.
If violence exists on many levels and in many degrees, crime does as well: when Fielding
reveals that the Postillion who has given Joseph his coat “hath since been transported for
robbing a Hen-roost,” the less-than-subtle message is that what is truly criminal in this scene
is the indifference displayed by the other, more genteel stage-coach passengers toward their
fellow-man. The stage-coach scene is one of the most famous in the novel because it presents
the complex interactions of hypocrites: a Lady begins to take pity on Joseph but, on learning
that he is naked, finds propriety the more urgent principle, and a lawyer finally convinces the
group to tend to Joseph by appealing not to their humanity but to their self-interest. When
Joseph refuses to approach in a condition that would offend the ladies, none of the well-to-
do passengers will risk soiling their garments with his blood. In striving to isolate themselves
from the wretched and the criminal, then, the passengers reveal themselves to be the real
malefactors.
Following Joseph’s encounters with the Ruffians and the hypocritical stage-coach passengers,
and indeed completing the experience, is the introduction of Mrs. Tow-wouse, wife of the
keeper of the inn where the coach eventually stops. As she rebukes her husband for having
offered a shirt to the naked Joseph, demanding, “What the devil have we to do with naked
wretches?,” she becomes, in the words of Richard J. Dircks, “a spokesman for the purely
pragmatic, unsympathetic, and uncharitable view of life” that is an attribute of all of the least
appealing characters in the novel. Fielding insinuates her basic affinity with the Ruffians, and
her essential difference from Joseph, through his representation of her voice: her aggressive
use of such epithets as “Slut” and “scabby Rascals,” her recourse to such threats as “I will
throw the Chamber-pot at your Head,” and, in a later chapter, her “loud and hoarse” voice,
all are aural manifestations of her harsh nature. As Varey notes, Fielding often uses voice
quality to reflect character, and Mrs. Tow-wouse contrasts strongly with Joseph, who once
failed to frighten birds and dogs because the animals heard only the sweetness that was in him
both a vocal tone and a moral one.

2.3 Book I, Chapters XIII through XVIII

Chapter XIII

Mr. Tow-wouse and the Surgeon visit Joseph Andrews, who tells them the story of his encounter
with the Two Ruffians. Joseph then asks the Surgeon about the prospects for his recovery, and
the Surgeon advises him to settle his worldly affairs. Mr. Tow-wouse accordingly sends for
Mr. Barnabas, the clergyman, who approaches Joseph’s room only after having taken Tea with
the landlady and Punch with the landlord. Mr. Barnabas then goes back for another drink and
returns to find Joseph apostrophizing his sister, Pamela Andrews, and extolling the value of
sexual purity. The clergyman concludes that Joseph is delirious and excuses himself from
further interference.

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