Joseph Andrews: Eighteenth-Century Sitcom

Abstract

This paper examines Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews (1742) as a literary precursor to the modern situational comedy, arguing that many defining features of the sitcom genre were already present in eighteenth-century fiction. Although sitcoms are generally regarded as a contemporary popular culture phenomenon, the study demonstrates that their structural and comedic elements—such as episodic narration, recurring characters, comic misunderstandings, and humour generated through situations rather than plot—are integral to Fielding’s novel. Situating Joseph Andrews within the tradition of satirical prose fiction influenced by Don Quixote, the paper explores how Fielding employs parody, irony, and role reversal to generate humour and critique social hypocrisy.

Through close textual analysis, the study highlights the novel’s episodic structure, where Joseph Andrews and his companion Parson Abraham Adams encounter a series of transient characters—innkeepers, lawyers, clergy, squires, and travellers—each episode functioning as a self-contained comedic situation. The paper analyses how humour arises from absurd coincidences, misunderstandings, deceit, irony, ridicule, and self-deprecation, all of which are central devices in modern sitcoms. Particular attention is given to Parson Adams as a “comic type” whose absent-mindedness, moral idealism, and naivety generate sustained situational comedy while simultaneously exposing the vanity, hypocrisy, and moral pretensions of society.

The paper further argues that Fielding’s lack of a tightly unified plot, often criticised by earlier scholars, is in fact essential to the novel’s comic design, aligning it with the sitcom’s reliance on recurring situations rather than linear narrative progression. By comparing Joseph Andrews with the structural logic of television sitcoms, the study concludes that Fielding anticipates popular culture aesthetics long before their formal emergence. Ultimately, the article positions Joseph Andrews as a foundational comic text that bridges literary satire and popular entertainment, demonstrating that situational comedy has deep roots in the history of the English novel.