Fielding states that in his novel Joseph Andrews his aim is to “describe not men, but ways; not an individual, but a species”1. He goes on to state that his object is “not to expose a miserable wretch to the small and contemptible circle of his acquaintances, but to hold up the mirror to thousands in their closets, that they may contemplate their deformity and endeavor to reduce it, and so by suffering private mortification he can avoid public shame”2. Here we can see that Fielding is suggesting that this novel will contain characters that we will recognize and hopes that by recognizing certain characters and laughing at their supposed superiority, we will in turn look at ourselves and perhaps rectify our behavior. Therefore it could be said that in this novel we will meet characters of different classes and in this essay I will examine the presentation of classes in Joseph Andrews. An important chapter on how classes are presented in Joseph Andrews is Book II, Chapter XIII where Fielding presents a “dissertation concerning tall people and short people”. He states that “the human species is divided into two types of people, namely tall people and short people”3. He goes on to comment that Tall people are “fashionable people4” but this does not mean that they are “higher in size” or of “excellent characters and abilities”5 than the rest of society. He further examines the concept of fashion and states that the word has lost its original meaning “as a Person who dresses in the Fashion of the Times; and the Word really and truly means nothing any more to this day."6 We can therefore see that Fielding makes no distinction between fashionable and unfashionable people and states that their clothes are the... medium of paper. .....t Fielding tends to mock the upper class the most and it can be argued that they are the ones with the worst characteristics, however he also ridicules the lower class characters such as Mrs Slipslop, the plump middle aged maid who is also a bully ; Peter Pounce, the deceitful swindler, Mrs. Tow-wouse, the scolding innkeeper's wife, and Pamela's hypocrisy in that she once saw Fanny as her equal but now thinks she is superior so much to make a distinction between classes, but it shows us that hypocrisy, vanity, rudeness and cruelty are vices that belong to all members of society and it is only those who see the goodness in humanity and who treat all others with kindness and respect regardless of class who are superior individuals.Works CitedFielding, Henry, Jospeh Andrews, Signet Classic, 1960